As
legislation
that
would
enact
a
variety
of
changes
to
federal
laws
governing
how
music
is
licensed
and
songwriters
are
paid
now
in
its
final
stretch
on
a
journey
to
the
President’s
desk,
some
in
the
music
community
are
returning
to
a
familiar
battlefield.
There’s
already
conversation
of
resuming
the
fight
to
secure
a
performance
royalty
for
AM/FM
airplay.
Music
Modernization
Act
Passes
Senate:
Should
End
Confusion
on
SiriusXM
Pre-1972
Settlement
SiriusXM
still
gets
accused
of
not
paying
labels
and
artists
for
pre-1972
recordings,
when
in
fact
they
are
paying
labels
and
artists
for
those
recordings
--
it
just
took
a
couple
of
lawsuits
to
make
that
happen.
After
settling
with
the
major
labels
in
2015
and
the
Flo
&
Eddie
class
action
lawsuit
in
2016,
both
settlements
carried
forward
a
licensing
provision
that
would
make
further
payments
to
artists
and
labels.
(Both
settlements
are
said
to
be
at
a
discounted
rate
from
the
royalty
rate
SiriusXM
pays
for
post-1972
recordings.)
The
major
label's
go-forward
rates
were
not
determined
in
the
settlement,
so
after
a
one-time
$235
million
payment
to
the
labels
all
parties
would
go
to
arbitration
if
they
couldn't
agree
on
a
royalty
rate
for
pre-1972
recordings.
In
a
move
being
celebrated
in
radio
circles,
a
federal
appeals
court
in
Washington
has
upheld
a
decision
by
the
Copyright
Royalty
Board
which
broadcasters
felt
more
reasonably
assessed
music
licensing
fees
for
stations
aiming
to
grow
their
digital
reach.
It
leaves
the
rates
adopted
by
the
CRB
in
place,
despite
objections
by
SoundExchange.
Apple
Music
and
Spotify
make
up
80
percent
of
U.S.
streaming
subs
Streaming
music
has
come
a
long
way!
According
to
a
new
report,
the
number
of
people
now
paying
a
monthly
music
streaming
subscription
in
the
U.S.
is
around
51
million.
That’s
close
to
double
the
number
at
the
end
of
2016!
In
total,
last
year,
streaming
music
services
accounted
for
65
percent
of
the
recorded
music
revenue
in
the
U.S.
Spotify
and
Apple
Music
combined
dominate
“at
least
80
percent”
of
the
domestic
music
streaming
market,
and
other
platforms
—
including
ones
belonging
to
big
names
like
Amazon
and
Google
—
are
already,
“falling
surprisingly
far
behind.”
Country
Music
Expands
its
Global
Reach
While
the
bulk
of
country
listening
takes
place
in
the
U.S.,
we’ve
seen
a
21
percent
increase
in
the
share
of
country
music
streaming
outside
America
since
2015.
And
we
expect
to
see
even
more
growth
as
streaming
continues
to
allow
music
of
all
types
to
cross
borders
with
greater
ease
than
traditional
bastions
like
country
music
radio.
Check
out
this
map
highlighting
how
country
music
listening
stacks
up
around
the
globe.
SiriusXM
Responds
to
'Stinging'
Artist
Attacks
Over
Music
Modernization
Act
Objections:
'There
Is
Nothing
Hidden
or
Underhanded'
SiriusXM’s
opposition
to
elements
of
the
Music
Modernization
Act
has
been
met
with
a
wave
of
protest
from
the
creative
community,
unfairly
so,
according
to
the
satellite
broadcaster.
On
Monday,
some
150
musicians
and
industry
professionals
signed
an
open
letter,
threatening
to
boycott
SiriusXM’s
parent
Liberty
Media
over
its
protest
again
the
new
bill.
BMI
Sets
New
Revenue
Record
As
Royalty
Payouts
Top
Billion
Dollar
Mark.
Despite
the
upheaval
in
the
music
business,
it
appears
to
be
a
good
time
to
be
a
performance
rights
organization.
Broadcast
Music
Inc.
(BMI)
has
just
reported
a
record
$1.2
billion
in
revenue.
Payouts
to
songwriters
and
publishers
also
hit
new
records.
The
figures
come
as
BMI
fights
to
increase
what
it
collects
from
AM/FM
radio.
Three
ways
you
should
THINK
DIFFERENTLY
about
releasing
your
music
Many
musicians
today
are
stuck
with
20th-century
habits,
sweating
over
ten
songs
for
two
years,
releasing
an
album,
touring
it
for
another
year.
Repeat.
That’s
understandable.
It’s
the
way
things
got
done
forever,
and
many
major
label
artists
are
still
releasing
and
promoting
music
according
to
that
familiar
cycle.
But
the
world
has
changed.
The
rise
of
independent
music,
along
with
speedy
and
affordable
digital
technologies,
means
there
are
NEW
opportunities
that
require
you
to
think
in
new
ways.
Will This Company Be The Last CD Distributor?
The CD is fading away, not as quickly as was predicted, but the long slow decline is occurring nonetheless. Streaming is the root cause, of course, and the decline of the importance of the album too, but for the most part, our attention is now elsewhere instead of on a round piece of plastic. That said, 38 million of the suckers have been purchased this year so far that we can count (who knows how many have been sold at gigs or by churches, for example, that weren’t scanned and therefore counted), so there is a remaining appetite that should continue for a while. That’s why Alliance Entertainment, the largest U.S. wholesaler of physical music, is still optimistic about the future of plastic-based music formats.
NMPA
CEO
David
Israelite
Urges
Music
Modernization
Act
Passage:
'It
May
Be
Now
Or
Never'
With
just
a
few
weeks
before
Congress
heads
home
for
the
midterm
elections,
the
clock
is
ticking
on
any
legislation
that
will
become
law
this
year
and
the
Music
Modernization
Act
hangs
in
the
balance.
While
a
great
deal
of
headway
has
been
made,
those
few
lonely
voices
who
still
oppose
paying
creators
fairly
will
make
a
final
stand
in
hopes
of
killing
this
bi-partisan
and
consensus
legislation.
How
To
Get
On
Spotify's
User-Generated
Playlists
Playlist
doesn't
seem
to
be
going
away,
and
while
landing
on
Spotify
curated
playlists
may
seem
out
of
reach,
their
hardly
the
only
option,
with
user-generated
playlists
often
having
hundreds
of
thousands
of
followers.
Here
we
look
at
what
artists
need
to
do
land
spot
on
one
of
these
coveted
lists.
As
Google
Turns
20,
Questions
Over
Whether
It's
Too
Powerful
Twenty years after Larry Page and Sergey Brin set out to organize all of the internet's information, the search engine they named Google has morphed into a dominating force in smartphones, online video, email, maps and much more.
That resounding success now has regulators and lawmakers around the world questioning whether the company has become too powerful as its ubiquitous services vacuum up sensitive information about billions of people hooked on its products.
Radio
Aligns
With
Bars
&
Restaurants
In
Copyright
Fight.
The
radio
industry
often
works
with
television
broadcasters,
as
well
as
other
ad-supported
media
on
a
variety
of
issues
percolating
in
Washington.
But
it’s
now
in
a
rare
alliance
with
the
country’s
bars,
restaurants,
brewers
and
wine
producers
when
it
comes
to
music
copyrights.
A
big
reason
is
restaurants,
bars,
wineries
and
breweries,
and
store
owners
aren’t
all
that
different
when
it
comes
to
music
use.
Each
is
required
to
license
music
from
the
performance
rights
organizations
and
they’re
similarly
worried
about
the
impact
of
changes
to
the
consent
decrees
that
govern
how
ASCAP
and
BMI
have
operated
for
decades.
How
Streaming
is
Changing
the
Shape
of
Music
Itself
The
streaming
era
has
arrived
in
the
music
business,
but
the
music
business
has
not
yet
fully
arrived
in
the
streaming
era.
Labels,
publishers,
artists,
songwriters
and
managers
are
all
feeling
–
to
differing
degrees
–
the
revenue
impact
of
a
booming
streaming
sector.
However,
few
of
these
streaming
migrants
are
fundamentally
reinventing
their
approach
to
meet
the
demands
of
the
new
world.
A
new
rule
book
is
needed,
and
for
that
we
need
to
know
which
of
today’s
trends
are
the
markers
for
the
future.
This
sort
of
future
gazing
requires
us
to
avoid
the
temptation
of
looking
at
the
player
with
the
ball,
but
instead
look
for
who
the
ball
is
going
to
be
passed
to.
How
Much
Does
It
Cost
To
Tour
In
2018?
It
has
been
commonly
acknowledge
that
touring
is
now
how
artists
are
making
their
money
in
today's
music
business,
but
hitting
on
the
road
brings
with
it
a
host
of
expenses.
Here
we
break
down
the
various
costs
of
touring
into
three
different
tiers:
basic,
medium,
and
premium.
Here's
how
Amazon's
and
Apple's
new
smart
speakers
stack
up
with
consumers
The
central
question
for
this
new
product
category
is
not
when
they
will
take
off,
but
which
devices
will
rise
to
the
top.
To
answer
this
question,
Business
Insider
Intelligence
surveyed
our
leading-edge
consumer
panel,
gathering
exclusive
data
on
Amazon's
recently
released
Echo
Show
and
Echo
Look,
as
well
as
Apple's
HomePod.
Crash
Course
On
Using
Spotify
And
Other
Streaming
Services
-
For
Independent Acts
The
subscription-based
music
streaming
model
of
Spotify
and
others
–
at
the
moment
–
makes
it
extremely
unlikely
for
independent
artists
to
make
any
significant
money
from
sales
of
their
music
directly
via
those
services.
Having
your
music
on
these
services
isn’t
essential,
but
having
a
presence
on
them
is
better
than
not
having
a
presence
on
them.
They
are
focussed
on
consumers
more
than
the
artists,
and
do
provide
an
excellent,
convenient,
immediate
service
for
music
listeners
–
so
are
great
platforms
on
which
to
share
and
showcase
your
music,
and
potentially
be
discovered
by
new
fans.
CD
Baby
DIY
Musician
Conference
Moves
To
Austin,
Texas
CD
Baby
is
moving
its
popular
DIY
Musician
Conference
to
Austin
,
Texas
in
2019,
after
several
years
in
Nashville.
The
gathering
is
billed
as
"the only
music
conference
geared
specifically
towards
the
needs
of
independent
artists
in
charge
of
their
own
careers
."
Spotify
profit
payouts:
What's
the
fairest
way
to
recompense
artists?
-
Music
Business
Worldwide
For
the
artist
and
management
community,
the
most
controversial
element
of
Spotify’s
transition
to
a
publicly
traded
company
was
how
(and
if)
the
three
majors
and
Merlin-member
labels
would
share
the
proceeds
from
sale
of
their
equity
holdings.
These
stakes
were
agreed
as
far
back
as
2008.
At
the
time,
music
streaming
was
in
the
earliest
stage
of
adoption
(Spotify
gets
a
mere
two
mentions
in
the
IFPI’s
2009
Digital
Music
Report)
and,
although
there
were
sensible
rationale
for
the
largest
rights
holders
to
demand
equity,
a
lack
of
transparency
surrounded
these
arrangements
and
the
basis
on
which
they
were
agreed.
Amazon
Joins
Apple
as
World's
Second
Trillion
Dollar
U.S.
Company
Amazon
has
officially
become
the
world's
second
trillion
dollar
publicly
traded
U.S.
company,
in
terms
of
market
cap,
which
is
simply
the
company's
number
of
outstanding
shares
multiplied
by
its
stock
price.Amazon
shares
briefly
crossed
the
$2,050.27
mark
in
intraday
trading
today,
giving
the
online
retail
giant
a
market
cap
of
slightly
over
$1,000,000,000,000,
based
on
its
latest
total
of
487,741,189
outstanding
shares.
14
Ways
To
Maintain
Mental
Health
As
A
Struggling
Artist
It's
no
secret
that
being
a
musician,
or
indeed
working
as
an
artist
in
any
creative
field
of
goes
hand
in
hand
with
depression,
anxiety,
and
other
mental
health
struggles.
Here
we
look
at
fourteen
steps
artists
can
take
to
keep
their
mental
health
in
check.
SoundExchange-
You
Have
Questions.
We
Have
Answers.
Whether
you're
a
recording
artist
or
a
rights
owners,
the
music
publishing
world
can
be
a
complex
and
confusing
one,
particularly
when
it
comes
to
knowing
where
your
money
should
be
coming
from,
and
how
much
you
should
be
getting.
5
Unique
Ways
Of
Strengthening
Your
Fan
Base
As
a
musician
or
band,
fans
are
critical
to
your
success
-
so
how
can
you
not
only
get
more
of
them,
but
also
strengthen
your
relationships
with
the
ones
you
already
have?
Here
we
look
at
five
different
ways
to
strengthen
your
fanbase
both
on
and
offline.
Teen
Social
Media
Cord
Cutting
-
Should
It
Worry
The
Music
Industry?
Adults
have
been
anxious
about
the
smartphone
usage
of
youths
for
some
time,
and
it
appears
teens
themselves
are
jumping
on
the
concern
train,
with
more
than
half
of
teenagers
feeling
they
spend
too
much
time
on
their
phones.
This
raises
the
question,
however,
will
efforts
to
combat
this
tech
addiction
help
or
hurt
the
music
business?
No
More
Old
Wine
in
New
Bottles:
Simple
Remastering
Does
Not
Create
New
Sound
Recording
Copyright,
Rules
9th
Circuit
On
August
20,
2018,
the
9th
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals
reversed
a
lower
court
ruling
that
basic
digital
remastering
of
pre-1972
sound
recordings
created
a
new
sound
recording
copyright.
So,
merely
pouring
old
wine
into
a
new
bottle
will
not
work.
There’s
got
to
be
some
new
wine
in
there
as
well.
Email
Is
More
Important
Than
Social
Channels
While
it
can
be
tempting
to
throw
in
your
all
with
every
shiny
new
social
media
platform
that
comes
along,
the
stability
and
longevity
of
these
platforms
is
notoriously
unreliable,
making
a
solid
email
marketing
strategy
with
a
good
website
to
back
it
up
the
better
way
to
go.
State
of
the
YouTube
Music
Economy
2.0:
A
Turning
Point
for
All Parties
YouTube
is
the
most
widely
used
streaming
music
app
globally
but
it
is
also
the
most
controversial
one,
locked
in
a
perpetual
struggle
with
music
rights
holders,
with
neither
side
quite
trusting
the
intent
of
the
other.
2018
has
already
seen
YouTube’s
renewed
focus
on
subscriptions
as
well
as
a
European
Parliament
vote
that
could
potentially
remove
YouTube’s
safe
harbour
protection.
Meanwhile,
oblivious
to
these
struggles,
and
despite
the
rise
of
audio
streaming
services,
consumers
are
flocking
to
YouTube
in
ever
greater
numbers
and,
crucially,
using
it
for
music
more
than
ever
before.
MIDiA
clients
have
immediate
access
to
the
‘State
of
the
YouTube
Music
Economy’
report,
which
is
also
available
for
purchase
on
our
report
store.
Here
are
some
of
the
highlights
from
the
report.
Here's
how
Amazon's
and
Apple's
new
smart
speakers
stack
up
with
consumers
Smart
speakers
are
the
latest
device
category
poised
to
take
a
chunk
of
our
increasingly
digital
lives.
These
devices
are
made
primarily
for
the
home
and
execute
a
user's
voice
commands
via
an
integrated
digital
assistant.
These
digital
assistants
can
play
music,
answer
questions,
and
control
other
devices
within
a
user's
home,
among
other
things.
The
central
question
for
this
new
product
category
which
devices
will
rise
to
the
top.
To
answer
this
question,
Business
Insider
Intelligence
surveyed
our
leading-edge
consumer
panel,
gathering
exclusive
data
on
Amazon's
recently
released
Echo
Show
and
Echo
Look,
as
well
as
Apple's
HomePod.
Do
I
Need
A
Manager
Pt. 1
Is
it
time
for
a
manager?
Well,
before
we
answer
this,
let’s
quickly
describe
what
a
personal
manager
really
does.
Now
the
requirements
can
vary
from
case
to
case,
but
in
general,
the
manager
guides
the
artists
career
by
becoming
your
business
front.
The
manager
is
the
one
with
the
contacts,
the
know
how,
and
a
lot
of
times,
the
money.
So
back
to
the
question,
do
you
need
one?
When
it’s
time
for
management,
you’ll
know,
because
They
will
be
coming
to
you!
Streaming
Family
Plans:
Too
Much
Sharing
Has
Execs
Concerned
About
Slipping
Revenue
Per
User
Though
Spotify's
subscriber
base
is
steadily
growing,
the
average
revenue
it
gets
per
paying
subscriber
is
shrinking.
Industry
sources
tell Billboard that
nearly
half
of
global
streaming
subscribers
are
on
family
plans,
which
Spotify,
Apple,
Pandora,
Amazon
and
YouTube
all
offer
for
$15
per
month,
for
up
to
six
family
members.
Analysts
say
the
average
family
plan
has
three
to
four
subscribers,
meaning
each
participant
saves
an
average
of
$5-$6
per
month,
and
family
plans
account
for
at
least
30 percent
of
total
new
subscriptions
for
Spotify.
The
Trouble
with
SiriusXM’s
Opposition
to
the
Music
Modernization
Act
SiriusXM
CEO
Jim
Meyer
recently
tried
to
make
a
case
in Billboard against
the
Music
Modernization
Act
(MMA)
–
a
bill
which
will
help
countless
songwriters,
artists,
and
producers.
Make
no
mistake,
his
motivations
are
not
about
public
policy,
they
are
an
effort
to
protect
his
company’s
sweetheart
deal
from
decades
ago
which
allows
SiriusXM
to
pay
artists
lower
rates
and
exempts
it
from
paying
any
artist
who
released
work
before
an
arbitrary
date.
Spotify,
Music
Streamers
Confront
User
Ad
Blocking.
