4.0
million LPs have been sold this year in the US alone,
according to stats shared this morning by Nielsen Soundscan.
That’s a 40.4 percent increase over
the same period last year, when sales reached 2.9 million
units. In 2013, LP sales grew 30.4 percent
year-over-year.
Since
releasing my first digital album back in 2002,
technology has played a crucial role in the
distribution of the music I create. At that time, CDs
were still the way folks listened to music but sales
were definitely well in decline. Napster had scared
the crap out of the music industry and was shut down for
good. Mp3s were all the rage and there were
these things called iPods that were changing the way
people consumed their favorite songs and albums.
YouTube
has softened its posture in negotiations on a new streaming
music service with indie label trade bodies following an
uproar in the past weeks over several provisions in the
proposed contract, according to a report from the Financial
Times.
While
digital streaming revenue growth continues to offset the
decline in digital album and track sales, the music industry
still has the same problem it has wrestled with for over a
decade: physical music's decline is outpacing digital's
growth.
In
the late 19th century, a schoolteacher named Patty
Smith Hill and her sister Mildred Hill
composed the first version of a tune that would become
internationally famous. In fact, "Happy Birthday"
has been cited by the Guinness Book of World Records
as the most recognized song in the English language.
Soundrop
is one of the most prominent Spotify apps, and is also now
available through Deezer. Soundrop provides artists
with a unique way to engage with their fans and allows
listeners to collaborate on playlists.
When
was the last time you read a show preview or album review of
a band that discussed the actual music: the song structure,
guitar tones, harmonic and melodic choices, drum tones, the
pocket, innovative syncopation, varied time signatures,
sonic flourishes, unusual studio techniques that they HEARD
in the recording and not told by the press release?
Google's
announcement Tuesday that it reached a deal to
acquire Songza marks the third entrant in the
Internet radio business by a leading technology
company in the last nine months, following Apple's
iTunes Radio and Amazon's new Prime Music. Why the
Internet radio land rush?
YouTube
Says That 95% of Labels Are Now on Board
Almost
everyone is on board with the new
YouTube Music, according to YouTube, and what’s
worse, only a few organizations that don’t
represent all indies are making the most noise.
Here what a YouTube spokesperson told
Death & Taxes this morning.
Most
audio consumption is passive listening done by
people who value convenience, according to a new
Nielsen study. Called the Audio Demand Landscape,
the study breaks American consumers into six
segments according to listening habits and favored
formats.
At
the annual VidCon confabulation in Anaheim, California
yesterday, YouTube's Susan Wojcicki unveiled a number of
additions and features that the site will be adding over the
coming months, including links to creators' crowdfunding
projects, its own donation option, and a repository of music
the site has licensed and will make available to creators
for free.
The
new music industry is really about finding your own path -
one that is unique to your music and career. That’s
exactly what Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn did with Pomplamoose
and it is the foundation on which Jack’s new endeavour,
Patreon, is built. Pomplamoose and Patreon may not be names
you see plastered all over billboards and flashy
advertisements, but Jack and Nataly have made a sustainable
career for themselves, and that is something all musicians
should strive for.
SoundCloud
has gone through a lot of recent
changes. Now, SoundCloud has released a new
version of their iPhone app that focuses on the user
listening experience.
This
latest update completely removes the ability to record and
upload through the app.
The
respective challenges of Sirius XM and YouTube are
being addressed by the companies joining forces to
create a new weekly radio show on Sirius XM’s
popular Hits 1 channel.
The
US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will be
holding Part 2 of the Music Licensing Under Title 17
hearing, Wednesday June 25th at 10AM EDT.
Prime
Music is a facet of Prime, a paid service that gives Amazon
members free, two-day shipping as well as access to Prime
Video, a Netflix knockoff with a growing catalog of movies,
television shows and original programming. Given available
numbers, we know Prime Music accounts for a tiny fraction of
U.S. music streaming. According to Nielsen, 3.13 billion
songs were streamed in the week ending June 15.
Here
are usage rankings for nine of the top music consumption
platforms. This was compiled by Niche,
a site that provides information about neighborhoods and
schools. Niche asked 7,000 graduating high school
seniors from their user base to rank the following
music services.
YouTube's
row
with some independent labels over the terms of
the contract for its upcoming music subscription service has
taken a new twist, with a version of the contract published
in full online. If you want to see the entire contract click
above or here.
Last
week, Billboard
obtained a typical contract being offered by
YouTube to its indie label partners for its new subscription
service. Here's a breakdown of the five things that are
really upsetting your favorite indie label.
With
the massive volume of music created and shared
today, discovering a new song isn’t a problem,
remembering it is. Music bookmarking service Whyd
releases a free mobile app today to help listeners
do just that: collect and save songs from various
sources.
