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How many ‘creators’ are there and how do they make money

What is the creator economy? It’s defined as the class of businesses built by over 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.  The three top trends in the creator economy are:

The greatest mistake an artist can make when releasing a new album

There are many common mistakes artists make when releasing music. But there is one big mistake I want to make sure everyone is aware of that affects one’s entire release strategy.  The schedule for how artists release their music has shifted dramatically from the old music industry model to the new model we exist within today. But almost none of the strategies have really been updated to suit this new model. Artists are still thinking and acting as if they are operating in the traditional music industry. So here’s the lowdown. 

The Copyright Royalty Board Gets It Right: New Increased Inflation-Adjusted Royalty Rates for Webcasting–MusicTechPolicy

The US Copyright Royalty Board has set rates 2021- 2025 for webcasters that will mean higher payments to artists and labels.  The new rates will also require stations to make back payments to the start of the year.

“This CRB decision means that creators will be compensated more fairly when their recordings are played on digital music services,” said Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange. “While the rates are lower than SoundExchange and others proposed, they represent a step forward toward building a healthier music industry… We haven’t fully closed that gap, but today is a step in the right direction.”

U.S. Recorded Music Revenues Are Still 46% Below 1999 Peaks, RIAA Data Shows

Did Spotify and music streaming really save the music industry? Not according to inflation-adjusted recorded music revenue data.  Despite endless talk of a music industry comeback, total recorded music revenues are still nowhere near their earlier peaks, according to recently-surfaced data. In fact, total recorded music revenues are still drastically lower than levels roughly 20 years ago.  According to inflation-adjusted data from the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), total recorded music revenues in 2020 were $12.2 billion, which is approximately 46.2% lower than the industry’s 1999 peak-year total of $22.7 billion.

Free Music Streaming App Is Going Public (Oh Boy! More Free Stuff! Just great for the music industry.)

Trebel, a free music streaming app that targets listeners “who will not – or cannot – pay for music subscriptions,” has officially filed to go public. Connecticut-headquartered Trebel, which launched in late 2018, following a 2014 incorporation, shed light upon its operations and its IPO plans in an offering circular. The company intends to make up to 25 million units available to investors, according to this document, with each $1 unit consisting of a Class B share as well as a warrant to purchase another half of a Class B share.

Measure your metrics to make more money with music

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Track these key metrics to guide your decisions and make more money with music.  Imagine you are the trainer for an Olympic sprinter. How would you go about making sure she kept improving as she was practicing? You wouldn’t just eyeball her progress and go by gut instinct. You would track her time, day after day, to see if she’s getting faster and what you need to coach her to improve. In fact, you might track many other metrics and see how adjusting them improves her time.  Unfortunately, many music businesses are run by just “eyeballing it” and going with feelings about what’s working or not. Unless you track metrics, you can’t be sure if your decisions are good ones or not.

BEWARE: Hackers are targeting Spotify, YouTube

Hackers are promoting sites pretending to represent Spotify, YouTube Premium, and other major digital players.  One fake ad offers a non-existent bundle of 90 days free to both Spotify and YouTube Premium together.  The hacker’s goal is to steal credit cards and passwords saved in the user’s web browser.  The attack using a technique dubbed Fliker was first discovered by cybersecurity firm ESET who issued a warning on Twitter,

4 essential legal protections for your music

If you’re serious about your career as a musician, taking steps to ensure that everything you or your band create is legally protected is essential. Here, we detail four legal safeguards every artist should have in place.  The need for legal protection is much more critical in this technological age characterized by piracy. The good thing is that the law protects you to ensure that no one uses creativity illegally. If you and your friends want to start a band, you need to know your right and place in the constitution. Here is some legal protection that you need.

The Recorded Music Industry Did Okay Last Year With $12 Billion in Revenue

Covid didn’t keep the recorded music industry down last year as revenue was up more than 9% to around $12 billion. That marks the 5th straight year of growth for the industry. While it may signal happy days in the label corporate offices, it’s still down from the industry’s top level of $14.6 billion in 1999, but it’s getting slowly getting back to that peak.

Songtrust turns 10, expands royalty collection coverage to 98% of global music market

Songtrust is turning ten years old in 2021 representing 3 million songs by 350,000 songwriters from 145 countries and also announced that its Collections Network is increasing by 30 countries to 245 covering more than 98.3% of the global music market. Royalties paid by Songtrust to its clients grew by more than 185% annually from 2019 to 2020  ore impressive Songtrust stats:

5 Music Industry “Rules” You should Break

There are a lot of ideas out there about how musicians should pursue their careers. Common advice and anecdotes have been repeated so often, especially online, that they’ve gained status as “rules” or “the way things should be done.”  So, here are five “rules” that I didn’t follow. It was only in breaking free of these constraints that I found success as a singing/songwriter, performer and recording artist.

Texas mourns passing of 'Hooked on a Feeling' singer B.J. Thomas

B.J. Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed success on the pop, country and gospel charts with such hits as “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling,” has died. He was 78.  Thomas, who announced in March that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, died from complications of the disease Saturday at his home in Arlington, Texas, his publicist Jeremy Westby said in a statement.  

Music and podcasts are competing for ear space

Consumption of media was up during lockdown, but will that trend continue and how will music fare compacted to podcasts?  Consumers acquired an extra 12% of entertainment time and though everything was up, some categories grew much faster than others. One of the biggest gainers was spoken word audio, with podcasts and audiobooks seeing dramatic rises and while music hours grew too, the increase was below 12%, which means that music lost share. In the current entertainment environment of plenty this may be an academic concern, but when life returns to some form of normality (commutes, going out, gyms etc.) some or all of that extra 12% of entertainment time will go, which means that growing by less than the market average could translate into decline.

These acronyms protect your music rights

Anyone even vaguely familiar with the legal/publishing side of the music industry is doubtless aware of just how chock full of acronyms it is, but what do they all mean? From PROs to ISWC, we break down what all the acronyms (and initalisms) protecting your music rights actually mean.  What ARE all these letters? Even music veterans are sometimes confused. But it’s important to understand the difference between your ASCAP and your UPC, because they all play an essential role in earning revenue from your music copyrights.  We’ll go in chronological order of the life of a typical song, starting with the songwriter who wrote it:

Live streaming: what we learned from a year of streamed shows

Live stream shows were one of the highlights of lockdown. Now that live music is about to return, are they a thing of the past? No: they're the future   “There’s been about 10 years' worth of change in 12 months..."

Glastonbury’s Live From Worthy Farm livestream might have ended in disarray, but livestream shows look set to become a staple of the post-pandemic music scene, opening up new markets and revenues to bands of all sizes. 

It’s a change that’s come at an unprecedented pace. It took the CD a full decade to become the dominant album format in the UK (finally overtaking the cassette in 1992, according to BPI numbers) and it took streaming until 2018 to become the main way albums are consumed in the UK (despite Napster paving the way in 1999).  It took just months in 2020 for livestreaming to become pretty normal. 

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