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What’s
Next? 5 Music Industry Growth Drivers
The
risk with trying to imagine what the
future might look like is to simply
think it is going to be a brighter,
shinier version of today. At this
precise moment in time, this has perhaps
never been truer. The COVID-19 lockdowns
were a seismic shock to the economy, one
which will take months, possibly years
to recover from. Entertainment
consumption patterns have been
transformed, with some need states
becoming void states in an instant,
while new ones have filled their place.
Amazon
Music For Artists: 5 Social Media Best
Practices
Amazon
Music for Artists is regularly rolling
out new features to help up and coming
artists increase their reach. Here we
look at five ways to engage with Amazon
Music through social media in order to
broader your reach and uncover new fans.
Amazon Music for Artists is consistently
creating new tools to help artists like
you get heard by the world. In an age
where social media reigns supreme, take
all the help you can get! To help you
out, here are 5 ways to engage with
Amazon Music on socials to help increase
your reach and discover new fans.
Get
your music on millions of car stereos,
smart speakers and phones with
SoundCloud Radio
A
few months ago we launched our
distribution and marketing engine Repost
by SoundCloud so serious artists can
make a living from their music while
staying independent. And today we’re
launching a new station with Dash Radio
so Repost members have even more ways to
reach new audiences wherever they’re
listening. With 12M monthly
subscribers tuning in from their cars,
homes and online, Dash Radio – like
SoundCloud – is known for breaking
artists.
Country
Music Hall Of Fame And Museum Extends
Closure Through June
The
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
has elected to keep the museum and its
ancillary properties, Hatch Show Print,
Historic RCA Studio B, the CMA Theater
at the Country Music Hall of Fame and
Museum and the Taylor Swift Education
Center, closed through Tuesday, June 30,
2020, it was announced Tuesday (May 26).
Spotify
Lifts 10,000 Track Library Limit — But
Download Caps Remain
The
Spotify library limit is changing —
users can now save unlimited songs,
albums, and podcasts.
Users
have been complaining about Spotify’s
10,000 library limit since 2014. It is
one of the most discussed features on
Spotify’s Community Ideas forum, where
user feedback is collected. Previously,
users who ran afoul of this limitation
would see the message, “Epic
collection friend. There’s no more
room in Your Library. To save more,
you’ll need to remove some songs or
albums.”
EaseUS
Wants to Help Artists and Producers
Recover Lost Music Files
Few
things are more frustrating than losing
a file because of an accidental delete,
a virus, or a hardware malfunction —
especially for artists in the middle of
complex recording projects. EaseUS, a
company focused on data recovery, is
aiming to solve that problem with a tool
capable of retrieving seemingly
inaccessible digital assets.
Here
Are Some General Guidelines for Using
Music on Instagram and Facebook
Facebook
and Instagram have released a collection
of basic guidelines for those who intend
to use music in their videos, and
particularly in their Live broadcasts.
The relatively straightforward
guide opens by noting the
exceptionally positive societal and
social impact that music has created
during trying times like the COVID-19
pandemic. As you might expect, Facebook
and Instagram users have heavily
utilized Live to connect with others
while social distancing.
However,
the resource then states that Live’s
popularity uptick has “highlighted
some confusion across the community,
especially around the use of recorded
music.”
Facebook,
Instagram Launch ‘Shops’ — What
Does This Mean for Artists?
Facebook
is launching new tools to turn business
pages into Facebook Shops. What does
this mean for artists?
Facebook
has certainly dabbled in e-commerce
solutions for both Facebook and
Instagram. Facebook Marketplace operates
much like Craigslist, allowing
communities to sell items locally.
Instagram also allows users to buy
products featured in posts and ads. But
these new features take things a step
further by enabling businesses to create
Facebook Shops.
Consumer
Surveys Suggest ‘New Normal’
Behavior Could Soon Become Just
‘Normal.’
A
report by eMarketer indicates that much
of the consumer behavior that’s been
driven by the mandatory lockdowns
associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
will continue to endure even after
coronavirus fears have finally eased.
That includes online shopping and a
shift away from physical stores, money
management and whether to attempt
non-essential travel
Writing
Songs in Times of Crisis
Many
of the songs we write are reflections of
our times. They are snapshots that
capture the emotions and events that
define our worlds. So, I was not
surprised during my recent songwriters
workshop (which was held online) when
several writers shared songs that had
been sparked by their feelings about the
COVID-19 pandemic. These songs shared
some common denominators: their tempos
were slow and their lyrics were sad.
They expressed hopelessness, despair,
fear, and loneliness and when I asked
what the writers’ hopes and intentions
were for them, they answered that they
hoped to have major artists record them
and/or to place them in television shows
or movies.
Mechanical
Licensing Collective CEO Kris Ahrend
Talks Serving Songwriters, Preparing The
Industry’s Next Generation
In
January, it was announced that Kris
Ahrend had joined as
CEO of the Mechanical Licensing
Collective (MLC), which was formed
following the passage of the Music
Modernization Act in 2018. In 2019, the
Register of Copyrights designated the
MLC as the non-profit organization
responsible for administering blanket
mechanical licenses to digital services
such as Amazon Music, Apple, Spotify and
Tidal, and for distributing those
royalties to publishers and
self-administered songwriters. “Every
songwriter in the country and many
songwriters around the world will
ultimately be getting paid a portion of
their revenue from an organization based
in Nashville,” he says.
Goldman
Sachs: Global Music Revenue Will Drop
25% In 2020
In
a new “Music in the Air” analysis of
the music industry’s outlook, Goldman
Sachs projected that global music
revenue will drop 25 percent this year,
owing to the fiscal and operational
strain of the novel coronavirus crisis.
As
expected, 2020’s substantially
lessened concert and live performance
income played the biggest part in the
predicted revenue drop-off; Goldman
reduced its pre-pandemic earnings
estimates for live music by more than 75
percent. For reference, 2019’s global
music revenue totaled more than $75
billion.
AudioLock
Debuts Anti-Piracy Initiative: The Music
Mission
In
an effort to combat the growing network
of ‘pay-for-access’ piracy sites,
AudioLock recently launched The Music
Mission, bringing labels together to cut
the pirates off at their source.
AudioLock has launched an initiative
that tackles the growing problem of
infringing ‘pay-for-access’ download
sites. By uniting labels to help cut off
the pirate’s income at the source and
with official support from Beatport,
Traxsouce, and Juno Download, they
created The Music Mission.
Trump
Fans Prefer Country Music, Biden
Supporters Like Pop.
In
the final blog post following the release
of its “Contemporary Music SuperStudy
2,” Coleman Insights provides a look at
musical preferences based on political
party lines. The information, which was
not presented in the research firm’s
April webinar, shows that country music
reigns supreme for panelists who have a
positive opinion of President Donald
Trump.
COVID-19’s
Impact On The Global Music Industry, Part 2:
Geography
Chartmetric
is working to assist artists, songwriters,
and others in the music and entertainment
industry to improve their well-being
during this pandemic by providing
analytical data on the effect COVID-19. To
help address the global music industry’s
concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic,
US-based music analytics company
Chartmetric is continuously monitoring 2M+
artists across 20+ streaming and social
media data sources.
6
Ways For Musicians To Earn Money At Home
During COVID-19
Musicians’
careers have been especially heavily
impacted by the pandemic. With live music
one of the first to go, and likely among
the last to return, artists are facing a
lot of economic uncertainty. That said,
there are still some ways for musicians to
make money from their homes. Musicians are
among the most economically jeopardized by
the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social
distancing mandates. With the live music
industry shuttered for the foreseeable
future, artists are forced to adapt their
business practices to work for them in the
digital realm.
Guide
To Using Data To Boost Plays, Create New
Revenue Streams
Every
artist wants to see their music take off
on streaming platforms. Whether it’s for
the increased revenue or the additional
exposure, streaming is the best way to get
your music heard. Here we look at how you
can harness the power data to increase
your plays and create new revenue streams.
Have you ever wondered why some songs get
streamed and playlisted more than others?
Ever wondered how you can increase your
streaming revenue and create new ways to
receive a steady paycheck every month? By
using the data provided by streaming
platforms like Spotify and Apple Music,
you can make more targeted creative
decisions.
Our
Music Consumption Habits Are Changing, But
Will They Remain That Way?
Most people don’t need a survey to tell them that what they listen to or view is different today than before COVID. Our lives have changed so much in that time that it’s a given that our music consumption patterns have as well. Even if you know that you’re listening more or less than before, it’s still interesting to know what the rest of the world is doing and that’s where the latest series of studies from Billboard and Nielsen Music come in. The surveys titled COVID-19 Tracking The Impact On The Entertainment Landscape Release 1 and Release 2 have some surprising data on how we’re getting our music these days.
Advice
For Starting Your Own Record Label
The
music industry has undergone some
transformation over the last couple of
decades. Our digital landscape has been
instrumental in altering the shape of how
we consume tunes, how artists make music,
and how the business operates. One of the
positive effects is encouraging a DIY
approach to all areas of the industry.
iHeartMedia
Plunges Into a Tailspin as Q1 Losses Top
$1.68 Billion
Against
the trying backdrop of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) crisis and widespread market
uncertainty, iHeartMedia suffered net
losses of over $1.68 billion during
2020’s first quarter. iHeartMedia
experienced a 1.9 percent year-over-year
drop in earnings, which came in at $780.6
million during 2020’s first quarter.
Predictably, the brand’s cash flow
deriving from continued operations
decreased by a third, while EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation, and amortization) fell by
10.6 percent, to $140.3 million, from the
same period in 2019.
Radio
Workers Would Be Eligible For ‘Heroes
Fund’ In Late House Coronavirus Relief
Package.
Local
radio, television and newspaper employees on
the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic
could be due thousands of dollars in federal
payouts under the latest coronavirus relief
package unveiled by House Democrats on
Tuesday. The bill includes a $180 million
“heroes fund” that would provide for
“hazard pay” of up to $10,000 for
essential frontline workers.
Foursquare:
Location Data Tracks America’s Return To
‘Normal.
Foursquare
has been monitoring foot traffic levels,
analyzing data from pre-pandemic times through
the early weeks and months of the
national health crisis and now as some
relaxations of stay-at-home orders are
implemented in parts of the country. In its
latest findings, Foursquare reveals that fast
food and gas station visits have returned to
pre-pandemic levels in the Midwest and in
rural areas across the nation. While still
below normal levels, visits in suburban and
urban areas have increased substantially, up
15% since bottoming out in late March.
Coronavirus
Side Effect: Americans Spending More Time With
Audio.
The
longer the coronavirus lockdown continues, the
more people are spending more of their time
with audio entertainment. That’s according
to the media buying agency Mindshare, which
has been tracking consumer behavior since the
pandemic began sweeping the globe last month.
The latest data finds nearly a third of
Americans say they are listening to more radio
than prior to the coronavirus outbreak.
SXSW
Faces Class-Action Lawsuit After Refusing to
Issue Refunds
Angry
passholders are suing South by Southwest (SXSW)
over its strict no-refund policy. So
far, SXSW organizers have refused to return
money for this year’s cancelled
mega-festival. Two would-be SXSW 2020
attendees – Massachusetts’s Maria Bromley
and Colorado’s Kleber Pauta – filed the
class-action lawsuit in an Austin, Texas, U.S.
District Court. Bromley spent nearly $1,700 on
her SXSW 2020 pass and meal plan, while Pauta
paid over $1,000 for the opportunity to attend
the 10-day-long Austin event.
Top
Music Biz Managers Share Tips For Weathering
The Pandemic
CUT EXPENSES, RECHECK YOUR ROYALTY STATEMENTS AND MAKE NEW MUSIC SAY THESE FINANCIAL ADVISERS
After years of a bull market, the music industry — particularly the touring business — is looking at an unpredictable and possibly bleak year ahead, if not longer.
While shelter-in-place rules could boost music streaming numbers, public gatherings are not expected to resume for months, and some medical experts predict additional cycles of widespread infection before the coronavirus is contained. In light of such great uncertainty, Billboard turned to four of its 2020 Top Business Managers to discuss ways in which they are helping clients make the most of their financials during this time.
As
the first audio company to report first
quarter results, SiriusXM offered a glimpse
into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected
operations and the impact it may have moving
through the remainder of the year. “The
world has changed very dramatically and very
rapidly, since the onset of the COVID-19
health and economic crisis,” CEO Jim Meyer
told analysts during the company’s
earnings call Tuesday morning.
In
a move to reduce the economic impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic on its business,
iHeartMedia said Tuesday that it is
requiring employees who earn more than
$50,000 a year in base pay to take two
weeks of unpaid vacation in calendar year
2020. The company says the two unpaid
vacation weeks are the equivalent of a
roughly 4% salary reduction for the year.
Americans
Are Streaming More Classic Rock And Older
Country Titles During Pandemic.
Classic
rock and deep cuts from country artists
are providing comfort during the COVID-19
pandemic as Americans stream older songs
instead of the latest pop releases. With
many pop artists delaying release dates
and postponing or canceling tours, Nielsen
Music/MRC Data reports a decrease in pop
music streaming, which brought the overall
streaming numbers down over the past
month, even with an uptick in more classic
titles being streamed.
Why
The Recorded Music Landscape Might Look
Different By Year’s End
There
are so many unknowns in the world brought about
by COVID-19, and unsurprisingly, how the
recorded music industry will come out the other
side is one of them. Luckily we live in a world
of data these days, but sometimes it's not easy
to tell what we're looking at until we gain some
distance from situation and it appears we have a
ways to go before that happens. That said, it's
somewhat certain that the recorded music side of
the music business will undergo some big changes
and will probably look different by the end of
the year. Let's examine what we know today, and
how that might influence how things could play
out.
Big
Radio Consolidation Spotlights The Need to
Update Songwriters’ Rights - Music Business
Worldwide
Since
1941, the vast majority of songwriters who
belong to ASCAP and BMI have been regulated by
the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
Back then, the relatively new broadcast industry
wanted help in securing deals to play music and
the DOJ assisted them by putting parameters on
how their rates were determined, taking away
songwriters’ ability to negotiate in the free
market. Fast forward almost 80 years, and while
the once-fledgling US broadcast industry is now
one of the most powerful industries in the world
– and most heavily consolidated –
songwriters are still being forced to subsidize
them, even as radio giants’ market power is
massive and growing.
Apple
Music Quietly Launches a Web-Based Version
Apple
Music is now available in any web browser after
launching in beta-form in September.
The
new web version of Apple Music requires a
$9.99/month subscription to use. It also puts
Apple Music on par with Spotify – which began
as a website and launched an app. Apple Music
took the opposite approach, starting as an app,
and launching a website. The Apple Music app is
great for listening on a smartphone or tablet,
but not so great for PC users. A web-based
version helps Apple Music become an attractive
option for desktop users.
Creative
Marketing For Musicians In Quarantine
As
part of an ongoing Life During Quarantine
series, Kevin Cornell here provides some
creative marketing tactics and strategies bands
and artists can employ as they work to navigate
their way through the ongoing Coronavirus
pandemic.
Ageism
In The Music Business: Is There An Expiration
Date On Success?
While
musicians are often celebrated for breaking into
the industry and achieving success at a young
age, there is a darker side to this coin where
artists are often unfairly deemed “too old”
to make it in the business. So how much is
ageism really a problem in the music industry?
In
Hindsight: The Music Modernization Act
On
October 11, 2018, the Music Modernization Act (MMA)
was officially signed into law. Musicians,
songwriters, and industry leaders fought hard
alongside lawmakers for this legislation, which
promises to make several necessary adjustments
to copyright law. Among other things, the MMA
was designed to resolve issues that affect
songwriters and producers in particular; but
despite these steps forward, there are still
concerns that need to be addressed.
Music
Licensing in 2019: The US Department of Justice
Reviews the Rules
The
relationship between the creators of music and
the businesses that use it for their com-mercial
purposes has been contentious since the
invention of recording devices and the
establish-ment of broadcast companies in the
early 1920s. Music-licensing rules that
currently govern this relationship date from
1941 and with the advent of new
technology, as well as the expanded com-mercial
uses of music, it has needed full review for
some time. In response to this need, the
US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on June
5, 2019, that it would be initiating a review of
music licensing laws. This initiative is part of
a broader initiative to examine old legal
settlements, known as consent decrees, that
affect several industries. This article
will review some of the sig-nificant aspects of
the existing consent decrees as they apply to
music licensing, and look ahead to see what
might be in store for this area of music
licensing.
Coronavirus
May Be Shifting Some Consumers’ Taste.
News
podcasts were already poised to have a strong
year with a presidential election, and the
coronavirus pandemic has helped accelerate the
genre’s growth. Podtrac says among the
publishers it tracks, shows in the News genre
have seen downloads soar 59% year-to-date. But
the bigger impact may be what people are
listening to when they’re not downloading the
latest headlines. Comedy is up, while True Crime
is down compared with a year ago.
COVID-19
Relief: Federal, State Government Resources For
Artists
Musicians
have been hit hard by the effects of the
Coronavirus pandemic, but at least some relief
is on the way. Here we break down some of what
artists can expect to receive following the
passage of the CARES Act.
5
Tax Write-Offs Every Musician Should Know About
Tax
season (delayed though it may be) is an
important time to remember that, for all its
artistry, music is still a business.
Fortunately, there are a number of industry
expenses that artists can list as deductible
write-offs when filing their taxes. Here we look
five which every musician should be aware of.
Music
Promotion Is An Asset Your Music Career Can’t
Live Without
It’s
a reasonable question, coming from someone who
wants to bring music to the masses. In the
age of digital media, it has become increasingly
simple to distribute music. As a result of the
increased competition, it’s making it more
challenging to get new material noticed
It’s important to know what you’re getting
into when you are setting up a promotional
campaign for your music. Do a bit of basic
research about what music promotion is, what it
entails, and what you can reasonably expect to
pay. It might surprise you. It’s common for
people to blur the lines between publicity,
marketing, and general artist management. While
each agency is a bit different, many of the same
basic principles apply.
Traditional
AM/FM Radio Is Growing During COVID-19
Quarantines
With
government-issued stay-at-home orders and
non-essential business closures continuing to
affect schedules across the United States and
the world, many are turning from music streaming
services to video platforms like Netflix and
Hulu. However, a newly-published study found
that AM/FM radio, for its part, is growing amid
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In
conducting the study, Triton
Digital reviewed data from the over 3,200
radio stations that utilize its Webcast Metrics
technology, which records broadcasters’
streaming statistics.
Qrates
Is Bringing Old-School Vinyl Distribution Back
— And Offering a COVID Workaround for
Musicians
In
2019, U.S. vinyl record sales grew by
nearly 20 percent to over $500 million, marking
the 14th consecutive year in which the
format’s domestic commercial performance has
improved. Now, COVID-19 is putting that progress
on pause, though Qrates is developing smart
manufacturing and distribution workarounds to
keep growing the format.
ASCAP
Plot Thickens: Publishers Are Getting Their
Checks — Songwriters Aren’t
Last
week, we first reported on a leaked ASCAP
memo sent to hundreds of thousands of
members, one that pointed to serious disruptions
in the US-based performance royalty marketplace.
The letter, from CEO Elizabeth Matthews,
described significant drops in collections due
to COVID-19 shutdowns. It also warned that
songwriter payments would be delayed by weeks.
Analyst
Downgrades Spotify, Citing Less Engagement From
COVID Outbreak.
A
Wall Street analyst has downgraded Spotify – by
two notches – because the streaming giant is
experiencing less engagement due to the
coronavirus pandemic. "More time indoors is
driving less engagement and fewer downloads, and
is creating potential U.S. share shift to Amazon
Music, given increased smart-speaker
listening," Raymond James analyst Justin
Patterson said.
Apple
Music Offers $50M In Advances To Indie Labels So
They Can Pay Artists
Apple
Music is the latest company to offer industry
relief amid the coronavirus pandemic. It told
independent record labels Tuesday that it is
launching a $50 million advance royalty fund to
make sure their artists get paid.
Report:
90% Of Americans Who Work From Home Listen To
Broadcast Radio.
With
the majority of Americans working from home due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nielsen Scarborough
USA+ database shows that 90.1% of those persons
who always or mostly work at home are reached by
AM/FM radio each week compared with 87.5% of the
total population.
ASCAP
Delays Writer Distributions for Weeks as Licensing
Revenue Tanks
Performance
rights giant ASCAP is now delivering some bleak
news to member writers and publishers.
Perhaps
this was inevitable, but PRO giant ASCAP is now
feeling the serious ripple-effects of a shuttered
United States. In a letter sent to members earlier
this week — and shared with Digital Music News
— ASCAP chief executive Elizabeth Matthews
bluntly warned that “every category of ASCAP
collections will be negatively impacted, including
television, cable, radio, airlines, hotels, bars,
grills and restaurants,” while seriously
delaying a scheduled artist payout date of April
6th.
Music
Copyright Infringement Is Starting To Make Sense
Again
Once
upon a time, most of the high-profile lawsuits in
the music industry made sense, with the average
listener able to detect similarities between songs
like “My Sweet Lord” and “He’s So Fine.”
Things
were starting to go a little off the deep end in
recent years, however, as in cases like the recent
Gaye/Thicke controversy. But some the newest
verdicts handed down suggest copyright
infringement might be starting to make sense
again.
CARES
Act Stimulus Package Guide for Music Workers &
Businesses
The
CARES Act, a $2 trillion coronavirus economic
stimulus package signed into law March 27,
includes some of the most far-reaching benefits
for gig economy workers and small businesses in
U.S. history.
That’s
good news for the music industry. But as banks and
state unemployment offices rush to update their
websites and meet demand for web and phone
applications, the process of requesting aid -- let
alone understanding it -- hasn’t been smooth for
everyone.
How
The Coronavirus Will Impact The Music Industry
The
coronavirus is changing life as we know it, so we
are predicting what happens once life returns to
something that resembles normalcy. It is time to
accept that life as we know it is changing. The
current quarantine and self-isolation efforts will
end, but there is no going back. The music
business, as well as the world, will have to
accept we are entering a new reality where
everyone will apply the knowledge and experiences
from this unprecedented period to everything that
follows.
Pro
Music Rights formally recognized as performance
rights organization by National Religious
Broadcasters Music License Committee - Music
Business Worldwide
Florida-based
royalty collection firm Pro Music Rights (PMR) has
been formally recognized as a performance rights
organization by The National Religious
Broadcasters Music License Committee (NRBMLC).
NRBMLC
Executive Director Scott R. Hunter formally
recognized Pro Music Rights as a new PRO to NRBMLC
Members in the organization’s ‘March Update’
on March 31, 2020. PMR claims to have a 7.4%
market share based on musical works, with the
rights to license about 2 million works.
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