Instagram
now has 1billion
users globally,
up an impressive
200 million from
September of
last year.
Anchoring its
next chapter is
an aggressive
move into longer
form video,
including
expanding the
allowed video
length for all
users.
With
Spotify now one
of the most
popular
platforms for
music
consumption,
figuring out how
to get your
music placed on
one of the
streaming
services coveted
playlists has
become the Holy
Grail for
up-and-coming
musicians. Here
we look at some
advice on
cracking the
playlist code.
After
noticing that
many of its
artists weren't
utilizing the
streaming
platform's full
potential,
Spotify has a
launched a new
series of
helpful videos
intended to
direct artists
on how to take
full advantage
of their artist
specific site.
Artists and songwriters have a tendency to rip on streaming for its low payouts, sometimes without understanding the scale and metrics of how it really works. While it’s true that streaming royalties can seem absurdly low sometimes, it turns out that U.S. radio airplay is way worse.
You’ve
read these tour
articles a
thousand times.
By this point
it’s no
surprise that
touring is hard.
It’s no
surprise that
touring is
expensive. And
it’s no
surprise that
making your
money back
doesn’t often
happen for DIY
bands on their
first couple of
trips.That
said however,
there are
legalities to
consider. A band
is a business,
whether you want
it to be or not.
A tour is a
venture. And
musicians are
people who bring
their own lives
and difficulties
to the table. So
when you’re
looking to tour,
consider some of
the legal
problems that
could stop you
from being able
to fully
experience or
continue to tour
in the future!
YouTube
Music Premium,
the new
subscription
tier for
Google’s video
service, is
launching fully
in 17 countries
today, including
12 additional
markets to the
five that were
announced in
May.
The
recorded music
industry has
been on the up
and up for the
past few years,
seeing double
digit growth
thanks to the
magic of
streaming. As
with so many
good things,
however,
doomsayers at
Sony are
predicting this
precipitous
growth will soon
come to an end.
[PIAS]
co-founder
Michel Lambot
looks at how the
economic
structure of
media
consumption has
shifted over
time to one of
renting vs.
owning; and how
tech companies
bypassing record
labels to make
direct deals
with artists is
the next logical
step in this
progression.
Garrison
Snell CEO of
Crosshair Music
and Gyrosity
Projects joins
Michael
Brandvold and
Jay Gilbert on
the Music Biz
Weekly podcast
to discuss the
self-service
platform,
Crosshair Music,
for submitting
music to
playlists. Their
mission is to
affordably
connect
musicians
directly to the
playlist
curators and
social
influencers who
can help grow
their audiences.
But does it
work?
Following Sony
Corp.’s April
sale of half of
its stake in
Spotify, Sony
Music
Entertainment (SME)
sent an email to
indie labels on
Thursday (June
14) declaring
its intent to
share a portion
of the profits
with “eligible
artists and
participants as
soon as
possible,”
with a target of
August.
Spotify
has offered
advances to a
number of
managers and
indie acts in
exchange for
licensing their
music directly
to the streaming
service, sources
tell Billboard.
Under
the terms of
some of the
deals,
management firms
can receive
several hundred
thousand dollars
as an advance
fee for agreeing
to license a
certain number
of tracks by
their
independent acts
directly to
Spotify.
Lance
Allen, the
instrumental
guitarist
who’s
paying off
his
mortgage
every
month with
the money
he earns
from
Spotify,
is
obviously
doing
something
right.
He’s
doing
quite a
few things
right, in
fact.
Sirius
XM Radio has
agreed to make a
one-time $150
million payment
to settle a
lawsuit brought
by SoundExchange
nearly five
years ago,
alleging the
satellite radio
service
underpaid
royalties. The
agreement also
resolves “all
outstanding
claims”
including all of
SoundExchange’s
ongoing audits
of Sirius XM’s
web radio
service.
20,000
to 24,000 tracks
are uploaded to
Spotify, Apple
Music, Napster
and other
streaming music
service every 24
hours. That's 1
million tracks
every 6
weeks.
Let's that
number sink in
for a moment and
imagine how hard
it is to break
through that
much clutter.
Once
a song is written
and recorded, the
owner of the song
gains certain
exclusive rights
over the work
relating the
reproduction,
adaptation,
distribution and
performance of the
song. Here we look
at what exactly
those rights are.
As
streaming
continues to
dominate music
consumption, (with
an eye towards
replacing the
album altogether)
artists have a lot
to gain by
assembling their
own playlists and
promoting them to
fans. Here we look
at six benefits in
particular.
Live
streaming is
taking the world
by storm. And how.
Companies of all
sizes are clamoring
to add live
streaming tools to
their interfaces,
allowing users to
connect more
deeply and to
experience
products up close.
Live advertising
encourages digital
entrepreneurs to
sell and advertise
in real-time, and
companies centred
on this new brand
of marketing are
quickly sprouting
up, thanks to the
tremendous demand
that the medium
holds. The
potential in live
streaming, and
more so, live
advertising is
enormous. If
you’ve been
chasing the
entrepreneurial
dream, there’s
no better sector
than this.
We’ve
been partnering
with music
companies around
the world to bring
music to more
experiences on
Facebook. Today
we’re announcing
new ways for
people to express
themselves with
music in their
posts, including a
new feature, Lip
Sync Live.
It’s
accepted wisdom
that the impact of
music media has
greatly diminished
over the past
decade.
Intuitively, it
makes sense. When
there are millions
of people
shouting, the
voices of a few
are drowned out,
regardless of how
influential or
learned those
voices may be.
Playlist
curators are the
tastemakers of the
modern age, and
when they're
putting their
playlists
together, they
have a specific
set of
requirements in
mind. Here Michael
Warner explains
how artists can
game with a few
editing tricks to
make their songs
more playlist-friendly.
More
than a year of
out-of-court
negotiations
failed to produce
an agreement
between the Radio
Music License
Committee and
Broadcast Music
Inc. Now the
process will move
into federal
court. Judge Louis
Stanton has
ordered the RMLC
and BMI to appear
in a New York
courtroom on June
22 to begin
hashing out the
issues involved in
their 18-month
stand-off.
You might have noticed that all new music released by record labels always comes on a Friday and wondered why. After all, Friday generally isn’t a great day for communication online (especially via email) as people are especially frantic before the weekend. And if you remember back to before 2015, Tuesday used to be release day in the U.S.
There are actually 3 reasons why Friday was chosen as the global release day for new music.
While
all the excitement
and buildup
preceding an album
release can make
you eager to get
it out the world
as soon as
possible, an album
release should be
carefully planned
and orchestrated
in order to
avoid a
disappointing
flop.
A U.S.
Bankruptcy Court
for the District
of Delaware yesterday
entered an order
granting Gibson
Brands Inc. the
authority to
access the full
amount of
its $135
million in
debtor-in-possession
(DIP) financing
and use of cash
collateral.
This
article explores
how the financial
balance of power
in the music
industry has
shifted with the
rise of streaming,
how contemporary
high-profile
artists are making
this shift work in
their favor, and
whether it could
ever revert back
to an older model.
Cover
art is one of the
best ways to make an
instant first
impression on your
listeners, but can
also easily backfire
and drive them away.
Beyond this, cover
art that doesn't
comply with the
guidelines of
streaming and
download services
will be kicked
before it has the
chance to reach
anyone. Here Chris
Robley of CD Baby
details how you can
avoid such pitfalls.
While
your band photos may
technically have
anything to do with
your music, they are
nonetheless part of
your brand, and
having a solid set
of band pictures is
important. Here we
look at how to avoid
ending up with
pictures that are
cliché garbage.
To
better manage its
relationships with
music publishers,
Apple has launched a
new music publishing
division that will
be led by longtime
legal and licensing
specialist Elena
Segal, an Apple rep
tells Billboard.
Segal's
new publishing team
will be made up of
several divisions
dedicated to
operations,
commercial,
publisher relations
and A&R. Segal
will split time
between the U.K. and
the U.S. Apple is
not planning to
start acting as a
music publisher
itself, the rep
tells Billboard.
ARTISTS
BEWARE. Music Choice
is trying to solicit
your support to
deceive Congress
into reducing your
royalties from Music
Choice. The below
email that Music
Choice is sending
out to artists may
be one of the most
deceitful and
disingenuous efforts
to cheat artists out
of their rightful
royalties that I
have ever seen.
While
networking's value
as a tool for
getting ahead in the
music industry has
long been
established, how to
do it effectively,
and what is exactly
it is are somewhat
harder to define. In
this piece we hear
some tips from a pro
on what exactly
makes for good
networking.
Broadcast
Music Inc. (BMI) has
asked a federal
court in New York to
hike what radio
stations pay for
licensing music in
its repertoire. Not
only does the
performance rights
organization call
its proposed rate
hike
“reasonable” but
it raises questions
about the
promotional value of
broadcast radio and
says overall music
use by radio
stations, including
of music in the BMI
repertoire, has
increased
dramatically.
One
of the best parts of
taking your passion
project to the next
level and treating it
as a business is that
you are able to take
advantages of the tax
write off that goes
into running your
business. Yet many new
entrepreneur-musicians
struggle to fully
benefit from this.
Especially shocking
given the equipment
that goes into
production is one of
the largest cost to
your business. Write
that new mixer off
baby!
Vevo
has announced that it
will shut down its
mobile apps and video
web site in the coming
weeks, and make
YouTube its sole
delivery platform.
The shift also
strengthens YouTube's
dominance in music
just as it launches
its biggest push into
paid streaming yet.
Iconic
Artists has announced
the beta testing of
Streamtrack, its
copyright infringement
and reporting
software. Launched
as a response to the
continued threat of
piracy and
exploitation faced by
so many in the music
industry, StreamTrack
was designed to help
songwriters, musicians
and other rights’
holders keep track of
their intellectual
property.
The
streaming company will
recompense songwriters
not paid enough
royalties, but one
unhappy music
publisher claims
ruling is ‘a free
pass on wilful
infringement’.
Spotify will pay out
$112m (£83.5m) in a
settlement agreement,
following two lawsuits
that claimed
songwriters hadn’t
been paid enough in
royalties for their
work being streamed on
the service.
After
years of false starts
and months of rumors,
YouTube's new
subscription music
streaming service --
aptly titled YouTube
Music -- has finally
arrived. The YouTube
Music Premium service,
priced at $9.99/month,
will deliver ad-free
access to all the
licensed music and
user-generated music
content available on
YouTube, while the
new-look YouTube Red
(now re-christened
simply YouTube
Premium) will expand
those offerings to all
YouTube content for
$11.99/month.
Nielsen-owned
media data specialist
Gracenote wants to
help music services
make better mixes with
fewer outliers: The
company announced a
new music dataset
called Sonic Style
Wednesday that
classifies 90 million
tracks not by the
genre the artist is
known for, but the
actual style of the
recording.
The
FCC is proposing to
collect $322,035,000
in regulatory fees
from broadcasters and
other regulated
industries this year.
That includes $26.9
million from AM/FM
operators, a 13%
decrease compared to
what it collected in
2017. Nearly every
class of station would
see a lower regulatory
fee under the
just-released proposal
Google
is rolling out early
access of the new
YouTube Music in the
U.S., Mexico,
Australia, New Zealand
and South Korea today.
Here is an intro video
and a list from
YouTube of "six
reasons you're gonna
like it."
With
a check for $2.3
billion, Sony has become
the world's largest
music publisher. The
deal adds a catalog of
more than two million
songs from EMI Music
Publishing, including
hits ranging from Queen
to Pharrell Williams to
Sony's already massive
2.3 million track
repertoire.
EPs
have existed for a long
time as a great way for
artists to test the
waters before dropping a
full length album. Here
we look at the benefits
of having an EP, how to
use it, and the history
behind the format.
There
has been chatter for
months about YouTube’s
plans to revamp its
music-subscription
offering, with the
company’s head of
music Lyor Cohen talking
regularly about the
strategy to roll YouTube
Red and Google Play
Music together, while
doubling down on
recommendations and
artist promotion. Now we
know when all this is
launching: Tuesday 22
May.
After
more than two years
of negotiating, the
Radio Music Licensing
Committee is apparently
sticking to its guns
with trying to lower the
royalty rate it pays BMI
for the 2017-2022
period.
YouTube’s
charm offensive with the
music community cranks
up a gear with the
streaming giant’s
announcement overnight
it will recognise the
creators of the music on
its platform.
Alphabet’s
video-streaming titan
has rolled out “Music
in this video,” a
feature that allows you
to scrutinise details on
artists and songwriters,
and their respective
labels and publishers.
More than 500 million
videos that contain
music are covered,
whether it’s a DJ set,
a gaming film or a
wedding dance. Anything
with recorded music.
The
consent decrees that
dictate how radio
secures songs in the
ASCAP and BMI repertoire
aren’t part of the
copyright overhaul bill
making its way through
Congress. But the
prospect of the Dept. of
Justice sun-setting the
77-year old agreements
hung over much of the
discussion Tuesday as
the Senate took up
legislation designed to
modernize music
copyright laws.
No
matter which field you
choose in life,
marketing has become an
integral part of every
field. Whether you cook
food, paint or make
music marketing is
something you should
keep yourself updated
about. If you’re an up
an coming musician, the
first thing that you
will need is to increase
your fan base. You need
to make sure that you
can woo the hearts of
those who take your
music to another level.
Self-releasing
is more difficult than
the old-school model of
signing with a label and
expecting it to carry
the ball. But with so
many tools available to
modern artists, the ones
who establish a sound, a
fan base and
relationships inside the
business have an upper
hand, whether they
choose to carry on alone
or team eventually with
a major. Self-releasing
"was less thinkable
in country music, but it
was very doable and has
been done in every other
genre for years,"
says Tony Morreale, the
head of Watson's BIG
Label Records.
Apple
Music is touting 50
million subscribers to
its premium service.
That’s quite a jump
from March’s report
of 38 million
subscribers, but this
time around CEO Tim
Cook is including
those who are on a
three-month free trial
of the subscription
service.
The
Dept. of Justice’s list
of which consent decrees
to target for possible
elimination still includes
the decades-old agreements
covering how radio
licenses music from ASCAP
and BMI. But The MIC
Coalition, which includes
broadcasters, argues such
a move would be a
“nightmare scenario”
for how the music
marketplace functions.
When
it comes to social media,
the vast variety of
options from which to
choose can make it
difficult for artists and
bands to know what tools
are best for them. Here we
break down the top twenty
options, and look at what
puts them at the top of
the pile.
Warner
Music Group has quietly
launched a digital music
distribution service that
is a direct competitor to
Tunecore, CDBaby and
DistroKid. Level Music,
which WMG has never
announced it's involvement
is live online, accepting
artists and offering some
additional service.
Two
weeks after the House unanimously
approved a sweeping
music copyright reform bill,
a bipartisan group of
lawmakers on Thursday
introduced a companion bill
in the Senate. Similar to
the House bill, the proposal
doesn’t include a
performance royalty for
AM/FM airplay. But it
does include several
provisions that could have
an impact on radio stations.
[UPDATED]
SoundExchange has launched
Music Data Exchange (MDX), a
free software application
designed to facilitate the
exchange of sound recording
and publishing data and
ownership claims between
record labels and music
publishers.
These
days, there’s a lot of talk
about digital
marketing — and for good
reason. Web and social media
ads have become a highly
precise, measurable tool for
reaching your target audience
of music fans right where they
are online.
To
keep your shows and your brand
top of mind for your fans,
span the entire spectrum of
marketing. That means
complementing your online
efforts with offline marketing
programs.
