Category Archives for "Commentary"

Do Catalog Releases Make The Charts Inaccurate?

frontline vs catalog

It’s been a fact of life in the recorded music business that the records known as “frontline” releases get all the attention. The big marketing dollars, the promotion, and any sales push is reserved for only the latest releases, and that attention changes pretty quickly on to the next new one unless it’s a big […]

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Ed Sheeran Might Change Your Mind About Making Money On Spotify

Ed Sheeran concert gross on the Music 3.0 Blog

There are still many artists and musicians that believe that streaming music is the devil, even worse than piracy. The idea is that since the payout for each stream is so small, an artist is just not capable of generating any serious income online. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” might change your mind about that, […]

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YouTube Has Found A Way To Pay Even Less

YouTube advertising algorithm

YouTube has constantly been at odds with the recorded music industry for its meager payouts, and now it’s found a way to even cut the payout on some of its biggest content creators in areas other than music as well. The video service recently started using artificial intelligence tools to flag offensive videos on the platform […]

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Facebook Goes After YouTube With The Money Card

Facebook licensing money

If there was ever evidence that Facebook wants to take YouTube down, it’s with the report that the company has offered the music industry a boatload of money for music licenses so that its users can use popular music on their videos without legal repercussions. Ever since Facebook video was launched in 2015, the social […]

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September 4, 2017

Goldman Sachs Predicts $28 Billion Streaming Music Market, But Should Anyone Care?

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs raised some eyebrows recently with it’s latest Music In The Air report that predicted the streaming music market alone would increase to $28 billion per year by the year 2030. Sounds great, but considering that the industry’s greatest revenue year to date brought in $27.4 billion (in 1996 during the height of the […]

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July 27, 2017

The New Song Release Schedule Explained

song release schedule

Our current Music 4.0 world requires new thinking regarding song releases. Here’s an excerpt from my Music 4.1 Internet Music Guidebook that outlines the new release schedule and it’s benefits. “If we go back to the ’50s, vinyl singles had a notoriously fast manufacturing turnaround time, despite the labor-intensive process required to make a vinyl […]

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Pandora Fails To Get The Message In Its Deal With Sirius XM

SiriusXM Pandora

The streaming music service Pandora’s in trouble and it has been for some time. Its user base is shrinking, its losses are increasing, and it’s not able to generate enough revenue, a bad combination if there ever was one. Reports are that the company actually rejected a total acquisition by the satellite radio company Sirius […]

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Warner Music’s New Deal With YouTube Isn’t Great, But It Might Not Matter Anyway

YouTube

All of the major labels have been out of contract and on a month-to-month basis in their licensing agreements with YouTube for some time now, but the first domino has fallen as Warner Music Group reported that it’s just completed a new deal with the video service. Even though no terms were announced, it’s easy to […]

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IFPI Numbers Show How The Music Industry Is Getting Healthy Again

IFPI music industry healthy

The annual IFPI revue of the music business confirms what all the other studies have shown – that music is truly on the comeback trail. After years of doom and gloom, the industry has seen its first double-digit rise in revenues in nearly 20 years, all thanks to streaming. The skeptics said it would never happen, […]

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Cities Waking Up To The Value Of Music Venues

music venue

Music is a big part of the nightlife of any city, but venues everywhere have been seriously threatened by rising real estate costs, noise control laws, and city taxes. Luckily, many cities are finally waking up to the fact that a city without music is a far less attractive destination or place to live, and […]

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Spotify May Now Be Looking For A Buyer

Spotify looking for a buyer

It looked like Spotify’s strategy was to go public this year, but recent announcements have pretty much put that aside. The IPO (Initial Public Offering) market has changed recently, and tech companies can no longer be assured of the big paydays of just a few years ago. As a result it looks like the company’s new plan is […]

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February 13, 2017

Is Your Music Attorney Good Enough To Get A Grammy For Suing?

Grammy for suing

There have been some pretty crazy plagiarism lawsuits brought against some of the biggest stars in the last few years. These have had a chilling effect on artists, songwriters, labels and publishers everywhere. This funny video from the stars of Portlandia kind of says it all on the subject, at least from an artistic perspective. […]

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