Category Archives for "Commentary"
July 15, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Maybe YouTube Isn’t Music’s Boogie Man After All
Artists, bands and record labels have issued an all-out assault on YouTube this year over a variety of issues that mostly stem from what they consider to be low royalty payouts. The problem is, while it’s likely that many of the presumptions leading to the attacks have a basis in reality, their conclusions may be […]
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July 8, 2016
The Album Is Dying, And Good Riddance
The music business was once all about the single song, transitioned to the album, and looks to be transitioning back again, as album sales sink lower and lower. While the writing may be on the wall that the concept of an album may be as outmoded as a buggy whip, artists, bands and record labels […]
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July 4, 2016
Buying Tidal Is A Terrible Waste Of Apple’s Money
A report from the Wall Street Journal yesterday has Apple in talks to buy Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming service, and even though Tim Cook’s company has a truck load of cash on hand, this is one acquisition that seems to be a waste of money. When Apple purchased Beats two years ago for around $3 billion, […]
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July 1, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Apple Music’s Not Catching Spotify Anytime Soon And That’s Not Good
As Apple Music reaches its first anniversary, the service is now up to 15 million paid subscribers, second only to Spotify’s 30 million. That number may not be as rosy as it seems though, since it may be well below what many in the industry initially expected. A recent report from Cowen & Co. predicted […]
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June 27, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Why Brexit Might Actually Be Good For The Music Business
Now that Brexit has unleashed its shock and horror on the financial markets worldwide, other much smaller sectors are wondering how it will affect them as well, and the music business is no exception. The traditional music business (meaning record labels) is run by a crafty street-wise bunch that know how to roll with the […]
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June 22, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
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- 1 comments
Music Artists Need More Than Taylor Swift In Their DMCA Challenge
With Taylor Swift and U2 the latest superstars to sign a petition to congress complaining about the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the movement appears to be gaining traction. Chances are this one ends up like others before it though, with lots of strong talking points presented, Congressman shaking their heads yes, but not […]
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June 17, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Twitter Invests In SoundCloud, But Why?
Twitter has made an investment in SoundCloud for a reported $70 million and if you’ve been following the story between the companies, you have to ask yourself “Why now?†About two years ago Twitter almost acquired SoundCloud before walking away at the last minute, and an acquisition certainly would have made a lot more sense […]
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June 15, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
The Music Industry Continues To Whiff On Each Giant Opportunity
Artists, labels and music services alike continue to lament the fact that not enough free streaming subscribers are converting to the paid tier, yet the possible incentive to get those free tier customers to upgrade is being ignored by the different players along the product pipeline. Superstar albums continue to be released without the industry […]
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June 10, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Get Ready For The Amazon Streaming Music Disruption
With the battle over streaming music leadership raging on between Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, there’s one major company that’s been lying silently in the weeds waiting for the right time to pounce on an industry increasingly ripe for the picking. Don’t look now, but it may be Amazon that may soon be the one […]
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June 8, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
What If Google Had Bought Michael Jackson’s Half Of Sony/ATV?
Word came out over the weekend that Google was a clandestine bidder for Michael Jackson’s half of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and the news had the music business wiping its collective brow in relief. Had that purchase happened, we might be looking at a very different industry landscape today. To recap, last March a buy-sell clause […]
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June 3, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
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- 1 comments
The Music Industry’s Big Data Problem
One of the hopes that digital music brought was for a faster and more accurate way for everyone in the food chain to get paid. That sounds good on paper, but unfortunately hasn’t quite panned out the way anyone in the industry expected. While it’s true that it’s easy to count online sales and downloads in the digital […]
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June 1, 2016
Electronic Dance Music Still Has Room For Growth Despite Predictions
It wasn’t that long ago when it looked like electronic dance music, or EDM, might be the savior of the music business, thanks to an impressive growth rate of 54% over the course of just three years. With overall CD and download sales slowing down, and streaming paid subscribers not increasing as fast as the […]
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May 30, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
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- 1 comments
The Seamy Side Of The Music Business Circa 1980
I just returned from speaking at Nimbus School of Recording and Media in Vancouver (one of the best recording schools anywhere – thanks Mike, Rob and Brandon), and one of the questions that I received from the students was if the music business is more difficult now than it was in the past. Actually, getting into […]
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May 18, 2016
Steve Miller’s Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Rant
I’ve been no fan of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, as you probably know if you read this blog. I don’t believe there should be such an institution, since there’s really no way to quantify who should be in it, unlike a sports HOF where there are plenty of statistics to gauge someone’s […]
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April 13, 2016
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
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- 2 comments
YouTube Has All The Leverage In New Label Negotiations
If you’re a record label, or an artist, band or publisher for that matter, the one thorn in your digital side is YouTube. Why? It’s by far the most widely used streaming service for consuming music, yet it pays the least of all the services. However, it’s come to light that YouTube’s licensing agreements with the three […]
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