Bobby Owsinski

Author Archives: Bobby Owsinski

Songwriter Martin Page On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

Martin Page

This week I’m lucky to have my compadre from the AudioNowcast on my Inner Circle Podcast, songwriter Martin Page. Martin’s had much success over the years writing with everyone from Earth, Wind and Fire, to Bernie Taupin, to Hal David, to Robbie Robertson, to Robbie Williams, and he’s also co-written a couple of world-wide #1 […]

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Big Tax Break Coming For Recording In New York

Music Tax Break

Everybody likes to save money and saving money on taxes is no exception. That’s why numerous states (like North Carolina and Louisiana) and countries (like Canada) have issued their own versions of a tax break to entertainment companies to lure production to their locations in recent years. Now New York is getting into the act, […]

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June 10, 2016

Get Ready For The Amazon Streaming Music Disruption

Amazon_Prime_Music_logo

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

What If Google Had Bought Michael Jackson’s Half Of Sony/ATV?

Google Buys 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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Mastering Engineer Ian Shepherd On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

Ian Shepherd

If you take notice I have a lot of mastering engineer’s on my Inner Circle Podcast, and that’s because they’re pretty overlooked, usually keep a low profile, and what they do is generally misunderstood. That said, as you’ve probably heard by now if you listen to the show a lot, they all have great stories […]

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The Music Industry’s Big Data Problem

Big Data

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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Electronic Dance Music Still Has Room For Growth Despite Predictions

Andy_Moor_DJ_2010

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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The Seamy Side Of The Music Business Circa 1980

Playola

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 27, 2016

5 Tips For Increasing YouTube Engagement

YouTube Engagement

Even though Facebook is catching up, YouTube engagement is still a primary concern for every artist. Information is power, and some brand new data about viewership on YouTube help to maximize its usefulness as a promotional tool. For instance, video length is one of the biggest deciding factors for engagement. Videos under one minute are […]

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Making Sense of Streaming Income

iPhone Music

In Part 3 on my series on streaming music royalties, we try to make sense of streaming income as we look at why it varies so much and why the sales parameters we set in the days of vinyl and CDs no longer apply in the digital age. Once again, this is an excerpt from […]

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Pirate Radio Stations On The Rise Again

Pirate Radio Coming Back

Once upon a time pirate radio stations were big business and a big influence, with Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and XERF all helping birth the modern radio and music industries. Most pirate stations have been long closed, and it was thought that they’d be gone for good thanks to the Internet. Surprisingly, pirate radio is […]

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Pandora’s Largest Investor Worried About Its Future

pandora-internet-radio

Pandora’s largest investor is so concerned about its future that it sent a letter to the company’s CEO and board members asking them to reconsider its strategy and explore the possibility of a sale. According to a report in Music Business Worldwide, Corvex Management LP, the investor that sent the letter, owns  8.3% of Pandora and is fed up […]

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Flipagram’s John Bolton On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

John Bolton Flipagram

On this week’s edition of my Inner Circle Podcast I’m happy to have digital music veteran John Bolton as my guest. John is the head of music at Flipagram, and prior to that he held a similar position at Muve Music, which is one of the larger streaming music services.   We’ll discuss what it’s […]

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