Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for being a part of courses, blogs, books and podcasts this year. I truly appreciate your support! You might find my latest Inner Circle Podcast episode interesting in that it’s a look back at all of the interesting stories in music business in 2018, and there sure were […]
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Trying to launch a streaming service these days is insanely difficult due to the fact that in order to get any sort of catalog together, music licenses that are prohibitively expensive are required. But what if an artist only featured his or her work on the service? That’s exactly what Neil Young is doing with […]
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Much has changed in the music industry over the last few years that affect an artist’s ability to be successful. Some of it is brand new and a result of the technology we use, while some of it is good common sense that’s been used over and over over many decades of the business. Here […]
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The touring industry has wondered for a while now what would happen when the legacy rock acts were no longer able to tour. Would the new generation of artists be able to fill the concert venues and stadiums like their predecessors? The answer is yes, and this year has proven it beyond a shadow of […]
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My guest on the podcast today is Laurence Juber, who’s truly one of the world’s most remarkable acoustic guitar players. Laurence has a big history on both electric and acoustic guitar actually, starting as a busy session player in his home town of London before joining Paul McCartney’s Wings. After the band folded he resumed his session career first […]
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The Chinese music streaming service Tencent Music raised $1.1 billion last week, in what was one of the largest U.S. public offerings of the year. After a hot start where the stock gained almost 10% in its first day of trading, it fell considerably to $12.81 per share from its opening price of $14.10 on […]
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It seems like the days of the YouTube personality are slowly beginning to wane thanks to creator burnout and corporations getting better at implementing their channels. PewDiePie currently leads all others on the platform with an astounding 76.4 million channel subscribers, but that record may fall by the time you read this. What’s more interesting […]
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The major record labels have always chaffed at the idea of tech companies like Spotify, Apple, Google and Amazon being in control of the distribution of their music, especially at the currently Wall Street valuations that those companies possess. That said, they’ve been unsuccessful in developing their own digital distribution product in the past, which […]
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Remember Muzak, the music we all loved to hate, affectionately known as “elevator music?” Even though it supplied super-sweet versions of cutting edge hits to businesses everywhere for years, it was actually a good business to be in as it made a lot of under-the-radar money, and Apple now wants a piece of it. According […]
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My guest today on the podcast is Grammy-winning vocalist Darlene Koldenhoven, who’s appeared before a staggering 1.5 billion worldwide viewing audience on PBS as the soloist in Yanni, Live at the Acropolis, coached musicians and singers in the war-torn jungles of Sierra Leone, and sang on hundreds of recordings for films and major recording artists. Darlene is classically trained […]
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One of the ways I used to gauge the magnitude of a hit was if I could walk down a street in another country and hear it blasting from the bars and shops. Since the 80s when I began to travel a lot, this little test has never let me down, as it’s been a […]
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More and more artists and bands are going the indie label route these days, some by choice and others by the fact that the pathways to a major label are perhaps more limited than ever. This is clearly shown in Mark Mulligan’s latest post that reveals that indie labels contributed just a touch under 40% […]
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Your core fans, or your “tribe,” as uber-marketer Seth Godin calls them, crave your communication. But communication is a two-way street, and the artist must be just as willing to listen to his or her tribe as talk at them. This excerpt from the Music 4.0 Internet music guidebook shows 5 ways that you can check the pulse of the tribe to better […]
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The fervor for high-resolution music streaming has died down in recent months, and it looked like everyone has finally settled on the current CD-level quality as sufficient enough for most users. That sentiment isn’t enough to stop hi-res streamer Qobuz from planning a launch for next year though, as the company recently opened up a […]
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My guest today on the podcast is Frank Fitzpatrick, who’s a multi-platinum selling record producer, Grammy-nominated songwriter, social entrepreneur and award-winning filmmaker. Frank started in the business in concert promotion but soon became a protege of hit producer Richard Perry. His eyes were always on music for film rather than hit songs though, and he’s been quite successful […]
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