Under The Radar Amazon Music Adding Millions Of Subscribers
Amazon has always been the sleeping giant in music streaming. It’s Prime Music comes as a part of Amazon Prime, and although there are no official numbers as to the number of subscribers, the company hints that it’s at least hundred million. Amazon also has a stand-alone service as well called Amazon Music Unlimited, which […]
Continue readingScoring Mixer Bobby Fernandez On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast
My guest this week is scoring mixer Bobby Fernandez, who’s recorded and mixed the scores on hundreds of major film studio movies. Just to give you an example, Bobby has over 300 IMDB credits, but that doesn’t include over 200 films that he wasn’t credited for when working for Warner Brothers! Bobby’s also won a […]
Continue readingSpotify’s Market Cap Shows Just How Powerful Apple Really Is
Spotify’s direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange last week proved to be a little underwhelming in that most existing stockholders decided to hold on to their shares, a good sign for the company’s long-term future. Its stock price at the end of the week ended up at just shy of $148, which translated […]
Continue readingWhich Streaming Service Pays The Most? You’ll Be Surprised
Streaming royalties are a completely moving target, and what’s reported as the average payment today will certainly change tomorrow. The reason is that there are so many variables that go into calculating a stream payment. That said, the chart below from Statista provides the gross payouts to labels per stream from each major streaming service. […]
Continue readingSpotify Finally Goes Public, And Sony Sells Some Of Its Stock
Spotify finally went public yesterday in a unique direct listing that had Wall Street watching the offering closely. The stock opened at a price of $165.90 per share but fell to $149.01 by the end of the day. The stock dropped down another 8% to $140.02 by midday Wednesday. That said, even at $140 per […]
Continue readingNew YouTube TrueView For Reach Ads Could Mean More Revenue For Artists
YouTube has rolled out a new variety of advert that may end up bringing in more ad dollars not only for artists and bands, but anyone who posts an interesting video on the service. Known as TrueView for Reach, the new ad type is similar to standard TrueView ads that can be skipped after 5 […]
Continue readingBlues Hall Of Fame Sax Player Joe Sublett On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast
My guest this week is saxophonist Joe Sublett, who’s a Grammy and W.C. Handy Award winner as well as an inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame. Joe’s credits include work with superstars like The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, The Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, BB King and a […]
Continue readingNew Record Deal Advances Are Soaring, If You’re A Hip Hop Artist
There was a time in the recent past when the record company advances for a new record deal had shrunk thanks to the overall music business being in such a bad way revenue-wise. It got to the point where many artists considered going the DIY route since it actually offered better alternatives to make money. […]
Continue readingThe AMP Act Will Get Producers Paid For Streaming
Perhaps the biggest question that today’s producer has is, “How do I get paid?” Back in the days when physical sales were king, this was never a problem as producers were paid handsomely for their services from sales royalties. Even though there are still physical sales involved today, that more than likely will not pay […]
Continue readingMore YouTube Ads Coming In An Effort To Get Users To Pay Up
YouTube is about to employ a rather unique strategy in order to get more people to buy into its upcoming subscription plan. The service is going to begin to insert more ads in videos in an effort to frustrate users enough that they’ll want to pay to eliminate them. YouTube’s global head of music Lyor Cohen laid […]
Continue readingiHeartMedia Owes Music Companies $38 Million
Last week I posted about iHeartMedia’s chapter 11 bankruptcy in which it was attempting to wipe out $10 billion worth of its $20 billion debt so it could carry on operations. Although various music companies are owned just a small portion of that amount, its still a significant $38 million, and that’s money that’s not […]
Continue readingMusic Licensing Guru Joyce Kettering On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast
My guest on the podcast this week is Joyce Kettering, a composer who became so successful licensing her music that she did the thing that so many dream about – she was able to quit a very good day job as a financial auditor and just dedicate herself to music. What makes this story even […]
Continue readingBelieve It Or Not, This Report Says Music Piracy Has Increased
We live in an age where it’s probably the easiest it has ever been to access just about any kind of music you want, and all for free. The music business has always been driven by convenience of consumption, and it’s difficult to imagine how much easier it can get than joining the free tier […]
Continue reading“Blurred Lines” Infringement Verdict Appeal Falls Flat
When the verdict in the 2015 copyright infringement trial brought by the Marvin Gaye estate against the writers of the Robin Thicke hit “Blurred Lines” was reached, most of the music industry shuddered. While some of the flavor of the Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” hit of 1977 was captured on the “Blurred […]
Continue readingProof That American Idol Doesn’t Create Hitmakers
Most artists and musicians that I know hold the shows American Idol and The Voice in some level of contempt. It’s made-for-TV music and doesn’t reflect much about the true business of music or paying your dues (although there’s less of that these days anyway). It gets the public excited for the duration of the […]
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