Category Archives for "Commentary"
December 13, 2017
Do Catalog Releases Make The Charts Inaccurate?
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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October 9, 2017
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
For Radio To Live It Must Embrace Technology
When it comes to the health of terrestrial radio in the United States these days, there’s a lot of conflicting data. On the one hand we find that radio is still listened to with great frequency in the car and at work, and that it’s still a driving force for new music discovery. On the […]
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September 25, 2017
Ed Sheeran Might Change Your Mind About Making Money On Spotify
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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September 13, 2017
YouTube Has Found A Way To Pay Even Less
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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September 11, 2017
Facebook Goes After YouTube With The Money Card
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
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Goldman Sachs Predicts $28 Billion Streaming Music Market, But Should Anyone Care?
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
- in Commentary , Tips by Bobby Owsinski
The New Song Release Schedule Explained
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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July 20, 2017
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
How Better Data Changed Radio Forever
Most of us don’t like to admit it, but we do listen to a lot of radio. Granted, it’s mostly in your car these days, but we tend to spend a lot of our lives there, so for at lest some of the time, radio is what we listen to. All of us complain about […]
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June 12, 2017
Pandora Fails To Get The Message In Its Deal With Sirius XM
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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May 24, 2017
The MP3 Is Not Dead, And I Can Prove It
There’s been a flurry of articles lately about the death of the MP3, and most of them have got the story wrong. The format itself is, in fact, far from dead, and I’m going to prove it to you. First, what is an MP3? It’s a file format that basically takes a very large-sized high-bandwidth […]
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May 8, 2017
Warner Music’s New Deal With YouTube Isn’t Great, But It Might Not Matter Anyway
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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April 26, 2017
IFPI Numbers Show How The Music Industry Is Getting Healthy Again
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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March 20, 2017
Cities Waking Up To The Value Of Music Venues
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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February 16, 2017
Spotify May Now Be 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
- in Commentary by Bobby Owsinski
Is Your Music Attorney Good Enough To Get A 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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