The Stones Skirt Public Domain With Ingenious YouTube Ploy

Pubic Domain is a concept that no artist wants to face. On one hand, if an artist is popular enough that he or she has to worry about their works being freely available to the public then they’ve had a great career. On the other hand, it also means that they’re no longer able to […]

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Here’s A New Way To Game Spotify Playlists

Ever since the beginning of digital music artists, managers and labels have been finding ways to game the system. From artificially boosting social authority to YouTube views to music streams, there always seems to be someone that’s one step beyond those that are in charge of making sure that everyone plays fair. But there’s a […]

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Have A Great 2020!

We go into every new year with so much hope that it will be better than the last. Even more so at the beginning of a decade like today. Here’s to a great 2020 and many more like it. I truly appreciate your support of my blogs, podcast, books, courses, and general ramblings. You give […]

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2020 Audio Production And Music Business Predictions On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

No guest on the podcast this week as I take a look at what might be in store for us 2020. It’s short and sweet and will get you thinking. Some of the things I’ll look at include: The plugin evolution that’s coming USB 4 Artificial intelligence-based products Immersive audio Digital patchbays Pro Tools’ dominance Gear getting […]

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Vinyl Albums Sales Week Biggest Since 1991

Vinyl albums are turning out to be great Christmas gifts, it seems, if the week before Christmas week’s sales are any indication. According to Nielsen Music, it was the biggest sales week for vinyl since it started keeping records in 1991. The data tracking service found that 921,000 copies were sold in the U.S. The […]

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Cox Communications Owes The Major Labels $1 Billion For Allowing Music Piracy

Music piracy has decreased a great deal thanks to music streaming, but it still exists. Digital Service Providers (DSPs) have gotten away with having pirate streaming networks on their systems up until now, but a recent ruling went against Cox Communications that will award Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI $1 […]

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8 Spotify Playlist Secrets

The secret to at least some success on Spotify comes from being getting on one or more playlists, but that’s easier said than done. George Goodrich of Playlist Push had some excellent insider playlist secrets about how to succeed on the service. Here are just a few. 1. Long albums with lots of short songs. […]

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Decade And Year-End Wrap Up On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

Merry Christmas and thanks so much for your support this last year! No guest on the podcast this week as I look back on a decade full of changes in the music and pro audio business. Then, we’ll take a look at some of the momentous changes that came just in the last year alone. You won’t […]

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Music Credit Technology Finally Coming To Fruition With Sound Credit

For too long, the contributions of musicians, producers and engineers to musical tracks have not received full visibility in the digital age. Unlike back in the day of the LP and CD liner notes, digital streaming doesn’t have the documentation about who contribute to a track, which is something that fans hunger for. Not only […]

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New Owners Of Universal Music May Not Be What Artists Want

Artists have long chaffed at being part of the corporate world that the major record labels now represent. The reason why you’re an artist in the first place is to not join the game in the first place. So what could be worse than normal corporate life? Maybe if the label was owned by a […]

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Instagram Hashtags That Musicians And Artists Should Avoid

There are some Instagram hashtags that are just not worth the trouble as they might work in the short term, but the followers you add are unlikely to engage with your content. What’s more, certain hashtags tend to attract bots from fake accounts, which can drive up your follower count with users that don’t amount much. […]

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Live Nation Is In Trouble With The Justice Department And What That Means For Concert Ticketing

The huge concert promoter Live Nation owns Ticketmaster and 80% of the concert business, and that can lead to some unsavory practices. That’s apparently the conclusion of the U.S. Justice Department as it prepares to take action against the company for practices that ultimately have meant higher ticket prices for consumers. When the company purchased […]

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How Many Streams For Minimum Wage, Pulitzer For Audio, And Studio Designer John Storyk On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is architect and acoustician John Storyk, who over the course of his 50 years in the business has designed more than 3,500 audio and video production facilities, recording studios, radio stations, corporate media and conference rooms, educational and, entertainment facilities, clubs, stadiums and theaters around the world.  John and his company Walters-Storyk Design […]

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Life Is Going To Get A Lot Tougher For Composers Soon

If you’re a composer, your lifeblood is the back-end performance royalties you receive when your music is aired on a television show. At one time you could expect a nice up front fee for your services as well, but those days are now mostly in the past. Now thanks to new policies put forth by […]

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Test Your Music Promotion Knowledge

It’s fairly easy to promote your music these days, but being efficient and getting results require you to do more than take a shotgun approach. The following questions are designed to test how much you know about today’s music promotion. Ready? Let’s begin. 1. The three parts to promotion are: A. communicating, interacting, measuring B. […]

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