Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
September 14, 2018
This Huge Online Platform Isn’t Paying Any Music Royalties
The music industry constantly beats up YouTube because of its puny royalty stream, but it consistently overlooks another huge service that isn’t paying anything – Twitch. The Amazon-owned platform has 2.2 million broadcasters and 15 million daily active users who are all consuming music, but unfortunately, artists, songwriters, labels and publishers aren’t seeing a dime […]
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September 13, 2018
How The European Union Copyright Reform Could Change The Music Business For The Worse
As much as artists, managers, labels and publishers rail against YouTube, there’s no denying that it’s been beneficial to the industry in at least two ways. First, it’s the foremost place for new music discovery, and secondly, it provides an additional revenue stream. The major complaint against YouTube has always been about the royalty amount […]
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September 12, 2018
Spotify And Nielsen Deal Could Mean More Money For Artists
One of the things that’s most valuable to artists, management and labels is the demographic information of exactly who is listening. In these days of targeted advertising, the more we know about an audience the better we can serve them. While artists really need this info, the fact of the matter is that advertisers might […]
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September 10, 2018
A Glimpse Of The Future? It’s Hard To Post Classical Music Online Without A Copyright Violation
Back, Bartok, Schubert, Puccini and Wagner wrote their compositions hundreds of years ago before the idea of copyright was even a glint in an intellectual property attorney’s eye, so they’re in the public domain. But are they? It turns out it’s getting tougher and tougher to post the music of the classical greats by a performer […]
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September 5, 2018
The Family Plan Comes Back To Bite The Streaming Platforms
At one point in time the Family Plan tier with multiple users on one monthly bill seemed like a great way to get more people on board with music streaming, especially when it was new. This strategy actually turned out to work too well though, as so many users are now on Family Plans that […]
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September 3, 2018
Concert Sales Revenue Hit Record Highs, But The Reason Isn’t Popularity
If you’re an A-list artist then times are very good for you. According the recent Pollstar mid-year report, the top 50 best selling tours in the first half of 2018 generated a record amount of cash. Those tours brought in $2.21 billion in sales revenue, which is up 12% over last year at the same time. […]
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August 31, 2018
Even As Streaming Increases YouTube Is Still The Place For Music Discovery
It’s true that millions of people still go to YouTube primarily for the cute cat and baby videos, but music is still the platform’s #1 attraction and money maker, according to a new study by MIDiA. Music videos are the single most popular video category on YouTube, accounting for 32% of views and 21% of its […]
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August 24, 2018
Will Virtual Reality Concerts Actually Go Commercial?
Virtual Reality hit the streets with such promise but really hasn’t taken off the way that everyone had hoped and predicted. One of the reasons was that the bulky headsets just aren’t that appealing. The other is that there really wasn’t a “killer app” available, although for a while everyone thought that music might be […]
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August 22, 2018
How Ad Blockers On Spotify Might Be Costing You Money
Spotify recently revealed that it had 2 million subscribers that were using ad blockers on its free tier. Since a user doesn’t pay anything to subscribe to that tier they’re subjected to ads that help pay for it and also return royalties to the artists. Someone who uses an ad blocker obviously doesn’t listen to […]
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August 20, 2018
Ticketmaster Will Shut Its Secondary Ticket Sites In Europe – Is The US Next?
Everyone hates paying the inflated prices that secondary ticket sellers charge, but many customers feel they’re a necessary evil. If you want a seat, especially a good one, they’re probably the only game in town. But that may not be as true in Europe soon as Ticketmaster announced it will shut down its GET ME […]
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August 17, 2018
Yes, There’s Now A Zillow For Song Royalties
If you own a home you most likely know about Zillow, a website that makes it easy to find out how much your house, and others in the neighborhood, is worth on the current open market. It’s great if you’re buying or selling a home, or just for fun to play a “What if” game […]
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August 15, 2018
Sony And Universal Make More Than $500k Per Hour From Streaming
The naysayers have always been so negative on the fraction of a cent payout that comes from a music stream, but it’s never been so evident that those small bits add up to something huge. Music Business Worldwide did the math after looking at both Sony Music and Universal Music Group’s financials for the beginning […]
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August 13, 2018
Spotify Escalates Its Battle With Apple Music With A New Samsung Agreement
Spotify and Apple Music have been locked in a back and forth battle for the hearts and minds of the music streaming business that increases in tempo a bit more seemingly every day. Until now, Apple has had the upper hand strategically over Spotify in that its music streaming division was just another reason to […]
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August 10, 2018
Warner Music Group Sells It’s Spotify Stock And Gives 25% Back To Its Artists
Warner Music Group recently sold all of its stake in Spotify for $504 million, and everyone expected that money to go right to the company’s bottom line and bypass its artists. That’s not the case though as Warners announced that it would allocate 25% of that income back to artists. Sounds like good news, right? […]
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August 7, 2018
Introducing The Music Business Advice Book
I’m pleased to announce the release of my latest book, The Music Business Advice Book: 150 Immediately Useful Tips From The Pros. The book is a compilation of 150 helpful quotes from 130 top music pros from various segments of the music industry who previously shared these tips on my Inner Circle Podcast over the course of almost […]
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