Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
April 20, 2017
The Importance Of Playlist Placement For Your Music To Be Discovered
While radio airplay used to be the lifeblood of a hit (and in some cases still is), today it’s the playlist that really sets the tone for listener discovery. If a track is added to a popular list, its streams will spike and listeners will add it to their personal playlists, which sometimes adds a […]
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April 19, 2017
With 32 Million Subscribers Apple Music Is Challenging Spotify As Streaming Leader
We keep reading about Spotify having more paid subscribers than just about any other service at 51 or so million, but it looks like Apple Music is not only catching up, but surpassing the service in many areas. A new survey from the media measurement company Verto Analytics actually puts Apple Music at the top […]
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April 17, 2017
TuneCore Direct Advance Offers Artists Automated Advances
It could be a sign that digital music aggregation has either grown up or is adopting a label model, but regardless of the reason, TuneCore has launched a program called TuneCore Direct Advance that offers automated advances to artists signed to distribution or publishing deals. This is certainly a first for this arm of the industry, and […]
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April 12, 2017
The Reason Why YouTube Pays Artists So Little
The recorded music business is rejoicing at the fact that after more than a decade, it finally has some strong revenue growth. The best part is that the growth looks like it will continue, as paying for streaming has finally gone mass market and listeners have seem the light of the benefit of paying at […]
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April 10, 2017
Would You Pull Your Music Off The Radio?
Almost from the beginning of the industry, recording artists have complained about not being compensated for radio airplay. Sure, songwriters get paid, but artists and labels never receive a dime. This is a phenomena unique to the United States, since in most other countries artist compensation has long been settled. While legislation to pay artists […]
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April 5, 2017
Spotify Gets A New Deal With Universal Music
As I’ve written in other posts, Spotify wants to do a public offering this year but won’t be able to do that until it signs new licensing agreements with each of the major labels. It looks like the first of those agreements has come to pass with the reported signing of Universal Music. The fact […]
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April 3, 2017
Happy Days – US Music Growth The Most In 20 Years
In record label executive offices across the U.S. there’s rejoicing as the latest RIAA numbers show a double digit increase in revenue for the first time in almost 20 years. The latest figures show that the recorded music market in 2016 brought in $7.7 billion, up a bit more 11% over the previous year. And […]
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March 29, 2017
Yes, Spotify Tiers Might Look Different Soon
As mentioned here before, Spotify’s licensing deals with the major labels is currently out of contract. This is a big deal since the company wants to go public this year, and that could be put in jeopardy if it doesn’t have its licensing house in order. But the labels are driving a hard bargain, not […]
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March 27, 2017
Voltra Tries A Stream-To-Own Approach
You’d think that owning music is a thing of the past, yet the iTunes music store still does over a $1 billion a year selling downloads. Streaming may be putting a big hit on downloads, but a new online store called Voltra is coming at it with a new approach that might benefit both music […]
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March 22, 2017
Can A Hit Be Predicted By An Algorithm?
We like to think that everything about music is built around the tastes of the people that are both creating and listening to it, but that outlook seems to be increasingly out of step with reality. Artificial intelligence is being used more and more for all sorts of things that control our lives, so why […]
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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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March 15, 2017
Money Is Getting Tight For SoundCloud
It looks like Pandora isn’t the only streaming company having big financial problems. SoundCloud is reported to now be in a do or die situation where it must either raise some serious cash or sell for pennies on the dollar. The company has been trying to raise $100 million to keep the doors open for […]
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March 8, 2017
Big Changes Are Coming To Pandora Soon
If you’re a Pandora user, the service that you know and hopefully love may very well be different in the next month. That’s because an investor revolt looks to be forcing the company’s sale, according to an enlightening expose’ by Music Business Worldwide, and that could come within the next two weeks by the way things […]
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March 6, 2017
Will SXSW Have International Artists Deported For Unofficial Shows?
A big controversy has popped up over a tweet (see below) that outlines the language in the latest SXSW artist contracts which stipulates stipulates “SXSW will notify the appropriate immigration authorities” if an international artist tries to play either an official or unofficial show without the proper work visa. As a result, a number of international acts […]
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March 1, 2017
New SoundCloud Go Tier Priced At $4.99
Most pundits in the recorded music business have been advocating for a low-priced streaming music tier for years, predicting that real growth in that end of the business won’t begin until the entry level price falls from $10 to around $5. While Amazon introduced its low-priced tier at the end of last year, you needed to […]
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