Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
January 19, 2018
32 Radio Stations Closed Last Year
The FCC just released their totals of licensed broadcast stations for last year and some figures jumped out. There were 32 radio stations that closed last year – 30 AM and 2 FM. Once upon a time having a broadcast license of any kind was a like having a permit to print money, but no […]
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January 15, 2018
5 Over-The-Top Album Packaging Ideas
Anyone that used to or still buys vinyl albums knows that packaging is a big deal. Interesting packaging has led to more sales than the record industry might admit just based on a cool looking graphic and some great liner notes. That said, sometimes an artist goes the extra mile to present an album packaged […]
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January 11, 2018
Is The MP3 Era Coming To An End?
Reports are that Apple is moving up its timetable for killing the MP3 download from its iTunes Store to later this year. Originally the company was planning on next year for end-of-life, but have accelerated the schedule thanks to quickly declining sales and the unprecedented growth of music streaming. There has been no official announcement […]
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January 10, 2018
With Jimmy Iovine Leaving, A Look Back At What Apple Got For Its $3 Billion Purchase Of Beats
Reports from all over the Internet suggest that Jimmy Iovine will be leaving Apple shortly after the stock he received in the company’s 2014 acquisition of his previous enterprise, Beats Electronics, vests in August. There’s been no denial or even suggestion that the story isn’t true, so it prompts a retrospective question – What exactly […]
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January 8, 2018
A Look At Music Consumption Trends In 2017
As we enter into the new year, it’s sometimes useful to look back at the previous year to discover what the trends were. Nielsen Music posted it’s music consumption figures for 2017 and a number of things became pretty evident when you really looked a the data. 1. Total music consumption was up by 12.5 percent […]
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January 5, 2018
Atlantic Records Finds A New Way Not To Pay Producers
Being a producer has gotten a lot less lucrative these days thanks to streaming. Most producer deals are built around physical sales, which as we all know, are becoming pretty much a thing a of past except in a very few cases. Sure you get paid on streaming mechanicals, but the revenue is a far […]
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January 4, 2018
Wixen Music Publishing Is Suing Spotify For $1.6 Billion
Spotify’s legal team is going to be kept pretty busy for a while defending the company against a $1.6 billion (yes, with a B) lawsuit brought by the Wixen Music Publishing. The company licenses music from about 200 artists, including superstars Tom Petty, Neil Young, The Beach Boys, Donald Fagen, Stevie Nicks, Missy Elliott, and Janis […]
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January 3, 2018
7 Music Business Predictions For 2018
2017 is now in the books and it was a big year for the recorded music industry, so now it’s time to look ahead to 2018. Here are 7 predictions that can affect the music business in ways big and small in the upcoming year should they come to pass. 1. Spotify finally goes public, […]
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December 28, 2017
What Does Apple Want With Shazam?
Apple recently confirmed that it acquired the audio recognition app Shazam for a cool $400 million. The price actually surprised analysts at how low it had fallen, given that the company was valued as high as $1 billion in the past. That said, Apple had to beat both Spotify and Snap in a bidding war […]
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December 27, 2017
YouTube Gets New Licenses From Sony And Universal
Both Sony Music and Universal Music Group are reported to have renewed their licensing deals with YouTube, which now means that the video platform now has all three major labels back in the fold after resigning Warner Music months ago. YouTube was operating under expired licenses with the majors for some time, but the new […]
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December 22, 2017
SiriusXM To Pay A Higher Royalty Next Year
In a move that will mean more money in the pockets of artists, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) recently ruled to raise the rates that the SiriusXM satellite service pays to copyright holders by 41%. The move raises the rate from 11% of revenue to 15.5% beginning on January 1st, 2018. The rate stays in […]
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December 20, 2017
The Christmas Season Has An Effect On Music Streaming Habits
One of the things not considered very often by artists, bands and even record labels is the affect that seasonal changes have on listening behavior. The Economist recently did a study and found that the weather conditions due to the time of year, and especially the Christmas season, made a decided difference on consumer music […]
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December 18, 2017
“Slow Ticketing” Taking The Scalpers Out Of The Ticket Market
Tickets for your favorite artist go on sale at 10AM, so you either go to the box office, or wait near your computer for the hour to hit so you can score the best ticket possible. And what do you find? All the best tickets were already purchased, leaving you with dreck, which means you’re […]
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December 15, 2017
Tidal Running Out Of Money
Despite its celebrity owner, Tidal always seemed to be in an uphill battle against the deep pockets of Apple, Google, and Amazon, and the big funding of Spotify. Now comes multiple reports that the music streaming service will run out of cash by the middle of next year unless things take a dramatic turn upwards. […]
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December 11, 2017
YouTube May Launch It’s New Remix Streaming Service In March
YouTube has repeatedly tried to get music fans to buy into its paid subscription services Music Key and Red but hasn’t had too much success so far. So little success, in fact, that its subscriber numbers have never been published. That said, the company has big expectations for its new service, which carries the code […]
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