June 3, 2016

The Music Industry’s Big Data Problem

Big Data

One of the hopes that digital music brought was for a faster and more accurate way for everyone in the food chain to get paid. That sounds good on paper, but unfortunately hasn’t quite panned out the way anyone in the industry expected. While it’s true that it’s easy to count online sales and downloads in the digital […]

Continue reading

#DistroKid #Forbes #Kobalt Music #music publishing #songwriters

June 1, 2016

Electronic Dance Music Still Has Room For Growth Despite Predictions

Andy_Moor_DJ_2010

It wasn’t that long ago when it looked like electronic dance music, or EDM, might be the savior of the music business, thanks to an impressive growth rate of 54% over the course of just three years. With overall CD and download sales slowing down, and streaming paid subscribers not increasing as fast as the […]

Continue reading

#DJ Mag #EDM #electronic dance music #Forbes #IMS Business Report #streaming music #Top 100 clubs

May 30, 2016

The Seamy Side Of The Music Business Circa 1980

Playola

I just returned from speaking at Nimbus School of Recording and Media in Vancouver (one of the best recording schools anywhere – thanks Mike, Rob and Brandon), and one of the questions that I received from the students was if the music business is more difficult now than it was in the past. Actually, getting into […]

Continue reading

#Nimbus School of Recording and Media #payola #playola #radio promotion #The Chart Busters 1980 #video

May 27, 2016

5 Tips For Increasing YouTube Engagement

YouTube Engagement

Even though Facebook is catching up, YouTube engagement is still a primary concern for every artist. Information is power, and some brand new data about viewership on YouTube help to maximize its usefulness as a promotional tool. For instance, video length is one of the biggest deciding factors for engagement. Videos under one minute are […]

Continue reading

#engagement #mobile viewing #Subrat Kar #Vidooly #YouTube

May 26, 2016

Making Sense of Streaming Income

iPhone Music

In Part 3 on my series on streaming music royalties, we try to make sense of streaming income as we look at why it varies so much and why the sales parameters we set in the days of vinyl and CDs no longer apply in the digital age. Once again, this is an excerpt from […]

Continue reading

#DIY #Music 4.1: A Survival Guide For Making Music In the Internet Age #sound recording royalty #streaming income #streaming music

May 25, 2016

Pirate Radio Stations On The Rise Again

Pirate Radio Coming Back

Once upon a time pirate radio stations were big business and a big influence, with Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and XERF all helping birth the modern radio and music industries. Most pirate stations have been long closed, and it was thought that they’d be gone for good thanks to the Internet. Surprisingly, pirate radio is […]

Continue reading

#Associated Press #FCC #pirate radio #Radio Caroline #Radio Luxembourg #XERF

May 24, 2016

Pandora’s Largest Investor Worried About Its Future

pandora-internet-radio

Pandora’s largest investor is so concerned about its future that it sent a letter to the company’s CEO and board members asking them to reconsider its strategy and explore the possibility of a sale. According to a report in Music Business Worldwide, Corvex Management LP, the investor that sent the letter, owns  8.3% of Pandora and is fed up […]

Continue reading

#Corvex Management #Internet radio #noninteractive streaming service #on-demand #Pandora #Rdio #streaming music #Ticketfly #Tim Westergren

May 23, 2016

Flipagram’s John Bolton On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

John Bolton Flipagram

On this week’s edition of my Inner Circle Podcast I’m happy to have digital music veteran John Bolton as my guest. John is the head of music at Flipagram, and prior to that he held a similar position at Muve Music, which is one of the larger streaming music services.   We’ll discuss what it’s […]

Continue reading

#Bobby Owsinski #Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast #Flipagram #Inner Circle Podcast #John Bolton #streaming music #TransAcoustic guitar #UMG #Universal Music Group #Yamaha

May 20, 2016

Facebook’s New Slideshow Feature Just For Music Videos

Facebook watching

It’s obvious that Facebook has been gunning for YouTube for some time now, and the service now claims that it now has more video viewers (although that’s debatable). That’s not enough though, as Facebook will soon introduce a feature called Slideshow that will allow users to create their own soundtracks from a list of licensed popular songs. Although only […]

Continue reading

#Facebook #music videos #Slideshow #YouTube

May 19, 2016

The Streaming Performance Royalty Rate Explained

Artists and songwriters, even some publishers, very often misunderstand how streaming income and royalty rates and payments are determined because it’s a immensely complex subject. One of the things that I’ve done in my new Music 4.1 book is provide an overview of how streaming royalties work and are paid, in many cases following the revenue stream down […]

Continue reading

#Audium #Copyright Royalty Board #performance royalty #PRO #streaming mechanical

May 18, 2016

Steve Miller’s Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Rant

Steve Miller 2010

I’ve been no fan of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, as you probably know if you read this blog. I don’t believe there should be such an institution, since there’s really no way to quantify who should be in it, unlike a sports HOF where there are plenty of statistics to gauge someone’s […]

Continue reading

#Billboard #Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame #Rolling Stone #Steve Miller

May 17, 2016

YouTube Adopts A New Tool For Faster Royalty Payments

Digital Sales Report Flat File

One of the things that bugs artists, songwriters and labels about YouTube is that it’s pretty difficult to get precise information about views and payments. In many cases, views aren’t counted and in other cases payments take too long to arrive. YouTube is hoping to alleviate those problems by implementing a new tool based on the […]

Continue reading

#accounting #DDEX #Digital Sales Report Flat File standard #YouTube

May 16, 2016

Universal Music Makes Nearly $4 Million A Day From Streaming

Universal Music

Who says that there’s no money in streaming? It seems that all of those micro-payments add up after all as Universal Music Group is making about $3.9 million per day just from streaming music, according to its parent Vivendi’s first quarter earnings statement. In fact, UMG’s streaming revenue was up almost 60% over the previous quarter, […]

Continue reading

#music distribution #streaming income #streaming revenue #UMG #Universal Music Group #Vivendi

May 13, 2016

A Streaming Music Royalty Primer

Music 4.1 cover

Streaming music royalty rates are such a morass of different percentages and possibilities that few people on the planet totally understand everything, and the ones who do are attorneys working in that narrow end of the music business. Even label and publishing execs who have been in the business for 20 or more years can […]

Continue reading

#book excerpt #Copyright Royalty Board #interactive streaming service #Music 4.1: A Survival Guide For Making Music In the Internet Age #noninteractive streaming service #streaming royalties

1 … 109 110 111 112 113 114