If you want to start a music label executive ranting and raving, just mention YouTube. It’s currently public enemy #1 to the music industry thanks to its relative intransigence over royalty payouts that execs and artists alike feel are way too low. That’s a good reason why Youtube may think its brand new hire of […]
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Here’s the music industry news roundup from the week of Sept 30th, 2016. There’s a wide range of topics this week that run the gamut from album sales to social networks to acquisitions to bankruptcy, so let’s get to it. Adele gets her second Diamond album in the US. Her album 25 just went past the 10 […]
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If your audience is composed of millennials, then it’s time to start using Facebook Live, according to a new report by UBS. The company surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers aged 13 and up on social media usage as well as video consumption and found that Facebook’s relatively new service is the go-to service for that age group, followed […]
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In my experience there are two kinds of songwriters. One writes completely from the heart as an expression of art, while the second does it more as a business, writing whatever the situation calls for. Neither is more noble than the other, they’re just different, and both require a tremendous amount of skill and passion. That said, […]
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Pamplamoose showed the world just how powerful some DIY YouTube videos could be, garnering millions of views that eventually landed the duo some national television commercials. Jack Conte, half of the duo, built on that success to form Patreon, a way for creators to make a living from their work through subscription payments from their […]
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Record labels hate giving exclusives to streaming services, but they appear to be working when it comes to signing up new paid subscribers. During Apple’s latest product rollout, CEO Tim Cook mentioned that Apple Music was now at 17 million subscribers thanks to over 70 exclusives with artist like Taylor Swift, Frank Ocean and Drake. The […]
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Here’s the music industry news roundup from the week of Sept 23rd, 2016. Streaming in the news again, but what else is new. It at the heart of the music industry’s evolution right now Don’t be surprised to see cheaper pricing tiers at all of the services, not that the barriers have been broken. Universal and Sony […]
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It used to be that just one good review in a magazine could sell loads of albums. Even a bad review could be really good for business if it was in a publication like Rolling Stone. That’s all changed since magazine reviews have become pretty irrelevant as the music world has moved online. Now its the […]
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There’s an experiment going on in Apple’s iTunes Store that not many are paying attention to, but it just might prolong the download side of the music business for a few more years. It’s true that streaming is all the rage, with subscription numbers increasing at a steady pace while the download business is falling […]
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Brian Schmidt is a legend in game audio and he’s my guest on Episode #127 of my Inner Circle Podcast. Both a composer and sound designer, Brian has worked on over 150 games, and he’s been the architect for the X-Box audio system and XACT gaming audio tool. Brian is also the founder of GameSoundCon, […]
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Twitter video is a relatively new element for the service, and it’s being generous in that it’s will to share what it makes from it with content creators. What’s more the company is even giving the lion’s share to the people that make the videos as well. In an effort to boost a stagnant user base, Twitter […]
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Here’s the music industry news roundup from the week of Sept 16th, 2016. There’s a lot of news in the streaming space, but also some interesting news with club music in Australia and the UK charts as well. Tidal had huge loses last year. It appears that the streaming service is not doing well and burning around $2 […]
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Your email list is one of the most powerful online tools that an artist can have, but how do you build one if you’re just starting out or you’ve neglected it for too long? Here are 5 tips from my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book that provide an easy roadmap to a larger list. “Just […]
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Ever since music streaming began in earnest, there’s been a mantra inside the music industry that’s gone something like this – “Until the paid subscription rate gets to $5 per month, streaming is never going to scale.†That’s only partially been true, as subscriber numbers have grown steadily at the now standard $10 per month, […]
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If you ever wanted to hear a true Hollywood story, then you’ll love this week’s episode of my Inner Circle podcast. Engineer Tom Weir has had some studio experiences that you could only get if you grew up in Southern California, and you won’t believe how cool some of them have been. Tom is also the […]
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