These 3 Facts Will Keep You From Being Duped By Apple Music’s Royalty Letter

You’ve probably read about the royalty letter that Apple Music sent out to its artists last week stating how the service was paying about a penny a stream, almost 3 times what Spotify is paying. If you’re an artist that probably made you want to go protest in front of Spotify headquarters (something that’s actually […]

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Meddling CEO Travis Rosenblatt, Latest Social Trends, And Cleaning Microphones On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Travis Rosenblatt, who used his experience in A&R for Warner Bros and 300 Entertainment to create Medding, a subscription-based service which offers real time data on global music markets, as well as track capabilities, analytics and communications tools. Meddling is used by record labels, music publishers, artist management, law […]

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Spotify’s Car Thing Is Now A Real Thing

Spotify has made overtures about getting into the hardware business before, but now it’s for real with the introduction of its new “Car Thing,” a smart speaker designed specifically for the automobile. The device is now in limited release in the United States for a select number of Spotify subscribers. Car Thing comes with three […]

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Facebook Adds New Monetization Options For Short Videos

When it comes to monetizing content, Facebook has always been behind the other popular social services. That doesn’t mean that the company isn’t trying to catch up though. Recently Facebook announced a new range of monetization options focusing on short videos. Is this an effort to eat into TikTok’s recent popularity? Maybe, but money always […]

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Guitarist Jennifer Batten, Payola For Streaming, And Supercharged Hard Drives On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Jennifer Batten, who played lead and rhythm guitar on Michael Jackson’s Bad, Dangerous and HIStory world tours. She’s also appeared on 2 Jeff Beck albums and was a member of his touring band for 3 years. Jennifer continues to give clinics and master classes all over the world, and […]

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YouTube Checks Now Warns Of Copyright Problems Before You Post

If you post on YouTube a lot you’ve probably run into a copyright problem before. Maybe you’ve used a piece of a song by someone else, or a piece of video, or even a graphic. Maybe you’ve received a copyright warning over your own music, which is the ultimate insult. The problem is that these […]

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3 Reasons Why Spotify Playlist Promoters Might Not Be The Answer

We’ve all seen how just one placement on the right Spotify playlist can take an unknown track and boost its streams into the millions. As a result, there’s now an entire business built around helping artists get placed on playlists. Officially, Spotify says that there’s no way that any of these playlist promoters are influential […]

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“Oh, No. I’ve Been Hacked!” And Other Funny Accidents

It all started last Friday evening when I started getting emails saying that my various sites were redirecting to other places on the Web. Most of the redirects were trying to sell something (like the Google Play Store) but none of them were pointed at my blogs, podcast or personal website URL. I tried to […]

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Mastering Engineer Scott Hull, Current Streaming Rates, And Why Bands Are Disappearing On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Scott Hull, who started his illustrious career in mastering at New York’s famed Master Disk studios. Rising from an assistant to chief engineer, Scott then took a series of jobs at some of New York’s other excellent mastering facilities including Classic Sound and the Hit Factory before striking out […]

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Measure Your Record Release Campaign With These Key Performance Indicators

So you have a new recording and you want to drop it on the public. You have an idea of how to do that, right? Far too many artists just record their song and album then wonder what to do with it after it’s done. Assuming that you’re smarter than that, you’ve put together a […]

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Here’s Why Surprise Releases Aren’t A Good Idea For Indie Artists

It’s easy to look at surprise releases from superstars like Drake and Taylor Swift and believe that’s the way music will be dropped on the public in the future, but it might be wise to re-think that strategy if you’re an indie artist. As with so much in the industry, the rules that apply to […]

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Livestream Sales, Native Instruments/iZotope Merger, and Audionamix GM Ellie McNeil On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Ellie McNeil, who’s the general manager of the audio software company Audionamix. Audionamix uses advanced signal processing and artificial intelligence technology to extract specific elements from an audio file, including speech, vocals, drums and bass. Their top-of-the-line audio separation tech is reserved for major film studios, television networks, and […]

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Facebook Getting Into Newsletter Creation, But Is That A Good Idea?

Newsletters are the backbone of artist-fan communication, and finding the best email service provider is essential for most artists. There are plenty to choose from and sometimes it takes a while to find the best fit, but a new alternative could be a social platform that you’re probably already on – Facebook. Yes, newsletter creation […]

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The Last Major Country To Embrace Streaming Is Finally Doing It

What if I told you that there was a country where music sales are huge yet it never really got that much into streaming? Would you guess that country was in South America, or maybe Africa? Believe it or not, that country is Japan, and it’s been the second largest music market in the world […]

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Viberate Co-Founder Vasja Veber, Best Social Networks, And Behringer Oberheim Trademark War On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Vasja Veber, who co-founded Viberate, a platform that gives artists important analytics about musical trends, events, venues and festivals. It makes performing acts’ life easier by giving them a better version of an EPK or even a traditional website. Viberate features over a million profiles of musicians, venues, events and […]

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