Led Zeppelin’s New Copyright Win Might Change How Courts View Infringement

If you’ve been following the “Stairway To Heaven” copyright infringement case brought about by the estate of Spirit guitar player and songwriter Randy Wolfe against Led Zeppelin, you know that it’s been through some major ups and downs. But the band’s big win in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could change everything for infringement […]

Continue reading

Streaming Network Payouts, Liquid Distortion, And Drummer/Producer Tony Braunagel On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Tony Braunagel who has been the drummer for a wide variety of artists including Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Rickie Lee Jones, and Taj Mahal, among others. It was with Taj that Tony gained a named for himself as a producer, working on the Grammy-award winning Shoutin’ in Key album that […]

Continue reading

YouTube Fixes Channel Subscriber Notifications

If you’re a creator on YouTube, you know how frustrating subscriber notifications can be. You think it would mean that every time you post a video that follower would be notified, but that’s not how it’s been working. In fact, when you subscribe you only get the “Lite” version, which amounts to only occasional updates […]

Continue reading

Understanding Google’s Freshness Algorithm

One way to build an audience is to constantly add new content on your website, but just having fresh content doesn’t mean that Google will automatically take notice and increase your website’s search ranking. Google’s so called “freshness algorithm” may be looking for something else. In fact, the freshness algorithm isn’t looking for new content […]

Continue reading

Stem Sure Does Look Like A New Kind Of Record Label, And That’s Good For Artists

There’s no point ragging on record label deals because everyone already knows the stories or has experienced the pain. Suffice it to say that the majority of artists don’t have a great experience, especially when it comes to their pocketbook. A relatively new artist service called Stem has all the traits of a record label […]

Continue reading

AI In A&R, Subwoofer Sneakers, And Music Marketer Jay Warsinske On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Jay Warsinske, who’s been in music marketing, promotion and artist development for over 40 years. In that time Jay helped launch the music for celebrated artists like U2, AC/DC, Dr. Dre, Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, Lil Wayne, Green Day, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janet […]

Continue reading

From Tape Deck To Tidal: 40 Years Of U.S. Music Sales

U.S. Music Sales have had a lot of ups and downs over the last 40 years, with the peaks amazingly high and the troughs depressingly low. Thankfully we’re in an upswing right now that looks like it will continue for a while, but we can really gain some perspective on it all when we look […]

Continue reading

The Recorded Music Industry Did Really Well Last Year Thanks To Streaming

The numbers from last year are out and there should be celebrations in music executive offices everywhere in the country. The recorded music industry in the U.S. had a great year in 2019, bringing in a touch over $11 billion for a 13% improvement on the year before, according to the latest figures by the […]

Continue reading

New Things About Instagram Hashtags That You Might Not Know

Hashtags are an essential part of Instagram but their significance and use seems to change every year. If you’re not cognizant of those changes, you could end up using tags that are no longer effective, thereby limiting your ability to connect and engage with your audience. Here’s the latest info on Instagram hashtags, according to […]

Continue reading

Spotify Accounts Hack, Music Gear And Tech, And Post Engineer Leslie Gaston-Bird On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Leslie Gaston-Bird, post-production engineer, governor-at-large for the Audio Engineering Society, and former Associate Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver. Leslie’s first gig was at National Public Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she worked on shows like “Morning Edition.” “All Things Considered”, “Talk of the Nation” […]

Continue reading

It’s A Good Time To Be A Songwriter As Universal Music Publishing Joins Others With Royalty Portal

Many classic songwriters lament days gone by when mechanical royalties from vinyl and CD’s ruled, but the fact of the matter is that the accounting back then was archaic. You never knew how well you were doing until you received a statement, and even then it came from royalties earned months and even years back. […]

Continue reading

Here’s Why Your Email Marketing Is Still Important

It’s very tempting to rely on social media as the major avenue to reach your fans and followers, but you might be surprised that even though it can be effective, it doesn’t come close to an old standby format that’s easy to disregard – that’s email marketing. When it comes down to it, your email […]

Continue reading

The Beatles Fake Merch Lawsuit Win Shows How The System Works In Real Life

It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur or musical artist, as soon as you get some level of success there will be others trying to steal a bit of it. Many times this is in the form of counterfeit merchandise that may bear your logo or trademark. The problem is trying to catch the people […]

Continue reading

The Health Of Major Streaming Services, 6F’s Of Taking A Gig, And Drummer Daniel Glass On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is drummer Daniel Glass, who has worked with a wide variety of artists that range from Brian Setzer to Bette Midler, to the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, to KISS front man Gene Simmons.  Daniel has been voted one of the top five R&B drummers in the world by readers of Modern Drummer […]

Continue reading

A Look At Spotify’s New Songwriter Pages Feature

There’s been a lot of bad blood between songwriters and publishers after the streaming service appealed a royalty rate increase by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) last year. In fairness, Apple Music was the only service that agreed to the increase while all of the other major streamers appealed, which didn’t exactly endear any of […]

Continue reading