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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 Consideredâ€, “Talk of the Nation†[…]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Many thanks to Feedspot for naming my Inner Circle Podcast at #2 in their list of Top 10 Audio Podcasts. After 300+ episodes I think we’re getting the hang of this podcast thing! Seriously though, thank you for your support as that’s what keeps me going. I make no money from the podcast so it’s […]
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Songwriters are super cautious these days since plagiarism lawsuits are flying and the winner in court is usually the one you’d least suspect. One of the reasons why it’s so tough to defend a copyright lawsuit is because the court now considers a melody just a sequence of pitches, so Damien Riehl and Noah Rubin […]
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Contests are a great way to boost your audience but it’s not as easy to hold one on you favorite social network as you think. Without the help of a third party contest tool you may be in violation of the service’s terms, which can get you into hot water fast. Luckily there are many […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is the legendary producer John Boylan, who started in the business as a member of the burgeoning folk scene in the Village in New York City that set the tone for the explosion in the music business to unimagined heights. He then went on to become a songwriter in the famed […]
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Warner Music Group announced that it was filling for an IPO last week, and while that in itself wasn’t particularly earth-shattering news, one particular statement in its required S-1 filing was. It indicates a change that may be coming soon to online music distribution services in the form of streaming price increases. “We believe that, […]
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Streaming is having a tremendous influence on the very essence of a song (its form) these days for better or worse. Many pop songs are near or under the 2 minute mark, devoid of intros, bridges and solos, in order to get right to the meat of the tune and keep the listener for at […]
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