A New California Law Could Give Musicians Exactly What They’re Trying To Avoid

One major attraction of being a musician is that most want to avoid a real job as much as possible. That’s the dream, after all, to just spend your day creating without being beholden to “the man.” A new bill by the California Legislature may put a big ding in those asperations though, as most […]

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Latest Music Sales Data, 40th Anniversary Of The Walkman, And Miles Davis Nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. On My Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Vince Wilburn Jr. who has both toured and recorded with his uncle Miles Davis on many legendary recordings from 1984 through 1987. He is also a producer on the Grammy-winning Miles Ahead soundtrack for “Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media, and is co-executor of Miles Davis Properties. Vince has played […]

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The RIAA Investigating Payola Is Like The Fox Guarding The Henhouse

Payola, or paying for radio airplay, has been with us since the 50s in one form or another. It’s visibility seems to ebb and flow, but it’s been on the rise again recently with various exposes (especially this one last month in Rolling Stone) showing that it’s alive and well. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) […]

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Music Supervisors Tell You What They DON’T Like In A Contact Email

Music supervisors are the new music kings and queens and everyone seems to want to contact them in the hopes that they’ll pick some of their music for a film or television show. There’s lots of advice out there about the best practices when sending an email, but not much on what really turns them […]

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The One Thing That Every Music Business Employer Is Looking For

I came across the following video and thought it was something that every person trying to get a job in the music industry should watch. Since music business skills are more or less the same for most people trying to break into the business, there’s only one thing that can separate you from the rest, […]

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Manipulating Streaming Numbers, Steinway’s Secret Vault, And WAM’s Terri Winston On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Terri Winston, who’s the executive director of Women’s Audio Mission, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that uses music and media to attract over 2,000 underserved women and girls every year to STEM and creative technology studies. WAM’s award-winning curriculum weaves art and music with science, technology and computer programming and […]

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Japanese Music Sales Slow, But That May Be Good News

Everyone knows that the United States is still the largest music market in the world, but which one do you think is #2? The UK? Germany? Nope, it’s Japan, and the country has been second largest in music sales for quite a while. That’s why the music business as a whole takes notice whenever anything […]

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7 Reasons Why Teens Love Instagram, From A Real Teenager

If you want to know what a typical teenager thinks of the various social networks available, there’s a great post by 19 year old University of Texas student Andrew Watts on Medium BackChannel. In it he describes how he and his friends use all the popular networks, but what they love and hate about them as well. The post is actually a […]

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Songwriters Might Actually Catch A Break As The DOJ Weighs In On “Stairway To Heaven” Case

For the past few years songwriters have been under siege in the courtroom when it comes to plagiarism cases. Starting with the Robin Thicke/Marvin Gaye “Blurred Lines” lawsuit to the most recent Katy Perry “Dark Horse” case, songwriters and publishers have been incredulous of the outcomes. It seems like the feel of the song has […]

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Music Disappearing From Radio, Hydrating Your Voice, And Hollywood Bowl FOH Mixer Fred Vogler

My guest on the podcast this week is 6 time Grammy Award-winner Fred Vogler who’s the principal sound designer and FOH mixer for the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Throughout the year, he also records the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for commercial and broadcast release. Fred […]

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There’s A New Way To Game YouTube Views That Artists And Labels Are Using

YouTube views are so high these days that they don’t mean anything anymore. If you’re a record label or artist, it’s more of an ego boost than anything else to hit a billion views. While it used to be that directly buying views from a broker was one way to go, today there’s a better […]

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30 Ways To Keep Your Fans Interested Online

When it comes to success online, the secret is engagement. Any way that you can elicit a response from your fans and followers has to be used, but you can’t keep using the same thing over and over. Here are 30 ways (culled from 71 that Dave Cool posted on Hypebot) that you can keep […]

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HostBaby Transferring Accounts To Bandzoogle

CD Baby has been one of the largest online music distributors for some time, and it’s always offered a number of additional features. One of these features is a place for an artist or band to host their website, which the company called HostBaby. Now the company has announced that it’s shutting down HostBaby and […]

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Amazon Sells Counterfeit CDs, Mixing With Your Eyes, And Amuse CEO Diego Farias On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Diego Farias, who’s a digital music and tech expert with experience from some of the world’s most successful tech companies. He now serves as the CEO and co-founder of record label and music distributor Amuse.  Amuse has a unique business model in that it provides free distribution to all the […]

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Spotify Is Testing Higher Prices In Scandinavia

Now that it has a healthy number of subscribers, Spotify would like to raise its prices and the first place it’s trying is in its own back yard. The company is planning on increasing the price of its family plan by 14% in Scandinavia, according to Bloomberg. Since music streaming has the most penetration in Scandinavia […]

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