If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I’ve been saying all along to watch out for Amazon Prime Music as the next big disrupter in the streaming music space. Why? Prime Music is part of the popular Amazon Prime subscription service that already has a reported 75 million […]
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Content creators have been complaining for months that many of their YouTube videos have been showing up on Facebook posted by someone else – an action called “freebooting.” In an effort to alleviate the situation, Facebook has now officially launched its version of YouTube’s Content ID called Rights Manager. This is an admin tool for Facebook […]
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Social media is the lifeblood of so many artists, bands, musicians and record labels in terms of engaging and growing their fanbases. That means it’s important to stay current on the latest developments so you don’t get left behind. With that in mind, there are 3 new trends in social media that are really heating […]
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The IFPI (the organization that tracks global music sales) finally released its annual report on the sales for 2015. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, none of the figures surprise you. Here are the numbers right out of the report. Digital revenues now account for 45 per cent of total revenues, compared […]
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If you’re a record label, or an artist, band or publisher for that matter, the one thorn in your digital side is YouTube. Why? It’s by far the most widely used streaming service for consuming music, yet it pays the least of all the services. However, it’s come to light that YouTube’s licensing agreements with the three […]
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Facebook Live is about to the “next big thing” on the platform, and it seems like it will be a boon for artists and bands wanting to engage with their fans on the service. Since it’s so new, you may not be sure of exactly what Live is and what it will do. Here are […]
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I’m really pleased to have music attorney John Kellogg on the podcast this week. John represented acts like Levert and the O’Jays before becoming assistant chair of the Music Business and Management at Berklee College of Music. John knows the music business from an artist’s perspective as well, since prior to becoming an attorney, he […]
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After all these years, it’s surprising how popular The Beatles music still is, and the band’s presence on Spotify proves it. The Fab 4 have been on the streaming service for a mere 100 days, yet the it’s been one of the most popular, even more so than current artists like Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and […]
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If there’s one thing that we all know, it’s that the more social media platforms you’re on, the more time it will take to check and post to them. That’s why the latest social automation tools can be so valuable, as they save time and make engaging your audience so much more efficient. Take a […]
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We’ve gone through a mighty change in the music business over the last 10 years, and it keeps on morphing and evolving every day. Since these changes are constant, many of the old school rules pertaining to success in the music business no longer apply. Here’s an excerpt from the latest edition of my Music […]
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There are many direct-to-fan platforms available for artists these days, but that doesn’t prevent new ones from launching. Bkstg is a new app that lets artists own the entire experience of connecting with fans in one place. This includes posting videos and photos to selling tickets to selling merch. In many cases, 5 to 10% […]
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It seems that pirate music sites are getting easier and easier to set up these days. Apparently there’s a script that you can buy for just $38 that will let you set up your own cross between Spotify and YouTube. It’s illegal, of course, and will get shut down in no time (especially if you […]
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Where once we lived in a world of pre-recorded video, that’s changing rapidly as millennials increasingly show how much they love live streaming. For instance, Periscope has posted more than 100 million broadcasts since its debut in March of 2015, and Snapchat Live Stories has as many as 100 million users per day, which has […]
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Here’s one for the 1st amendment. Apple has been granted a patent named “Management, Replacement and Removal of Explicit Lyrics during Audio Playback” for technology that can automatically scan a song being streamed and edit out any swear words in the lyrics. According to an article in Business Insider, the technology is different from automatic beeping […]
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It’s been rumored for months, and it’s finally happened. SoundCloud has launched a subscription tier to its streaming service called SoundCloud Go and it’s priced at what’s now become the standard – $9.99 per month ($12.99 for iOS). The fact of the matter is that SoundCloud Go seems like it’s more to appease the major labels […]
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