NMPA Asks DOJ to Amend Consent Decrees to Allow Publishers to Selectively Withdraw Digital Rights From Blanket Licenses

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) came out swinging in its comments to the Department of Justice’s ASCAP and BMI consent decrees reviews, arguing it should allow publishers to selectively withdraw digital rights from blanket licenses. In theory, the benefit of partial withdrawal would allow higher all-in royalties, including performance rights in direct digital deals, while allowing the publishers to remain in the blanket license for the general licensing of performance rights to tens of thousands of retail outlets, bars, hotels and clubs around the country — a logistics nightmare that would be almost impossible for each publisher to do on its own. 

 

Amazon Rolls Out High Definition Streaming Audio Service.

Amazon Music introduces a new subscription tier, Amazon HD, which boasts more than 50 million songs in High Definition, and millions of songs in Ultra High Definition, the highest quality streaming audio available.

The new subscription plan runs $12.99 a month for Amazon Prime members, $14.99 a month for Amazon customers or an additional $5 a month for current Individual or Family Plan subscribers. New subscribers to Amazon Music can receive a 90-day free trial, and current subscribers can try Amazon Music HD at no additional cost for 90 days.

 

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) Requests $66.25 Million In Funding — Just to Get Started

So, how much does it cost to get a mechanical licensing collection agency off the ground?

That would be $37.25 million before the agency opens its doors, and another $29 million to get through the first year.  All in, the as-yet-unformed Mechanical Licensing Collection (MLC) is asking the U.S. Copyright Office to green-light a whopping $66.25 million — just to get off the ground.

 

YouTube takes bought views out of its music charts and stat brags

YouTube last week announced it was changing the way it calculates its music charts and other official music stats so that any views that are the direct result of paid advertising on the video platform will no longer be counted.

This was all outlined in a blog post that begins by bragging that YouTube charts are now “an indispensable source for the industry and the most accurate place for measuring the popularity of music listening behaviour happening on the world’s largest music platform”.

 

5 Ways To Use Instagram Properly To Promote Your Band

When it comes to using Instagram (or really any social media) to promote your music, it's important that you develop an engaged community of fans, not just a passive audience, vaguely aware of who you are. Here we look at five key techniques for properly promoting your band on Instagram.

 

Is Playlist Streaming Hurting The Artist?

Since streaming became the new norm, overtaking CD sales and now paid downloads of artists music, it’s now become more evident how streaming and music playlists are actually hurting artists and devaluing who’s behind the music. But does anyone care?

 

Creative Ways To Strengthen Your Band Image

Most musicians either start or join a band because they love music and they want to share their talents with the world. It’s nice to think about all of the perks and exciting things that can come with a successful music career, but ultimately, most musicians aren’t entrepreneurs. So, what can you do to strengthen your band image and get noticed by new fans? How can your band identity stand out and get recognized even when you’re surrounded by heavy competition and a musician-saturated market? Turns out, there are quite a number of ways.

 

US Recorded Music Business Grew 18% in First Half of 2019: RIAA Mid-Year Report

In the first half of 2019, the U.S. recorded music business grew 18% to $5.4 billion at retail, according to the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) mid-year report. That overall growth is up from a 10% increase reported in last year's mid-year analysis and continues the trend of double-digit growth driven by subscription streaming that began in 2016. In the same report last year, streaming made up for 75% of total industry revenues, showing a 6.7% uptick in the format's overall dominance to the current 80% market share reported here.  

 

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) has been alerted to this and in response has asked the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to investigate these allegations. It’s another example of asking an industry to police itself, which of course, never happens because it’s then operating against its own self-interest.

 

What It Means To Make It In Music Today

Whether you're working to be a performer or producer, everyone wants to 'make it' in the music business, but as the entertainment landscape shifts along with cultural and technological advancements, what exactly does that success look like?

 

How To Use Spotify Ad To Promote Music (And How Not To)

n this piece, Brian Hazard of Color Theory walks us through his recent experience with the updated Spotify Ad Studio to promote his music, following a particularly disappointing initial foray using the marketing tool when it was first released.

 

Jammber Acquires TuneRegistry To Create D.I.Y. Music Rights, Royalty Platform

Jammber has acquired TuneRegistry for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition turns Jammber into a self-service end-to-end music rights and royalty administration platform that allows artists and rightsholders to retain 100% of their copyrights and royalties.

 

The Rise of the Vertical Music Video (9:16 format)

Last fall, 28-year-old Chloe Johnson was going through a breakup when Billie Eilish dropped her mournful single “when the party’s over.” “That song just stuck,” the New York–based marketer told me. After that, Eilish’s music became the soundtrack to Johnson’s life: She played it on her phone during her commute on the train, at work on her desktop, and when she got home at night. She shared it with her dad. She made an Instagram fan account. “Then, one day, I went to switch a song, and all of a sudden I see this little thing moving on my screen,” Johnson said. “And I’m like, What is that?”

 

Sony Unveils First Streaming Compatible Walkman with MQA Support

The Walkman is arguably the most well-known portable music device from the 80s and 90s. Its dominance was only supplanted by the arrival of the iPod and .mp3 dominance. Now Sony is looking to continue that legacy with the Sony Walkman NW-ZX507. The Sony Walkman NW-ZX507 is a hi-res audio device capable of up to 384kHz/32-bit playback. It can stream music over WiFi using an Android app with music streaming services baked in. The device also features 64GB of storage plus a microSD slot for downloaded music.

 

Musicians, Fans Demand That Ticketmaster Stop Using Facial Recognition at Concerts

Musicians and fans alike are demanding that Ticketmaster stop utilizing facial recognition technology at concerts.

Last year, Ticketmaster announced that they would begin using facial recognition devices to admit ticketholders, who wouldn’t need to present a physical or digital ticket. Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, revealed that they’d partnered with Blink Identity, a brand that develops cameras and software that identify individuals’ faces. (Like GPS, this technology was initially created by and for the government.)

 

BMI Keeps Record Streak Going With 7% Jumps in Revenue, Payouts

BMI is raking it in. A year after breaking records for collections and distributions, the performing rights org hit the repeat button on both markers again, reaching $1.283 billion in revenues and nearly $1.2 billion in payouts to writers and publishers over the fiscal year ended June 30.

 

How To Get The Most From Your Music Email Marketing

While social media is certainly accessible and easy to use as a marketing platform, the barriers to entry are so few that the marketplace has become a bit clogged. For this reason email, while old school, has seen something of a renaissance owing to its ability to actually break through and reach potential

 

More Signs of a Streaming Music Slowdown

For months, we’ve been pointing to a streaming music plateau in wealthier, developed nations of Europe as well as the United States.  Now, there’s more evidence to support the idea that a streaming plateau is ahead — at least among the consumers that have the most money to spend. 

 

CD Baby, Tunecore, DistroKid Add Rapid Apple Music For Artists Verification

Top 3 DIY music distributors CD Baby, Tunecore and DistroKid have all added rapid Apple Music For Artists verification, unlocking the platform's expanded analytics for their artists.

 

NMPA Questions Whether Spotify & Amazon Have Miscalculated, Underpaid Publisher Royalties

The trade group wants clarification on Spotify's family plans and Amazon's low pricing for Prime Music.

The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) is challenging Spotify and Amazon’s methods of determining mechanical royalties, putting into question whether the services are underpaying publishers.

 

How Much Does Song Length Matter for Artists' Revenue?

Popular songs tend not to surpass the five-minute mark, let alone 10. Copyright law gives songwriters the right to license their musical works for reproduction. A song’s standard mechanical royalty, paid by the record label to songwriters for copies made for digital downloads and physical formats, is 9.1 cents for a track five minutes or less in length. But the mechanical increases 1.75 cents for each minute the track exceeds five minutes. Some labels have negotiated licensing agreements, other labels get a rate fixed by the U.S. government -- a stream is a stream. At satellite radio, too, a short song and a long song both count the same. Licensing agreements between SiriusXM satellite radio and record labels might pay songs differently, but licensing deals don’t discriminate by song length.

 

Discogs Mid-Year Survey Shows Surprising Surge In CD Sales

 

Layoffs and Silence — What’s Going On Over At Native Instruments?

Native Instruments’ Traktor is one of the most popular DJ software suites in the world. But many former employees have less than stellar reviews. Back in July Native Instruments released Traktor Pro 3.2 for DJs to have better harmonic mixing. But many DJs and enthusiasts were more interested in talking about the key accuracy of the software.

Amid the talk about key accuracy for the software surfaced a rumor of layoffs at Native Instruments.

 

Throwing Multiple Listening Parties For Less Than $100: How To Guide

When it comes to promoting your music, a listening party can go a long way in helping you grow your community base and increasing general awareness, A fun event for fans to come together and celebrate your, the only downside to listening parties it that - historically - they have often been relatively expensive endeavors. Here, we look at alternative method where you can host multiple listening parties for under a $100.

 

Spotify Adds Songs Sharing To Facebook Stories (And Why You Need To Use It)

When users share a track from Spotify to Facebook Stories, viewers will now hear a 15-second preview before tapping to listen. Hinting at future expansion of the feature, Spotify added that Facebook Story sharing does not extend to albums and playlists "for now."

'

An Edifice Whose Foundation Has Eroded': Inside ASCAP and BMI's DOJ Comments on WW2-Era Consent Decrees

With the Dept. of Justice review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees well underway, the two performance rights organizations laid out their argument as to why the 78-year old agreements should be sunsetted in comments filed with the DOJ and made available to Billboard. In their comments, both ASCAP and BMI asked that the "outdated" consent decrees be re-worked for a transition period that would eventually culminate with the decrees ending, leaving the two PROs to operate in a free market. Indeed, in a joint comment, the National Assn. of Broadcasters and the Digital Media Assn. claimed that "removing the decrees without a replacement would be disastrous. To set the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees on a path to termination would result in chaos in music licensing markets."

 

New Way To Game YouTube Views Being Utilized By Artists, Labels

Paying for plays and view counts has been a common practice since the dawn of on-demand, and although YouTube view counts don't mean as much as they used to, a high count can help pull in advertising dollars. Increasingly, some artists are purchasing Google ads to play their videos over other popular clips as a way to boost their count.

 

Top 10 Music Biz Careers (And How Much You Can Make)

While the term "music career" typically evokes the image of a center stage musician, the industry holds a much greater variety of job options outside of performance, and indeed many of them are far more lucrative, as well as more stable.

 

5 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Getting Signed

Changed though the industry might be, signing to a respected label can open the door to opportunities that would otherwise be much further out of reach. That said, rushing into a deal without reading the fine print or negotiating can cause problems down the road. Here, one artists shares five things they which they'd known before signing on the dotted line.

 

Ready For A Manager? 5 Questions To Ask Yourself

Have a reliable problem solver/organizer you can turn to can be a huge asset when you're trying to make your way as an artist in the music biz, but just because you'd like to have a helping hand, doesn't mean you're necessarily ready to make the leap of hiring a full-time manager.

 

6 Marketing Strategies For Getting Your Music On Playlists

In the age of on-demand streaming, a crowded marketplace has made getting your music discovered quite a challenge. Luckily, playlisting has become such a dominant part of music consumption that many artists are able to tweak the system in order to land their music on both algorithmically generated and user curated playlists.

 

Smart Speakers Grow 55% Worldwide, ‘Slight Weakness’ In U.S.