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Resolution Opposing Radio Royalty Reintroduced In Congress.

It’s a maneuver that has successfully sidelined efforts to pass a performance royalty on broadcast radio during the past decade as bills have been introduced to do away with the AM/FM exemption. The Local Radio Freedom Act has now been reintroduced in Congress, where more than half of House members have already come down on the side of radio.

 

If You Perform Live, You're Probably Not Getting Paid Royalties That You Deserve

For many artists, touring is one of the primary ways in which they maintain a living as a musician, making it that much more troubling to learn that many artists who do live shows aren't walking away with all the performance royalties to which they are entitled. Here Ari Herstand explains what artists must do claim this additional revenue.

 

Rhapsody and Napster To Pay Songwriters Up To $10M In Class Action Settlement

The law firm representing musician and artist advocate David Lowery and other songwriters has filed a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement that will see self-published songwriters paid as much as $10 million by Rhapsody and it's Napster music streaming service.

 

Graham Warns DOJ Not To ‘Disrupt’ Music Market With ASCAP-BMI Changes.

The new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is sending a clear signal to the Dept. of Justice not to throw the music marketplace into chaos with proposed changes to the consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI. Makan Delrahim, who heads the Antitrust Division, has backed a “smooth transition” toward a “market-based” framework. That could have implications for how much radio ultimately pays to songwriters for music use.

 

How streaming music could be harming the planet

The plastic and packaging that comes with CDs and vinyl makes them seem worse for the environment, but the popularity of music streaming services may be polluting in other ways.

 

Cox TV Group Sale Reignites Rumors Of More Radio Selloffs.

Friday’s announced sale by Cox Enterprises of its entire TV group and one of its radio clusters by an investor group led by Apollo Global Management has reignited speculation about the company’s plans for the rest of its radio group. Brokers say they expect Cox to sell more of its radio clusters in the months ahead. “You will see some additional sales as things move through this year,” one dealmaker told Inside Radio.

 

SoundCloud Adds Free Distribution To Spotify, Apple Music To All Pro Accounts

SoundCloud has added free digital distribution to its SoundCloud Premier monetization toolset. With the new feature, creators monetizing music on SoundCloud can distribute to Amazon Music, Apple Music, Instagram, Spotify, Tencent, YouTube Music and other music services directly from their SoundCloud account.

 

Radio Royalty Battle’s First Salvo In New Congress.

Familiar battle lines, with some new players, are being drawn in Washington in the decades-old battle over whether radio stations should pay a performance royalty for on-air music use. The effort comes just months after Congress passed a sweeping copyright reform bill that gave the music industry much of what it had sought, raising questions of how intent lawmakers will be on covering similar ground in the new session.

 

What Should Be Included In A Tour Sponsorship Deck

Nothing is free, particularly in the music industry, and putting together a fantastic tour or festival requires money. One of the best ways to secure funding for these sorts of events is through sponsorships - but doing so requires careful planning.

 

Being A Successful Musician: What Actually Matters

While talent and ability are certainly important factors when it comes be becoming a successful artist, more important still is differentiation. Here we look at what it means to separate yourself from the back like this, and what really matters when it comes to differentiation.

 

Identity Theft New Trend In Music Piracy

Music piracy has existed as long the music industry itself, but like every thing else in the biz, it's constantly changing and adapting. The most recent trend appears be impersonation, and has digital buccaneers pinging labels and publicists, claiming to be an artist or manager in order to access their music.

 

Guide To Releasing Your Own Music

Once you've gone to the trouble of recording and producing music, you're likely going to want to release it to the public - this can be a daunting process however, so here we look at a presentation that covers all the details of how to release to music.

 

UN Issues Guidelines for Audio Devices, Warns 1bn People at Risk of Hearing Loss

The World Health Organization and the International Telecommunications Union on Tuesday presented new standards, or voluntary guidelines, for the manufacture and use of personal audio devices.

 

As Country Radio Seminar Turns 50, Terrestrial Radio Redefines Its Role

When broadcasters convene in Nashville for the 50th annual Country Radio Seminar running Wednesday to Friday this week, they will find their industry in a much different position than it occupied during the first convention in 1970.

 

Music Streaming Rates 2018: Per Stream Rates Drop and YouTube's Value Gap Is Very Real

This data set is isolated to the calendar year 2018 and represents a mid-sized indie label with an approximately 250+ album catalog now generating almost 1b streams annually. 2018 is the year we saw streaming truly mature as the dominant source of recorded music revenues. The Spotify per stream rate drops again from .00397 to .00331 a decrease of 16%. Apple Music gains almost 3% for an total global market share of about just under 25% of all revenue. Apple’s per stream rate drops from .00783 to .00495 a decrease of 36%. 

 

NMPA Warns Spotify May 'Declare War' On Songwriters Over 44% Royalty Rate Increase

The NMPA and its member music publishers are reminding songwriters and other publishers that Spotify and other digital music streamers thus far "won’t say" if they plan to appeal the 44% increase over five year in mechanical royalties to songwriters made official by the US Copyright Royalty Board this week.

 

Why A Trademark Can Be Valuable To Your Music's Brand

If you've gone to the trouble of cultivating a specific logo or brand for your music, there are a number of benefits to "making it official" by getting it trademarked. Besides just establishing a potential source of revenue, a trademark can provide you with certain legal protections down the road.

 

Smart Speaker Penetration: 66 Million Units In U.S.

Amazon Echo continues to make itself at home. A new report reveals that as of Dec. 31, 2018, the installed base of smart speaker devices is 66 million units, up from 53 million units in the September 2018 quarter and 36 million units as of December 2017. Amazon has a dominant 70% of the marketplace, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

 

Songwriters, publishers unveil bid to run nation's music licensing

The three largest trade groups representing the nation's music publishers and songwriters on Monday unveiled their proposal to operate a powerful new licensing organization created by the landmark passage of the Music Modernization Act last year. The National Music Publishers Association, the Nashville Songwriters Association International and the Songwriters of North America announced their bid in joint press releases. In addition to announcing the board members who would steer the new collective, the publishers and songwriters announced broad support from virtually every major music industry company and trade association. 

 

SoundExchange Flirted With a Billion in Payouts to Artists and Labels in 2018

SoundExchange paid out $952.8 million to artists and labels last year, the most it has ever distributed since the organization began. That represented a $300 million, or 46.1 percent increase over the prior year when it paid out $652 million.

 

Paid streaming set to overtake free music services for first time

Paid music streaming looks set to overtake free services for the first time later this year, as more people opt to pay for the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. Experts believe that streaming has made it fashionable to pay for music again, with the latest numbers from November 2018 showing 20.6% opting to pay, up from 18.3% the year before. At the same time, free streaming – either through services that use adverts, as part of a free trial or with a family license paid for by someone else – is gradually decreasing, currently standing at 21.5%, down from 21.7% previously.

 

Building Your Dream Team: Managers, Music Management Companies

In this edition of Building Your Dream Team, AWAL breaks down the who, what, when, where, and why of music managers and the music management companies behind them so you don't have to, so you can make an informed decision about where managers fit into your music career.

 

Your Spotify Streams Could Be Supporting Fake Artists

A recent study from the BBC revealed a number of fake artists accumulating plays from very much real accounts - something which has recently been revealed to be the result of account hacking.

 

5 Dangers In Becoming A Musician

A career in music can fill your life with  excitement and passion, but while incredibly rewarding, life in the music business carries with it a number of inherent risks as well, including financial and personal instability and risk of addiction.

 

Getting Press For Your Music Harder Than Ever, But Maybe That's Not A Bad Thing

New information suggests that indie music publicists have been struggling with a media landscape that's getting smaller and smaller, making it that much harder get coverage from an ever shrinking pool. Still, as Chris Robley here suggests, as the power of the press decreases, it's one less gate keeper for musicians, who can instead invest their resources elsewhere.

 

27% Of 18-49 Broadcast TV Viewers Vanished In Two Years.

New Nielsen ratings analyzed by AdAge present a bleak picture of network TV’s declining audience. Face with heated competition for viewers from streaming video service, broadcast C3 ratings plummeted 11% year over year during fourth quarter 2018.Tracking the trend back to 2016 shows the latest numbers are no fluke. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox combined have seen more than one quarter (27%) of their advertiser-coveted viewers disappear.

 

Pandora Stockholders OK Purchase By SiriusXM.

Pandora stockholders have approved the sale of the company to SiriusXM Radio, moving the $3.5 billion purchase one step closer to completion. Roger Lynch, the Sling TV founder who joined the webcaster as CEO 16 months ago, will exit the company upon closing, making way for SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer to lead Pandora and Sirius XM as a combined company

 

Is Printing, Selling Physical CDs Still Worth It?

While there is a lot of nostalgia surrounding the CDs and CD buying culture, the manufacturing costs and associated complexities of creating them leave a lot of more contemporary artists wondering if, in the digital age, CDs are really worth it at all.

 

Registering Your Band Name, Phrase Or Logo

Are you a musician? Do you need to protect your band name or logo from counterfeit sellers on ecommerce platforms? In order to obtain nationwide protection, you should register your band name, phrase or logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The registration process is relatively straight forward but can be time consuming. Generally, it takes approximately six months to a year before the trademark is registered.

 

Spotify removes tracks after another possible scam gaming the system

Another fake music on Spotify scandal. But is this one really a fake music on Spotify scandal? Or is it a fake fake music on Spotify scandal? It could be a fake fake fake music on Spotify scandal, but I don’t yet have sufficient qualifications to work out what that might be.

 

Classic Keyboards Are Being Dominated By MIDI Keyboards

Remember the days where the Nord keyboards ran the world when it come to touring musicians? Boy has that changed and changed pretty quickly. I started touring in a synth heavy band about 4 years ago and it has been a fun journey watching the keyboard world slowly change. I want to talk about the main reasons why we’re seeing less classic keyboards in touring musicians arsenals as well as touch on the new bluetooth MIDI controllers.

 

As Facebook Continues To Lose Luster, Integrity Is Also Diminishing.

While large social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter remain part of the daily media diet of many Americans, a new study found that 74% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the integrity of social media sites has diminished. “Americans are so disillusioned by social media, that many are turning to other forums for trustworthy information,” Tapatalk found.

 

Guide To Writing A Press Release Music Journalists Will Actually Read

In a saturated marketplace like the music industry, writing a press release that anyone will give a second glance is an uphill battle. That said, by including all the key elements and a nice personal touch, you might just be able to get a music journalist to actually read it.

 

Spotify launches artist blocking feature

Spotify’s hateful conduct policy having backfired so dramatically last year, the streaming service has now introduced a new feature allowing individual users to wipe specific artists from their playlists. Which means it can pass the buck on to its customers over whether or not artists accused of hateful conduct should be banished from its playlists.

 

The S.T.A.G.E.S. Of Email Marketing

This is the second volume in a multi-part series by Cheryl B. Engelhardt, singer/songwriter, composer, and the owner of the music career consultation site In The Key of Success. Cheryl will be breaking down the key S.T.A.G.E.S. of email marketing for independent artists – we invite you to follow along over the next few weeks, as we’re sure you’ll be walking away with some hugely helpful tips for your email marketing strategy!

 

5 Collaborative Opportunities Most Musicians Are Missing

With a brand new year comes a whole host of new opportunities for collaborating with your industry peers. Here we look at five such collaborative options you won't want to miss out on.

 

19 Marketing Predictions From Music Industry Experts

In this piece nineteen different experts in fields ranging from musician to author to podcast host, weigh in with their marketing predications for the music industry in 2019, and what artists can do to prepare for the year.

 

All My Ex’s’ Songwriter Whitey Shafer Passes at 84

Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame songwriter Whitey Shafer, responsible for some of country's most beloved classics such as "All My Ex's Live in Texas" and "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind" died Saturday (Jan. 12) at the age of 84. Shafer, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, was born Sanger D. Shafer and grew up in Texas in a gospel music-loving family. His own musical interests trended toward Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb and Lefty Frizzell. Although a music fan, he didn't pursue songwriting until well into adulthood, writing his first song at age 30. Prior to this, he spent time in the Army and at a variety of odd jobs.

 

Fans Want To Understand An Artist's Creative Process

What we consume as the final product of an artist's creative effort typically fails to communicate the process and often struggle that goes into it. Here we explore the value of sharing the creative process, and how it helps fans gain greater understanding of not just the music, but the artist behind it.

 

Spotify has 200m users-but labels restless over falling ARPU

It should come as no surprise that Spotify ended 2018 with 200 million monthly active users (MAUs). Spotify took nearly eight years to grow to 100 million users (in June 2016) then just two and a half more to double that figure. The company also increased its conversion rate – the percentage of those listeners who were paid subscribers – from around 30% in mid-2016 to nearly 46% at the end of September 2018. But that conversion rate is now one of the factors in the latest tension between Spotify and major labels. Or, at least, the average revenue that those paid subscribers are generating for the company, and thus the rightsholders it licenses from.

 

Red River Songwriters’ Festival 2019(TMP)

Mark your calendars, folks-the lineup has just been announced and tickets are now on sale for Red River Songwriters’ Festival 2019! At the Red River Songwriters’ Festival, attendees can look forward to a variety of solo shows, duo shows, and collaborations between artists as well as a grand finale performance featuring the founding members. Additionally, the festival also features late-night informal jams, early afternoon ski runs “and who knows what else“!

 

Independent Music Publicists Grapple With a Shrinking Media Landscape

As publications fold and coverage narrows, once tried-and-true approaches to the job no longer yield the same results.

Much has been written about the struggles of music journalists in an ever-shrinking media landscape. A recent Longreads article called "Where Have All the Music Magazines Gone?" offered a typically grim roll call of national  publications that have either discontinued their print edition or shuttered entirely.  At the local level, the outlook is even bleaker, with major alt-weeklies closing up shop and others gutting their staffs, budgets and page counts. And the ranks of music blogs, once major voices in new music coverage, have thinned since their mid-2000s peak.

Liberty Media Wants Stake In Creative Artists Agency.

Liberty Media, which owns a controlling stake in SiriusXM Radio and a 35% piece of Live Nation, is reportedly in talks to make an investment in high-powered talent agency Creative Artists Agency. First reported by the Financial Times, the deal would give the media giant greater access to a wide gamut of big name talent across entertainment, music and sports.

 

Average Spotify Subscriber Pays $5.50 Per Month And Falling. That's Less Money For Artists, Labels

The average price that a Spotify subscriber pays in dropping, and that has artists and record labels worried. Despite a stated price of $9.99 USD / €9.99 EU , the actual average price paid global is just $5.50 per month and falling.

 

Nielsen Music 2018 Report: On-Demand Streams Up 49%

Nielsen Music has released it 2018 Year-End Highlights. The survey shows a year of significant overall industry growth, with total album equivalent audio consumption up 23% over 2017, driven by a 49% increase in on-demand audio song streams compared to 2017.

 

When the Music Modernization Act becomes law, who's going to take care of it? - Music Business Worldwide

“Historic” was the adjective of choice for artists, songwriters and politicians alike when Congress passed the Music Modernization Act last year. The overdue bundle of reform — intended to update copyright rules for the streaming age and help music-makers take home more money — was an industry-wide effort, years in the making.

 

American radio industry and Global Music Rights spar over subpoena in BMI case

Squabbling between the US radio industry and Irving Azoff’s boutique collecting society Global Music Rights continues. Though this squabbling relates to an entirely different squabble between the US radio industry and big collecting society BMI. Fun times.

 

CD Baby Paid Artists $100 Million In 2018

CD Baby revealed today that it paid artists more than $100 million in 2018. That impressive number includes income from digital distribution (streaming and downloads) along with YouTube, music on Facebook and Instagram, music publishing, sync and direct CD sales.

 

2018 On-Demand Music Streams +42%, Paid Streams +50%

On-demand audio streams set a record high of 534.6 billion in the US in 2018, up 42% over the previous year, according to the BuzzAngle Music Industry Year End Report.  But the best news for artists and labels came thanks to 50% growth in streams by paid subscribers. Those 157.4 billion higher paying subscription streams now account for 85% of all on-demand audio, according to the respected music data monitoring service.

 

5 Music Industry Predictions 2019: Fan Clubs, Apple Music, Billboard Chart Decline and More

With the music business in a constant state of tumultuous evolution, 2019 is shaping up to be a wild year for the industry. Here we look at five major developments we're likely to see unfolding in the coming months.

 

Smart Speakers Move From Kitchen To Living Room, Bedroom.

“Alexa, please wake me at 7am.” That is often the call for smart speakers. A survey from Adobe Analytics reveals that the technology is increasingly finding presence in the bedroom and the living room—as opposed to its previous de facto location in the kitchen. Some 63% have a smart speaker in the living room, 42% in the bedroom and 37% in the kitchen.

 

Advice All Music Writers Should Follow In 2019

As another year turns over, the music business has become unrecognizable from how it was almost 20 years ago, where the value of music journalists and their role in the industry has been called into question. Here we look at how music writers can best navigate this rocky new landscape moving into 2019.

 

10 Basic Concepts For Success In Today’s Music Business

As with so many industries, the music business has undergone a massive transformation over the past few years, meaning the rules for success have changed as well. Here we look broadly at ten basic concepts for advancing in the contemporary music business.

 

Report: 40% Of 2018’s Most-Streamed Songs Didn’t Air On Radio.

Comparing streaming music data with the most played songs on radio this year shows radio “missed or underplayed” 40% of the most streamed songs of the year, according to Bridge Ratings Media Research. Country radio performed the best out of the top four music formats that were the focus of the study.