Department
of Justice Refuses to Change 80-Year-Old ASCAP, BMI Consent
Decrees
The
Department of Justice (DOJ) has officially refused to change
the roughly 80-year-old ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.
Makan Delrahim, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s
Antitrust Division, commented on the consent decrees during
a remote Vanderbilt University Law School speech, entitled
“‘And the Beat Goes On’: The Future of the ASCAP/BMI
Consent Decrees.” Significantly, the outgoing DOJ
professional touched upon many of the same points that the
Justice Department outlined in 2016 when announcing the
closure of a separate investigation into the ASCAP and BMI
consent decrees.
When
Will The New Mechanical Licensing Collective Pay Me?
The
Mechanical Licensing Collective is now essentially the sole
mechanical licensing/royalty go-between in the US, and
artists are wondering when and how the MLC plans to pay
them. Songwriters are beginning to realize that the
government is forcing them to use The MLC, Inc. (financed by
the streaming services) as their mechanical licensing
collective for collecting and paying their mechanical
royalties. So now they are asking questions about when
and how that payment is to be made, among other things.
How
Parkinson’s Law Turns Good Musicians Into Great Musicians
When
it comes your music career, dreaming isn’t enough to make
you complete your goals. Here, we explore how a seventy year
old business theory can help you achieve the music industry
success you want.
Everyone
aspires to make their dreams a reality, but Parkinson’s
Law teaches us why dreaming alone won’t help you reach
your goals. We live in a society built on the idea of
busyness. If you’re not busy, people say, then you’re
not doing enough. You need to be working toward something if
you want to become the person whose lead everyone follows.
You should bury yourself in work because that is the only
way to get ahead, right?
Music
Royalty Consulting, Inc. launches new website detailing its
music catalogue buyout service for artists, songwriters,
publishers, and other music royalty recipients
Industry
pioneer Music Royalty Consulting, Inc. has launched a
brand-new website to help music royalty recipients sell
their future royalty payments and music catalogues for large
payouts. Based on their history of past royalty
earnings and other factors; songwriters, artists, producers,
publishers, and musicians can now reap the benefits of their
years of hard work by selling their music catalogue. There
is no longer any need to have to wait months and years for
future, hard-earned payments.
SiriusXM
Takes $1B Pandora Hit Due To ‘Royalty Cost Structure’
SiriusXM
added 909,000 new subscribers last year, bringing their
total monthly self-pay subscriber base to a record of 30.9
million at the end of 2020. Subs beat SiriusXM’s
guidance for investors. The milestone was particularly
impressive because COVID-19 curtailed commuting. But
with the good news came some bad as the broadcaster
announced that it would take a $1 billion write-down for its
Pandora streaming service. According to SiriusXM, the
loss is the result of Pandora’s operating performance, in
particular, its royalty cost structure with content
providers.
Music
Has An Attention Dependency
“Every
minute gained is at someone’s expense,” writes top MIDiA
analyst Mark Mulligan on the challenges and effects of
attention dependency on music and the music industry.
The attention economy defines and shapes today’s digital
world. However, we have long since reached peak in the
attention economy with all available free time now
addressed. What this means is that previously, when digital
entertainment propositions grew, they were often using up
users’ free time. Now though, every minute gained is at
someone else’s expense.
Spotify
Stock (SPOT) Dips as Citi Tells Investors to ‘Sell’
Spotify
stock (SPOT) has dipped in value following a Citigroup
rating drop from “neutral” to “sell.” Citi expressed
serious doubts about podcasts’ ability to attract and
retain premium subscribers. Citi analyst Jason Bazinet
recently unveiled his bearish stance on Spotify stock, which
recorded substantial gains in 2020 and reached yet another
all-time-high per-share price ($370.95) earlier this month.
For additional context, Spotify shares were worth about $152
apiece at 2020’s start and dipped as low as about $109
apiece during the domestic onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in
March.
How The 80/20 Rule Can Make You A Better, More Successful Musician
The principle that 20% of all input and activities produce 80% of the output and results has endured for many years in the business world, and can be also be incredibly effective when it comes to your music
career. One of the oldest business principles has music applications that can help artists save time while developing their careers.
How To Set Up An Online Release Party
As with so many aspects of live music, releasing new music can be a little different in a pandemic. Record store parties and live release shows are of course out of the questions, causing many artists to go for an online version. Here, offers some tips on how to successfully execute an online show.
In this recent post on MusicThinkTank, contributor Mickael Ruau offers some pointers on how to successfully set up an online release party.
Short Attention Spans Are Dramatically Altering Songwriting: Here’s How
As attention spans shrink, and the competition increases, today’s hits are getting shorter and shorter, and drastically changing songwriting itself in the process.
Between our shrinking attention spans and increasing competition, the world’s biggest songs are among the shortest ever made.
10 Techniques For Getting Your Fans To Tune In To Your Live Streams
With live stream concerts clearly not going anywhere, artists are doubling down on making their virtual shows the best they can be. Here, we look at a few different ways to make you show stand out, and bring your fans in.
At this point in music history, it looks like live-streaming concerts are not only here to stay, but the only option for artists in many cases – and while they are a wonderful way to continue performing for your fans during a once in a lifetime global situation, seemingly everyone is hosting their own live stream, leading to a sea of choices for fans.
Streaming & The Embarrassment Of COVID Riches
Here, Chris Castle digs into how the impact of COVID has benefited streaming giants like Spotify, and caused them to double down on their corporate strategies.
We’re starting to see a narrative emerging from the digital music services in reaction to artists chafing under the misery of streaming royalties. Streamers want lawmakers to focus attention on the allocation of current period revenue that they pay to creators and deflect attention from the company’s stock market valuation (or private company valuation). That’s a grand deflection and misdirection away from the true value of artists, songwriters and their recorded music to streaming companies like
Spotify.
Federal Court Upholds $1 Billion Copyright Infringement Ruling Against Cox Communications
A federal court has ordered mega-ISP Cox Communications to pay the entire $1 billion copyright infringement penalty that a jury levied against it in December of 2019, as part of its years-long courtroom confrontation with the RIAA and the Big Three labels.
The underlying lawsuit between Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered Cox Communications and the RIAA initiated in late July of 2018, when the major labels formally alleged that Cox had reaped substantial profits from “massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers.”
More Than 5,000 Independent Artists Demand Reinstatement of Their Music on Spotify
A musician reached out to DMN last week with word of the unprecedented takedowns, and this message spurred a flurry of reports on the ugly situation. Firsthand emails, an analysis from music industry attorney Wallace Collins, a detailed breakdown from DistroKid, and social media posts penned by frustrated creators, suggest that the all-encompassing song-removal effort has impacted some 750,000 tracks.
Spotify appeared to explain the move in the “promotion” FAQ section of its Spotify for Artists resource, stating in an answer to one inquiry: “Third party promotional services that advertise streams in return for payment violate our terms & conditions, and using them could result in your music being removed from
Spotify.”
Bandsintown Launches Subscription Service for Livestream Concerts
Ten bucks gets fans access to at least two dozen real-time concert streams per month.
Live events discovery hub Bandsintown is bringing a new revenue model to the livestream space, hoping to capitalize on the industry's rapid growth. Today (Jan. 12), it launches Bandsintown PLUS, a subscription-based service where fans pony up $9.99 per month (after a seven-day free trial) to access more than 25 exclusive livestreamed shows, interviews and original series monthly.
Spotify
Just Purged Tens of Thousands Of Tracks For ‘Fraudulent
Streams’
Spotify
has purged tens of thousands of tracks for allegedly using
services that fraudulently inflate streams.
Music
industry attorney Wallace Collins wrote in a blog post that
the number of tracks purged by Spotify on January 1st could
exceed 750,000. “Upon information and belief, some
750,000 songs were removed, the vast majority of which
appear to have used Distrokid for distribution,” wrote
Collins. “It appears no major label artists have been
affected nor has any major label music been taken down as
part of this purge.”
