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.
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.
Spotify
Responds To Facebook Private Data
Controversy
Spotify,
Amazon, Apple and several dozen
other major companies were exempted
from Facebook privacy rules and
given access to private user data,
according to a New York Times
report. Spotify was also reportedly
given access to 70 million private
messages each month. The social
network has since largely confirmed
the practice and now the streamer
has responded.
How
Many In US Listen To Spotify vs
Pandora
As
streaming music use skyrockets, much
is made of the neck and neck race
between upstart Spotify and market
leader Pandora for listenership. In
the United States, however, there's
a clear winner, according to
eMarketer.
How
One Beat Is Killing Country Music
[VIDEO]
Country
music has been taken over by snap and
click tracks, says music journalist
Grady Smith; and it is doing the genre
a disservice. "Keep in
mind," says Smith "I like a
handful of these songs, but the
pervasiveness of this exact same beat
is suffocating."
97%
Of Mexico Admit To Music Piracy Even
Country Embraces Spotify Premium
Some
not-so-swashbuckling new data from an
anti-piracy organization in Mexico
recently released revealed that a
staggering 97% of the population has
engaged in some form of piracy, much
of it stream-ripping.
Spotify
Says It Was Unaware of Personal User
Data Shared by Facebook
According
to the report, Facebook allowed
Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of
Canada to read, write and delete
users’ private messages, and to see
all participants on a message thread,
although in Spotify’s case the
access was ostensibly provided to
enable users to share music via
Facebook’s Messenger service. The
report says that Spotify could view
messages of more than 70 million users
a month, although it did not state
whether the company had full access to
that entire number of users.
Discover
How To Write A Song From The Best In
The Biz
Beginning
is regularly the hardest piece of the
songwriting procedure. Building up
your tune’s fundamental song or
focal ensemble is considered by some
to be the best place to start
composing your next track. Once you
have your snare or key harmony
movement, you can manufacture whatever
remains of your melody around it. In
any case, don’t stress in case
you’re attempting to locate the
ideal tune straight away, this
technique isn’t for everybody.
Data
Shows Email Engagement Benchmarks For
Live Music and Events
For
artists and musicians, email marketing
can be a tricky beast, and while may
think your email marketing campaign is
doing just fine, given that emails are
being opened and tickets are being
sold the reality is, you could be
losing out to the competition - here
we look at some key benchmarks that
can help you better assess the success
of your campaign.
End
Of Year Guide To Launching Your Music
Industry Career
As
another year draws to a close, Angela
Mastrogiacomo offers some helpful
advice on how to position yourself for
a successful music business career
launch in 2019, by drawing on the
experiences of 2018, constructing a
solid plan and challenging yourself.
Indie
Label Market Bigger Than Ever And
Continuing To Grow
It
appears as though an ever increasing
number of bands and artists are
avoiding traditional record label and
instead taking the indie path,
sometimes by choice and sometimes
because of difficulty of signing with
a major label. Whatever the reason,
indie labels are soon set to
contribute to 40% of the global music
economy, with no sign of slowing down.
Tribute
Bands - Are They Legal?
Look
through your local gig listings and
chances are you’ll find as many
tribute bands and singers as there are
original acts. Their popularity
continues to grow and not just in
smaller venues. Some are able to fill
the largest sites like Wembley Arena
and the O2. There are many examples of
successful tribute bands that have
performed thousands of shows across
the globe, year after year. These acts have
earned their success by replicating
the original band’s music to a very
high standard, as well as providing an
exciting visual performance alongside
the sonic conventions.
An
Exploration Of Co-publishing,
Sub-publishing And Administration
Agreements
In
this second in a multi-part series
exploring some of the less well known
publishing agreements in the music
industry, Justin Jacobson delves into
the nitty gritty of sub-publishing
agreement and what its implications
are for songwriters.
Sell
More Merch At Gigs: 7 Techniques
Although
it's a great way for artists to boost
their overall revenue, selling merch
at shows can often be a challenge to
do. Here we look at seven ways to
switch things up and move a few more
shirts at your next show.
What
Your Band's Website Truly Needs
How
you market your website makes all the
difference heavy traffic and a digital
ghost town, and just like marketing
your music, requires a carefully
composed strategy with a product that
will leave fans coming back for more.
Sony
Music Takes On Spotify, Launches
Streaming Service In Japan 'Powered By
Napster'
Sony
Music will use Rhapsody's
"Powered By Napster"
platform to launch the first high
resolution streaming music service in
Japan. The move by Sony Music
Entertainment Japan makes Sony the
first major label to directly
challenge Spotify, Apple Music and
others with their own music streaming
service.
3
Greatest Challenges Facing Musicians
In The Digital Age
While
artists now live in a time when they
have more freedom than ever to create,
market, and sell their music, the
digital age has brought with it a
unique set of challenges as well. Here
we look at the three biggest obstacles
standing between contemporary
musicians and success.
25%
Skip A Song Within 5 Seconds [New
Data]
We
knew our attention spans were short,
and it seems the streaming era is only
making things worse, with new data
revealing that consumers are becoming
increasingly fickle, and skipping more
songs after spending a decreasing
amount of time listening to them.
Recording
Contracts 101: Guide To Signing The
Right Record Deal
Every
aspect of the music industry has been
touched by its transition to digital
distribution, and record deals and
recording contracts are no exception.
Here music attorney Mark Quails breaks
down some of the most import questions
about contracts for current day
musicians.
Indie
Label Earnings Climb To $6.9 Billion
As Market Share Grows to Nearly 40
Percent
Independent
labels generated $6.9 billion in sales
in 2017, up from $6.2 billion the
previous year, according to a new
report from Worldwide Independent
Network (WIN).
Radio
Industry Group Wants FCC to Eliminate
Competition Rules Limiting Ownership
With
the Federal Communication Commission
about to embark on the review it does
every four years of whether its
broadcast ownership rules remain
necessary in the public interest of
competition, the National Association
of Broadcasters is encouraging the
agency to relax, if not eliminate all
together, any restrictions on how many
stations a single owner can have in
one market.
5
Things To Consider Before Going Into
The Studio
Entering
the recording studio can be fun and
exciting. But it also involves
investing blood, sweat and tears, as
well as, of course, money. So it's a
good idea to make sure you're ready
before committing all that time and
money.
3
Online Music Courses That Can
Revitalize Your DIY Music Career
If
you’re like me, you don’t have a
huge budget for music. So
even though going to music college
sounds cool, it’s just not feasible.
Fortunately, there’s a great
alternative: online music
courses. They’re much
cheaper, more accessible, and take
less time to complete. And in light of
this, here are three online courses
that can help boost your music career.
Why
Apple May Be Interested In iHeartMedia.
The
Financial Times reported in early
November that Apple and iHeartMedia
were in talks about a possible deal
that could see the tech giant take an
equity stake in the broadcaster or
strike a large marketing partnership
with it. In a follow-up story, the
newspaper speculates that Apple is
interested in the radio giant to
broaden the audience for Beats 1, and
to narrow the audience gap between
Apple Music and streaming audio
competitor Spotify.
Spotify
makes analytics available to music
publishers
In
what could be a game changer for the
music publishing community, Spotify
has opened up its data to music
publishers, providing tools that were
previously only available to record
labels. The music streaming
platform said the Spotify Publishing
Analytics plan is "the first
analytics tool from a music streaming
service built specifically for
publishers, so they can better serve
their songwriters."
What
Happens When You Fake Social Media
Numbers
There
have been a number of stories released
in the past week covering a fake LA
hard rock band created by a one Jared
Threatin who purchased massive numbers
of followers, views, and Facebook
attendees only to, unsurprisingly,
have the "real" tour go up
in flames.
5
Common Mistakes Made By Artists
As
an artist striving for success, you're
doubtless putting in countless hours
of blood, sweat, and tears, but even
working as hard as you do, it's easy
to make career derailing mistakes.
Here we look at five of the most
common ones.
Apple
Music To Grow To 164M Users As iTunes
Crashes [Morgan Stanley]
Apple
Music will continue its growth
trajectory, according analysts
at Morgan Stanley. Over
the next five years, Apple Music's 5%
market penetration will expand to
14%of a growing user base of Apple's
products, driving a 28% revenue
growth. Apple Music is predicted
to grow to 164 million users by 2023.
