The greatest bands create great memories and a total escape at their shows. If that’s not happening for you, here are the most common reasons why audiences disengage and what you can do about them. Most artists are earning a huge percentage of revenues from live shows, not recordings or publishing. So why are so […]
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Does Boycotting Spotify Work?
Rihanna’s ANTI album gained a number one spot on Billboards top 100 chart the week after it was released exclusively on Tidal’s streaming service. This was achieved without Spotify or any other streaming service except Tidal. Just 15 hours after ANTI was released on Tidal, the album was downloaded more than 1.4 million times, and by the end […]
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YouTube Is Underpaying Artists and Getting Away With It
We need to ”wake up and smell the coffee”… Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado joins Nikki Sixx, Debby Harry and other musicians who are standing up against YouTube and campaigning for fair payouts. In a recent blog post for The Guardian, Furtado discusses the ongoing issues that artists are having with YouTube and tells the streaming platform […]
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How Google Killed the Music Industry (In 3 Easy Diagrams)
Diagram #1. If your business is based on recorded music sales, then you know this slide well. But it’s also created a ripple effect throughout the music industry, with artists and labels moving towards touring, merchandise, and other areas to sustain revenues (with mixed results). Diagram #2. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), signed […]
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The Top 10 Music Instagram Accounts (Are 90% Women) – Digital Music News
Top 10 Music Instagram accounts… 1. Selena Gomez – 76.8 million followers (Image by AleeDear, Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic, cc by 2.0) 2. Taylor Swift – 75.3 million followers (Image by Eva Rinaldi, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic, cc by-sa 2.0) 3. Ariana Grande – 70 million followers (Image by JustEntertainment, Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic, cc by-sa […]
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Youtube Makes Changes To Its Heavily-Criticized Content ID System
Youtube: We know our content ID system is a ‘frustrating experience’…but we are making changes… Yesterday, YouTube announced via its blog that it would be making necessary changes to its Content ID system. The news comes after right holders dubbed the system as ‘flawed’, as it fails to pay them when someone files an incorrect dispute. Prior to […]
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Before You Waste Money on a Lawyer: 5 Legal Steps for Every New Artist
First, a Disclaimer (after all, I ‘m a lawyer). This series of articles and the forms included in them have been created for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. This article and other articles in this series should be used as a guide to understanding the law, not as a substitute […]
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This Is the Contract Songwriters Are Signing With Spotify
Sign this, and you sign away some of your rights. Early last month, Digital Music News broke the story of a broad-reaching agreement between Spotify and music publishers to resolve tens of millions in unpaid royalties. That agreement, forged by major publishing organization NMPA, would involve a one-time, $5 million penalty payment by Spotify as well […]
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Introducing the Unskippable YouTube ‘Bumper Ad’
YouTube has just announced the addition of another ad. And you will watch it. Yes, it’s another YouTube ad, like there weren’t enough already. But this one is entirely different: YouTube is calling its latest addition a ‘bumper ad,’ which will last six-seconds and can’t be skipped. Google designed these new ads for smartphone users (roughly […]
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What a Label With 2.5 Million YouTube Streams Actually Earns
The most difficult part about the debate over streaming royalties is that nobody seems to know what streaming services actually pay. Which is why Digital Music News started an initiative to collect streaming data from anyone who would share their royalty statements. (If you’d like to share, please email us at [email protected]. As you can […]
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Why Those Celebrating Bitcoin’s “Death” Are Missing The Point
Although many are gleefully claiming that the cryptocurrency Bitcoin can now be officially declared as dead, it’s initial failure could simply be a minor setback in the technology’s slow but steady march towards ubiquity. ___________________________________ Guest Post by George Howard on Forbes Mike Hearn, one of the original members of the Bitcoin development team, recently […]
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Alliance Entertainment Becomes Biggest Physical Wholesaler in the U.S.
5/18/2016 The negotiations between Alliance Entertainment and Anderson Merchandisers, previously reported by Billboard, has produced a purchase agreement whereby Alliance Entertainment will acquire the music assets and business of ANconnect LLC, a subsidiary unit of Anderson. The deal makes Alliance the largest physical wholesaler in the U.S. — and, with Target, one of the two biggest physical music accounts. The […]
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The Best Way To Live Stream To Multiple Platforms: Joicaster
As live streaming continues to become an increasingly important part of an artist’s digital presence, services like Joicaster are making it easier for said artists to place their video on multiple streaming platforms simultaneously. ___________________________ Guest Post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0 Live Streaming is becoming an important part of an artist’s social repertoire, but until now […]
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Adele Doesn’t Hate Streaming, She Just Uses It Strategically. “When We Were Young” Now On Spotify, Other On-Demand Services
After keeping her new “Adele 25” album purposely on-demand streaming music services, today Adele released her new single “When We Were Young” to Spotify and other on-demand streaming music services. It’s a well timed move that will help her stay at or near the top of the charts. After dominating the music charts for weeks, […]
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Merch Makeover: How To Double Your Sales Overnight
Merch not selling as much as you’d like? The following article offers a series of tips for how to change your merch display so as to maximize customer engagement, as well as some ways to plug your new album from stage without coming of as too sales-y. _________________________________ Guest Post by Chris Robley on The DIY Musician […]
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Behind The Scenes: The Making Of Four Different DIY Music Videos
Just because a DIY artist doesn’t have the backing of a major label does not mean they aren’t capable of producing a high-quality and engaging music video. Here we look at four such independent efforts and hear from the artists featured in each one. ____________________________________ Guest Post by Chris Robley on The DIY Musician Between CD […]
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Alabama Shakes, Bon Iver Atty John Strohm Sees “More Opportunities Than Ever” For Indie Musicians [INTERVIEW]
Former indie and major label musician (The Lemonheads, Blake Babies) turned music attorney John Strohm who represents, among others, The Alabama Shakes and Bon Iver shares his optimistic vision for the future of streaming and the music business in general. ________________________________ Guest post from Songspace The last 15 years have been a wild ride, but the dust is finally starting […]
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Royalty Hikes Forces Small Webcasters To Shut Down Hurting Indie And Niche Musicians
The webcasting platform Live365 was forced to shut down owing to the CRB’s new royalty rate hike, which dramatically increased the amount webcasters are required to pay artists and songwriters. ____________________________________ Guest Post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0 A number of issues seemed to have doomed thousands of small webcasters who use the Live365 […]
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