Indie artists like you and I are always looking for ways to get our music in front of new people. Sometimes we can do that organically. But sometimes we have to pay. And Spotify Marquee is another way to spend some money for exposure to new listeners.

What Is Spotify Marquee?

Spotify Marquee is “a full-screen, sponsored recommendation” for your new release. It’s a pop-up ad that Spotify will show to listeners who are likely to enjoy your music, both new and existing listeners. When a listener clicks on your Marquee, it takes them to the release.

How is Marquee different from Spotify Showcase?

Well first, Marquee is an ad that pops up on a listener’s home screen that they have to hit “Dismiss” to get past, while Showcase is a banner that appears on a listener’s home screen on the app.

Also, Marquee is only for new releases (released in the past 18 days or fewer) while Showcase is for any of your releases (older than 18 days). The ad will run for 10 days or until your budget is spent, whichever comes first.

Spotify Marquee Real-World Results

Let’s look at some real-world results to figure out if Marquee is worth your money.

Band Builder Academy looked at the Marquee results for the artist Loveless. The target audience was Spotify’s default targeting, which is defined as “listeners who are most likely to stream your release after seeing the recommendation.”

Loveless did three Marquee campaigns – two singles and an album.

Spending a total of $650, here are the average stats between the two singles campaigns…

• Reach: 3,386
• Clicks: 720
• Converted listeners: 773
• Conversion rate: 22.63%
• Streams per listener: 4.82
• Intent rate: 31.60%
• Playlist adds: 139
• Saves: 246

And here are the stats on Loveless’ $250 album campaign…

• Reach: 1,617
• Clicks: 509
• Converted listeners: 761
• Conversion rate: 47.06%
• Streams per listener: 33.57
• Intent rate: 47.17%
• Playlist adds: 1,058
• Saves: 2,507

Next, let’s look at indie artist Andrew Southworth’s Marquee results. He ran a $750 campaign for one of his songs…

• Reach: 8,375
• Clicks: 1,549
• Converted listeners: 1,136
• Conversion rate: 13.57%
• Streams per listener: 5.3
• Intent rate: 33.1%
• Playlist adds: 250

Lastly,  let’s look at my Marquee campaign results. I spent $88.92 on one of my songs…

• Reach: 2,122
• Clicks: 234
• Converted listeners: 144
• Conversion rate: 6.74%
• Streams per listener: 1.38
• Intent rate: 11.11%
• Playlist adds: 3

Is Spotify Marquee Worth It?

Just like Spotify Showcase (and with any advertising to drive streaming), you can’t expect Marquee to have an immediate ROI.

It’s not about getting your ad money back in streaming revenue. It’s about building your following on Spotify and therefore increasing your exposure to new listeners. From there, the idea is that your streaming reach snowballs via Spotify’s algorithm, gradually growing your audience.

So is Spotify Marquee worth it?

If you view it as a way to invest in your long-term career growth, yes. If you have room in your marketing budget for it, yes.

In my opinion, your money should first go toward making the best music you possibly can. If you have anything left, that should go to marketing. And if you have $100 available to drop for your new release, I would say it’s worth trying Marquee. When the campaign concludes, you can decide if its impact was great enough that you would run another Marquee.

Spotify Marquee Requirements and Eligibility

Before we talk about how to set up a Marquee, let’s see if your release is even eligible.

First, you have to be in one of these countries:

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• United Kingdom
• United States

However, your Marquee ad will be targeted to 36 countries (see the full list here).

And here are the artist and release requirements for you to run a Marquee:

• At least 5,000 streams in the last 28 days, OR…
• More than 1,000 followers in at least one of the target markets

How To Set Up a Spotify Marquee

If you want to give Marquee a whirl, here are the steps to get started…

1) In your Spotify for Artists dashboard, go to the Campaigns tab

If you don’t yet have access to your Spotify for Artists page, claim your profile here.

2) Click “Create Campaign” next to your release

All of your eligible releases will appear here along with how many days you have left to run a Marquee campaign. If nothing is there, you don’t have any songs that qualify.

3) Choose your audience targeting

By default, Spotify optimizes your targeting “to reach listeners who are most likely to stream your release after seeing the recommendation.”

But you can also customize your audience. Here are your options…

• Active audience
  • Super listeners: Your most dedicated active listeners in the last 28 days. They are also the most likely to keep streaming your music.
  • Moderate listeners: Active listeners who intentionally streamed your music many times in the last 28 days, and could still develop into super listeners.
  • Light listeners: Active listeners who intentionally streamed your music once or a couple times in the last 28 days, and could develop into moderate listeners.
• Previously active audience
  • Listeners who used to be in your active audience but haven’t intentionally streamed your music in at least 28 days. They may still stream your music from programmed sources.
• Programmed listeners
  • Listeners who only streamed your music from programmed sources like editorial playlists, Discover Weekly, Radio, Autoplay, or playlists by other listeners at least once in the last 2 years.
• Potential listeners
  • Listeners who aren’t currently in your total audience. Based on their listening habits, they may stream your promoted release.

4) Set your budget

The minimum budget is $100. The higher you set your budget, the more people you’ll reach, as shown in the sidebar to the right.

Spotify Marquee FAQs

What is the Marquee mode on Spotify?

Marquee is “a full-screen, sponsored recommendation” for your new release. Basically, it’s a pop-up ad that Spotify shows to listeners who are likely to enjoy your music. When a listener clicks on your Marquee, it takes them to the release. The listener has to hit “Dismiss” to get past the ad.

How do you qualify for Spotify Marquee?

You have to have had at least 5,000 streams in the last 28 days OR have more than 1,000 followers in at least one of the 36 target markets Spotify will show your Marquee to.

Is Marquee Spotify free?

No, Spotify Marquee is an advertising tool with a $100 minimum spend amount.

If you have at least $100 in your marketing budget, you can run a Spotify Showcase campaign….but should you? Let’s talk about what Showcase is, some real-world results, and how you can set up a campaign.

What Is Spotify Showcase?

Spotify Showcase is a promoted banner for your new release. It appears at the top of the Spotify app’s homepage for some listeners. Spotify feeds the promoted release to listeners the algorithm thinks will listen to and enjoy it.

So basically, it’s a targeted ad you can run directly on Spotify.

You can let Spotify use the default audience, which is “listeners who are most likely to stream your release after seeing your campaign,” or you can choose your specified audience. We’ll talk more about the campaign targeting options in the “How To Set Up a Spotify Showcase” section below.

Spotify Showcase Real-World Results

According to Spotify, people who see a Showcase are, on average, six times more likely to stream the release you’re promoting. But that stat feels a little too esoteric. So let’s look at some real-world examples and results.

Indie artist Andrew Southworth ran three $100 Showcase campaigns, one for an album and the other two for two different singles. The album and one of the singles were targeted at United States listeners and the second single was targeted at Brazil listeners.

I want to look at the results from his album campaign, for which he used Spotify’s default targeting (he goes into more detail in the video below)…

Album (U.S. listeners)

People reached: 9,862

Clicks: 289

Converted listeners (people who listened from the Showcase): 173

Active streams per listener: 5.51

Playlist adds: 1

Saves: 249

In addition to these numbers, his Showcase got 10 listeners from his active audience to stream the album for the first time, 5 listeners to rejoin his active audience, and 122 listeners to join his active audience for the first time.

Now let’s look at a $100 Showcase campaign from two indie artists, Thomas Austin and Jon Henry. They ran a Showcase for their single with Spotify’s default U.S. targeting. Here are their results…

Single (U.S. listeners)

People reached: 5,820

Clicks: 262

Converted listeners (people who listened from the Showcase): 180

Active streams per listener: 1.87

Playlist adds: 17

Saves: 35

In addition to these numbers, their Showcase got 9 listeners from their active audience to stream the song for the first time, 14 listeners to rejoin their active audience, and 157 listeners to join their active audience for the first time.

Lastly, let’s look at the $100 Showcase campaign I did for my album. I also targeted only U.S. listeners and used Spotify’s default audience targeting.

Here are my results…

Album (U.S. listeners)

People reached: 8,146

Clicks: 334

Converted listeners (people who listened from the Showcase): 201

Active streams per listener: 6.15

Playlist adds: 53

Saves: 177

In addition to these numbers, my Showcase got 9 listeners from my active audience to stream the album for the first time, 5 listeners to rejoin my active audience, and 187 listeners to join my active audience for the first time.

Spotify also tells me what else my converted listeners did after interacting with my Showcase. It looks like 10 of my converted listeners also streamed my other releases with an average 2.1 streams per listener. It also led to 2 saves of my other releases.

Is Spotify Showcase Worth It?

In my opinion, the most important metrics to focus on are playlist adds and saves. This tells you that the song resonated with the listener so much that they added it to their Liked Songs and/or their personal playlist(s).

And I don’t know about you, but I’m very picky about my personal playlists. They each have a different vibe so I can play a playlist based on how I feel or want to feel. So if you get added to my playlist, I’m going to hear your song a bunch of times and I’m more likely to become your lifelong fan.

Plus, according to Spotify, playlist adds and saves correlate with a 2.5x streaming increase for an artist 6 months later. And who wouldn’t want that?

So for $100, I got…

• 201 people to listen to my album who may not have listened otherwise
• 53 playlist adds
• 177 song saves

I definitely don’t regret running a Showcase campaign. It may not be a regular part of my marketing plan, but it’s a good way to reactivate listeners and get back into people’s algorithms. You can’t expect to make a profit from a Showcase, but you can count on growing your audience.

How To Set Up a Spotify Showcase

From your Spotify for Artists dashboard, go to the Campaigns tab. If you have any music eligible, you’ll see a “Create Campaign” button.

Next, choose what release you want to promote.

Then you get to the campaign details. Choose your target country and campaign start date.

Then choose the headline that will appear above the banner on Spotify – you can’t write your own headline but you can choose from one of Spotify’s pre-determined headlines. They offer different headlines based on the target audience you choose to hopefully engage more listeners.

Before you choose your audience, I suggest checking out Spotify’s tips on how to choose based on your goals.

Keep in mind, the minimum amount you must spend on a Showcase is $100. The campaign will run for 14 days or when your budget is used up, and it starts at $0.40 per click but can vary based on your targeting choices.

The eligibility requirements for running a Showcase campaign are:

• Must be an album, EP, or single (no podcasts, karaoke versions, or soundalikes)
• You must be the main artist
• Can’t promote music with more than 3 main artists
• Only available in Australia, Canada, France, the UK, and the US
• Release artwork needs to comply with Spotify’s advertising Terms and Conditions

Spotify Showcase FAQs

How do I access my Spotify Showcase?

You can access your Spotify Showcase by visiting the Campaigns tab from your Spotify for Artists dashboard. If you have eligible music, you’ll be able to click the “Create Campaign” button to get started.

Is Spotify Showcase free?

No, Spotify Showcase is a targeted ad that is fed to listeners who are likely to stream your music. The minimum you need to spend on a Showcase is $100.

How do you create a Showcase campaign on Spotify?

From your Spotify for Artists dashboard, go to the Campaigns tab. Click the “Create Campaign” button to get started. From there, you’ll choose what release you want to promote, your targeting preferences, the campaign start date, and your budget (minimum $100).

Photo credit: David Pupăză

As an indie artist, you’re always looking for a way to get ahead. An edge. You could even say a shortcut. Well, Spotify Discovery Mode is not a shortcut, but it could help you grow your music career. The catch is, Spotify takes a portion of your streams in exchange.

What Is Spotify’s Discovery Mode?

Spotify Discovery Mode is a tool that lets you, the artist, push your music out to more people through its algorithm. In exchange, Spotify keeps a 30% commission on all streams pushed out via Discovery Mode contexts (currently Spotify Radio, Autoplay, and Daily Mix) and not from anywhere else.

So if someone listens to your song via Discovery Mode, Spotify keeps 30% of the payout for that stream. But if that listeners adds your song to their own playlist, you would get 100% of the streaming royalties when the song is played from that playlist.

This tool does not guarantee more streams, but it “increases the likelihood of the selected songs being recommended.” Spotify looks at song engagement, both within and without Discovery Mode, to determine if it will get pushed to more listeners.

So it doesn’t push your song to random people. It uses the algorithm to recommend songs to listeners who may like the song.

Discovery Mode operates on a month-to-month basis, so when you opt in a song, it’s opted in for a month. After that, you can choose to opt it out or opt it in for another month.

And you’re not giving up any rights to your song. You’re simply asking Spotify to show your song to more people, and in exchange Spotify keeps a portion of the streams from its Discovery Mode efforts.

Is Spotify Discovery Mode Worth It?

According to Spotify, on average, artists who use Discovery Mode see a 50% boost in saves, a 44% boost in playlist adds, and a 37% boost in follows.

They calculate these increases by looking at a track’s stats in the 28 days prior to it entering Discovery Mode. Then they compare these numbers to that track’s stats in Discovery Mode contexts during the campaign period.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, let’s see if Discovery Mode is actually worth it based on people who have actually used it.

Indie artist Nic D said on the NDPNDNT podcast that it’s a “really a great tool if your song is actually good.” And as Spotify says, “It only works if fans love [the song] too.”

Nic D points out that even though Spotify takes a commission from Discovery Mode streams, these are streams you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Artist Brian Hazard wrote a case study on his experience with Discovery Mode. Overall, it sounds like he had positive results.

“It looks like the more songs you opt in, the more streams you get,” he writes. “The effect is large enough that, for me at least, streams per song is irrelevant. I want as many streams as I can get, so I’m going to opt in as many songs as I can!”

Last year, Ari from Ari’s Take published the results from an artist who had been using Discovery Mode for 5 months.

“Every month it has brought a healthy lift in listeners in streams,” he writes.

“…If you use Discovery Mode,” he continues, “it’s safe to say that you will see a bump in streams and listeners.”

Also last year, indie artist Andrew Southworth said Discovery Mode is a “no brainer.” He shares all the stats and results from his experience, which will give you a good idea of what to expect. Keep in mind, this was last year when Discovery Mode was relatively new. So is it still a no brainer?

“Eventually, down the line,” he says, “when everyone’s using Discovery Mode, it’s effectively like no one having Discovery Mode.”

Does Discovery Mode Decrease Your Monthly Listenership?

In my research, I noticed a common theme: artists who noticed a decrease in monthly listeners after using Discovery Mode.

“It works okay-ish/well for a couple of genres but it’s awful for the most,” said this Redditor five months ago. “…In my case it brought me down from 35k [monthly listeners] to 20k and dropping.”

Also, this Redditor said four months ago that after using Discovery Mode, they went from 80k monthly listeners to 52k.

But they said “even if I hadn’t opted into Discovery Mode my listeners and streams would’ve dropped as songs aren’t being pushed as much via the algorithmic playlists as Spotify is actively focusing on pushing Discovery Mode plays so they can make more money.”

Another musician says they went from 30k monthly listeners to 5k after using Discovery Mode.

“When it was just…Beta I tried it and got good results,” they said three months ago. “But only the first time I did it. It gave me a good bump in followers and monthly listeners. So I thought cool, this is worth it. But when I did it again my monthly listeners went way down from 30k to 5k. Normally I range between 10k-20k monthly listeners without doing anything but just releasing music and making content for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.”

We can’t confirm why this decrease in monthly listenership has happened for these artists, but we do know there are so many factors that could have caused this drop.

And this might be why Spotify has since increased the monthly listenership minimum for Discovery Mode to 25,000. Whereas before, artists could use Discovery Mode with much fewer monthly listeners.

When (and When Not To) Run Discovery Mode

According to Venture, a music marketing company that says it was invited to a Spotify for Artists masterclass, there are certain times when you should and should not opt your songs into Discovery Mode.

Apparently, the best time to opt in your song to Discovery Mode is when it already has good traction, whether organically or algorithmically.

And the worst time to opt in a song is when it has not been doing well on streaming. Doing so can negatively impact your algorithmic success because you’re teaching the algorithm to learn negative things about your song.

Remember the artists from the previous section who said they saw a drop in monthly listeners after running Discovery Mode? It’s possible they may have opted in songs that weren’t doing well in the first place, hence the negative results. But again, we can’t confirm each of the artists’ situations.

The Overall Takeaway

There’s a reason it’s called “Discovery Mode.”

It’s not about making a profit, it’s about getting discovered. It’s not going to blow you up to superstardom, but it can definitely get your music in front of new people. And it can do that well if you haven’t confused the Spotify algorithm by making multiple different unrelated genres, or if you’ve opted in a track that hasn’t already been doing well.

The good news is, it seems Spotify is making changes to improve the efficiency of Discovery Mode, like adding a bunch of eligibility criteria (see the next section for that).

Using Discovery Mode is about finding new fans who, over time, will help you build a music career. Yeah, I don’t love that Spotify takes a bigger commission on Discovery Mode streams when the per-stream rate is already terribly low. But remember, these are extra streams you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Ultimately, Discovery Mode seems worth a try. It couldn’t hurt to opt in one or two of your top performing tracks as a test. If it doesn’t work for you, then stop. But it could definitely boost your monthly listeners, streams, and (hopefully) lifelong fans.

How Do I Join Spotify Discovery Mode?

Discovery Mode is still technically in beta mode, so not everyone will have access. But here are the requirements in order to get access:

• You have at least 3 tracks that meet the following criteria:
  • Distributed via Amuse, CD Baby, CmdShft, Dance All Day, DistroKid, EmuBands, Horus Music, recordJet, Stem, *TuneCore, UnitedMasters, Venice Music, Vydia
  • Released for at least 30 days
  • Streamed via Spotify Radio, Autoplay, and/or Daily Mix in the last 7 days
• You have at least 25,000 monthly listeners
• Available in select countries (see full list here)

So yeah, there are a lot of stipulations. If you don’t meet these criteria, you could try using Spotify Showcase or Marquee. Either way, you should be creating content to promote your music.

But if you do meet the Spotify Discovery Mode eligibility requirements, you’ll see it in your Campaigns tab in your Spotify for Artists dashboard.

*Not listed by Spotify as one of the distributors who have access to Discovery Mode, but a TuneCore representative told Digital Music News that TuneCore does participate and offers artists access.

It’s that time of year again. Artists are posting their Spotify Wrapped, a collection, synthesizing, and summarizing of their streaming stats. For some artists, it’s an encouraging season and it’s fun to celebrate with their fans. But for many artists, it’s a “dark night of the soul” type of vibe. It’s complicated. Here’s why, and here’s how you can approach it (this year or in future years).

The Comparison Trap

Comparison is the biggest hangup for many indie artists, regardless of their level of success.

It’s natural to be curious about industry benchmarks and how other artists are doing. But it’s so important to approach it with a healthy perspective.

Comparing your stats with other musicians’ stats is dangerous for many reasons. It’s bad for your mental health and your artistic growth.

Whenever you’re tempted to compare your stats with someone else’s, keep these things in mind…

Success looks different for each person

Every musician’s path to success is unique. Success in the music industry doesn’t follow a one-size-fits-all formula. What works for one artist may not work for another. Comparing your stats will lead to unrealistic expectations of yourself and frustration if your trajectory doesn’t mirror someone else’s.

We all have different starting points

We each start with different opportunities and natural abilities. We have different backgrounds, financial support, connections, and resources. So comparing stats without considering these factors is misleading and demoralizing.

Quality vs. quantity

Streaming stats do not equal success. Numbers don’t necessarily reflect the quality of your work. So obsessing over the number of Spotify followers, streams, saves, playlist adds, and likes will only distract you from creating meaningful and authentic music. Quality and artistic integrity should be your primary goals, not just the quantity of engagement.

Mental health impact

Constantly comparing yourself to others takes you down a dark road. It can make you feel inadequate, jealous, or like an impostor. That’s why it’s important to prioritize your mental health and focus on your personal growth rather than external benchmarks.

Fluctuating metrics

Spotify stats can fluctuate for many reasons, like changes in the algorithm or the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Standing your success on these metrics leads to frustration.

Long-term artist development

Building a sustainable and fulfilling music career requires long-term commitment and growth. Comparing your short-term streaming stats to others’ stats probably doesn’t accurately reflect your potential for long-term success and development as an artist. Think long-term.

Different artists have different audiences

Your music may not be generic pop that will appeal to most passive music listeners. My sad folk music isn’t going to appeal to as many people as Olivia Rodrigo’s heart-broken rock-pop songs. So just focus on your unique audience instead of trying to appeal to everyone.

Spotify and Artists: a Toxic Relationship

Now we need to talk about the toxic relationship Spotify is causing with artists. Namely, how they value the music based on what and how they pay out streams.

First, there’s the average payout of $0.003 per stream. Initially, the low payout is why some artists boycotted the streaming platform, like Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. As an artist myself, it does feel insulting.

Another more recent issue is that Spotify will not pay artists for songs that get less than 1,000 streams in 12 months. This will increase the per-stream rate for songs that do get at least 1,000 streams, but it’s only alienating smaller artists.

All this to say, even if you’ve gotten streaming stats you’re happy with, posting your Wrapped may feel strange. You’re basically giving Spotify free promo, but they’re not paying you fairly. So, while I usually post my Wrapped, I understand why some artists wouldn’t want to.

How To Approach Spotify Wrapped

Here’s how to approach Spotify Wrapped every year. Here’s how you should approach your creative output and your entire music career.

Only compare yourself to yourself.

Only measure your growth against yourself from last month, last year, 5 years ago. Only focus on how far you’ve come and how much better your music is now than it used to be. Don’t pay attention to other artists’ streaming numbers.

This is easy to say but hard to do. So I recommend writing down your goals and where you want to be as a musician. Then just focus on pursuing that.

Photo credit: Alexander Grey

Spotify is making a few changes to the way it pays artists, and these changes are expected to take effect in Q1 2024. But the one change we’re going to talk about is its new payment threshold.

What Spotify Is Changing With Its Payment Threshold

Spotify just confirmed that a song must generate at least 1,000 streams per year or they will not pay you for it. If your song gets 999 streams in a year, Spotify will not pay you for that song.

To clarify, songwriters and publishers are still getting paid for those streams under the threshold, which is why you should register all of your songs with a Performance Rights Organization. The only thing that’s not getting paid is the master usage, AKA the streaming royalty that gets paid via your digital distributor.

What Type of Artists This Will Help

Because Spotify is not paying out songs with fewer than 1,000 streams a year, they estimate that will move $40 million back into the royalty pool. What’s a royalty pool and how does it work?

Put simply, all of the money generated from streams in a month goes into a pool. That pool is then divided up by percentage. So if your song earned 1% of the streams, you would get 1% of the money.

So this means songs that surpass the threshold will get a higher per-stream rate. We don’t really know how significant this bump in pay will be, but every little bit helps when you’re an indie artist.

There’s a good chance artists garnering over 1,000 streams in a year rely on their streaming income to some extent. So the new payment threshold is good news for them.

We’ll call these artists middle-class musicians.

What Type of Artists This Will Hurt

Now let’s talk about indie artists below the “middle-class musician” title. These are artists just starting out or those who don’t rely on streaming to get by.

The first misconception is that these artists are not working musicians. I know of so many musicians who make a living playing shows but probably don’t get enough streams to pass this new 1,000-stream threshold. For these musicians, they will be losing money that could help them in the long run.

Another argument in favor of the new threshold is that these artists wouldn’t be getting paid anyway because distributors have a payout threshold. But a payment threshold and a payout threshold are two different things. A payout threshold is simply a delayed payment until your songs collectively (across all streaming platforms) meet the threshold, while a payment threshold means you don’t get paid for your songs at all.

Because here’s the thing, streams add up. If I have 20 songs that each get 900 streams in a year, that’s 18,000 total streams. Which, with the current average per-song rate of $0.003, that’s $54. Yes, that’s not a lot of money in a year. But for artists just starting out who don’t have a lot of expendable income, that $50 could go toward promo, guitar strings, or a new plugin.

And to be clear, low stream count does not mean “bad” music. I know a bunch of indie artists with less than 1,000 monthly listeners on Spotify that make really good music. The problem for many of these musicians is marketing. Usually, they don’t put enough effort into marketing.

But all of this aside, the biggest thing that bothers me with this new payment threshold is that if someone streams my song, I should get paid for it. Period. And this is coming from an artist who will probably benefit from the slight bump in the per-steam rate for songs above 1,000 streams a year.

Photo credit: Chase Yi

Whenever you see musicians complaining about not being able to make money from music, they’re probably not making money from music. Because there are definitely ways to use your musical skills to earn a part-time or full-time income.

Is it difficult? Yes. As Russ says, you have to be delusional to make a living as a musician. In other words, you have to be ridiculously passionate about music. If you are, you can provide value to listeners and get paid for providing that value.

So, below are 12 ways to make money from music. I’ve made or currently make money from most of these income streams, so I know it’s possible.

Streaming Royalties

Music streaming platforms notoriously don’t pay a ton of money. But that’s not a good enough reason to not take advantage of this passive income stream. You make a song, distribute it, and it can potentially make you money for the rest of your life.

Yeah, you need a lot of streams to make anything substantial. And we should push for better payouts from streaming platforms. For example, to make $500 from Spotify, you need to get about 210,000 streams.

But isn’t it better to make as much money from streaming as possible?

Teach Music Lessons

Whatever instrument you play, you can bring in some money by teaching others how to play it (you’ll have to be exceptional on that instrument). You can get paid $20-40 per hour, depending on how good you are and where you live.

It can be difficult to get your first students, but once you do, you’ll retain more students mainly by word of mouth. To find your first students, start with your personal network. You can also start by working with a company that finds students for you. And you can

Session Musician Work

If you’re good enough on your instrument to give music lessons, then you’re probably good enough to be a session musician.

You’ll do better as a session musician if you live in a city with a vibrant music scene, like Nashville, Austin, Los Angeles, or New York. But you can start right away by getting set up on SoundBetter and Fiverr and offering remote session work.

Play House Concerts

If you’re an artist with original music already released, don’t overlook house concerts.

They’re my favorite kind of show. As an introvert who loves people, I do better with smaller crowds. It’s not as intimidating and I get to meet everyone there. And you can be sure everyone in attendance wants to be there, as opposed to playing songs in a bar for people who don’t even know who you are.

This means house-show attendees are more likely to support you financially. Here are some resources to help you with the house concert industry:

• Team up with your friends and local fans to host house concerts in their homes
• Read No Booker, No Bouncer, No Bartender: How I Made $25K On A 2-Month House Concert Tour (And How You Can Too)
• Sign up as an artist on Side Door (they connect you with hosts)
• Apply to be part of the Listening Room Network (if you’re accepted, they connect you with hosts)

Play Live-Streamed Shows

Artists make money by live-streaming their concerts. Apparently, you don’t need many fans to make a living on Twitch. You can also make money directly on TikTok through follower “gifts” (tips).

But most importantly, it’s a fun way to connect with your fans from all over the world.

Play Corporate Gigs

Corporate gigs seem to be the secret sauce to making a living as a performing musician, as long as you’re willing to get rid of the fantasy idea that every show you play will be a sold-out theater.

I have friends who make a living from this type of thing, and I’ve played a few corporate gigs myself.

These gigs involve being background music for private parties, business get togethers, performances at senior living communities, and weddings. If you’re also a DJ, that’s a huge plus.

And, like any other type of public performance, you can earn performance royalties on top of what the client pays you.

Here’s how to get started.

Performance Royalties

Whenever you or someone else plays your songs in a public place, you are owed a royalty. In my experience, it ends up being about $1-2 per song per performance.

This can vary depending on what Publishing Rights Organization (PRO) you’re with. With BMI, I simply upload my setlist to their website and get paid every quarter. Oh, and this whole process is free.

A “public place” has to be anywhere open to the public, so house shows are not considered a “public place.” So don’t try to file for royalties from a house concert.

The first step is to sign up with a PRO.

Merch

Any shows you play, you should be selling merchandise, whether it’s in a house, at a bar, or for a corporate event (just check with the client first). For a lot of performing artists, merch sales are their biggest income stream.

For merch apparel, look for a local company that can make your custom T-shirts, hats, stickers, and whatever else your fans might like.

Sync Licensing

Sync licensing is when your song is synced with a moving image – in other words, a TV ad, show, or film.

You’re getting paid a lump sum of cash in exchange for allowing a filmmaker to use that song in their project.

Depending on the project, you can earn anywhere from $10 to thousands of dollars per song used. And you can license the same song multiple times if you’re under a non-exclusive agreement.

Plus, you’re owed performance royalties if your song is on TV (another reason to sign up with a PRO).

Produce and Mix Artists

This is currently my biggest income stream. I partner with indie artists to bring their songs to life through production and mixing.

To get started, you’ll first need to show people what you can do. This is why it’s important to have music of your own that you can send to potential clients.

Just record a song or two for starters. Then you can send those songs to fellow musicians to whom you pitch your services.

And, if you’re new to this, it’s best to offer to mix 1-2 songs for free. Then you’ll have more portfolio items to show other clients.

I highly recommend SoundBetter. I get most of my clients through this platform.

Start a Subscriber Community

A subscriber community allows your superfans to support you financially while getting exclusive goodies in return. By sharing exclusive stuff, early access, and just being yourself, you can run a successful subscriber community.

Some of the top platforms that let you do this are Patreon, Bandzoogle, and Bandcamp.

Launch and Grow a YouTube Channel

This one is tough. I’ve not done it, but I’m a big consumer of YouTube and I’ve seen plenty of musicians do it.

The trick is figuring out how to grow. To do so, you first need to have irresistible content. You’ll also need to post frequently, be a part of the community, and know how to add effective tags to your video.

Then, as you grow your audience, you can earn money from sponsors and YouTube’s ad revenue program.

YouTube actually put together a free course on how to succeed on YouTube. Looks like it covers everything you need to know.

Personalize Your Music Career

The way you make money from music is up to you. I’m just letting you know there are plenty of options. You have to find your own path and keep going.

I suggest focusing on 2-3 of these income streams.

But why three income streams?

Well, Thomas C. Corley, author of Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, spent five year studying millionaires.

And he found that three income streams “seemed to be the magic number.”

He found that 65% of the millionaires he studied had at least three income streams “prior to

making their first million dollars.”

He added that “the more income streams you can create in life, the more secure your financial house will be and the more wealth you will create.”

And these millionaires “built their businesses while employed full time. If they can do it, so can you.”

I know, you may not be shooting to become a millionaire musician. But if you want a full-time career in music, it’s best to listen to people who are financially successful.

Your ROI for Spotify playlists will probably be $0, at least for a while when you first start out. But that’s okay.

The point of playlists is not to make money or get more streams. Yes, the ultimate goal is to make a living from music, and playlists can bring in more streaming revenue. But it’s deeper than that. So we’re going to talk about the real reason you want to get on Spotify playlists.

The Three Types of Spotify Playlists

Before we talk about how Spotify playlists can help your music career, let’s first cover the types of playlists.

Spotify Editorial Playlists

An editorial playlist is curated by Spotify employees. And they have thousands of these playlists, all specific to a genre, vibe, or even situation.

These playlists usually have hundreds of thousands of followers, so it’s a chance to get some great exposure. Will it ensure you have a stable music career? Likely not, but it can definitely help.

You pitch to editorials through your Spotify for Artists account. The key is to submit it well before your release date. Learn everything you need to know about pitching to editorial playlists here.

Algorithmic Playlists (AKA Personalized Playlists)

Algorithmic playlists are personalized to each listener based on what they listen to, when they listen, what songs they add to their own playlists, and even the listening habits of others with similar taste.

Sometimes, Spotify editors will start the process by choosing the initial songs the algorithm should choose from.

There are many variations of personalized playlists, but some of the more popular ones include:

• Discover Weekly
• Release Radar
• On Repeat
• Repeat Rewind

Listener Playlists

These are playlists created by listeners. And what’s cool is, you can see what playlists people are putting your songs on, as long as multiple listeners stream your music from the playlist.

Just go to your Spotify for Artists, to the Music tab, and go to Playlists. Alternatively, you can click on an individual song and see what playlists it’s been put on.

These are very important playlist adds because that means someone was so into your song, they added it to their curated collection.

As a listener, I take my playlists seriously. They’re organized by vibe, so I have to really like an artist’s song and it has to perfectly fit a playlist before I add it.

What Spotify Playlists Actually Do For Your Career

The expectation of Spotify playlists should not be to rack up streams and make a bunch of money (although that is possible). They can help, but playlists play a deeper and more important role than that. Here’s what they actually do…

Trigger the Spotify Algorithm

Basically, the more playlists you’re on, the more appealing you are to the Spotify algorithmic playlists.

This is why I continue to submit my music to playlist curators. Yes, I spend money submitting to most of these curators (pay to submit, not pay for guaranteed adds), and I probably won’t get that money back any time soon. But it’s all part of the bigger effort to move the needle. I’m investing in myself, my music career, believing that it will pay off eventually.

I’m triggering the Spotify algorithm to show my music to even more people (the main picture at the top of this post shows the source of my streams on Spotify). And I want it to snowball until the algorithm pushes out every new release.

Turn Passive Listeners Into Lifelong Fans

I’ve heard the argument that playlists are pointless because people are listening passively. And yeah, that’s true. People are listening passively.

Which is why your music needs to be great – the songwriting, production, mix, every part of it. Because if your song is good enough, it will snap the listener out of passivity. They’ll like your song, add it to their playlist, and maybe visit your profile to check out your whole catalog.

So getting on playlists is one way to find lifelong fan. And that’s what this is all about. Finding the people who love your music so much they’ll stick with you for the long-haul.

And if you find just one person who becomes a diehard fan from a playlist, the money you spent submitting to that playlist won’t compare to how much that fan is willing to pay you for merch and show tickets or becoming your patron. Not to mention the value of them sharing your music with others.

How To Submit Your Music To Spotify Playlists

If you’re ready to invest time and a little money into getting your music on Spotify playlists, you should read this post. It shows you how the Spotify algorithm works, methods for finding the right playlists, and a few other considerations.

Photo credit: Fath

I’ve seen a debate among independent musicians: to pre-save or not to pre-save? Some people say you should just put the song out and then promote it. Others say pre-release hype leads to more streams on release day. So let’s talk about the pros and cons of a Spotify pre-save campaign and how to set one up if you want to.

What Is a Spotify Pre-Save Campaign?

A Spotify pre-save campaign is when you allow fans to save your song before it comes out so that when it drops, it will automatically be in their library. It’s also supposed to show up on listeners’ homepages if they’ve pre-saved it.

What’s actually happening is, listeners give a third party company permission to save songs to their library. So on release day, this third party adds your song to the libraries of all the pre-savers. Although as of this writing, Spotify is rolling out their own version of pre-saves to select artists called Countdown Pages.

The Downsides of a Spotify Pre-Save Campaign

While many indie artists find pre-save campaigns helpful, there are definite downsides. Here are a few…

Saves aren’t everything

When someone pre-saves your song, the third party you use will add your song to listeners’ liked songs. But saves aren’t everything to the Spotify algorithm.

Spotify looks at multiple engagement points, including:

• Streams
• Playlist adds
• Repeat listens
• Minimal skips
• High save-to-stream ratio
• Song shares

So even if you get a bunch of saves from a pre-save campaign, that doesn’t mean people will actually listen, share, and add the song to their playlists.

Now, theoretically, when the Spotify algorithm sees that your song has a bunch of saves on release day, it’s more likely to push it to the algorithmic playlists, like Discover Weekly, Spotify Radio, Your Daily Mix, Release Radar, and Radio. But you can’t rely on the algorithm to do all the work for you.

Many fans won’t save a song without hearing it first

As a listener, I don’t like pre-saving an artist’s song, even if it’s an artist I follow and love. And I don’t think I’m alone in this. I want to support my fellow artists, but I don’t want songs saved to my library if I haven’t even heard it first. I like to curate my listening algorithm by only liking songs I actually like, and then I add them to one of my vibe-specific playlists.

A pre-save is a big ask in an asking world

Nowadays, everyone is asking for stuff. Every artist is asking for something from listeners, so asking for a pre-save feels like a big ask. You don’t want to get lost in the sea of requests.

The Benefits of a Spotify Pre-Save Campaign

I’m not totally anti-pre-saves. They work for a lot of artists. So here are some of the upsides…

A bunch of saves on release day

Even though Spotify looks for more than just saves, it definitely helps to get a bunch of saves on release day. It does increase the chances of pre-savers listening and the algorithm pushing the song out to new people.

You can collect emails

This is probably the most beneficial aspect of pre-save campaigns. When someone pre-saves your song, they agree to share their email address with you (they don’t have to enter it, the campaign just pulls their Spotify email address). You can then add them to your email list and contact them about future music.

People who pre-save your song also become your follower

When someone pre-saves your song, they also automatically follow you on Spotify. As long as you make this clear in your marketing of the pre-save campaign, this could lead to a bunch of new followers who stick around instead of immediately unfollowing you.

How To Set Up a Spotify Pre-Save Link

Okay, now that you’ve read about the pros and cons of a Spotify pre-save campaign, maybe you want to try it out. If so, below are some places you can use to set up a pre-save link, assuming Spotify hasn’t given you access to Countdown Pages yet.

• DistroKid (free for DistroKid users)
• Soundplate (free)
• Music Gateway (free)
• Show.co (paid)
• Presave.io (paid)

If you’re an indie artist like me, you probably check your Spotify for Artists dashboard an unhealthy amount each day. (It’s a problem, I’m working on it). One feature they have shows you how many people are listening to your music on Spotify in real time.

Well, one day, I noticed that nearly twice the amount of people than normal were listening. So, being a worst-case scenario thinker, I was suspicious. I did some digging and here’s what I found…

What Is a Botted Playlist?

Many times, a “bot” is a software program that someone created to stream a playlist.

“These bots are programmed to control individual Spotify accounts to play the same song(s) or playlist(s) repeatedly on a loop,” writes Venture Music.

But those accounts can involve real people. So a botted playlist can involve a company who incentivizes people to stream a playlist on a loop.

Simply put, a bot’s purpose is to stream for the sake of streaming, not to actually listen to the music.

Why a Botted Playlist Is Bad for Indie Musicians

It may be obvious, but let’s lay out the exact reasons why you’ll want to avoid botted playlists…

It can ruin your Spotify data

Spotify can’t always tell when an account is a bot or not. They can be real accounts by real people, and they can be hidden behind a VPN.

A bot probably ends up streaming a bunch of different kinds of music because that’s what it’s designed to do. This means a bot’s Spotify data is all over the place.

So when a bot streams your music, it confuses the Spotify algorithm, making it more difficult for your music to show up in Spotify algorithmic playlists.

Spotify is a music discovery tool, so it’s important you protect your Spotify data as much as you can.

You get a false sense of success

I know, the streaming numbers look cool on your profile. It feels good as the artist. You might start to feel like you’re “making it” when really you’re not actually gaining new fans and growing your music career.

You’re trying to connect with real people who will support you throughout your career. You need people to go to your shows, share your music with friends, and consistently listen (and enjoy) your music for years to come.

Botting is fraud

If Spotify finds out you’re knowingly using botting services and playlists, they have been known to remove entire albums and ban users. And that could really screw up your Spotify growth.

What It Looks Like When You’re On a Botted Spotify Playlist

This is what it looks like when your music gets added to a botted playlist. A huge spike is streams, all of a sudden for no apparent reason. I didn’t submit my music to this playlist either. If you see this on your Spotify for Artists dashboard, look into it.

How To Get Your Songs Off of a Botted Playlist

When I noticed the spike in listeners and streams, I immediately checked out the guilty playlist. It was a company called Artister.io. I checked out their website and here’s what I found.

In their FAQs, one of the questions is “Does Artister.io use artificial streaming methods, such as bots?”

The answer starts off by saying, “We are not using any Bots or Click Farms to generate artificial streams on Spotify. It’s against the T.O.S, and we want to avoid participating in that kind of business as other Playlist Curators do.”

But then they go on to explain the very definition of bots. The streams are from listeners “who get rewarded by virtual in-system points if they listen to songs through our Apps. They can redeem their points in exchange for gift cards etc.”

The listeners are real people, yes. But they aren’t listening to listen, they’re listening to get rewards. In other words, bots.

Once I saw this, I hopped in Venture Music’s Discord to ask how (and if) I could get my songs off the playlist. And they said to just email the company.

It seems Artister’s business model is:

1. They add your song to their botted playlist
2. You see your song getting a bunch of streams
3. A couple days later, they remove your song from the playlist
4. You notice the drop in streams, so you email Artister and ask them to put your song back on the playlist
5. They reply and say, “Sure! Just pay us $XX.”

So I emailed Artister and they replied with, “Your music will be removed within the next 12 hours.”

They did remove my song from the playlist, but I’m not sure if this will hurt my Spotify data or not. So far, it hasn’t seemed to hurt me. But I know my streaming numbers for that song are inflated. (Fortunately, it still did really well with my fans).

Artister is a scam. And there are so many playlists and companies like this.

How To Avoid Botted Playlists

It’s possible you could submit your music to a Spotify playlist that turns out to be botted. Here’s how to avoid those fake playlists…

Don’t use “guaranteed” pay-to-play services

Nothing in music marketing is certain. So a company cannot guarantee you get X amount of streams if you pay them X dollars.

There may be playlist pitching services that are legit, but there are many that seek to take advantage of indie artists by “guaranteeing” streams. Guaranteeing streams is also against Spotify’s Terms & Conditions.

It’s smart to just avoid playlist pitching services altogether. Do the research and playlist pitching yourself, or enlist some friends to help you.

Research the playlist

If the top 10-15 songs on a playlist are unknown artists (we’re talking barely any monthly listeners), then be suspicious.

If the account that runs the playlist has several other playlists with a similar number of likes, be suspicious.

If an account requires you to follow them and like the playlist before you submit, you should be suspicious, according to Venture Music.

I’ve gotten added to playlists through sites that have submission gates like this, but I always check out the playlist before I submit. I’m looking to make sure my song actually fits with the other songs and artists on the playlist. And I’m looking to see if there’s anything sketchy about the account or its other playlists.

Don’t be willy-nilly with your playlist submissions. Do your research. Submit only to relevant playlists.

P.S. – as I was writing this, I got a DM from an account asking me to pay them for guaranteed placement on their playlist (scroll down to see a screenshot).

I said if they already found my song and liked it, they would’ve just added it to a playlist instead of trying to milk me for money.

It felt off, so I said no thanks. When submitting to playlists, trust your gut.

*Update: a previous version of this article stated the Instagram account shown in the screenshot below was affiliated with Sony Music, but that is incorrect. It is not affiliated with Sony Music and doesn’t represent Filtr playlists. The Instagram account in question has been reported to Meta for its unauthorized use of the Filtr playlist art in its profile photo and that image has since been removed.*

Photo credit: Heidi Fin

If you were a 90s kid like me, you probably remember curating playlists before there were playlists. They were called mixtapes, or “burning a CD.” We put our favorite songs in one place so we could just hit play and know that every track would be awesome.

Today’s version of that is Spotify playlists. And as an artist, it’s important that you factor them into your music marketing strategy.

How Much To Invest in Spotify Playlists (Emotionally/Financially)

To figure out how much you should emotionally and financially invest in Spotify playlists, we first have to talk about the Spotify algorithm. (Learn how to get your music on Spotify here).

How does the Spotify algorithm work?

Spotify’s algorithm is all about data. It analyzes how its 433+ million users listen to music. Then it uses all that data to suggest songs to listeners. And it’s gotten very good at suggesting music that listeners will like.

Basically, the algorithm gods want to suggest the right song to the right person, which is why it’s important for you to pay attention to what data you feed them. Who’s your audience? What artists is your music similar to? Do listeners engage with your songs, or mostly skip them?

Spotify wants to only suggest music that will engage the listener, thereby keeping the listener on the platform and an all-around happy customer. So here are some of the metrics Spotify uses to measure the engagement of your songs:

• Minimal skips
• Repeat listens
• High follower-to-listener ratio
• High save-to-stream ratio
• Number of playlist adds
• How often your name appears in the press
• Number of song shares

The higher Spotify ranks your engagement, the more likely it is you’ll get on algorithmic playlists, like Radio, Release Radar, Discover Weekly, Your Daily Mix, and On Repeat.

Should you try to please the Spotify algorithm?

Artists who make multiple kinds of music use different artist names, if they’re smart. You don’t want to confuse the algorithm with an acoustic singer-songwriter song one month and then a lo-fi hip-hop song the next.

I’m not saying you should change your music to please the algorithm, but if your musical style is all over the place, you won’t do as well on Spotify.

“The algorithm IS your audience,” writes Chris Robley of CD Baby. “I mean that in an almost literal sense; not that you create your art to please a machine, but that this machine is the most powerful representation of your fans’ aggregate tastes and listening habits.”

In a way, the algorithm is on your side. It’s trying to get your music to the right people. So if you confuse it, you’re making its job harder.

Again, if you want to make an artistic choice, do what you need to do. I’m all for it. Artistic expression always comes first. But just know, if the music is too different from your previous music, you may not get as much traction on Spotify.

How much to invest in Spotify playlists

Never pay money for “guaranteed” streams on a Spotify playlist. These are most likely bots and definitely not people who are going to be your fans. You’re trying to build a community of real fans here, not just streams.

But what about paying to submit your music for playlist consideration?

This is fine if you have the budget. In this case, the playlisters will accept or reject your song solely on their musical taste and preference, not based on you paying them.

I’ve used playlist-pitching services where you can pay to submit. But I didn’t spend tons of money on it, and I wouldn’t suggest you do either. Yeah, $10 here and there could work. But you probably have other, more valuable things to spend that money on.

Emotionally, I would say don’t base all of your success on getting on playlists, especially Spotify editorial playlists. Editorial playlists are curated by Spotify employees, and they’re notoriously tough to get on. Usually, you need to have already gotten tons of streams to land on one of those.

However, definitely try to get on playlists. Remember, the Spotify algorithm will rank your engagement higher the more playlists your songs are on. Just make sure those playlists are in line with the type of music you make.

How To Find Spotify Playlists

The number of playlists my songs were added to in 2022

Here are a few websites I use to pitch my music for playlist consideration. I’ve gotten on several playlists using all of these methods.

SubmitHub

SubmitHub is a pay-to-submit platform for Spotify playlists, music bloggers, influencers, etc. You can submit for free, but by using Premium (paid) credits, it bumps you to the front of the line so the playlist curator hears your song first. I’ve gotten several press write-ups and playlists inclusions through this platform.

I’ve spent some money on SubmitHub, but I wouldn’t recommend spending a crazy amount of money on it, unless you have the budget. There are free ways to get on playlists.

Groover

I have yet to try Groover, but it works a lot like SubmitHub in that you get a guaranteed listen and feedback. It’s then up to the curator if they want to add your song to one of their playlists. It costs $2 to submit to a curator, and that is split between the curator and Groover.

The @gmail.com method

I used this method to get my songs on a couple playlists. Basically, in the Spotify search bar, type “[your genre/mood] @gmail” and you’ll find a bunch of playlists where the curator has listed their submission email in the description. And it doesn’t have to be just your genre or mood – you can replace it with whatever you think will find playlists that fit your music.

Search hashtags on TikTok and Instagram

Social media is full of playlist curators who love sharing music they’ve discovered. And they use specific hashtags on their TikToks, Reels, and Shorts. So as an artist, you can search these hashtags, find those curators, see if they have any playlists your music would fit on, and then submit your music.

Here are some hashtags you can search on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube:

• #songrecommendations
• #underratedsongs
• #musicdiscovery
• #songsuggestions
• #songsilike
• #spotifyplaylist

The Most Important Kind of Playlist

The most valuable kind of Spotify playlist your songs can get on are those made by your fans. These are personal playlists that people voluntarily added your music to. They’re not aspiring professional music curators. They’re just music lovers.

It means your song resonated so deeply with them, they just had to add it to their carefully assembled playlist. When you see these playlists show up on your Spotify for Artists dashboard, feel encouraged. You’re doing something right, so keep it up.

You know when you play a song on Spotify and you see a short looping video? Yeah, that’s a Spotify Canvas.

This post is all about creating and uploading a Canvas for your songs on Spotify. I’ll go through the requirements, dimensions, tips from Spotify to increase engagement, and the nitty-gritty of setting up your Canvas.

What Is Spotify Canvas?

Spotify Canvas is a 3-8 second looping video that plays when someone streams your song. You can make a different Canvas for each of your tracks on Spotify, which can give each track a life of its own.

Why Should You Care?

Before doing research for this article, I always thought Spotify Canvases were cool, but like…so what?  Isn’t it just another marketing/branding gimmick? As it turns out, no. Canvases can do a lot for your performance on Spotify. Last month at CRS in Nashville, Spotify’s Soy Kim offered some convincing stats for artists and managers who who were thinking about adding Canvases to their tracks.

For starters, a high-quality Canvas increases the engagement fans have with your music. Specifically, here’s what happens with tracks that have a Canvas, according to Spotify:

• 145% more likely to get track shares
• 20% more likely to get added to playlists
• 9% more likely that fans will visit your profile
• 5% increase in streams
• 1.4% more likely fans will save your song

Plus, when you or anyone else shares your song on Instagram, the Canvas will appear automatically, making your post more engaging.

(Excuse me while I go make a Canvas for each of my songs on Spotify…)

How To Create a Spotify Canvas (Specs and Best Practices)

Alright, so how do you actually make a good-looking and engaging Canvas?

Spotify Canvas Specs

First, here are the Spotify Canvas requirements. You have to follow these for Spotify to accept it:

• Dimensions: 9:16 ratio (vertical)
• File format: MP4 or JPG
• Pixel size: at least 720px
• Length: 3-8 seconds

If you use graphics in your Canvas, they may not appear on some phones if they’re outside the Safe Area.

Also, according to Spotify’s content policy, your Canvas cannot include:

• Dangerous content
• Deceptive content
• Sensitive content
• Illegal content
• Promotional content

How To Make Your Spotify Canvas Engaging

According to Spotify, here’s how to make your Canvas engaging…

• Don’t put your artist name and song title in the video (they will already appear in the Now Playing view)
• Don’t use footage that has talking, singing, or rapping
• Don’t use videos with flashing or rapid video cuts because that can overwhelm the listener/viewer
• Try to tell a full story within the 3-8 seconds
• Some phones may cut off the edges of the Canvas, so keep the most important parts centered

Spotify has three main types of Canvases they recommend using:

1. Continuous Loop: has a seamless loop, where listeners can’t tell where it begins and ends
2. Hard Cut: has clear edit points (you can get creative with your edits)
3. Rebound: plays your clip forward, then backward

Need a Spotify Canvas template?

I found three Spotify Canvas makers that have templates, and they’re free…

• Tuneform 
• Kapwing
• rotor

Really, they all do the same thing. It’s just a matter of picking the one that’s easiest for you to use and/or has templates you like.

How To Upload Your Spotify Canvas

How do you turn on Canvas for your songs? The above video explains very clearly how to upload your Canvas, but I also listed the steps below:

1. In your Spotify for Artists account (app or browser), go to your Music tab
2. Click on the song you want to add a Canvas to
3. Click the “Create Canvas” button (“Add Canvas” on the browser)
4. Click the + sign
5. Upload your video
6. In the Spotify for Artists app, you can trim the length of your video (must be 3-8 seconds)
7. Hit “Agree & Post”

From there, listeners will be able to see the Canvas within the hour. To change or edit your Canvas, follow these same steps ‒ you’ll just see an “Edit Canvas” button instead.

Spotify Canvas Not Working?

If your Canvas isn’t working, here’s what you can do:

• Make sure your video meets the Canvas specs, requirements, and doesn’t include anything that’s not allowed (see previous sections for more info)
• It can take an hour from the time you upload your video for it to appear publicly
• Remember that Canvas only shows in the Spotify app
• Check to see that your phone works with Canvas here
• In the Spotify app settings, make sure the Data Server is switched off
• In the Playback section of the Spotify app settings, make sure Canvas is switched on
• Canvas is only available in certain countries ‒ here’s the full list

Growing Your Spotify Following

Adding a Canvas to your tracks can definitely help improve your performance on Spotify, which means you can potentially get more streams, more followers, and more engagement from listeners.

I’m saying this to myself too: go create a Spotify Canvas for each of your songs, at least your most recent ones. 

In March 2018, Spotify went live in South Africa.

The company would offer local users a Premium monthly subscription for R5.99, or about $0.42 USD at the time.

The low price only lasted for a short time.  Shortly after the introductory offer – good for only three months – Spotify jacked up the price to R59.99, or $4.20 USD per month.

Sounds great compared to countries like the U.S., though South Africa has a high unemployment rate.  On average, people earn R20,860 ($1,472) a month in South Africa.

Now, a rival music streaming service has confirmed a new download milestone.

Taking on Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Spotify in South Africa.

Earlier this year, South African telecom giant Vodacom, majority owned by Vodafone, revealed that it has 43.8 million customers in the country – 38.2 million prepaid and 5.6 million contract customers.  Vodacom remains ahead of its closest rival – MTN South Africa, which has 26.6 million.

In an effort to take on international music streaming services, Vodacom rolled out My Muze in April.  Since then, the company has quickly reached over a million downloads on the Play Store alone.  My Muze’s international partners include Deezer, Google Music, and Joox.  Users can also use the app’s Recharge section to purchase music tickets and data bundles.  Weekly streaming plans start at R9.99 ($0.70) a week.

Spotify has yet to disclose how many subscribers – or even total users – it has in the country.  When pressed on the issue, Claudius Boller, the company’s Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), merely said,

“We see the user numbers by far exceeding what we had expected.”

In PR talk, this usually means the real numbers are much, much lower than the company expected.

Back in the UK, Vodafone started a bundling deal with Spotify back in 2013, one that gives users the option to layer Spotify Premium into their plans.

Vodacom’s rationale for launching its own music streaming and download service in the country is two-fold.  First, My Muze solidifies Vodafone’s dominance in the country.  Second, the service allows the telecom company to diversify its revenue streams.

But Vodacom isn’t the only formidable local competitor.  Touting the success of its own music streaming and download service, MTN’s MusicTime! has over 240,000 downloads on the Play Store and the App Store.

Yet, don’t expect My Muze and MusicTime! to completely wipe out international players.  According to Ndzalo Mpangana, an analyst at iAfrikan Digital, middle and upper-middle-class South Africans prefer using Apple Music and Spotify.  However, thanks to rampant music piracy in the country, MTN and Vodacom may ultimately turn this around among low-income music fans.

Featured image by Chris Eason (CC by 2.0).

A copy of the full document and its terms is below.

Admittedly, the music industry has a major problem – fake streams.

Three years ago, for example, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) found that Jay-Z’s music streaming service, TIDAL, flat-out lied about its total streaming numbers for two popular albums – Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.

Despite just having under 3 million subscribers at the time, TIDAL reported that The Life of Pablo had magically achieved 250 million streams in 10 days.  Lemonade had also reached an astonishing 306 million streams in just 15 days

In a published extensive Digital Forensics report by CCIS, the newspaper found that the company manipulated the data.  CCIS first started its investigation on February 7^th, 2017.

Now facing a federal investigation in Norway, TIDAL executives deny any wrongdoing, despite authorities receiving a manipulated hard drive as evidence.  An unspecified number of artists and labels have since pulled their music from Jay-Z’s service.

At around the same time, reports came to light Spotify had also gamed the industry to avoid paying top artists like Kendrick Lamar.

In a lengthy piece, Vulture’s Adam K. Raymond claimed Spotify has purposefully filled its service with fake accounts.  The Swedish streamer had yet to tackle “the coverbots and ripoff artists who vomit… inferior versions of popular songs.”  These ‘fake artists’ allegedly manufactured by the company received up to six-figure salaries for ripping off popular songs.

Spotify has since denied any wrongdoing, stating it wouldn’t “pay itself” for fake streams.

Yet, not everyone is convinced.

Dealing with the issue earlier this week, Louis Poen, founder of indie record label Hopeless, explained the real cost of fake streams for labels – $300 million a year.

One particular track, for example, earned around 3,000 streams per day.  Then, that number jumped up to 35,000 streams each day for three days straight.  Then it abruptly returned to its previous numbers.

Poen explained where the fake streams came from – Spotify.

“When we looked at where those streams came from, 100% of them came from six playlists on Spotify.  It couldn’t be more suspicious.  The playlists were created recently.  They gained a bunch of followers in one week.  They’ve never gained another follower since then.”

Now, top organizations and major labels have declared war on platforms which readily allow this form of manipulation.

Clamping down on gaming streaming.

Top tech and music industry companies have signed a new code of conduct.  IMPALA and the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) are among the signatories of the ‘Anti-Stream Manipulation Code of Best Practice.’

The signatories have agreed on 22 codes to tackle “stream manipulation.”  These include identifying dishonest manipulation and artificial creation “by human or non-human means,” and stating music streaming services and other digital platforms must play “a valuable role” in tackling fake streams.

Main topics of the code include the definition of fake streaming – now dubbed “streaming manipulation” – ways to identify legitimate versus illegitimate music consumption, practice and reasonable measures against streaming manipulation, compliance with existing national and EU laws, and the legal status of the code of conduct.

Each signatory has agreed that the code of conduct will not “affect” existing private agreements with and streaming service providers.

The complete list of signatories include Amazon, the American Association of Independent Music, Artist Rights Alliance, Deezer, IMPALA, the International Artist Organization, ICMP, the International Federation of Musicians, IFPI, the Independent Music Publishers International Forum, Merlin Network, the NMPA, Recording Academy, the RIAA, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment, Spotify, Universal Music Group, and the Worldwide Independent Network.

In total, the signatories represent hundreds of different companies and a range of different music industry sectors.

You can view the complete code of conduct below.

Featured image by Spotify.

According to a new report from Goldman Sachs, nearly 1.2 billion people will be paying for music streaming in just 11 years.

The latest report from the investment bank – dubbed ‘Music In The Air’ – comes nearly two years after Goldman Sachs predicted global revenue from paid music streaming alone will hit $28 billion in 2030.

Two months ago, the IFPI reported that global recorded music revenues hit $19.1 billion in 2018, up 9.7% over 2017, thanks in large part to music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and others.  So, Goldman Sachs’ global revenue projection doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

The investment bank writes,

“After nearly two decades of disruption, the music industry is undergoing a massive revival.  Artists, labels, and publishers are cashing in on the growing popularity of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music – and consumers are signing up for subscriptions like never before.“

According to the investment bank, live music revenue totaled $26 billion in 2017.  Recorded music revenue totaled $30 billion.  Publishing revenue hit $6 billion.  In total, global music revenue totaled $62 billion.

Updating its projected forecast, Goldman Sachs forecasts overall music revenue to more than double to about $131 billion by 2030.

Breaking that number down, recorded music revenue will reach $80 billion while live music revenue will hit $38 billion.  Music publishing will total $12.5 billion.

So, what’s behind the surge?  Goldman Sachs writes that millennials and Generation Z music lovers spend more of their annual budgets on music than other age groups.  People aged 13-17, for example, now spend $80 a year.  Those aged 18-34 spend $163.  Overall, people of all ages spend an average of $152 to enjoy their favorite music.

Breaking down the proportion of people who stream music on their smartphones, 18% used music streaming platforms in developed markets last year.  That number will more than double to 37% by 2030.  In emerging markets, 3% of people streamed music last year on their smartphones.  By 2030, that number will reach 10%.

In a stern warning to the music industry, however, Goldman Sachs wrote platforms like Spotify and Apple Music must continue to provide “access to millions of tracks.”

41% of paying users consider this very important.  35% also consider a large catalog fairly important.  The group noted that music streaming could lose its appeal if catalogs become overly restricted or if prices go up.  Exclusives may also have a market-damaging impact.

You can view the full report here.

Featured image by Jericho (CC by 3.0).

Indie artists aren’t the only things not earning enough from streaming music services.

Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay.

Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists, we ranked these services according to their per-stream rate.

Napster, the king of streaming music payouts, now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US ($1,472), an artist needs 77,474 total plays.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player.  The service pays artists $0.0125 per stream.  Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Taking third place, Apple Music now pays $0.00735.  Artists on Apple Music need around 200,272 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Beating Deezer for the first time, Google Play Music (GPM) per-stream rate stands at $0.00676.  Artists will need around 217,752 total streams to earn $1,472.

Falling to fifth place, and still without an established presence in the US, Deezer’s per-stream rate rose to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM.  Artists need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Previously ranked as the service with one of the worst payouts, Spotify reportedly pays $0.00437 per play.  That number varies per artist, with award-winning cellist and composer Zoe Keating receiving on average $0.00543 per play.  Typically, artists will need around 336,842 total plays to earn $1,472.

Right behind Spotify, Amazon now pays $0.00402.  Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.  Previously, Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play.

Pandora has historically paid indie artists dismal amounts in terms of royalties.  The company now pays $0.00133 on Pandora Premium.  Artists will need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

Historically, YouTube hasn’t ever been an artist-friendly platform, thanks to its horrendous payouts.

The popular video platform pays artists $0.00069.  To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

Now, The Trichordist has released its list of streaming music payouts.

What one indie label earned from streaming.

Gathering its data from a single source – a mid-sized indie label with an approximately 250+ album catalog which generates almost 1 billion streams – The Trichodist has published its list of streaming music service payouts.

According to the data, Amazon Music Unlimited has the highest per-stream payout rate at $0.01175.  An artist would need around 125,277 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  Amazon’s platform only had a 0.68% share of all the label’s streams, generating 4.04% of all revenue earned.

Napster came next, paying $0.01110 per play.  Artists on Rhapsody’s streaming music service would need around 133,818 plays to earn $1,472.  The service had a 0.14% share of all streams, generating 0.80% of all revenue earned.

TIDAL fell to third place, paying $0.00927 per play.  Artists on Jay-Z’s beleaguered streaming music service would need around 158,792 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.21% share in the label’s streams, generating 0.98% of all revenue earned.

In fourth place, Deezer reportedly paid $0.00567 per stream.  Artists on the platform would need around 259,612 plays to earn $1,472.  The French-based service had a 0.91% share in streams, generating 2.6% of all revenue earned.

Google Play Music came behind Deezer, paying $0.00543 per play.  Artists would need around 271,087 streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 1.12% share in the label’s streams, generating 3.08% of all revenue earned.

Apple Music paid indie artists around $0.00495 per stream.  Indie artists would need around 297,374 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a 9.95% share in overall streams, generating a significant 24.97% of all revenue earned.

Amazon Prime Music – labeled Amazon Digital Services – came in seventh place, paying $0.00395 per play.  Artists would need around 372,658 plays on the platform to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.95% share in streams, generating a low 1.90% of all revenue earned.

Spotify came close behind Amazon Prime Music, reportedly paying $0.00311 per stream.  At that rate, indie artists would need 472,312 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a whopping 29.22% share of all the label’s streams, generating 48.93% of all revenue.

Among the worst paying services, Pandora ranked in ninth place, paying $0.00155 per play.  Artists would need 949,677 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 3.86% share in the label’s streams, and generated a dismal 3.03% of all revenue.

YouTube ranked as the worst offender, paying artists a dismal $0.00028 per play.  An artist would need 5,257,143 plays to earn $1,472.  In terms of all streams for the label, the service had a whopping 48.58% share, generating only 6.99% of all revenue.

The key takeaways.

At first glance, only one streaming music service paid more to the indie label: Amazon Music Unlimited.

The rest paid far, far less than they have to individual indie artists.

Take Spotify, for example.  According to independent data, and as explained above, the streaming music giant pays $0.00437 per play.  Yet, the company paid the label $0.00311 per stream.  Spotify’s streams also accounted for nearly 30% of its billion streams.

Apple Music’s per-stream rate saw an even more dramatic drop for labels.  In 2017, the service reportedly paid $0.00783.  Last year, that number decreased to $0.00495.

Comparing both services’ payouts to independent labels, The Trichordist explained,

“Apple Music still lead in the sweet spot with about 10% of overall streams generating 25% of all revenue (despite the per stream rate drop).  Spotify by comparison has nearly triple the marketshare in streams than Apple Music but generates less than double the revenues on that volume.”

Also, despite multiple denials of the ‘value gap,’ YouTube continues cheating the music industry in terms of fair payouts.

The Trichordist explains,

“The biggest takeaway by far is that YouTube’s Content ID, (in our first truly comprehensive data set) shows a whopping 48% of all streams generate only 7% of revenue.  Read that again.  This is your value gap.  Nearly 50% of all recorded music streams only generate 7% of revenue.”

It also remains unclear how much streaming music services do pay major labels, which presumably take a higher percentage.  Yet, from what we can tell, indies receive far, far less than major labels do.

You can view the complete infographic below.

Netflix, like Spotify, continues to grow at a phenomenal rate.

Several days ago, and despite heavy competition in the streaming video space, Netflix raised its prices again.

Depending on the plan, the streaming video giant has increased its prices $1 to $2.

The Basic streaming plan, for example, which includes standard definition and one smartphone/tablet, now costs $9.  The Standard two device plan with HD and two devices now costs $13.  Its Premium plan, which offers 4 devices and 4K streaming, now costs $16.

According to analysts, the recent move won’t cost the company any subscribers.  Only up to 3% may follow through on canceling their Netflix subscription.

Now, the company has confirmed a new milestone.

Magic number 139.

The decision to raise prices comes on the heels of the upcoming launch of Disney’s new streaming video service.

But, according to a recent letter shared with investors, Netflix isn’t worried about Disney, HBO, Hulu, or Amazon.

Boasting solid numbers for recent exclusives, including Sandra Bullock’s Bird Box and You, the company estimates it now has a 10% share of television screen time in the US.  Bird Box scored more than 80 million views in its first four weeks on the platform.  You scored 40 million.

Outlining its real competitors, the company explained,

“Our focus is not on Disney+, Amazon or others, but on how we can improve our experience for others.  We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO.  When YouTube went down globally for a few minutes in October, our viewing and signups spiked for that time.”

Revealing the company now has 139 million subscribers, CEO Reed Hastings said he “likes” Disney.  He’s “excited” about the launch of Disney+.

“We compete so broadly with all of these providers, that any one provider entering only makes a difference on the margin.”

The company gained nearly 9 million subscribers in the final three months of 2018.  It closed out the year with 29 million new global subscriptions.  Spotify, on the other hand, now has more than 87 million subscribers.  It remains on track to reach between 91 and 93 million.  Amazon has around 101 million Prime subscribers globally, making Netflix the world’s largest streaming video service.

Hastings also revealed the company serves 100 million hours a day of content to TV screens in the US.  People generally spend a billion hours a day watching TV.

Though the stock has taken a hit after the company missed revenue targets, major analysts remain bullish.

Maintaining a Buy rating, Goldman Sachs raised its price target to $450.  Bank of America also concurred with a Buy rating, raising the price target to $450.  With an Overweight rating, JP Morgan Chase raised Netflix’s price target to $435. Reiterating its Buy rating, UBS raised the stock target to $420.  Listing Netflix as ‘Outperform,’ RBC raised the price target to $480.

Yet, urging investors to sell the stock as soon as possible, TheStreet highlighted the company’s revenue deceleration.

Spotify, on the other hand, no longer enjoys the same upbeat sentiment from investors on Wall Street.

After closing out at $103 last month, multiple banks and major investment firms have slashed price targets.  JPMorgan Chase, for example, lowered the streaming music giant’s price target to $200.  Zacks Investment Research downgraded the company’s stock to Hold.  Also downgrading Spotify’s stock, Evercore ISI slashed its price target to $155, down from $210.

Nomura followed suit, cutting the target from $210 to $190.  Barclays trimmed its target, from $210 to $200.  Wells Fargo cut the stock’s price target from $180 to $150.

What have they seen?  The downgrades suggest a serious rethinking of Spotify’s deep levels of debt-financed growth.  Amidst reckless spending on salaries and overhead, Spotify has clearly failed to provide investors with a viable path to profitability.

Meanwhile, Netflix continues to charm investors, banks, and major investment firms.

This makes one wonder.  Although they’re in two completely different markets, why hasn’t Spotify experienced this kind of growth?

According to the latest research, the average length of a song is getting shorter by the year.

According to a new report, the average length of a song is now significantly shorter. The average length of a song on the Billboard Hot 100 has decreased by 20 seconds in the past five years.  Songs now average 3 minutes and 30 seconds — and are steadily shrinking.

6% of hit songs also averaged 2 minutes and 30 seconds or shorter last year, and sub-3 minute songs are becoming increasingly common.

Breaking down Kendrick Lamar’s albums and songs, Quartz found a steady shift towards shorter tracks. In good kid, m.A.A.d. city, for example, the 5^th track, ‘Money Trees,’ starts in the 19^th minute. But in To Pimp a Butterfly, the 5^th track, ‘These Walls,’ starts in the album’s 16^th minute.  And in DAMN., the 5^th track, ‘FEEL.’, starts much sooner, at the 12^th minute.

The average track length on good kid, m.A.A.d city is 5 minutes and 37 seconds. All tracks on Lamar’s album are 3 minutes and 30 seconds or longer.  Some tracks even surpass the 6-minute limit,  including ‘Money Trees,’ and the 12-minute+ ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dyin’.’  The entire album lasts 68 minutes and 23 seconds.

But Kendrick is clearly shifting to shorter length songs. DAMN.’s average track length stands at 3 minutes and 57 seconds.  The entire length of the album stands at 54 minutes and 54 seconds.

This trend also applies to other artists.

Breaking down Drake’s latest albums, Scorpion and More Life, Quartz found the rapper’s songs have become shorter.  His albums have also become longer.

Kanye West also follows this trend. His 2016 album, The Life of Pablo, had eight tracks less than 3 minutes long.  In contrast, 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy only had two.

Nicki Minaj and J. Cole also followed suit. Squeezing extra songs into Queen, Minaj’s latest album tracks have shortened 11% over Pink Friday. Tracks on J. Cole’s latest album, KOD, have shortened 29% over those on 2014’s Forest Hill Drive’s.

Rappers aren’t the only ones shortening their songs.

Tracks on Eric Church’s Desperate Man have shortened 21% over those on Mr. Misunderstood. Jason Aldean’s Rearview Town’s tracks are also 18% shorter than My Kinda Party.

According to Quartz, low streaming music payouts may have caused songs to decrease.

Spotify, for example, pays major artists between $0.004 and $0.008 per stream.  So, every song on West’s newest, shorter album receives the same royalty payment as those on his older works.

Mark Richardson, Pitchfork’s former editor, explained,

“[T]here has never been this kind of financial incentive to make shorter songs.”

So, what should we expect in the near future?  Thanks to the rise of streaming music, until artists receive better payment from streaming, we can probably expect longer albums with shorter songs.

Featured image by Pieter Jannick Dijkstra (CC by 2.0)

How much do artists make per stream? Reported per-stream payouts from top music streaming services (updated for 2021; click to enlarge)

How much do artists make per stream on the most popular streaming music services? Here’s a breakdown for Pandora, Napster, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more (updated for 2022).

Based on information directly received from artists and indie labels, as well as various published sources, we can rank streaming music services according to their per-stream rate. So how much do artists make per stream? Given extreme variations in payouts, the answer largely depends on the platform involved. Take a look.

Napster remains king of streaming music payouts, but total usage is lower.

With Microsoft’s Groove Music shutting down, Napster became king of streaming music service payouts.

The service had paid $0.01682 per play.  According to two sources – Information Is Beautiful and David Crosby – that number has steadily risen.  On average, Napster now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US of $1,472, an artist would need 77,474 total plays.

With 5 million paying subscribers, the service loses around $7.00 per user.  Unlike its rivals, however, Napster remains a profitable streaming music service.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player, at least in terms of payouts.

This year, Jay-Z’s streaming music platform, TIDAL, has remained embroiled in multiple controversies.  These include accusations of hacking users’ accounts to inflate Beyoncé and Kanye West’s total streams.

Nevertheless, the service had remained friendly to artists. But the service reportedly paid out $0.01284 per stream earlier this year. That number has fallen slightly to $0.0125, according to more recent data. Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Jay-Z’s streaming music service reportedly loses $6.67 per user with an annual loss of $28 million.

Apple Music takes third place.

How much does Apple Music pay per stream? Historically, Apple Music has paid artists much better than its streaming music rival, Spotify.

Back 2017, the service paid $0.0064 per stream. By last year, that number had risen to $0.00783. Now, Apple Music has upped its rate further: in April of 2021, the platform announced that its artists would receive a royalty rate of 1 cent ($0.01) per stream.

Artists on Apple Music would need around 147,200 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

With Apple closely guarding its user metrics, it remains unclear how much Apple Music loses each year on the service as well as per user.

Deezer falls to fourth place.

Launching several years ago in the US, French-based streaming music service Deezer still doesn’t have an established presence in the country.

Back in 2018, at $0.0056, the service topped GPM in terms of payouts. By 2019, Deezer paid $0.00624. That number has slowly risen to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM. Artists will need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Deezer recently reported an annual loss of $27 million, losing $1.69 per user. Deezer reportedly has 16 million users, with around 9.12 million – or 57% – paying for the service.

Amazon falls behind.

As with Napster, Apple, and Google, Amazon closely guards its user metrics.

Earlier this year, The Trichordist found Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play. That number has now plummeted to $0.00402, placing it just above Spotify. Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.

How much do artists make per stream on Spotify?

Spotify’s per-stream rate ranks as one of the worst, and it appears to be falling. According to the latest data, Spotify pays most artists between $.003 and $.005 (one-third of a penny to one-half of a penny) for each stream. 

Back in December 2019, you may have read our report on cellist Zoe Keating’s receiving a $753 check from Spotify, as compensation for 206,011 streams. Rounding up, the sum represents a per-stream royalty rate of $0.0037 – down from Keating’s 2018 Spotify royalty rate of about $0.0054. Separately, mechanical royalty firm Audiam also suggested that Spotify royalties have decreased despite rising subscriber counts and revenue.

Of course, there are plenty of Spotify alternatives. But as of 2022, Spotify remains the largest streaming music platform worldwide — which means you have little choice but to play ball with them.

Pandora continues to struggle.

Back in 2018, despite having the second-highest amount of total users in the US, Pandora paid artists $0.0011 per play. By 2019, the digital radio service slightly increased that rate to $0.00134. The company has now settled at paying artists $0.00133 on Pandora Premium. Artists will now need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

YouTube pulls a U-Turn.

Historically, YouTube hasn’t ever been an artist-friendly platform, thanks to its horrendous payouts.

In 2017, the popular video platform paid $0.0006 per play. By 2019, the company had increased its rate to $0.00074.

But YouTube executives have now pulled a U-Turn, choosing to pay artists $0.00069. To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

The video platform reportedly loses $174 million each year, with loss per user calculated at $0.17.

So, what’s our advice?

Once again, please don’t ever make a career out of your earnings on the popular video platform.  Trust us.  You’ll regret it.

With its ‘Preferred Digital Distributor’ list, should we expect Apple Music to soon allow direct uploads for artists — or even make a play for a digital distributor?

The Cupertino company has quietly launched its ‘Apple Preferred Distribution Program.’

With the launch of its program, Apple Music has named just three music distributors as its “Preferred Plus” partners – CD Baby, The Orchard, and Kontor New Media.

As partners, the three digital distributors can now offer exclusive features to their clients not available on competitors’ platforms.  This includes support for advanced Apple Music and iTunes features, advanced analytics, and early access to both services’ Sales and Trends features.

The Cupertino company bases its programs on several thresholds, primarily size and rejection rate.  A qualifying Preferred Plus distributing partner, for example, crosses the threshold of 40,000 songs per quarter, has a low Apple Music rejection rate, and supports basic and advanced customer features.

A ‘Preferred’ distribution partner crosses 10,000 songs per quarter, has a low rejection rate, and supports basic customer features.

(click to enlarge)

Here’s a more detailed look at the various supported features, capabilities, and formats (complete list here).

(click to enlarge)

The move could signal that the streaming music service will follow in Spotify’s footsteps.

Last month, Spotify quietly revealed its own ‘preferred’ digital distributor list.  The streaming music giant named CD Baby, EmuBands, The Orchard, FUGA, and Distrokid (notice CD Baby and The Orchard topped both rankings).  These distributors tend to cater to indie labels and artists.  But the five companies represent a small selection of distributors that can help artists and labels get their music onto the service.

This came after Spotify revealed plans to allow select artists to directly upload songs onto the platform.

Revealing its plans to possibly control the digital distribution chain, Spotify then revealed a minority stake in DistroKid.  The partnership will allow Spotify to facilitate its direct-upload feature, as well as distribute to rival services (likely for a fee).

Whether Apple Music will soon allow artists to directly upload their music onto their platform remains to be seen.  Certainly there’s been industry speculation in that direction, though nothing has been confirmed (or even suggested by Apple).

One differentiator is that Apple likely has a more robust uploading and ingestion infrastructure, based on its iTunes know-how.  According to sources, Spotify has struggled to build its direct-upload functionality, which would explain the Distrokid partnership.

And let’s not forget Spotify’s up-the-ante decision to also allow distribution to rival streaming services alongside its direct-upload offering (also taken care of by Distrokid).  That could point to a possible Apple partnership or acquisition involving a rival digital distributor, with Spotify’s tie-up with Distrokid potentially motivating the move.

To be continued…

Featured image by Apple Music.

Apple’s acquisition of Asaii reveals the company’s two-fold strategy to take on Spotify.

Last month, Asaii, a music analytics program, abruptly announced that it was shutting down.

In an e-mail to customers, the company wrote,

“Asaii will [shut] down operations on October 14, 2018.  As of that date, you will no longer have access to our API endpoints, the website, or features such as Asaii Terminal, Recommend, Artist Analytics, and others.  We’ve loved watching the artists you’ve signed, marketing campaigns you’ve launched, and love of bringing data into this industry you’ve shown over the past two years.”

The startup had offered artist managers and labels a music analytics platform for developing artists.  Breaking down data from streaming music services as well as social media, the company’s technology could purportedly find “the next big Justin Bieber…10 weeks to a year” before they rise to fame.

Now, Axios reports Apple has purchased the music analytics startup for under $100 million.  And, the move could help Apple Music better compete against Spotify.

The next frontier of the streaming wars – who can discover the next top artist first?

Apple’s acquisition comes a month after Spotify unveiled a new feature.

The feature allows select indie artists to upload their music directly onto the streaming music service.  Planning for a “perfect release day,” musicians can edit metadata with quick and simple edits.  Along with “a clear report” of how much they earn per play, artists will automatically receive recording royalties in their bank account.  Musicians also won’t face restrictions on frequency, file size, or quantity.

Spotify’s direct upload feature further bridges the gap between indie artists and streaming services.  The move came months after the company revealed it would strike deals with indie musicians and management companies.  Apple’s acquisition sees the company now competing directly with Spotify for indie artists.

Speaking about the acquisition, Cameron Baradar, founder of The House, the first company to invest in Asaii, explained,

“As the first investors in Asaii, we are incredibly excited by their recent acquisition by Apple where they will have the opportunity to dramatically scale their impact and continue building out their vision for the future of the music industry.”

That ‘future’ clearly involves discovering the next top indie artists.  In fact, several Asaii staff members are now listed as Apple employees on LinkedIn.

But, don’t expect Apple to stop there.

Apple Music won’t just focus on working with indie artists.  Asaii’s platform also provides managers and labels an effective recommendation algorithm based on listeners’ preferences.

Apple Music could use Asaii’s technology to better recommend music, thus competing with Spotify’s machine learning algorithm.  In an interview earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook blasted Spotify’s effective computer-generated playlists, stating,

“We worry about the humanity being drained out of music, about it becoming a bits-and-bytes kind of world instead of the art and craft.”

Apple’s acquisition could mark a reversal — or at least a slight modification — of Cook’s policy.

Featured image by Apple Music.

Tencent Music patiently waits for the storm to pass.

On October 3^rd, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high of 26,336.62.

Since then, stocks have fallen sharply.  On Wednesday, the Dow Jones dropped 800 points.  Amazon lost 6.2%.  Netflix went down 8.4%.  Spotify’s shares went below $155 before closing slightly above $152 on Thursday.

The American stock market wasn’t alone.  Yesterday, European stock markets hit their lowest levels in nearly 2 years.  In the United Kingdom, the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 fell 10% from its peak in May.

So, what’s spooked global markets?  Primarily, the culprit is rising US interest rates.  According to The Guardian, the interest rates could stop growth in the US and hurt other global markets.

Now, one Chinese music company has reportedly put its highly-anticipated IPO on hold as the US and other global markets struggle to recover.

Waiting for the storm to blow over.

Amid rising tensions in the US and China trade wars, Tencent Music has reportedly delayed its IPO.

Filing for the initial public offering on October 2^nd, the company reportedly met with its underwriting team.  A source speaking with the Wall Street Journal said Tencent Music will now wait until November.  The company fears the current global sell-off will negatively affect its pricing.

Tencent Music would’ve started its IPO roadshow next week, going public the week after.

The global sell-off has also affected the parent company in Asia.  Since January, Tencent Holdings has lost over $250 billion in market value.  On Thursday, the company’s shares dropped another 6.8% in Hong Kong.

In the second quarter of 2018, Tencent Music revealed it now has over 800 million monthly active users.  The music arm of Tencent owns Kuguo Music, Kuwo Music, QQ Music, and We Sing, an online karaoke platform.  With a 58% share in the Chinese streaming music market, the company posted ¥1.7 billion ($15.2 million) in profit at the end of June, up from ¥1.3 billion ($11.6 million) during the same period last year.  Spotify has yet to post a profit after ten years.

Tencent Music has yet to issue a statement confirming or denying the report.

Featured image by Eva K. (CC by 2.5).

Has Apple Music truly given up on the bane of the music industry – streaming exclusives?

Several years ago, to promote its fledgling streaming music service, Apple engaged in a now-taboo business practice.  At least within the confines of the music industry.

In exchange for an undisclosed sum of money, artists would release their works exclusively on Apple Music.  At least for a few weeks.  Others played a similar game, including Tidal.  The Jay-Z upstart housed its own series of exclusives, including Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.

(Keep in mind that Kanye West is now fighting a class action lawsuit over the ultimately non-exclusive album.)

The business practice eventually reached its peak with the release of Frank Ocean’s albums Endless and Blonde.  After releasing Blonde, Ocean ripped up his contract with Universal Music Group (UMG), leaving the label for good.

Shortly thereafter, UMG CEO Lucian Grainge stated that the label wouldn’t release any more timed exclusive albums.  Former Spotify executive Troy Carter also stated that the unpopular business practice hurt the music industry as a whole.

Exclusive albums have since gone the way of the dodo.  Amazon Music may not have gotten the message, however.  As part of its ‘Amazon Originals,’ the e-commerce giant exclusively released Awolnation’s 2018 album, Here Come the Runts.  Eventually the album made its way onto Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms.

Meanwhile, streaming platforms are still differentiating themselves with exclusives.  Just not those directly involving albums and singles.  Just recently, Apple Music has started churning out documentaries for high-flying artists like Ed Sheeran, while also focusing on differentiated products like Beats 1.

Now, one artist has explained how he missed out on a very lucrative streaming exclusive deal with Apple Music.

What could’ve been for Chance the Rapper…

Two years ago, Apple Music approached Drake with an interesting offer.

The Canadian rapper would create his next album and offer it to Apple for a cool $20 million.  In exchange, Apple Music would exclusively stream the album for two weeks.

The move apparently proved successful.  Apple scored over a million new subscribers, reportedly recovering the money in just sixty days.

But, Apple Music apparently couldn’t successfully court every musician.  At least, not on time.

Speaking on The Joe Budden Podcast, Chance the Rapper pushed back against Joe Budden’s accusations he isn’t truly an indie artist.  Budden had claimed the rapper’s ‘exclusive’ relationship with Apple has disqualified him.

According to Chance the Rapper, Apple Music had actually offered him $20 million before eventually settling with Drake.

“Drake had a deal with Apple for a long time where he was their main artist, and he put up a couple projects on [Apple Music] for exclusives.  And they gave him way more money than they gave me!  But I get it, Drake’s a way bigger artist than me.”

Under the deal, Chance would’ve received $20 million in exchange for two exclusive projects.  He would’ve dropped Surf and Coloring Book on Apple’s fledgling service.  But, the company apparently wanted a “solo Chance project,” which he didn’t have.  During that time, he had worked on Surf with his band.

Explaining that he hadn’t really appeared on that album, Chance said,

“So you could understand why they wouldn’t want that… or throw the money that they gave to Drake at that.”

He convinced Apple executives to put Surf on the iTunes Store for free, “the first time they ever did this.”  Yet, this undisclosed meeting apparently happened before the launch of Apple Music.

“They told me in the meetings, ‘There’s something that we’re gonna drop that’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna take the old iTunes library, it’s gonna put that s—t in the trash.’  And it was Apple Music—I didn’t know about that s—t at the time.”

But, why hadn’t Chance the Rapper struck an exclusive deal with Apple Music?  He didn’t finish Coloring Book on time.

He explained,

“It was off time, so I got $500,000 and the $500,000 was in the midst of what they called the ‘streaming wars,’ so all these different platforms were fighting to put content on their [platform] for a certain number of weeks first…”

Chance hadn’t uploaded his works on TIDAL and Spotify by this time.  Apple executives aimed to keep it that way.

“They came to me, they said, ‘Here’s some money,’ which I used for advertising, ‘and we’ll put you in a commercial, and two commercials during the NBA finals.’  And that was what it was.”

Of course, you can now find Chance the Rapper’s works available on multiple streaming platforms.  So, at the end of the day, Chance earned $500,000 for a timed exclusive and Apple Music earned subscribers.  A win-win for everyone, right?

Featured image by Julio Hernandez (CC by 2.0).

Because the Screen Composers Guild of Canada has failed to update its business model, now, all Canadian users should pay the price — just for using the internet.

The Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) has an interesting – if not draconian – idea.

At a hearing of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the Canadian music group proposed a new levy.  Envisioning a new “internet-light ISP service,” the SCGC would receive extra from the SCGC Copyright Model (SCGC-CM).  In short, the SCGC-CM would allow 15 GB of un-levied data per month, and charge extra when users go over.

The 15 GB would enable “ample room for e-mail, commerce, and downloading,” writes the Canadian music organization.  Yet, should users pass that amount, the SCGC would forcibly collect a levy “for distribution to copyright holders.”

According to the Canadian music group, music composers no longer receive enough for their work.  Streaming and downloading, the SCGC argues, has led to diminished broadcast viewing.

So, what’s their solution?  A forced copyright tax on all broadband data in the country for every user, even low-income families.

The SCGC-CM – leveling the playing field, or a desperate move to capitalize on booming streaming revenue?

It’s no secret the rise of streaming services in the global music industry has led to record revenue.

According to Citibank, the music industry in the US alone brought in $43 billion in sales.  Major labels and tech companies kept the majority.  Artists only received about 12% of that number, according to the study.

To capitalize on the rise of streaming revenue, Chicago’s local government enacted an ‘illegal’ streaming tax without consulting its constituents.  Residents and business owners now forcibly pay 9% extra a month on streaming services, including Netflix, Spotify, and Apple Music.

According to the IFPI, digital music revenue – led primarily by streaming – continues fueling the Canadian music industry’s explosive growth.  In 2016, digital music revenue accounted for 63% of all revenue.  The country ranked as the 7^th-largest music market in the world in 2017.

SCGC members aren’t major stars.  They’re smaller players who write music for TV shows.  Streaming services – most notoriously YouTube – pay significantly lower royalty when users view their works online.

In fact, signaling out the Google-owned video platform, the SCGC wrote,

“With regard to YouTube, which is owned by the advertising company Alphabet-Google, minuscule revenue distribution is being reported by our members.  Royalties from the large streaming services, like Amazon and Netflix, are 50 to 95% lower when compared to those from terrestrial broadcasters.”

Dramatizing the ‘suffering’ of their members at the hands of streaming services (including Spotify and Netflix), the SCGC explains,

“Statistics like this indicate that our veteran members will soon have to seek employment elsewhere and young screen-composers will have little hope of sustaining a livelihood.”

So, to ‘correct’ the value gap caused by services like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, the SCGC has proposed the forced copyright tax.

Yet, the SCGC ignores several clear facts about modern technology.

First, for video gamers, the average video game released nowadays can weigh over 50 gigabytes.  Want to download the latest and greatest game?  Prepare to pay up a hefty amount in addition to your existing internet service and online gaming subscription.

Second, streaming music and video services help you avoid downloading songs and videos beforehand just to enjoy them.  And, as the services become more popular and widely-adopted, streaming music and videos may lead users to pass this arbitrary 15 GB limit.  So, want to binge watch your favorite videos and shows on Netflix or YouTube?  Then, prepare to pay up on top of your existing streaming subscription.

Third, the forced copyright levy would tax users who don’t – or likely haven’t even heard – SCGC’s members’ works.

In fact, showing how out-of-touch the SCGC is from the reality of modern internet life, the group told the committee,

“My own personal experience is that in my family, when you’re downloading and consuming over 15 gigabytes of data a month, you’re likely streaming Spotify.  You’re likely streaming YouTube.  You’re likely streaming Netflix.”

Yet, the SCGC feels it’s entitled to royalties.  Even when their works aren’t streamed.

“So we think because the… companies will not give us access to the numbers that they have, we have to apply a broad-based levy.  They’re forcing us to.”

In short, because the SCGC has clearly failed to update their business model into the modern age, every Canadian internet user should pay the price – literally.

Just don’t tell that to this near-sighted Canadian music group.  Members of the organization feel the forced copyright levy will help the next generation of screen composers.

“A stable levy derived from consumption at top-tier ISP’s could stem declining performance and reproduction royalties to offer hope of a future livelihood for young screen-composers.”

But, will it?  Really?

Featured image by KMR Photography (CC by 2.0).

Now, you can view key metrics on just about any Pandora artist on Next Big Sound.

Before, only artists, managers, and record labels could measure the success of a musician on Pandora through key metrics.

Not anymore.

Pandora’s Next Big Sound Project has made artist data open to everyone – at least those on Next Big Sound.  Pandora acquired the data and analytics company in 2015.

Speaking on the announcement, Dan Wissinger, Senior Product Manager at Next Big Sound, confirmed users can now see Pandora metrics on artists.  He explained,

“In an industry where stream counts are an important measure of an artist’s success, the inaccessibility of this data publicly has meant that Pandora’s important role in many artists’ career trajectories has gone unnoticed.”

So, how does it work?

As stated earlier, Next Big Sound has previously allowed musicians, their managers, and record labels to view how successful they were on the digital radio service.  This allowed them to measure their success in the key North American market.

Explaining the feature, Wissinger uses Lil Donald, an Atlanta rapper, as a prime example.

On Spotify, the rapper has 250,000 monthly listeners.  His latest single, ‘Suicide,’ has over 100,000 plays on the Swedish streaming music service.  On YouTube, the single has over a million views and 80,000 streams on SoundCloud.

So, how about Pandora?

In the past 28 days, he’s had 2 million unique listeners enjoying his work on Pandora.  He also has over 4.5 million streams, up 48.52% over the previous month.

Lil Donald also outperformed his expected number of Thumbs Ups, revealing he had higher-than-expected audience engagement.  Yet, he’s also lost a large number of Thumbs Ups.

Pandora will also reveal how his releases have performed.

Breaking down streams in the second week of September, his tracks performed significantly worse than the previous week.  Only one song – ‘Back & Forth’ – saw a minor jump.

Pandora can also reveal whether listeners have merely listened passively or actively searched for his tracks.

Looking at the Reach Metrics for Lil Donald, you can see people have started shifting away from the artist.  He had significantly fewer track station adds, artist station adds, and fewer social media interactions.

Not exactly the kind of metrics you’d like Pandora to reveal to the public.

The company will also reveal the stage of the artist and whether the selected artists have strong audience engagement.

Looking at the big picture – What does Pandora really want?

Clearly, the service wants to remain relevant in the music industry.

Pandora still has a sizable lead over streaming music rivals in the US – at least in terms of overall users.  In 2017, the digital radio service had 76.3 million users, while Spotify had 46.3 million.

Yet, the service has taken a beating when it comes to key listener metrics, something executives have yet to admit.

Spotify, for example, now has a 21% install penetration rate on Android devices in the US, up 6% over last year.  While Pandora maintains the lead at 28%, this number has dropped in the past year.

Spotify’s usage penetration – the daily active user (DAU) rate – has also grown to 3.9%, nearly tying with Pandora.  People also spend more time on Spotify over Pandora each day – 28 minutes a day compared to Pandora’s 17.

According to SimilarWeb, Spotify has managed to grown thanks to a strong brand name.  Conversely, Pandora has fallen because it hasn’t found the way to engage with users.

So, how does Pandora plan to fight back and gain precious relevance in the music industry?  Simple.  Copying what its competitors have done and hope it works.

Two weeks ago, for example, Pandora launched its own ‘Release Radar.’  Dubbing it ‘The Drop,’ the digital radio service now offers custom playlists designed for premium on-demand subscribers.  Just like Spotify.

This comes almost a year after Pandora revealed its own ‘Freemium’ clone.  Copying its rival, the digital radio service now lets ad-supported users select and listen to the songs of their choice.  Only after watching a video ad.  Just like Spotify.

Whether it wants to admit it or not, Pandora is now losing relevance in the music industry.

With a significantly large global audience, Spotify for Artists already offers musicians and labels the engagement metrics they need.  Apple Music’s global audience continues to grow – so does its recently-launched artist metrics platform.  Even YouTube now has charts in 44 countries to measure an artist’s success.

So, why would anyone choose to measure an artist’s success from a clearly decaying digital radio service?

The only interesting thing to posit is how Next Big Sound could integrate with SiriusXM’s satellite radio service once the acquisition finalizes.  Could we eventually see SiriusXM stats integrated into Next Big Sound?

We’ll find out soon enough.

Featured image by Pandora.

So, just how much music do you really listen to?  And, how do you spend your music listening time?

In Audio Monitor US 2018, a joint study on music habits in the US, Music Biz and AudienceNet have found most Americans still listen to more music on the radio.  Both organizations surveyed 3,000 consumers in the US aged 16 and above.

On average, Americans spend 151 minutes each day listening to music.  Breaking down total music listening share by medium, broadcast radio had a 31% share, down 3% over last year.  On-demand streaming made up 27%, up just 1% from 2017.  Downloaded music had a 10% total listening share, down 3% over last year, but down only 2% over 2016.

‘Other internet radio’ (Pandora, etc) had a 12% share, up 2% over the past 2 years.  Satellite radio had a 7% total listening share, up 1% over the past 2 years.  And, a growing number of Americans (5%) now spent more time streaming AM/FM radio stations online, up 2% over last year.

Breaking down total music listening time by age.

On average, older audiences spent the majority of their time listening to music on the radio.

Broadcast radio had the largest share among those aged 45-54 (42%), 55-64 (45%), and 65 and up (45%).  Radio had a significantly lower share among younger people – 30% among 35-44 year olds, and a 27% share among 25-34 year olds.

In a warning sign for the medium, just 12% of groups aged 16-19 and 20-24 reported listening to music on the radio.

Unsurprisingly, on-demand streaming music had the lowest amount of listening time among older age groups.

Just 8% of people aged 65 and older spent time streaming music.  That number rose to 11% among those aged 55-64, and 15% among 45-54 year olds.  24% of 35-44 year olds spent time listening to on-demand streaming music platforms.

Music Biz and AudienceNet also found on-demand streaming music has become the new standard among younger generations.

33% of 25-34 year olds listened to streaming music platforms.  Among 20-24 year olds, on-demand streaming music had a 49% share.  And, a whopping 60% of 16-19 year olds dedicated the majority of their listening time to on-demand streaming.

The YouTube Factor.

So, where do people enjoy streaming music from?

Unsurprisingly, with a 38% share, YouTube emerged as the preferred on-demand streaming platform.  Spotify came in second with 28%.  Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music had a 9% and 10% average share, respectively.

Among those aged 65 and over that listened to on-demand streaming, 40% used YouTube.  Spotify had a 13% share.  Amazingly, a whopping 24% reported using Amazon Prime Music.  Only 5% used Apple Music.  Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music had a 4% and 2% share, respectively.  Other net platforms – SoundCloud, Deezer, TIDAL, Napster – had an 11% share.

For those aged 55-64, 44% preferred YouTube.  Spotify had a 20% share.  11% preferred Amazon Prime Music.  Just 4% used Apple Music.  Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music had a 3% and 4% share, respectively.  14% preferred using other net platforms for on-demand streaming.

40% of those aged 45-54 used YouTube.  24% preferred Spotify.  9% used Amazon Prime Music the most.  Apple Music had an 8% share.  Google Play Music and Amazon Music Unlimited had a 6% and 3% share, respectively.  9% of people in this age group used other net platforms for on-demand streaming.

Among those aged 35-44, 39% preferred YouTube.  24% chose Spotify.  10% used Apple Music the most.  Amazon Prime Music tied with Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music in this age group with 6%.  And, other net platforms had a 9% on-demand streaming share.

For those aged 25-34, YouTube had a 36% share.  23% preferred Spotify.  11% used Apple Music.  Amazon Prime Music had a 9% share.  Google Play Music and Amazon Music Unlimited tied in this age group as the preferred on-demand streaming platform with 6%.  And, other net platforms had an 11% share.

Interestingly, among younger audiences aged 16-24, at 38%, YouTube tied with Spotify as the preferred on-demand listening.

Apple Music had a 10% share in this age group, followed by other net platforms at 8%, Amazon Prime Music with 3%, Google Play Music with 2%, and Amazon Music Unlimited with 1%.

You can check out the complete report here.

Apple’s music charts, along with those from its competitors, begs the question – Do we really need Billboard anymore?

In a software update rolled out to some iOS users earlier today (September 7th), Apple Music unveiled a new feature – 116 “Top 100” music charts.

Refreshed daily at 12:00 am PT, the charts will display Apple Music’s most-streamed songs.

Apple Music plans to show two charts to users – the Top 100: Global and the Top 100 for each country where the service is available.  Listeners can find both charts under the “Browse” tab.  They resemble playlists and albums.

Currently, only users on iOS 12 and macOS Mojave beta have access to the feature.

Ahead of its annual keynote presentation, the feature doesn’t only signal Apple’s plans to take on Billboard’s music charts.  The Top 100 also reveals Apple’s plans to dominate the streaming music market worldwide.

Welcome to the ‘Chart Wars.’

It’s no secret that the Billboard charts have a major obfuscation problem.  Despite updating its charts at the behest of labels, artists, distributors, and publishers, the charts remain as complicated as ever.

Billboard, which receives its data from Nielsen Music, now weighs paid vs. ad-supported streams (i.e., on Spotify, Deezer), programmed streams (Pandora), and music video streams (YouTube), among other factors.

A complex formula is applied, and out pops a ranking.

Paid subscription streams, for example, count for 1 full value per play.  Ad-supported streams represent a 2/3-point value, and programmed streams 1/2-point per play.

In addition, 1,250 paid subscription streams (including free trials) equal 1 album unit.  3,750 ad-supported audio streams equal 1 album unit.

And, the Billboard 200 doesn’t include video streams.  But, videos do count towards the Billboard Hot 100 streams.  Keep in mind Billboard would also apply the update on its large catalog of charts – Streaming Songs, Rock Songs, K-Pop Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Latin, and Christian, just to name a few.

Make sense?

Clearly displeased with the exclusion, YouTube announced that it would release its own music charts in 44 countries.  The easy-to-read YouTube charts would include a Trending chart, Top Songs, Top Artists, and Top Music for the platform’s 1.8 billion+ users.  The company also promised it would release more charts later on.

After all, per Stephen Bryan, the platform’s Head of Label Relations, “labels and…the industry already use YouTube to understand what’s hot.”  In YouTube’s eyes, the charts would help the industry to provide “the clearest view in what’s happening in music today.”

In a direct swipe at Billboard, Bryan said,

“Billboard is essentially saying the only music fans that count are music fans that have credit cards and are paying for subscriptions.”

Then, another major player, Penske Media Corporation – owner of Rolling Stone and Variety – made a strategic investment in BuzzAngle Music.

Similar to YouTube, BuzzAngle provides easy-to-read music charts.  Unlike YouTube, it has countless sorting options, including daily album and song sales, and radio play broken down by market.  BuzzAngle’s methodology allows for over 10 trillion combinations of daily individualized reports.  These combinations are perfect for albums, songs, artists, labels, and distributors in multiple countries.

But, what does Apple really have up its sleeve?

Apple may want to become a go-to source for music industry rankings.  After all, it now claims to control three key markets – the US, Canada, and Japan — at least when measured by premium subscribers.   Given that dominance and eventual saturation, who needs a complex Billboard formula?

The company’s foray into music charts follows other recent expansions.

Earlier this year, Apple Music launched a music publishing division.  Spearheaded by Elena Segal, the former Legal Director of iTunes International, the company aims to assist the industry in developing key songwriters.  Segal, the company’s new Global Director of Music Publishing, now oversees operations, commercial, publisher relations, and A&R.

Spotify, meanwhile, recently launched its own direct deals with artists.  The company has reportedly already paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to sign top indie artists.  That move has drawn the ire of major labels and publishers already frustrated with the “arrogant” company.  And, it’s done so ahead of upcoming contract negotiations.

So, Spotify seeks to control artists before labels can.  Apple Music’s new division, however, would work closely with existing publishers that represent songwriters.  As it doesn’t rely on a free tier, this may ultimately give Apple Music the upper hand in the streaming music wars.

The industry could ultimately rely on Apple Music to provide key data without worrying about it threatening a reliable and growing source of revenue.  With its direct artist signings, top executives can no longer say the same for Spotify.

Featured image by Apple.

Andy Ma, Vice President of Tencent Music Entertainment

Expect Spotify to earn a massive windfall from Tencent Music’s upcoming IPO launch.

According to a new report, Tencent Music has already set a date for its IPO in the US.

Citing IPO Zaozhidao, a reputable WeChat-based news blog, TechNode reports Tencent Music is expected to submit its IPO filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 7^th.  The music distribution arm of Chinese conglomerate Tencent has also set the date for the launch of its IPO on October 18^th.  Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the listed underwriters.

The news comes several months after its parent company confirmed it sought a $30 billion valuation for its listing. Tencent confirmed the application for its music division’s listing in early July.  An “exclusive source” told IPO Zaozhidao that the company has spent the past month and a half answering questions from the SEC.

Once the public listing launches, Tencent Music will reportedly have a valuation between $29 billion and $31 billion.

But, is Tencent Music just another Spotify?

Spotify has a current market valuation of $31 billion.  The company’s public offering gave it a market valuation of $26.6 billion.

Tencent Music currently operates three gigantic streaming music services in China – QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo.  Combined, Tencent has around 700 million monthly active users (MAUs).  The company currently controls 78% of China’s streaming music market.

Like Spotify, Tencent Music has long-term deals with the three major labels – Sony Music, Warner, and Universal.  It also has licensing agreements with China’s Huayi Brothers, South Korea’s YG Entertainment, and competitors NetEast Music and Ali Music Group.

Unlike Spotify, Tencent Music faces an uphill battle to convert subscribers.  Spotify now has well over 180 million MAUs.  83 million, or 46% of its global user base, pay for the service.  According to the Wall Street Journal, although Tencent Music has around 700 million users, only around 2-3% pay for subscriptions.  That means Tencent Music may have no more than between 14 million and 21 million subscribers.

As Alex Taggard, General Manager of Outdustry, a Beijing music industry services firm, explained,

“Right now, the vast majority of [Chinese] users absolutely expect free, frictionless consumption of music.”

Although it has fewer subscribers, the Chinese music company has turned a substantial profit in the past several years.

In 2016, Tencent Music reported a revenue of nearly ¥5 billion ($45 billion) with a net profit of just under ¥600 million ($5.4 million).  Last year, the company’s operating income exceeded ¥9.4 billion ($84.6 million) with a net profit of over ¥1.88 billion ($16.9 million).  This year, the Chinese music company’s revenue is expected to surpass ¥17 billion ($153.1 million), with a net profit of ¥3.65 billion ($32.9 million).

So, who stands to benefit from Tencent Music’s IPO?

With its $29-31 billion valuation, the Chinese music company will have one of the largest tech IPOs in US history.

Spotify stands to be among the first that will benefit from the listing.  Both companies made a strategic 10% investment swamp late last year.  With such a high valuation, Spotify stands to earn around $3 billion once the Chinese music company’s IPO launches.

Tencent Music has also reportedly paid major labels “steep prices” to control the master licenses in China.  With Tencent Music’s success in the US stock market, expect major labels – which also own shares in Spotify – to ultimately benefit in the long run.

Featured image by midem (YouTube screengrab).

“Please stop using our music, Mr. President.  Love, Aerosmith.”

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has demanded President Donald Trump stop using the group’s music.  The President played ‘Livin’ On The Edge,’ at a recent rally in West Virginia.  Tyler sent the President a cease-and-desist letter through his attorney, Dina LaPolt.  The singer fears people will believe Aerosmith supports the President.

Downtown Music Publishing tacks on 3,000 songs.

The publishing group just expanded its film+tv catalog through deals involving Note Republic, Court TV, and Indian Paintbrush.  Note comes from reality TV producers Bunim/Murray Productions, whose venerable stable includes ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians,’ ‘Project Runway,’ and ‘The Real World’.  The Court TV deal specifically involves ‘Forensic Files’.   Downtown has structured an administration deal with Indian Paintbrush.

Ariana Grande breaks Spotify’s weekly record.

With her latest album, Sweetener, Ariana Grande has broken Spotify’s global record for the biggest opening week by a female artist with 109 million streams.  Cardi B previously held the record, having reached 102 million global Spotify streams with Invasion of Privacy.

The AMAs and YouTube sign a sponsorship deal.

Per Variety, Google and dick clark productions (dcp) have signed a two-year sponsorship agreement.  The American Music Awards (AMAs) will promote YouTube Music as the go-to music platform for streaming music, videos, and live performances, among other content.  dcp will also work with YouTube on “creative content to support the show.”

Netflix follows Spotify’s example and cuts Apple out of the loop.

Netflix has started testing a new subscription method in 33 countries except the US.  The streaming video platform now directs iOS users to its mobile site to enter payment details.  This allows Netflix to avoid giving a 30% of its subscription revenue to Apple.

Spotify first started the move several weeks ago, writing on its support page,

“It was possible to pay for Spotify Premium using Apple’s in-app payment system (iAP).  However, this has been discontinued for new subscribers.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd sued for Jerry Lee Lewis photo.

Photographer Larry Philpot has sued rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd for allegedly using a 2011 photo of Jerry Lee Lewis without permission.  According to Philpot, the group deliberately stripped the copyright management information from the photo.  He took the photo in 2011, registered it with the US Copyright Office, and uploaded it to Wikimedia with detailed attribution requirements.

Prepare to hear more of Bob Lefsetz.

SiriusXM has confirmed Bob Lefsetz will host Lefsetz Live!, a weekly talk show on the Volume channel.  The one-hour program will discuss happenings in the music industry.  Lefsetz will also take calls from listeners.

Which cities and countries watch the most BTS videos?

YouTube has revealed which countries and cities watch popular K-pop boy band BTS the most.

The top cities with the most views on Bangtan TV – the group’s YouTube channel – include Jakarta, Seoul, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Hanoi, Quezon City, Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya, Santiago, and Lima.  Vietnam, the US, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand, and Argentina ranked as the countries that most watch Bangtan TV, which has accumulated 2.5 billion views.

Asia Argento pulls out of a Dutch music festival.

Italian actress Asia Argento will no longer curate the Le Guess Who? festival.  Organizers explained in a statement that “due to the volatile nature of the accusations surrounding Ms. Argento, she has chosen to withdraw from her curatorship of this year’s edition, while these issues remain open.”

Taylor Swift breaks her own grossing tour record.

Per Billboard Boxscore, Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour has become the highest grossing tour by a woman in the US.  Across 27 dates, she brought in $191.1 million, along with $11.1 million in Canada.  Swift previously set the record with her 1989 World Tour, earning $181.5 million in the US.

Nicki Minaj and Future postpone North American Tour.

Following sharp criticism over her VMAs performance and her comparisons to Harriet Tubman on social media – including posting a fake Tubman quote – Nicki Minaj has indefinitely postponed her North American tour with Future.  Live Nation stated she has “decided to reevaluate element of production on the NickiHendrxx Tour.”  The embattled rapper will continue the tour in Europe, which kicks off on February 21^st, 2019 in Munich, Germany.  Live Nation has offered refunds for the North American tour.

DHP Family hires a new Head of Brand Partnerships.

British concert promoter DHP Family has appointed music marketer Richie Deeney to the newly created role of Head of Brand Partnerships.  He’ll build relationships with current and future partners as well as develop business prospects.  Deeney will work alongside Managing Director George Akins and Director of Live Anton Lockwood.

Spotify poaches Mary Catherine Kinney from SMN.

Former Sony Music Nashville (SMN) Associate Director Mary Catherine Kinney has joined Spotify’s Nashville team.  She will serve as Manager of Artist and Label Marketing.  Kinney has become the primary contact for Nashville artists, labels, and managers at the company.

Stingray hires a Chief Revenue Officer.

Stingray, a music and video services provider, has hired David Purdy as Chief Revenue Officer.  In the newly created role, he’ll oversee all aspects of the company’s revenue expansion, including advertising and sales efforts.  Purdy previously served as Vice Media’s Chief International Growth Officer.

Featured image by bobnjeff (CC by 2.0)

Bill Patrizio, Rhapsody-Napster President and CEO.

Paid only.  Lower subscriptions.  No IPO.  And, a small profit.  What could Spotify and other streaming music services stand to learn from Napster?

Last month, Spotify reported a new record in its Q2 2018 financial report.

The Swedish streaming platform had reached over 83 million subscribers worldwide.  Between January and June 2018, the company added 2 million subscribers each month. Premium revenue also reached $1.34 billion, up 27% year-over-year.

Yet, the company also revealed that its massive size continues to be its Achilles’ heel.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) totaled $5.40, down 12% year-over-year.  So far this year, the company has lost $584 million. And, it remains on track to lose over $1 billion at the end of 2018.

A distant rival, however, has proven  that streaming music can be successful — if world domination isn’t part of the plan.

How to turn a profit in streaming music after years of losses, by Napster.

Several weeks ago, RealNetworks shared its Q2 2018 financial results.  The company owns a 42% stake in Rhapsody, which bought Napster from Best Buy in 2011.  It later rebranded itself as Napster 2 years ago.

In the second quarter of 2018, Napster reported $36.2 million in revenue, down 17.9% from $44.1 million in the same period last year.  RealNetworks reported Napster had a gross profit of $9.4 million, up 53.8% year-over-year.  Operating income reached $3.9 million, up over losses of $4.8 million in Q2 2017.

Net income reached $2.1 million, up from $7.7 million in net losses in Q1 2017.

For the six months ended June 30^th, 2018, Napster brought in $76.5 million in revenue, down 16.5% from $91.6 million in the first half of 2017.  Gross profit, however, rose 47.1% to $18.7 million.  Operating income also saw a huge increase, reaching $10.3 million over operating losses of $9.9 million in H1 2017.

Net income reached $6.6 million, up from severe losses of $13.3 million year-over-year.

(cropped to fit)

So, how did they manage it?

RealNetworks doesn’t share any subscriber metrics, making it difficult to confirm how many subscribers Napster actually has.  The company last confirmed its streaming music service had 3.5 million subscribers in late 2015.  Midia Research reported 4.5 million users in January 2017.

Yet, we know the service has several key points in its favor.

First, Napster doesn’t offer a free, ad-supported tier, unlike Spotify, Deezer, and Pandora.  So, it doesn’t have to pay out nor depend on advertising revenue.  This may allow it to remain the undisputed ‘king’ in terms of streaming music payouts.

According to our ongoing royalty canvas, Napster reportedly pays artists $0.01682 per stream.  In turn, Apple Music pays $0.00783, Amazon $0.0074, and Spotify $0.00397.  Pandora and YouTube remain the worst payout ‘offenders’ at $0.00134 and $0.00074 per stream, respectively.

Second, with fewer subscribers, Napster likely has to pay less in operating costs.  Spotify, on the other hand, has a growing number of subscribers.  Because of this, the company’s operating losses continue to balloon.  In Q2 2018, Spotify’s operating losses jumped to $105 million, 7% of its total Q2 2018 revenue.

Third, Napster remains a partial subsidiary of RealNetworks.  So, it doesn’t have to depend directly on outside investments to continue operating, unlike Spotify.  For the first half of 2018, Napster’s parent company reported $25.6 million in gross profit.  Spotify has yet to post a profit after 10 years.

Yet, Napster’s not out of the clear.

The streaming music service’s revenue has fallen substantially in the past several years.  That’s due to increasing competition.   And this space may exclusively belong to the elephants in the future.

In 2011, the service reported $127.2 million in revenue.  That figure grew to $143.7 million in 2012 and fell to $140.6 million a year later.  Between 2014 and 2016, revenue exploded to $173.5 million, $202 million in 2015, and $208.1 million, respectively.

Yet, prior to Q4 2018, Napster had failed to turn a profit.  Once Mike Davis stepped down as CEO, RealNetworks executive Bill Patrizio took over.

Under Patrizio, the service has now reported 3 straight quarters of profits – Q4 2017, Q1 2018, and Q2 2018.

Aiming low means it will ultimately benefit in the long run.

At the Midem conference in June, Patrizio explained his vision for Napster.  The company doesn’t plan to compete directly against Spotify and Apple Music.  Instead, it’ll aim for the ‘niche’ market.  Namely, offering white-label streaming for global brands.

Patrizio explained,

“Because of the growth and the diversification, we believe other companies – other enterprises – who have a manifest destiny to participate in music, will find the music business attractive and will inevitably make choices about whether to build the business themselves or potentially partner.”

Speaking about Napster’s long-term future, he added,

“The market will still be dominated 80% we believe by those dominant players: Spotify, Apple…  We expect it’s going to be a market size of about $7bn, moving towards potentially $20bn or $25bn… and that increasingly leaves opportunity for other players to participate.

“Even a 20% slice of a $20bn market is a $4bn market… and that’s what we’re going to focus on… This is not going to be about just bringing to market the $9.99 product that we have today.  This is going to be about innovation, about new forms of experience.”

So far, that strategy has worked.

Apple, in turn, doesn’t have to worry about burning money with its streaming music service.  As former Head of Apple Music Jimmy Iovine explained, the company doesn’t depend on streaming to turn a profit.  Apple has many more financially successful products, including the iPhone, HomePod, iPad, and services, including Apple Pay.  Apple Music remains a way to hook consumers into its walled ecosystem of products and services.

Yet, Spotify doesn’t have anything else but streaming.  And, to remain on top, it’ll continue burning through investors’ millions.

Maybe the Swedish streaming music platform could stand to learn from Patrizio’s example with Napster.

Maybe.

Featured image by midem (YouTube screengrab).

Will Verizon’s deal solidify Apple Music’s lead in the US?

Verizon has announced an exclusive promotion.

In partnership with Apple, the telecommunications conglomerate has offered a new bundle — 6 months of Apple Music for free.  The promotion starts on August 16^th and is available to users on Verizon’s high-priced Unlimited plans – Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, and Above Unlimited.

Typical Apple Music trials last for 3 months, almost without exception.  So this offers a powerful extension for potential subs.

The Unlimited plans start at $75 and go up to $95 for a single line.  The offer extends to both new and existing Apple Music users as well as Verizon Unlimited customers.

Angie Klein, Verizon’s Vice President of Marketing, hinted that the promotion is “just the first step in an exclusive partnership with Apple.”

So, what exactly do Apple and Verizon have in mind?

Breaking down Apple and Verizon’s long-term play.

The partnership makes sense for both companies.

For Verizon, the deal counters recent announcements from other major carriers.

AT&T, for example, offers WatchTV, a live TV streaming service, on select &More Premium plans.  Users can also select a subscription to a premium video service – HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Starz – or a subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited or Pandora Premium.  T-Mobile offers free streaming on Netflix.  Sprint bundles both TIDAL and Hulu on higher-priced plans.

The 6-month offering may also help the telecommunications conglomerate solidify its market lead.

Verizon currently has well over 151.48 million subscribers, making it the largest US carrier in the United States.  Yet, in a recent SEC filing, AT&T has revealed it now has 146.89 million subscribers in the US.  Counting subscribers in Mexico, the rival conglomerate has 163.29 million subscribers in North America.

T-Mobile has more than 74.04 million subscribers.  Sprint has around 32.12 million.  US regulators have yet to reach a decision on their upcoming merger.

Switching gears, despite dubious and misinformed reports signaling the contrary, Apple Music has taken the lead in key streaming music markets – the US, Canada, and Japan.  Confirming a recent Digital Music News report, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently asserted during the company’s Q3 2018 report,

“It appears to us that we took the leadership position in North America during the quarter, and we had the leadership position in Japan.  So, in some of the markets that we’ve been in for a long time, we’re doing quite well.”

Around the world, however, the streaming music service lags far behind Spotify, 50 million subscribers to well over 83 million.  Yet, Spotify has yet to partner with a US carrier, meaning it could very quickly lose much-needed market share.

So, for Apple, the decision to partner with Verizon gives it access to millions of potential consumers once the six-month trial ends.

As Klein explains,

“It gives our customers exactly what they want: Apple’s best-in-class music streaming experience, paired with an unlimited plan tailored to them, on the network they deserve.  And now that you can mix and match our unlimited plans, every person in your family can stream worry-free on the unlimited plan they need, without paying for things they don’t – and enjoy all the music they want for six months free with Apple Music with this exclusive offer in the U.S.”

It remains unclear, however, how many ‘Unlimited’ customers Verizon actually has.  So, Apple’s partnership with Verizon could ultimately prove to be irrelevant in terms of long-term market share.

Major labels and tech companies now earn billions from artists’ work.  Well, here’s a small consolation – at least they get to keep the breadcrumbs.

Earlier today, for the period ended June 30^th, 2018, Warner Music Group (WMG) CEO Steve Cooper revealed that digital revenue – fueled mostly by growing streaming music – now represents 60.1% of WMG’s total revenue.  In its Q1 / calendar Q2 2018 report, Sony Music revealed that digital revenue – again, powered mostly by streaming – makes up 63% of its total revenue.  Finally, Vivendi, Universal Music Group’s (UMG) parent company, revealed the label generated $1.44 billion in streaming revenue for the first half of 2018.

The Big 3 – Sony Music, WMG, and UMG – now earn billions each year from the explosive rise in streaming music services.  Of course, they earn billions more each year from touring, merchandise, and other revenue streams.

This naturally begs the question – just how much do they actually share with artists?

A new report reveals that yes, major labels – and now tech companies – keep a major slice of the music revenue pie.  And no, artists shouldn’t expect to make a living from streaming music revenue.  Nor pretty much any other music-related source of income.

12% – just shy of a baker’s dozen.

In its recent Citi GPS report, Citigroup revealed musicians received only 12% of the $43 billion generated in sales from their work last year in the US.  The figures include CD sales revenue, streaming music, YouTube ads, radio royalties, and concert tickets.  That number is up just 5% from 2000.

So, who keeps the money?  Tech companies, radio stations, and record labels get the largest share.

Citigroup found that last year, music sales included over $15 billion in ad revenue.

Consumer spending for subscriptions, CDs, and concert tickets also generated over $20 billion.

Of these amounts, labels and publishers received nearly $10 billion.  How about artists?  Around $5 billion.

Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet co-authored the report.

Speaking about the depressing amount musicians actually receive from their work, he revealed artists don’t receive “their fair share of the economics.”

He started the report to discover whether artists truly receive as little pay as they claim.  Bezinet gave a not-so-surprising answer.

“The answer is yes.”

But, does a solution exist?

According to Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, yes.

All artists need to do is forgo record deals in favor of streaming music services like Apple Music and Spotify.

Citing Spotify as an example, Shaw writes that the company has given young artists “money to support the development of their careers.”  Spotify has recently offered direct licensing for indie artists with cash advances (though we haven’t seen any confirmed deals yet).

But that could cause a serious backlash.  And Shaw didn’t explain that Spotify’s offer caused an small uproar among the Big 3.   In fact, we’ve heard that major label executives have privately threatened to retaliate against Spotify for poaching hot artists, starting at the negotiating table.

Yet, the controversy may not ultimately affect musicians.  Speaking about the long-term impact of Spotify’s direct licensing deals, industry consultant Vickie Nauman explained that it could force major labels to give artists “more favorable deals.”

Speaking with Shaw, Nauman also elaborated on why artists receive so little.

“Because the music industry has so many intermediaries – and because the consumption of music is so fragmented across various platforms – the artist captures very little of the aggregate revenues.”

So is streaming truly beneficial?

Independent musicians and artists often share their actual streaming payouts with Digital Music News.  In fact, we happily invite them to.  And, the answer, quite frankly, is no.

Just look at some notable examples.  Zoe Keating, an award-winning cellist and composer, earned just $4,388.93 from nearly 1.2 million streams on Spotify.  From about a million streams, David Crosby reportedly earns $4,370 on the same service.

So, no, don’t expect to pay next month’s rent just by embracing Spotify.  Nor Apple Music or any other streaming music platform.

Yet, Citigroup’s report underscores a truly alarming fact.  Record labels and major music companies continue to rake in billions from artists’ work.  And, no matter what their representatives may say, no, musicians still don’t receive their fair share.

And, from the looks of it, they may never receive it.  Not anytime soon, at least.

You can check out the complete report here.

Unedited featured image by Joe The Goat Farmer (CC by 2.0)

The Rolling Stones earn $238 million from the No Filter tour.

The Rolling Stones earned $238 million from 28 sold-out shows in the group’s recent No Filter tour in Europe, according to a report from Billboard.  Fans purchased 7,802,307 tickets.  The tour wrapped up on July 8^th in Warsaw.

Major labels go for the jugular against stream-ripping sites.

Major music labels, including Universal Music Group and Sony Music, have filed a lawsuit against two major stream-ripping sites – FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com.  The sites have appeared on RIAA’s ‘notorious’ piracy website report.  FLVTO.biz attracts over 94 million visitors a month, and is ranked as the 322nd most popular website in the world.

Has Amazon Prime Music overtaken Apple Music in the UK?

Kantar Worldpanel, an international consumer insights company, has revealed Amazon Prime Music has surpassed Apple Music in total active users.  Prime Music had a 3.8% market penetration rate in the four-week period to July 1^st.  Apple Music had 2.9%, while Spotify remains in the lead with 11%.  The figures are based on a panel of 15,000 consumers, not official figures from the companies.

Spotify sponsors the La Musa Awards.

Spotify has signed on as the title sponsor of the 2018 La Musa Awards.  The event celebrates the lives and music of Latin songwriters, composers, and lyricists.  The sponsorship includes a dedicated Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame profile page featuring music by inductees and honorees.  This year’s honorees include Gloria Trevi, Chucho Valdes, Carlos Rubira, Infante, Fernando Osorio, and KC Porter.

Alan McGee launches new label.

Alan McGee, a veteran Scottish businessman and music industry executive, has launched Creation 23.  The singles label has invited artists to submit their work to McGee’s personal e-mail.

Dice continues expanding with another partnership.

Scala, a nightclub and live music venue in London, has teamed up with mobile ticketing service Dice.  The move comes after two other venues partnered with Dice – the Islington Assembly Hall and the Soup Kitchen in Manchester.

MVT adds two trustees.

Ellie Roswell, lead singer of British alternative rock band Wolf Alice, and Bengi Unsal, Senior Contemporary Music Producer at Southbank Centre, have joined Music Venue Trust (MVT) as trustees.  Roswell has previously shared ideas on how to nurture young talent and Unsal on how small venues provide opportunities for emerging acts.  The British charitable organization improves, maintains, and organizes 440 indie and grassroots venues across the UK represented by the Music Venue Alliance.

John Procaccini stops partnership with Frampton to join BASE Hologram.

Music industry veteran John Procaccini, a working partner of Peter Frampton and his band, will serve as Vice President of Touring and Production at BASE Hologram in Los Angeles.  The company recently announced a touring hologram of Roy Orbison and a hologram of Andy Williams at a venue in Branson, Missouri.

Speaking on his experience of working with Frampton, Procaccini wrote,

“My past 3 years with the incomparable Peter Frampton, his band and crew, ‘my road family,’ has been a highlight of my professional touring career.  Peter is one of the most endearing individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.  A consummate professional and incredible human being.”

Aren’t you a little old to sneak out to a heavy metal concert?

Two elderly men reportedly snuck out from their nursing home in Germany to attend Wacken Open Air, a popular heavy metal festival.  Police found the men “disoriented and dazed” after the festival shut down at 3:00 a.m., and took them back to their nursing home.

But, please, think of the poor Viagogo employees that defraud millions per day…

Irish senator Marya Byrne has opposed a strict law against ticket scalpers in the country.   She said the anti-tout law would harm ticket reseller Viagogo.  The company has plans to expand its total number of employees from 150 to 250 in Ireland.  Across the UK and Europe, lawmakers have criticized Viagogo for fraudulent and deceptive business practices.

Aerosmith signs with ReignDeer Entertainment.

Aerosmith has ended its 20-year management relationship with Trudy Green and Howard Kaufman and has signed with Larry Rudolph’s ReignDeer Entertainment.  Rudolph has managed Steven Tyler’s solo career for 4 years.

Ellen Loo passes away in apparent suicide.

Ellen Loo, a Hong Kong and Taiwanese music star, has passed away.  She fell from a high building.  Loo was 32 and had suffered from bipolar disorder.

David Stein passes away.

Veteran music manager David Stein has passed away.  He was 69.  Stein started his career working with promoter Sid Bernstein and later with the Bay City Rollers.  He later launched Record Gems, a vinyl and CD selling and buying company.

Featured image by Uli Schmidt (CC by 2.0)

‘We Shall Overcome’ publisher can’t easily overcome its legal fees.

US District Judge Denise Cote has ordered Ludlow Music to pay $352,000 in legal fees as it protected its hit song, ‘We Shall Overcome’ in court.  The publisher had vigorously claimed the track didn’t belong in the public domain.  Ludlow backed off the claim earlier this year.

William Preucil, under fire for alleged sexual assault, resigns.

Cleveland Orchestra violinist William Preucil has resigned after serving for more than 20 years.  The move comes days after The Washington Post published a damning report.  In 1998, Preucil allegedly forced violinist Zeneba Bowers – then 26 – to undress following a lesson.  He aggressively kissed her and pushed her down onto a bed.  The Cleveland Orchestra had suspended Preucil on Friday.  Two days later, he presented his resignation.

Vampire Weekend jumps ship from XL Recordings to Sony.

Vampire Weekend, an indie pop band, has signed with Sony.  The company confirmed the news in its Q1 / calendar Q2 2018 financial report, listing the band’s next project for the quarter ending September 30^th.

Will Apple reach $1 trillion first?

Following better-than-expected Q3 2018 financial results, Apple ended yesterday’s trading day with a market value of $935.3 billion.  In after-hours trading, investors sent the company’s stock up 4% ($7.31).  Apple had generated $53.3 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 30^th.  Analysts had expected $52.37 billion.  Net income reached $11.52 billion, meaning diluted earnings per share totaled $2.34.  Analysts expected $2.18.

Spotify unveils its new winning strategy – Archie comics?

Spotify has teamed with Nerdist to stream Archie motion comics.  Titled Spotlight Archie – The New Riverdale, the six-episode video series will feature music and voice acting.

Big Hit and CJ team up for joint K-Pop venture.

CJ E&M, a South Korean entertainment conglomerate, will launch a joint K-Pop music company venture with Big Hit Entertainment, BTS’ agency.  CJ will provide 51% of the ₩7 billion ($6.25 million) starting capital.  Tentatively dubbed Belief, the joint venture will reportedly discover and train new talent as global idol bands.

Looks like eMusic forgot to pay labels while pushing for its $70 million ICO.

Struggling download platform eMusic has reportedly failed to pay independent distributor The Orchard, forcing the latter company to take down all of its content from the platform.  Instead of paying The Orchard what it owes, eMusic has pursued a questionable $70 million ICO.  The download store aims to offer a new blockchain token so users can purchase downloads.  It has yet to present a viable business plan.

Spotify exits AdsWizz following Pandora acquisition.

Shortly after Pandora’s Q2 2018 earnings call, Spotify has confirmed it has ended its relationship with AdsWizz.  The announcement comes several months after Pandora acquired the programmatic audio platform for $145 million.

In a statement to AdExchange, a Spotify spokesperson explained,

“We did sunset our partnership with AdsWizz.  That being said, we remain dedicated to offering advertisers automated solutions to access our engaged audience and quality inventory, which continues to be available in the programmatic ecosystem through Rubicon Project and AppNexus as well our self-service ad platform, Spotify Ad Studio.”

Prepare to receive clothing recommendations based on your Spotify listening data.

Julian Eison, CEO of San Francisco custom luxury menswear store Eison Triple Thread, has debuted an app that recommends clothes based on users’ Spotify data.  Dubbed FITS, Eison told Racked, a Vox Media fashion and lifestyle blog,

“It’s a unique take on the recommendation engine that everybody else is using because you can infer a lot from people’s music choices.  We start with Spotify information to understand the emotions behind your style choice, and we’ll eventually get the looks that fit you best.”

Stream your favorite classical music.

Primephonic, a Dutch classical streaming music service, has launched.  The service went live today in the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.  Primephonic features the full works of 500 composers, including Bach.  Primephonic first launched as a classical music download store but failed to gain traction due to the decline of the global download market.

Pusha T cancels numerous tour dates.

Bronx rapper Pusha T has canceled 9 upcoming performances of his previously 19-stop Daytona Tour.  He canceled stops in St. Louis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Silver Spring, North Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, San Antonio, and Dallas.  Venues in Milwaukee and Kansas City have also reported cancelations according to HipHopDX.  The tour would’ve kicked off in Milwaukee on August 2^nd and wrapped up in Paris on December 14^th.

Vibe Tickets hires Hannah Morris.

Hannah Morris, former Head of Sales in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, has joined Vibe Tickets as Commercial Director.  Based in London, she’ll lead the secondary ticketing platform’s commercial strategy and accelerate its monetization plans.  Following forced administration over cash problems last May, Vice Tickets recently relaunched as a limited company.

Istanbul Jazz Festival announces a key promotion.

Istanbul Jazz Festival has named Harun İzer as its new Festival Director.  He replaces Pelin Opcin who jumped ship to Serious, producer of the London Jazz Fest, last January to serve as Director of Programming.  Prior to his promotion, İzer had served as Assistant Director since 2011.

Allison Kaye receives a promotion.

SB Projects has promoted Allison Kaye as President.  She previously served as President of Music, overseeing the company’s daily music operations, including artist management, Schoolboy Records, and the Sheba Publishing joint venture with Universal Music Group.  Kaye’s work now includes TV, film, social good, technology, and lifestyle, among SB Projects’ other properties.

Family and friends save Two Feet’s life reach him in time following suicide tweet.

Zachary ‘Bill’ Dess – best known as Two Feet – has been hospitalized.  He sent out a now-deleted tweet stating he “didn’t feel like living anymore” and saying “goodbye” to his friends and family.  Dess suffers from schizophrenia.  His father wrote on Two Feet’s account,

“Bill is recuperating and being held for observation.  He will survive.  Thanks to everyone for their heartfelt concern.  This is a very difficult time for us.  We appreciate the outpouring of love. – His father.”

The Lede Company poaches Dvora Vener Englefield from 42 West and Cara Hutchinson from Rogers & Cowan.

The Lede Company has named Dvora Vener Englefield, a veteran public relations strategist, as Partner and Head of the company’s music division.  Her clients include John Legend, Camila Cabello, and Shawn Mendes.  Englefield spent eight years at 42 West.

Cara Hutchinson has also joined The Lede Company.  She had served at Rogers & Cowan as Vice President and worked with The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Lionel Richie.  Hutchinson also handled publicity for tours including Katy Perry and Adam Lambert.

UMPG’s Mark Coltman receives a promotion.

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has promoted Mark Coltman to Executive Vice President of Information Technology.  Based out of London, he’ll report to JW Beekman, Chief Financial Officer of Worldwide, and John Reston, Executive Vice President of Global Administration.  Coltman will drive IT strategy and oversee application development and maintenance across UMPG.

UMG is earning nearly $8 million — a day — from streaming.

Vivendi, Universal Music Group (UMG) parent company, has revealed Universal Music Group’s labels generated $1.44 billion in streaming revenue for the first half of 2018.   That translates into roughly $7.9 million — a day.  UMG labels also generated $447 million from physical formats, down 19.1% year-over-year.  Downloads plummeted 25.9% to $287 million.

SOCAN and SODRAC agree to consolidate.

The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has acquired the Society for Reproduction Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers in Canada (SODRAC) in a non-monetary deal.  The combined group will license, track, and distribute royalties for both performing and mechanical rights.

Radar Radio reveals millions in losses following its decision to stop broadcasting.

Radar Radio, a London urban station accused of sexual harassment and fostering a toxic work environment, has published its financial accounts for 2017.

The station reported £1.3 million ($1.7 million) in losses.  Radar Radio also has £4 million ($5.3 million) in debt, owed mostly to MASH Holdings Limited.  In addition, the company’s filing reveals over £500,000 ($656,254) in closing costs, with £270,000 ($354,377) in redundancies as well as £230,000 ($301,878) in fees related to the decision to stop broadcasting.  Radar Radio closed down last April following public accusations from DJs Pxssy Palace and Ashtart Al-Hurra, among many others.

Woman assaulted at Foo Fighters concert.

Chicago police have confirmed a man sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman at a Foo Fighters concert; the woman followed the woman into a port-a-potty.  Police have yet to find the man, described between 40 and 50 years old and about 5’9”.

iHeartRadio flat-out copies a popular Spotify feature.

iHeartRadio has introduced Your Weekly Mixtape.  Refreshed every Monday, and just like Spotify, the feature includes 30 to 75 songs based on the stations and artists users stream.

In an attempt to pass off the Spotify-esque feature as ‘unique,’ Chris Williams, iHeartRadio’s Chief Product Officer, explained users will know and love the songs.

”We want to make sure they’re getting a playlist they can sing along to.”

YouTube makes a strong push for original programming outside the US.

In an attempt to boost subscriber numbers, YouTube will work on original programming for international markets.  The company will develop shows for consumers in France, Germany, Mexico, and Japan.  YouTube has already released original programming targeted at consumers in South Korea and India.  Susanne Daniels, the company’s Global Head of Original Programming, explained the new shows will include music documentaries, reality series, talk shows, and scripted series.

Apple Music doubles down on ‘exclusive’ documentaries, but will it work?

Apple Music will release an exclusive documentary on Kesha next month.  The documentary will focus on the making of her newest album, Rainbow.

DotBlockChain Media signs a deal with Exactuals.

DotBlockchain Media (dotBC), an organization seeking to address the music industry’s data and royalty accounting issues through blockchain, has signed a deal with Exactuals, a payments and metadata company.  dotBC aims to verify metadata intended for input into the blockchain, with Exactuals’ ‘RAI’ helping to validate information or improve on incomplete or deficient data.

Cherry Glazerr details the sexism the group faces in the live concert industry.

American rock band Cherry Glazerr has outlined the sexism the group has faced from stage managers and staff.  In a lengthy post on Facebook, the band wrote,

“The amount of sexism that my band and sound engineer / tour manager face on the road is simply unreal sometimes.  It’s outrageous.  We walk into a venue and people look the other way.  They treat us with open hostility.  They ignore us, call us names.  The amount of names our FOH has been called besides her own name, or at least, “your front of house” is unbelievable – Miss, Missy, “The Lady”, sweetie.  It’s simply disgusting.  We’re ignored, hated.  It feels so awful when the stage manager looks at us and scoffs, looks the other way when we come in through the door.  They ask us what we’re doing here, why are we here?  Who are we?  We’re the band that you hired…”

Sean Paul blames the music industry for Demi Lovato’s relapse.

Jamaican rapper Sean Paul has blamed the music industry for Demi Lovato’s overdose.  Speaking with the Daily Star, he claims drug abuse is rampant among artists, including himself.

“The music industry in itself is very excessive.  We’re always working in studios, performing, traveling, and sometimes you feel you need a break and the break is to go towards things that don’t give you a break.”

Istanbul Jazz Festival celebrates 25 years.

52,000 fans attended the 25^th annual Istanbul Jazz Festival.  450 artists performed in 27 stages around the Turkish capital.

Kylie Minogue, Gareth Malone, and Ella Eyre join BBC Music Day.

The BBC has confirmed Kylie Minogue, Gareth Malone, and Ella Eyre have joined BBC Music Day.  The fourth annual event will take place on September 28^th.

Jermaine Dupri announces brief North American tour.

Jermaine Dupri has announced the So So Def 25^th Anniversary Cultural Curren$y Tour.  Xscape, Jagged Edge, Bow Wow, Anthony Hamilton, Bone Crusher, Youngbloodz, Dem Franchise Boyz, and J-Kwon will join Dupri.  The tour kicks off in Washington DC on October 4^th and wraps up in Los Angeles on November 2^nd.

J. Cole announces guest stars for KOD Tour.

J. Cole has announced Jaden Smith, Earthgang, and Kill Edward will join his upcoming North American KOD Tour.  They join special guest Young Thug.  The tour kicks off in Miami on August 9^th and wraps up in Boston on October 10^th.

Andrea Ingham exits Spotify.

Andrea Ingham, Spotify Australia and New Zealand’s National Sales Director, has left the company.  She had joined the company in 2015 to lead its local sales division.  At Spotify, Ingham had driven ad sales revenue and strategy.  She most recently led the launch of Spotify House, which identifies key consumer listening habits through the company’s streaming intelligence services.

Jay Brown joins MedMen’s Board.

Roc Nation co-founder and CEO Jay Brown has joined MedMen Enterprise’s Board of Directors.  The twenty-year music veteran joins Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Melissa Etheridge, and Damian Marley in promoting the cannabis company.

Paradigm announces two key promotions.

Paradigm Talent Agency has promoted Kristin O’Neill and Nate Sokolski as music agents.  Both will be based out of Beverly Hills.  Paradigm promoted seven staffers as agents last month – Joshua Finn, Q’Marth Ghaemi, Mary Izzo, Jake Atterman, Jeff Mangialardi, Hilary Jacobs, and Ethan Neale.

Sam Mehran passes away.

Sam Mehran, member of short-lived English band Test Icicles, has passed away.  He was 31.  Zak Mering, Head of GunkTV, Test Icicles’ label, wrote,

“RIP Sam Mehran.  You will be sorely missed and loved by many forever.  The most talented musician I’ve ever had the pleasure of being close friends with.  I know you’re in a better place, brother.  You will not be forgotten”.

Ray Cooper passes away.

Ray Cooper, former Co-President of Virgin Records America, has passed away.  He was 69.  Cooper is credited with the success of the Spice Girls and U2, among others.

Featured image by Pictures of Money (CC by 2.0)

So, who did Facebook give YOUR information to?

Facebook has admitted to providing 61 businesses access to user data, including public profile information.  Of course, this is after Facebook declared that it wasn’t sharing user information with any partners.  The social network provided users’ personal information to Nike, Spotify, UPS, dating app Hinge, Snap, Panasonic, Oracle, AOL, and Nissan, among others, without any notifications to users.

Apple announces the date of its Q3 2018  earnings call.

Apple will reveal its Q3 2018 earnings on July 31^st.  CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will provide details on the company’s performance and answer questions from investment analysts.

Ghost Ship organizers plead no contest.

In a deal with prosecutors, two Ghost Ship organizers have plead no contest.  Derick Ion Almeda – who converted the Oakland warehouse into a music venue without permits – will serve nine years in jail.  Max Harris – the venue’s organizer – will serve six years.  Both men had faced up to 39 years in jail for the December 2016 fire that led to 36 deaths.  Attendees couldn’t find their way out of the warehouse after it went ablaze during a crowded party.

How much are Scorpion streams worth?

Following the release of his new album, Scorpion, Drake has earned between $1.8 million and $2.5 million from record-breaking streams alone on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify.  The album will likely reach 1 billion streams collectively after just one week.

Want to stay on a coveted playlist?  Then feed the beast, says AWAL.

AWAL, a UK digital distribution and label services company, has published advice for artists who have landed on popular playlists.  The company suggests artists share the newly-slotted tracks on social media, encourage followers to stream the track, and craft a message featuring an Apple Music/Spotify link.

Music publishers call on CISAC to suspend SGAE’s membership.

Five global music publishers – Universal, Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV, BMG, and Peermusic – have pulled their catalog from corrupt Spanish collecting society SGAE.   They’ve also called on the International Confederation of Music Publishers (CISAC) to suspend the collecting society’s membership.

SGAE has reportedly returned to conspiring with Spanish broadcasters in order to spin ‘low quality’ music owned by corrupt SGAE executives.  The scam – known as “the wheel” – generates performance royalties which are then split between SGAE and broadcast executives.

YouTube algorithm forces content creators to create long videos just to get noticed.

Content creators on YouTube have extended the length of their videos to cater to YouTube’s unbalanced algorithm, which reportedly favors longer videos to place more ads.  Cody Ko, a comedian, explained that “to take advantage of the power of the algorithm” and earn money, he now uploads videos between 12 and 16 minutes long.  YouTube’s algorithm recommends longer videos to new viewers which people “are likely to click on.”

No, your YouTube star power won’t save you from a class-action lawsuit.

Attendees of the widely criticized ‘TanaCon’ – dubbed the ‘Fyre Festival of YouTube Conventions’ – have mulled filing a class-action lawsuit against the YouTube star.  Fans now claim Tana Mongeau had willfully scammed them.  The YouTube star had created the ill-fated two-day festival after VidCon failed to give her a ‘Featured Creator’ badge.  Then, she abruptly canceled the event after the first few hours due to widespread logistical problems.  Several attendees had fainted due to the intense heat outside TanaCon.

Tonara combines business lessons and music lessons – at a steep cost.

Tonara, an Israeli music software company, has launched Tonara 360.  The mobile app uses artificial intelligence and computer algorithms to help music fans learn how to play an instrument.  It also provides tips on how to manage “the business side” of a music-teacher business, allowing users to work as teachers.  One major drawback, however – Tonara 360 isn’t anywhere close to being free.  You’ll have to pay a hefty monthly subscription fee – $39.  Tonara has also partnered with Disney, Sony, Universal, and Warner, among others, to license music.

Toronto’s Air Canada Center renamed.

Air Canada Center in Toronto has been renamed to Scotiabank Arena.  The bank had paid $800 million ($609 million) for the 20-year naming rights.

MMF names Paul Craig as Chair.

The Music Managers Forum (MMF) has appointed Nostromo Management’s Paul Craig as its new Chair.  He replaces Deluxxe Management’s Diane Wagg.  The MMF has also named Ferocious Talent’s Kwame Kwaten as Vice-Chair.

Nile Rodgers voted Chair of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In a unanimous vote, the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Board of Directors has elected Nile Rodgers as Chairman.  He succeeds Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, who had served as Co-Chairs.  Other officers elected at the meeting include Senior Vice President David Israelite, Secretary Mary Jo Mennella, and Deputy Secretary April Anderson.

Warner/Chappell signs Kloe.

Warner/Chappell Music has signed a worldwide publishing deal with British singer/songwriter Kloe.  She has worked with multiple writers and producers in the US and the UK.  Kloe has also written tracks for Kehlani, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Maluma, NOTD, Rita Ora, and Ellie Goulding.

Tramlines Festival co-founder Sarah Nully passes away.

Sarah Nully, Director of the upcoming Tramlines Festival in the UK, has passed away.  She was 36.  A post on the festival’s social media page confirmed the passing following a brief illness.  Nully had co-founded the Tramlines Festival.  This year’s event will take place from July 20^th to the 22^nd.

Richard Swift passes away.

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift has passed away.  He was 41.  Swift had performed with The Shins and The Arcs.  He also founded National Freedom, an Oregon-based studio.

Henry Butler passes away.

Henry Butler, an R&B and jazz pianist, has passed away.  He was 68.  Butler, blind since birth, had learned to play the piano by ear.  He had also learned to memorize classical music written in Braille.

Several weeks ago, the European Union Legal Affairs Committee ruled on a controversial measure.  Dubbed Article 13, internet tech giants – including Facebook, Google, Microsoft – would have to install “effective technologies” to ensure content creators, artists, and authors receive fair pay for their work online.  The committee approved the initiative.  It heads to the European Parliament for a vote.

Now, the search giant wants to do everything in its power to bury the initiative.  And, it has the funds to do so.

According to UK Music, Google has spent over €31 million ($36 million) on lobbying European Union members against Article 13.

The European Union’s Lobbying Transparency Register has confirmed that in 2016 alone, the search giant spent €5.5 million ($6.5 million) to “try and influence policy decisions.”  Google paid eight consultancy firms, including McLarty Associates, MUST & Partners, and MKC Communications.  14 Google staff members have also worked on EU policies.

Google’s lobbying initiative hasn’t stopped there.  The company has also lobbied the European Parliament through 24 other organizations, including OpenForum Europe.  According to Michael Dugher, head of UK Music, the 24 organizations have spent €25 million ($29 million) to lobby EU member countries.

But, why does Google fear Article 13?

Simple.

Under the ‘Directive on Copyright in the Digital Services Market’ (Article 11 for journalists along with Article 13 for the music industry), platforms that host user-generated content (UGC) would have to obtain music licenses.  It would also prevent further ‘safe harbor’ provisions.  Basically, the Copyright Directive would finally place websites like YouTube and Vimeo on par with streaming music platforms.  They would have to pay higher royalties when hosting videos featuring copyrighted music.

Article 13 would also force the platforms to introduce content recognition systems.  These would block UGC that infringes on existing copyrights.  Social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter, would likely also have to install the systems.

Simply put, the measure would end YouTube’s historic exploitation of ‘safe harbor’ loopholes in the European Union.  Google would now have to pay the music industry royalties for user-generated content featuring copyrighted content.

Mass Hysteria – “Article 13 means the end of memes, remixes, and ‘Internet Freedom.'”

Critics have argued that Article 13 would ‘censor the internet.’  Comedian Stephen Fry, for example, has argued that the vote would outright ban meme sharing on social media.  Users could no longer create and share remixes and other unique content online.

On Twitter, he warned his followers,

“#Article13 threatens EU creators, leaving us vulnerable to censorship in copyright’s name.  Don’t believe the creepy pretence that it’s there to protect © holders.  It’s about putting power in the hands of media corporations. We can stop it!”

Of course, he – along with other critics – didn’t provide proof to support these claims.

Crispin Hunt, Chair of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors, has fought back against the ‘censorship’ claims.  On Twitter, he wrote,

“It’s not about censorship at all.  That’s a lie propagated by SV to manipulate the public to keep on giving their creativity for SV to monetize it.  Article 13 only means that when someone uses someone else’s work to make $ they (the platforms not the user) pay the creator.  Ace.”

Hunt also slammed Fry for spreading false information.

“Stephen Fry is one of those copyright millionaires he can afford to give away his work – several million others can’t.  We want culture to have value online.”

Dugher also refuted the claims.  He wrote,

“Some absolute rubbish has been written about the EU’s proposed #copyright changes.  Among the most ludicrous is the claim it will mean the end of memes, remixes + user-generated content.  This is desperate + dishonest.”

He added the Copyright Directive will “protect rightsholders in the digital age.”  Tech firms would finally have to pay artists the true value of their works.

“To put it bluntly, we in the music industry want to stop firms like Google-owned YouTube ripping off creators and fairly reward them for the use of their work.”

English singer/songwriter Billy Bragg also voiced his support for Article 13.  With the measure’s passing, YouTube’s ‘value gap’ would finally disappear.

“YouTube, which has 1.3bn users, paid £650 million ($858 million) royalties to music companies last year compared to the £4.3bn ($5.7 billion) returned by streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music, which have fewer listeners.”

European Union members will meet on July 5^th to hold a vote on the Copyright Directive.

Featured image by Bloom Energy (CC by 2.0)

Skips ads on Spotify free, but only in Australia.

Australian users on Spotify Freemium can now choose whether to listen to audio ads (or watch video ads) or skip them altogether.  With the campaign – dubbed Active Media – the company will use the test run to offer listeners “an improved experience.”

YouTube apologizes to the LGBTQ community.

YouTube has issued an apology to the LGBTQ community for its monetization and ad policies targeting creators.  The video platform’s algorithms had automatically demonetized LGBTQ videos.

On Twitter, the company wrote,

“It’s critical to us that the LGBTQ community feels safe, welcome, equal, and supported on YouTube.  Your work is incredibly powerful and we are committed to working with you to get this right.”

BTS labeled one of the most influential groups in the world.

Time Magazine has named Bangtan Boys – better known as BTS – as one of its ’25 Most Influential People’ of the year.  The magazine has also named President Donald Trump, Rihanna, and Logan Paul, among others.

’DDU-DU DDU-DU’ sits comfortably at No. 1 once more.

BlackPink’s ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ has once again topped the charts of top South Korean streaming music platforms, including Bugs, MelOn, and MNET.  The single from the South Korean girl group sits at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100.

PPL reports record payments in June.

PPL has paid out £150.7 million ($198 million) in June.  Up 12% over last year, the payment is the largest distribution given to performers and labels in the company’s history.

Reminder – no more CDs at Best Buy.

Best Buy has completely phased out CD sales at all of its stores.  The company – which first reported the news in February – will continue selling vinyl records.

TuneCore announces key upgrades.

TuneCore has partnered with Sentric Music, a global publisher, to roll out improvements and enhancements to its service.  Upgrades include a smoother registration process and an updated dashboard.  Existing clients will also manage splits, monitor real-time registration status, view comprehensive earning reports, and refer other writers and band members to complete song registrations.

Chromeo cancel stops in Australia over health issues.

Health reasons have forced Canadian electro-funk duo Chromeo to cancel their upcoming Australian tour.  The duo would’ve performed at three gigs in the country between July 20^th to the 22^nd.

Shooting at a tour bus is apparently no big deal.

The Georgia Supreme Court has reversed Jimmy Carlton Winfrey’s conviction.  Authorities had sentenced him to ten years in prison for shooting into Lil Wayne’s tour bus in 2015.  He reportedly shot at the bus to gain street cred.  The court ruled that the judge in the first trial improperly participated in plea negotiations.  The judge had also “crossed the line” and “impliedly threatened” Winfrey.

Brawl at Garage Nation festival leads to stabbings.

Four people were stabbed at the Garage Nation festival in East London.  One victim reportedly has “life-changing injuries.”  Authorities believe a brawl in the VIP area led to the stabbings.

Climb a speaker at a concert and get arrested.  Clear enough for you?

Authorities in Glasgow, Scotland arrested a festivalgoer for reportedly climbing onto a scaling speaker and completely interrupting Liam Gallgher’s performance.  The singer stopped his set and reportedly told the man to “jump or get down.”

In a statement, authorities said,

“Police can confirm that a 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with a breach of the peace after he climbed part of the speaker stack during the Liam Gallagher set at TRNSMT festival on Saturday 30 June 2018.  A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

People all over the world can’t get enough of Indian film music.

T-Series, an Indian film music and production company, now has more than 50 million subscribers on its YouTube channel.  After surpassing the 40 million mark in March, T-Series has been adding over 3.3 million new subscriptions every month.

Instagram will teach you how to become an IGTV star.

Instagram has released a ‘Creator Handbook.’  The guide provides recommendations for people uploading videos on IGTV.  Tips include lighting, camera focus, and popular third-party apps for recording.

Ultra Records poaches Michel Petré from Family Tree Music.

Family Tree Music co-founder Michel Petré has joined Ultra Records.  He will serve as Managing Director in Scandinavia.  Petré will strengthen artist signings and find new talent in the Nordic country.

Tom Connaughton named Managing Director at Spotify UK.

Spotify has appointed Tom Connaughton as Managing Director in the UK.  The former Vevo executive had joined the company in April as Head of Artist and Label Marketing.  Connaughton will lead the growth of Spotify UK, including driving content strategy, artist partnerships, artist marketing, and shows and editorial.

Alan Longmuir passes away.

Alan Longmuir, bass player and founder of Scottish pop group the Bay City Rollers, has passed away.  He was 70.  Longmuir had formed the group which sold over 100 million albums.

Featured image by Pimthida (CC by 2.0)

Spotify announces headliners for ¡Viva Latino! concert series.

The all-powerful playlist continues to evolve beyond streaming.  Accordingly, Spotify has just announced its ¡Viva Latino! live concert series, produced by Cardenas Marketing Network (CMN).  ¡Viva Latino! playlist regulars like Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny, Becky G, Jowell & Randy, and Natti Natasha will perform.  The tour kicks off on Thursday, August 23^rd in Chicago.  Spotify will announce additional cities and performers at a later date.  The tour follows other playlist-based concert treks, including a recent jaunt for Rap Caviar.

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine owe $25.25 million in royalties.

A California jury has ruled against Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, finding that they owe a former Beats business partner $25.25 million.  The jury spent three days in deliberation.

Sony Music acquires Raymond Gubbay; DAEG buys DEAG Classics from Sony Music.

Sony Music has acquired shares in Raymond Gubbay, a classical music events promoter in the UK.  The deal sees German promoter DEAG releasing its shares in Raymond Gubbay in exchange for 49% of DEAG Classics from Sony Music Germany.

MelodyVR rolls in more European countries.

MelodyVR has launched in eight more markets – France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, and Belgium.  Using the VR-loaded app, users can see live performances from Tokio Myers, UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey, Kaiser Chiefs, and Tom Walker.

AXS launches a capped tickets marketplace.

AXS has launched an online market in the UK, AXS Marketplace.  The company will cap the resale of concert tickets at 10% above the original value price.

Prince Estate signs deal for 35 catalog albums.

Prince’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment have signed an exclusive distribution agreement, which today become official.  The deal includes 35 previously released album titles from the singer’s catalog, including 1999, Diamonds and Pearls, and Sign O’ the Times.  Legacy Recordings will distribute the catalog.

Gloria Estefan joins brothers Ozzie and Will Areu.

Gloria Estefan has joined Areu Bros. Studio.  She will serve as a partner and executive team member.  Estefan will create and package content across all platforms including music, television, film, and short-form content.

Lakeith Standfield’s freestyle goes homophobic.

Actor Lakeith Stanfield has apologized after posting a video of himself freely rapping with homophobic lyrics.  He had said,

“That’s some gay s—t…  F-g, I don’t really like to brag, but I’m straight, rich.”

The Kinks will reunite.

Kinks frontman Ray Davies told the BBC that the group will reunite to record a new album.  The Kinks split up over twenty years ago.

Can YouTube Music conquer the Australian market?

Australian market research firm Roy Morgan has published a new report.  Spotify remains Australia’s most popular music service and website with 2.2 million unique visits in four weeks, a 9% increase over a year ago.  SoundCloud had 1.3 million unique visits.  Apple Music and Google Play Music had 400,000 visits each in the same period.  YouTube drew in 15.2 million visitors, representing 75% of the country’s adult population.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund to seek yet another IPO.

The Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a specialist investment company set up by Elton John’s former manager, will renew its quest to launch an IPO.  The company hopes to raise £200 million ($264 million) on the London Stock Exchange.  The Hipgnosis Song Fund canceled its listing last year to conduct “further due diligence.”

Ed Sheeran replaces fans’ invalid tickets.

Ed Sheeran has imposed strict entry rules for 18 UK gigs.  The artist hopes to stop Viagogo from reselling invalid overpriced tickets.  Accordingly, Kilimanjaro Live has reportedly replaced up to 10,000 fans’ invalid tickets.  In the UK, Viagogo faces legal action for failing to comply with consumer protection laws.

Sony/ATV signs deals for Bob Marley and Leonard Cohen’s catalogs.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed deals for its Neighboring Rights division to represent the recording catalogs of Bob Marley and Leonard Cohen.  The music publisher also added Jamie Scott, Big Shaq, Kojo Funds, Elderbrook, and Bob Ezrin to its Neighboring Rights roster.

Peloton acquires Neurotic Media.

Peloton, a fitness technology company, has acquired digital music white label service Neurotic Media.  Founder Shachar ‘Shac’ Oren will become Vice President at Peloton and will retain his role as CEO and President of Neurotic.  Neurotic Media will continue to operate as a standalone company.

LANDR signs deal with HFA’s Rumblefish.

LANDR, an AI platform for musicians, has signed a deal with HFA’s Rumblefish.  The move will allow artists on LANDR.com to obtain licenses for cover tracks.

DJ Carisma jumps ship and joins TuneIn.

Cathleen Robertson, best known as DJ Carisma, has joined TuneIn.  She will lead Hip-Hop/R&B curation and artist relations.  Robertson spent the past two years at KRRL/Los Angeles (Real 92.3) serving as a Music Director.

Manners McDade announces a promotion and two key hires.

Manners McDade, a UK publisher and composer management company, has promoted Harriet Moss to Managing Director.  She will oversee the company’s creative strategy across sync, A&R, and creative services worldwide.

In addition, Jenna Fentimen (Wake the Town) and Clare Everson (Warner Music UK) have joined the company.  Fentimen will serve as Music & Composer Producer and Everson as Sync Executive.

Republic Records hires Ken ‘Duro’ Ifill.

Republic Records has hired Ken ‘Duro’ Ifill as Senior Vice President of A&R.  He will identify, sign, cultivate, and introduce new hip-hop, rap, urban, and R&B talent.

SoundCloud desperately grasps for young listeners.

A new study from consumer measurement firm Verto Analytics has revealed leading streaming music services – Spotify and Apple Music – have a large advantage among younger listeners.  48.5% of all users aged 18-24 stream their favorite music on Spotify.  34% use Apple Music and 18% listen on SoundCloud.

27% of users aged 25-34 stream music on Spotify and 26.5% used Apple Music.  SoundCloud had a 25.5% share.

Featured image by lylejk (CC by 2.0)

The Official Charts Company won’t count ‘spam’ YouTube music video plays.  So tough luck, Chris Brown.

The Official Charts Company (OCC) has announced it will now include music video plays from YouTube in its UK Singles chart.  The move comes after the Google-owned company launched its paid subscription service in the country last week.

Starting this Friday, video streaming data from various video platforms will also be counted.  This includes music videos on Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL.  The OCC will count individual plays and downloads.

Speaking on the need to overhaul the charts to include video plays, Martin Talbot, the company’s CEO, said,

“This is a significant step for the UK and ensures The Official Chart continues to be the most comprehensive and trusted chart in the UK, bar none.  Consumption of recorded music via more than 15,000 retailers, download stores and streaming services of all kinds contribute to the weekly chart countdown.”

On YouTube, all official music videos views will count, regardless of the uploader.  Labels will have to file a claim using the platform’s Content ID for infringing content.  The Official Charts Company, however, won’t count plays from user-generated content featuring the music.

Also, Vevo-managed YouTube channels count.  Plays on vevo.com don’t.

Talbot also added that the change won’t significantly alter the UK Singles chart.

“This isn’t going to be a handbrake turn.  We’re not going to suddenly see dozens of songs in the Top 20 that weren’t there before.”

Prior to announcing the change, the OCC ran internal tests.  Songs with viral videos “only received a small upgrade to their chart position.”  Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America,’ for example, benefitted from the change.

In a separate change to the charts, paid audio streams will also count more than ‘freemium’ ones.

Currently, 150 song streams count as a sale.  That will drop down to 100 paid streams as a single sale.  600 freemium plays count as a single sale.

Talbot explained that the changes will benefit artists who limit access to their new songs behind a paywall.

“Premium subscribers tend to access new music quicker.  We found in our test charts that new music would enter maybe one place higher than before.”

He added, however, that fans can’t “spam” their favorite artists.  After playing a song ten times within 24 hours, the OCC won’t count subsequent streams.  So, Chris Brown’s failed attempt to game the Billboard Charts won’t work in the UK.

Record labels and BBC Radio 1 have approved the changes.  The OCC will release its first chart with video plays included on July 6th.

The company has also released a video with Dua Lipa announcing the changes.  You can watch the video below.

Featured image by The Official Charts Company (YouTube screengrab).

Major labels are still almighty — but indie labels are bringing in some serious business.  Like, $500 million+ in annual business.

Major labels still dominate streaming platforms and boast the biggest artists.  But indie labels are gaining incredible traction — and taking huge advantage of digital platforms.  According to Merlin, an organization that represents indie labels in negotiations with digital music providers like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple, indie labels are just shy of earning $500 million in annual collections.

The half-a-billion figure was recently reported by Billboard.  And that’s part of a fast-growing pie.  According to longtime Merlin chief Charles Caldas, the consortium has paid out $1 billion to member companies in the first nine years of operation.

Nine years ago, the industry — and indie labels — were struggling through a pretty difficult patch.  Of course, 2018 has been entirely different.  Just recently, that pie got a whole lot bigger with Spotify’s ‘non-IPO’.  Shortly after the company went public, Merlin cashed its shares and distributed the winnings to members.

The consortium held an estimated 1% piece of the pie.

Merlin’s large collection of indie labels sits at a comfortable 800 members, with 20,000 labels and imprints throughout 55 countries.  “Ten years ago, when we sat down and we were considering what Merlin would look like one day, I would have been happy if we could get to $10 million one day,” Merlin CEO Charles Caldas told Billboard.

+ Merlin Just Licensed 90% of China’s Legitimate Digital Music Market

Caldas credited far-flung countries like Brazil for helping to boost earnings.  Just recently, Merlin inked a series of broad-reaching deals with Chinese streaming platforms.  That included Xiami (Alibaba), NetEase Cloud Music, and Tencent’s QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo, which comprise roughly 90% of the Chinese digital music market.

Effectively, the formation of Merlin has almost created a ‘fourth label,’ with negotiating power that can’t be ignored.  Indeed, the cooperative coordination has led to some serious negotiation wins, with streaming platforms simply unable to undercut indie labels.

Nearly half of all female festivalgoers are sexually harassed.

According to a new study from YouGov, nearly half of all female festivalgoers faced unwanted sexual behavior at events.  Surveying 1,188 male and female festivalgoers in the UK, 22% faced assault and harassment.  The most common forms were forceful dancing and verbal sexual harassment.  Only 1% of women and 19% of men reported harassment to staff members.

Don’t expect to find the tickets you’re looking for on Viagogo — even if they’re advertised.

An ITV news investigation has found Viagogo advertises tickets it doesn’t have.  Undercover footage shows a Viagogo employee sent to buy Ed Sheeran tickets from scalpers at a recent concert.  Sheeran had previously banned the company from selling tickets to his performances.

Vkontakte reports 1.5 million subscribers.

Former Russian piracy hub Vkontake has reported 1.5 million subscribers to its legal streaming music service.  While small, the legitimate service is high compared to others in the country.  And breathtaking (if true) for a notoriously pirating site.

Jimmy Wopo gunned down.

Prominent Pittsburgh rapper Jimmy Wopo – real name Travon Smart – was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in the city’s Hill District.  He was 21.  Wopo’s murder came hours after unknown assailants killed XXXTentacion.  Wopo’s manager – Taylor Maglin – confirmed the Pittsburgh rapper’s murder on Facebook.

Alda Events acquires Amsterdam Music Festival.

Dutch promoter Alda Events has acquired a 100% stake in Amsterdam Music Festival from fellow promoter ID&T.  Alda Events has organized the event for five years in partnership with ID&T.

Billy McFarland trial postponed.

A federal judge has ruled that Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland will have to remain in jail for another month.  His initial sentencing has also been pushed back to July 26th.  He awaits sentencing on charges of duping investors.  Last week, federal prosecutors hit McFarland with new wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Jay-Z will serve as a consultant for Puma.

Puma Basketball has named Jay-Z as Creative Consultant.  He will help in directing art design and the overall concept of the brand.

Virgil Abloh gets own show on Apple Music.

Designer and DJ Virgil Abloh has announced his own show on Beats 1 Radio.  Recorded in Paris, the show debuted Monday, June 18th.

TIDAL has the most tracks on any streaming platform, and Amazon the least.

According to a new report from Mac Observer, TIDAL has the largest song library in the world.  The Jay-Z owned service has 50 million tracks.  Apple Music reportedly has 45 million and Spotify 35 million.  Amazon Prime Music has the lowest with just 16 million tracks.

Dr. Dre will produce a Marvin Gaye biopic.

Dr. Dre has started work on a film about Marvin Gaye — and the family has granted approval.  He has also secured the rights to Marvin Gaye’s music catalog, including ‘What’s Going On’ and ‘Sexual Healing.’

Metallica donates prize money to charity.

Metallica has confirmed that they will donate the monetary portion of their Polar Music Prize to three charities.  50% will go to Stockholm City Mission, which focuses on helping the homeless people in the city.  25% will go to the World Childhood Foundation, which prevents the abuse of vulnerable children.  The remaining 25% will go to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.

ASCAP will honor Migos.

Migos, an Atlanta rap group, will receive the ASCAP Vanguard Award at the 31st annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards.  Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff, members of the group, will attend the ceremony.  Previous honorees include Kendrick Lamar, Dua Lipa, Diplo, and the Beastie Boys, among others.

Lauryn Hill announces major artists for her upcoming tour in North America.

Lauryn Hill has announced guest stars for her North American tour.  NAS, M.I.A., Santigold, A$AP Rocky, SZA, Big Boi, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Dave East, Jo Mersa Marley, Talib Kweli, Bambaata Marley, Shabazz Palaces, Patoranking, TierraWhack, Protoje, Kelela, Victory, Raury, and Iman Omari will join Hill on the North American run of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill World Tour 2018.  The tour kicks off July 5^th in Virginia Beach.  It ends on October 5^th in St. Louis.

Sigrid announces tour.

Sigrid, the BBC Sound of 2018 winner, has announced a new tour in the UK and Ireland.  The five-date tour kicks off November 4^th in Birmingham and ends November 12^th in London.

Kylie Minogue will headline BBC Radio’s music festival.

Kylie Minogue will headline BBC Radio 2’s Live in Hyde Park Festival.  Other artists confirmed for the festival include Carrie Underwood, All Saints, Rita Ora, Lenny Kravitz, Band of Love, and Manic Street Preachers.  The event takes place on September 9^th.

Spencer Lee named MD of Asia Pacific at peermusic.

Independent music publisher peermusic has appointed Spencer Lee as Managing Director of Asia Pacific.  Lee will assume responsibility for territories including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Featured image by Silver Blue (CC by 2.0)

What are people really looking for?

Spotify gets the most attention — and paying subscribers.  But if search analytics can predict the future, YouTube, Amazon, and Apple are just getting started.

YouTube Music hasn’t even launched yet.  And Spotify has more than 70 million paying subscribers. But when it comes to search, YouTube is already winning.

For years, YouTube has easily been the biggest music platform.  And a big part of that success is coming from search traffic.  In fact, the search data indicates that this may be YouTube Music’s game to lose.

We asked search and SEO analytics firm SEMRush to do a deep-dive on music platforms and services, particularly on the streaming side.  Here’s what they discovered.

Breaking down search volumes for the most popular music provider in the US between February 2018 to April 2018, YouTube had 2.24 million unique search requests.  Amazon Music and Apple Music took the second and third spots with 823,000 and 368,000, respectively.  Despite CEO Roger Lynch’s lofty claim about the digital radio service “No. 1” position in the market, Pandora only had 246,000 unique search requests.

Surprisingly, Spotify took the last spot with just 110,000 searches.

At first glance, this appears to be great news for Google’s upcoming streaming music platform, YouTube Music.

After all, with now over 1.4 billion users on its popular video platform, how could Google possibly fail to line up millions of subscribers?  But here’s the bad news for Google.  When people look for music listening apps, they don’t search for YouTube very often.  In fact, according to SEMRush, under brand music app searches, music fans typically search for Amazon.

The Amazon Music app had 27,100 unique searches in the US.  Pandora fared slightly better this time with 14,800 searches.  YouTube took third with 12,100, followed by Spotify Music with 9,900 and Apple Music with 4,400.

In a large number of cases, people prefer to use apps from reputable companies over untrustworthy third-party apps.

The analytics firm found that users preferred searching for “free music apps” over “download music apps.”  So, what’s the difference?

Well, searching for “free music apps” will pull up well-known music apps, including SoundCloud and Pandora.

Searching for “download music apps” instead will pull up relatively obscure third-party apps.  These apps are usually stuffed with ads and malware, making users wary of installing them.

Looking at the research, ‘free music apps’ from reputable companies and streaming platforms had a consistently stronger search volume.

Compare that to the waning popularity of sketchy third-party music downloader apps.  Just two months ago, unique searches reached just under 30,000.

Data scientists also found that searches for music apps featuring offline functionality have actually grown in popularity.

Under this search category, you’ll find Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music, and Microsoft’s now-defunct Groove Music.

iPhone users were also more likely to search for (and subsequently use) streaming and download music apps over those on Android devices.

Maybe I should change my name to Lil…

Today’s fun fact: more than 8,000 artists have names that start with “Lil,” according to new statistics from Spotify.  Of the platform’s 1,000 most streamed tracks, 33 are from “Lil” artists – Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and Lil Kim.

Apple introduces a ‘pre-add’ mechanic for new albums.

Apple Music has quietly added a ‘pre-add’ feature for upcoming albums.  Users can find soon-to-be-released fare under a new category – “Coming Soon.”  Enabling the feature will automatically download a selected album once it drops.

Court approves iHeartMedia’s request for more financing.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has approved a post-bankruptcy petition for financing, allowing iHeartMedia to pay off some asset-based loan financing.  The company may borrow up to $450 million.  The new loan takes “superpriority status” ahead of other creditors.  They’re also protected against actions from pre-petition creditors, including foreclosure.

British artists account for one out of every eight albums purchased worldwide.

Albums from Ed Sheeran, Rag’n’Bone Man, Sam Smith, and The Beatles led strong British music exports this year.  According to BPI, one in every eight albums purchased around the world was by a British artist or group.  UK artists accounted for 12.9% of all music purchased or streamed last year.

Ticketfly confirms the damage – 27 million accounts hacked.

Ticketfly, a ticket distribution service, has confirmed that a hacker has stolen personal data on 27 million accounts.  The digital intruder accessed personal information, including full names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers.  If it’s any consolation, Ticketfly also confirmed that the hacker didn’t steal credit and debit card information associated with the compromised accounts.

BBC 1Xtra Editor Ryan Newman joins Apple Music.

Apple Music has poached Ryan Newman from the BBC.  He previously served as Editor of 1Xtra, a flagship hip-hop and grime station at the network.

FIFA Bans Yulia Chicherina over politics.

FIFA recently banned rock/pop singer Yulia Chicherina from performance at Fan Fest in Rostov-on-Don.  The group cited Chicherina’s public support for a pro-Russian rebel group in Eastern Ukraine.  “Any military, religious or political topics are strictly forbidden at FIFA events,” FIFA declared.

SESAC teams with Christophe Beck to launch a new mentorship program.

SESAC has committed $1 million to help promote women and people of color in the film scoring industry.  Composer Christophe Beck will serve as Adviser and Coordinator for “SESAC Scores: The Beck Diversity Project.”  The five-year mentorship program will support underrepresented composers.  Beck previously worked on Frozen and Ant-Man.

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment rebrands itself.

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment has rebranded as BSE Global to reflect its overseas expansion.  The company has also opened a new headquarters at the Industry City commercial space in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Cass Scripps sues APA Nashville.

APA Nashville agent Cass Scripps – agent for country stars Clint Black and Corey Smith – has filed a lawsuit against his company.  He claims that two APA Nashville executives created an “intolerable workplace” to force Scripps out of the company while keeping his clients.  He had worked with the company since 2012 and abruptly quit several weeks ago.

Ralph Santolla passes away.

Heavy metal guitarist Ralph Santolla has passed away from a heart attack in Tampa, Florida.  He was 48.  Santolla had performed with Deicide and Sebastian Bach.  He is survived by his mother Sue Santolla-Rocha and his son Dorian Angelo Santolla.

George Thorogood will receive the 2018 B.B. King Award.

The Montreal International Festival will honor George Thorogood with the 2018 B.B. King Award.  The fifth recipient to receive the award, Thorogood succeeds Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, James Cotton, and B.B. King.

Featured image by Mark Kent (CC by 2.0)

Sony acquires a majority stake in EMI Music Publishing, becoming world’s largest music publisher.

Sony Corp has announced that it will pay $2.3 billion to gain the controlling stake in EMI Music Publishing.  The deal now makes Sony the world’s largest music publisher.

Sony’s publishing business already has 2.3 million tracks.  The deal now gives Sony control of EMI’s catalog of over 2 million songs.  Artists include Kanye West, Sam Smith, Sia, Alicia Keys, Queen, Carole King, and Pharrell Williams, among many others.

Digital Music News has all of the details.

Britain observes a minute of silence.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Manchester bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, Britain observed a nationwide minute of silence at 2:30 pm local time.  A memorial service started at 2:00 pm at Manchester Cathedral.  Before launching into a rendition of ‘Amazing Grace,’ Rogers Govender, the cathedral’s dean, said,

“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge between them is love – the only survival, the only meaning.”

UTA signs Randy Jackson.

United Talent Agency (UTA) has signed music industry executive and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson.  Jackson has previously collaborated with high-profile artists, including Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Keith Richards, among many others.

The Billboard Music Awards reaches an all-time low.

The 2018 Billboard Music Awards hit an all-time ratings low last Sunday.  The event averaged a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 7 million viewers.  The numbers don’t include West Coast viewership.  Last year’s show drew a 2.3 rating and 7.7 million viewers before adjusting to a 2.6 rating and 8.7 million viewers.  This year’s Billboard Music Awards lost 10% of its key demographic and 9% of its average viewership.

Well, so much for Spotify’s Hate Content policy.

Spotify’s new Hate Content and Hateful Conduct public policy hasn’t affected R. Kelly’s streams.  In fact, it’s only boosted his average streaming numbers.  According to the Associated Press, his music had averaged 6,584,000 streams per week on Spotify.  Following the change on May 10^th, the singer has received 6,676,000 streams.

Spotify may have 150 million total subscribers in 2020.

According to Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson, Spotify will have 150 million total subscribers by 2020.  The company’s market share gains, new geographies, and family plans will contribute to the boost in numbers.  In a note to clients, Patterson wrote,

“The music industry is shifting from a transactional to on-demand model, and Spotify is well positioned to double its subscriber base, expand gross margin, and generate material free cash flow.”

Deezer offers 99 cent subscriptions, reaches 14 million users.

Deezer is now offering new users a Premium+ subscription to its streaming service for 99 cents.  Premium+ users will have unlimited, ad-free access to 53 million tracks from around the world and the option to download their favorite playlists and listen offline.  The French-based streaming music service also confirmed that it now has 14 million monthly active users.

A next generation music label raises $15.5 million.

Amuse, a self-described ‘next generation’ music label, has closed a $15.5 million Series A round co-led by Lakestar and Raine Ventures.  Founded in Stockholm in 2015 by executives from Spotify, UMG, and Warner Music, Amuse aims to use data to create a new way for musicians to distribute their musically globally and for artists to be discovered.  The company’s Board of Directors include Edgar Berger (former Chairman and CEO of Sony Music International) and Jörg Mohaupt (former Warner Music Group board member).  The record label has now offered free distribution and analytics to artists.

Iconic Artists announces software to track and report copyright infringement in real-time.

Music tech company Iconic Artists LLC has announced the beta testing of its copyright infringement and reporting software, StreamTrack.  The software logs and reports copyright infringement related to streaming music in real-time.

Royal wedding pushes up global streams.

At least one royal wedding performer has seen a massive increase in his global streams.

Spotify confirmed that global streams of 19-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason have increased 428%.  Deezer reported that Kanneh-Mason’s cover of ‘Hallelujah’ rose 177%, ‘Evening of Roses’ 630%, and ‘No Woman No Cry’ 862%.

Following the ceremony, Spotify said that The Royal Wedding: The Official Album has received over 100,000 streams worldwide.  Ben E King’s ‘Stand By Me’ rose 30%.  Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ saw a 15% increase.

BTS’ breaks yet another record on YouTube.

BTS’ ‘Fake Love’ has become 2018’s biggest music video debut on YouTube.  Following the release of the group’s latest album, Love Yourself: Tear, the video amassed 35.9 million views in its first 24 hours.

Red Tail Concerts merges with 35 Concerts to form Red Tail Entertainment.

Red Tail Concerts, an independent entertainment company, will merge its business with fellow indie promoter 35 Concerts.  The two companies will now operate as Red Tail Entertainment.  Marc Engel, former President of 35 Concerts, will now serve as President of Red Tail Entertainment.  Phil Drayer will serve as CEO.  The company will consist of a presenting division – Red Tail Live! – and a concert production unit – Red Tail Productions.

CTS Eventim acquires Doctor Music.

European ticketing giant CTS Eventim has acquired a majority stake in Spanish promoter Doctor Music.  The acquisition marks the ticketing giant’s first entry into the Spanish concert market.  It also brings the total number of European countries where it operates to 10.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sony/ATV extends deal with Luis Fonsi.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has extended its worldwide deal with songwriter and artist Luis Fonsi.  The new agreement includes ‘Despacito’ and a number of Fonsi’s chart-toppers, including ‘Aquí Estoy Yo,’ ‘No Me Doy Por Vencido,’ ‘Nada Es Para Siempre,’ and ‘Échame la Culpa’ with Demi Lovato.

Featured image – YouTube screengrab

YouTube now directly competes with SoundCloud and Spotify.

YouTube has relaunched its ‘Artist on the Rise’ program and has named Jessie Reyez as its first featured performer.  Launched late last year, the program now includes promotion and programming on the video platform, plus advertising, social aspects, and fan events at YouTube Spaces.  The service now competes directly with SoundCloud’s ‘First on SoundCloud’ and Spotify’s ‘RISE’ initiatives.

No, rock stars haven’t sexually harassed women, says Roger Daltrey.

According to Roger Daltrey, sexual harassment against women doesn’t happen in the music industry.  Speaking with the Daily Mail’s Event magazine, The Who frontman said,

“Why would any rock star need to push themselves on women?…

“If it was going to be in the rock business, it would’ve been out by now.  It would’ve been out a long time ago.  I find this whole thing so obnoxious.  It’s always allegations and it’s just salacious crap. Like the allegations against Pete when he got arrested.”

The music industry on the verge of a “new dawn”…

Addressing attendees at The Great Escape, Crispin Hunt said that the music industry faces a “new dawn” thanks to streaming music platforms.  The multi-million-selling songwriter and producer claimed the new dawn will help “correct all the flaws of the past model.”

“The musical future is suddenly looking a lot brighter and with luck, we should be on the verge of an unprecedented musical revolution both in terms of scale and opportunity.  But it’s up to us, the creators, our industry, and the online platforms, to work together to get that future right.”

Hunt currently serves as Chairman of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors (BASCA).

APRA AMCOS presents Sabrina Robertson with The Lighthouse Award.

APRA AMCOS has announced the 2018 recipient of The Lighthouse Award – Sabrina Robertson.  She runs music management and publicity company Maths & Magic.  Robertson also manages Melbourne singer and songwriter Alexander Biggs.  Established in memory of Linda Gebar, The Lighthouse Award supports the professional development of female managers based in Victoria through a $5,000 ($3,777) grant.

Do wealthy people and hipsters look down on metal music?

According to Billy Corgan, people in the upper class and hipsters look down on metal music.  The Smashing Pumpkin frontman told Beats 1 Radio,

“For years I would take s—t about being a fan of metal – it should be beneath you.  It gets into weird class politics – most of the people who criticize people like us, for being who we are, what we are, or what we represent, had better backgrounds than we had.”

Niche Music Group distances itself from alleged ‘racist lawyer.’

New York attorney Aaron M. Schlossberg, dubbed the ‘racist lawyer’ on social media, represents several entertainment companies suing music organizations.  According to Variety, he represents a company called Niche Music Group in its $1 million lawsuit against Sony’s The Orchard.  Schlossberg also represents Todd Courtney’s Mammoth Entertainment in its lawsuit against the Global Poverty Festival, which produces the Global Citizen Festival.

Schlossberg’s racist rant against two Spanish-speaking deli workers in New York went viral last week.  Captured on video, the attorney ordered the two workers to speak English and threatened to call immigration officials.

Following the story’s publication, Niche Music Group has issued the following statement, distancing itself from the beleaguered lawyer.

“We were not aware of his views and he never expressed them to us.  We are appalled by his comments and behavior.”

Former Dave Matthews Band member sued for sexual harassment.

James Frost-Winn, a former street musician, has sued Dave Matthews Band violinist Boyd Tinsley.  Tinsley has confirmed that he no longer forms part of the Dave Matthews Band and vowed to “fight both in and out of court to repair the damage that has been done.”  Filed in King County, Washington, Winn claims that for years, the former DMB member sexually flirted with him with comments, sexting, and physical touches.  The band has since distanced itself from Tinsley.

The lawsuit reads,

“The harassment was in no way welcome and destroyed Plaintiff Winn emotionally… [he] was left with no choice but to walk away from the dream-turned-nightmare that he had been living.”

Apple takes fourth place in the global smart speaker war.

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple sold an estimated 600,000 Homepods during the first quarter of the year.  But that wasn’t enough to shake the rankings.  The market research company reported that Apple has taken the fourth spot in global smart speaker shipments.  Amazon, Google, and Alibaba took the top three spots.

Image by Variety and Strategy Analytics

Ahead of its IPO next month, Sonos once again failed to rank on the list, likely landing in the ‘Others’ category.

Alan Menken signs with Warner/Chappell Music

Award-winning composer and songwriter Alan Menken has signed a worldwide deal with Warner/Chappell Music.  He has won eight Academy awards and has received eleven Grammys.  Menken is currently working on the Broadway production of A Bronx Tale as well as on the live-action adaptation of Disney’s Aladdin.

LiveXLive signs exclusive global live streaming deals with Montreux Jazz Festival.

LiveXLive and Montreux Jazz Festival have signed a five-year agreement.  Under the deal, LiveXLive has become the exclusive global live streaming and content partner for the festival outside of Switzerland.

Prince memorabilia sells for way more than auctioneers expected.

Julien’s Auctions has sold a collection of Prince memorabilia in New York for a lot more than initially expected.  A doll featured as a prop in Purple Rain sold for $12,500.  Julien’s Auctions had expected between $2,000 and $4,000.  A stage-worn jumpsuit, expected to go for $6,000 to $8,000, sold for $27,500.  A dark purple tunic Prince work in 1996, estimated to sell within the same range, went for $25,000.  A white Schecter ‘cloud’ guitar sold for $30,000.

Julien’s Auctions estimated that it would sell Prince’s custom-made yellow ‘cloud’ guitar between $60,000 and $80,000.  It went for $225,000.

Erin Mills and James Paterson named Directors at Listen Up.

Listen Up, a London and LA-based music promotions company, has promoted Erin Mills and James Paterson as its new directors.  Both had joined the company as interns before working their way through the company’s ranks in the radio and press departments.  Listen Up currently represents Wiley, Marshmello, Elderbrook, Porter Robinson, Waka Flocka Flame, Children Of Zeus, Patrick Topping, Loco Dice, Black Coffee, Tale Of Us, Solardo, and Jonas Blue.

Michael Cohl joins Civilized Worldwide.

Civilized Worldwide Inc. has announced that former Live Nation Chairman and concert producer Michael Cohl has joined the company as an investor and member of its Board of Directors.  The company currently operates civilized.life, a news and entertainment website, and Civilized Studios, a multi-platform video network.

Carter admits to minor spat at Spotify, denies exiting the company.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Troy Carter, Spotify’s Global Head of Creator Services, has denied rumors that he will leave the company.  Carter also admitted to his disagreement over the platform’s ‘Hate Content and Hateful Conduct Public Policy’.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that everybody didn’t agree.  Spotify is one of those companies where we debate about everything just because it’s such a diverse company.  Everybody has different point of views.  Everybody has different backgrounds.”

Featured image by Jordan Cameron (CC by 2.0)

Spotify’s double standard with R. Kelly.

Despite removing the troubled R&B singer from playlists on its service, Spotify still prominently features R. Kelly merchandise on sale.  The streaming music platform still has the artist’s merchandise page active, complete with an affiliate link that takes fans to a third-party site that sells the product.  Without removing the page, the company has since stated that it “doesn’t take any percentage of merch sales on the platform.”

The most popular wedding and first dance songs.

Spotify has revealed its annual list of most popular wedding and first dance songs around the world.  Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ and ‘Thinking Out Loud’ ranked as the most popular first dance songs.  Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Bruno Mars’ ‘Marry You,’ along with John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),’ ranked among the most popular weddings songs around the world.  You can listen to the top 50 first dance songs here, and the top 50 wedding songs here.

Goodbye, YouTube Red.  Say hello to YouTube Music.

YouTube has confirmed that it will roll out its new streaming music service on May 22^nd.  Dubbed YouTube Music, the $10/month service will replace YouTube Red, now known simply as ‘YouTube Premium.’  YouTube Music will combine millions of “official” tracks along with the same user-uploaded music already found on its video platform.  Users who want to watch original programming – including Cobra Kai and What The Fit – will have to pay $12/month.  The service will roll out in 5 countries, including the US and Mexico.  It will also eventually replace Google Play Music.  Here’s everything we know about this new service so far.

YouTube finally credits artists, songwriters, labels, and publishers on its platform.

Ahead of the launch of its streaming music service, YouTube has now added artist, songwriter, label, and publisher credits to over 500 million videos on its platform.  The feature will provide credits and discovery information on both official music videos and user-generated content with recorded music.

Cary Sherman receives the Presidential Award at the 2018 Music Business Association conference.

RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman has become the first music industry lawyer and lobbyist to receive the Presidential Award at the annual Music Business Association conference.  He received the award on Wednesday, May 16^th.  Past recipients include Ahmet Ertegun, Dick Clark, Clive Davis, Russ Solomon, Mike Dungan, John Esposito, and Sylvia Rhone.

Yet another blockchain startup vows to ‘save’ the music industry.

Relatively unknown music startup Younk has announced that it will make the music industry accessible and profitable for both artists and the listening community.  Dubbed the ‘first decentralized community label,’ the blockchain-based platform allows fans to discover, support, and co-own hits.  The startup has invited music artists to join the platform with private pre-sales starting on May 18^th.

Support Act introduces a wellbeing helpline.

Support Act, an Australian charity organization, has outlined plans for the Australian music industry’s first 24/7 wellbeing helpline.  The organization unveiled the initiative during Music in the House, its annual fundraising luncheon.  Support Act will offer professional counseling free of charge to anyone working in the industry.  The completely confidential helpline will see mental health professionals help those in need.

Columbia Records signs Zhavia Ward.

‘The Four’ finalist Zhavia Ward has signed to RECORDS, a joint venture with Sony Music through its Columbia Records label.  Republic Records had reportedly passed on the signing.

DJ Khaled and Kendrick Lamar top the 2018 BET Awards nominations.

DJ Khaled and Kendrick Lamar have topped this year’s BET Awards nominations with six and five nods, respectively.  The 2018 BET Awards will take place on June 24^th at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater.

Adam Friedman named President of Banc of California Stadium Entertainment.

LAFC Sports, owned by Tom Penn, has announced the formation of Banc of California Stadium Entertainment (BOCSE).  Adam Friedman will serve as President of BOCSE and Executive Vice President of LAFC Sports.  Based in downtown Los Angeles, he’ll report directly to Penn.

Televisa names Lele Pons as host of La Voz Mexico.

Mexican multimedia network Televisa has named social media influencer Lele Pons as the host of ‘La Voz Mexico,’ the Mexican version of The Voice.  She’ll host the show’s next season, premiering October 14^th, 2018.

Fender’s Riffstation now absolutely free to use.

Fender has made its exclusive $35 Riffstation desktop application absolutely free on macOS and Windows.  Riffstation allows users to see the chords for any MP3 or CD track.  Users can slow down or speed up the music.  They can also transpose pitches, select portions of tracks to loop and learn, isolate instruments, play along with a metronome, and view chord shapes for guitars.

“Please, please, please attend the Labour Live Festival.”

British politician Jeremy Corbyn has urged supporters and MPs to back his party’s Labour Live Festival in London next month.  According to Huffington Post UK, the music festival has only sold around 15% of its total ticket allocation.

Has Yanni finally solved the Yanny vs. Laurel debate?

Greek icon Yanni has chimed in on the viral Yanny versus Laurel debate.  On a video posted on his Twitter account, the music producer and composer gave his answer – Yanny.  The viral debate started when Roland Szabo, a high school, polled his Instagram followers with the sound snippet.  Popular YouTuber Cloe Feldman then asked the question on Twitter.

FYF Fest announces makeup shows.

Following the cancellation of the event, organizers have announced makeup shows for FYF Fest.  My Bloody Valentine, Car Seat Headrest, Stephen Malkmus, and others will now give makeup shows between June 17^th to the 22^nd, with a special performance by Kali Uchis on September 21^st.

Live Nation and TCG Entertainment announce “4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince.”

Live Nation Urban and TCG Entertainment have announced the inaugural 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince concert tour.  The 35-stop North American tour will officially start on September 8^th at the Wolf Trap Amphitheater in Washington DC.  It will end on October 21^st at the Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland.

The sixth annual Medicine Stone festival announces 2018 lineup.

The sixth annual Medicine Stone music festival heads back to Diamondhead Resort in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  The three-day live music retreat will take place September 20^th to the 22^nd.  Tickets will go on sale on June 1^st at 9:00 am CT.  The 2018 lineup includes Jason Boland, Turnpike Troubadours, Randy Rogers, and Jamie Lin Wilson, among other musicians.

Featured image by Incase (CC by 2.0)

Kirk Hammett expresses his disappointment over the Napster fight.

Kirk Hammett, Metallica’s lead guitarist, has expressed his disappointment in other bands for failing to step up against Napster 18 years ago.  Naming the incident one of the biggest regrets in his career, he told The Word of Wheeler podcast,

“If there’s anything thing I regret, I regret that no one else supported us during that Napster time.  I don’t even know if you can call it a regret.  Maybe it’s more of a disappointment.  I was very disappointed that other musicians who saw our point, they supported us in ways that were less inconvenient to them.

“We stuck our necks out there.  At the end of the day, I’d like to say what we were doing had some merit – some truth to it.  From that point on, everyone who cares has seen the music industry go on this total downward spiral.”

Over 30,000 rightsholders file a complaint with Norwegian police against TIDAL.

Norwegian songwriters, composers, and music publishers have filed a complaint against Jay-Z’s streaming music service, TIDAL.  Last week, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) published a damning report about the service.  In conjunction with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Center for Cyber and Information Security, DN found that TIDAL had massively inflated Beyoncé and Kanye West’s numbers, leading to massive payouts for both artists.

Tono, a Norwegian performance rights organization representing 30,000 rightsholders, stated that the streaming manipulation claims against TIDAL were “strong” and “apparently credible” as they filed the complaint with police in the country.  In a statement, the PRO said,

“We have to protect the interests of the rights holders for whom we work, but we also believe that a complaint is in the interest of Tidal which says the data has been stolen and manipulated.”

Cisco pulls ads from YouTube.

Cisco has just pulled all of its online ads from YouTube, based on fears that its brand would appear alongside objectionable content.  Taking a veiled swipe at the video platform’s past controversies over sensitive content, Cisco’s Chief Marketing Officer, Karen Walker, wrote in a blog post that the company doesn’t want its ads to “accidentally end up in the wrong place, such as on a streaming video with sensitive content.”  The company, however, will continue to upload videos on YouTube.

Scott Maclachlan joins Warner Music Australasia.

Warner Music Australasia has appointed Scott Maclachlan as Senior Vice President of A&R.  As cofounder and director of Saiko Management, Maclachlan has developed artists like Lorde and Sol3 Mio.  He will report to Niko Nordström, President of Warner Music Australasia and will divide his time between the company’s Auckland and Sydney offices.

Vincent Bolloré now owns over 24% of Vivendi.

Billionaire investor Vincent Bolloré now owns more than 14% of Vivendi — right before a possible announcement related to a UMG IPO.  Our full coverage here.

R. Kelly’s reps defend the singer while he puts on a provocative show.

Representatives for R. Kelly have hit back against Spotify’s ‘ban’ of the troubled R&B singer’s music.  In a statement, they said the singer has “never been accused of hate,” and Spotify is merely engaging in a “smear campaign.”  Amidst the controversy, R. Kelly put on a very provocative show in North Carolina.  He reportedly grabbed a fan’s cell phone and put it between his legs.  Kelly also invited another fan on stage to wipe his face, tongue, and crotch with a towel.  Separately, Apple Music and Pandora have also joined the #MuteRKelly campaign.

Drake announces a new tour with Migos.

Drake has announced the Aubrey and the Three Amigos Tour to support his upcoming album, Scorpion, releasing in June.  Alongside Migos, Drake will embark on a 41-date tour across North America.  Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on July 26^th in Salt Lake City.  The Aubrey and the Three Amigos Tour will end on November 17^th in Atlanta.

Israel wins the Eurovision contest.

Israel has won the Eurovision contest with Netta Barzilai’s song, ‘Toy.’  The annual competition, held in Lisbon, featured 43 countries competing for the top prize.  Barzilai, a 25-year-old singer, had previously won Hakokhav Haba, Israel’s version of American Idol.

The Howard Hughes Corporation unveils its full artist lineup for the Pier 17 Rooftop Concert Series.

The Howard Hughes Corporation, in partnership with Live Nation Entertainment, has announced the full artist lineup for the inaugural Pier 17 Rooftop Concert Series in the Seaport District in New York City.  The full lineup includes Amy Schumer, Kings of Leon, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Trevor Noah, deadmau5, Bebe Rexha, Hunter Hayes, and Paul Anka, among other performers.

Dido signs with BMG Music.

Ahead of her fifth studio release, Dido has signed with BMG Music.  BMG will release the new album worldwide in early 2019. She previously had a longstanding record deal with Sony Music.

Featured image by whittlz (CC by 2.0)

SOCAN inks an agreement with Ducapro.

SOCAN has announced an agreement with performance rights organization Ducapro. The agreement allows SOCAN to deliver back-office royalty administration services across the Caribbean island countries of Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, and St. Maarten.

American Express throws its support behind the Australian music industry.

American Express has announced the American Express Music Backers Program, a $1 million investment to support the Australian music industry.  Over the next year, the program will offer music businesses, artists, and fans the opportunity to access financial support, mentorship, and other tools.  The American Express Music Backers Program will connect music fans with their favorite bands in the country.  Selina’s, a venue in Sydney, is the first Music Backers recipient.  Tomorrow, it will host a free show by The Killers.

Andrew Colvin and Adam Voith join WME.

WME has hired music agents Andrew Colvin and Adam Voith from Billions.  Based in Nashville, the duo brings a roster of clients including Mumford & Sons, Bon Iver, Jason Isbell, and Vampire Weekend.  The move comes after former CAA Nashville co-head Scott Clayton joined WME as a partner.  Ex-CAA festival department co-head Matthew Morgan and Buster Phillips also joined WME.

Spotify now streams your favorite music — and tells you the story of how they were made.

Spotify has signed a deal with Bloomsbury Publishing, a British indie publishing house.  The European streaming music service will now offer audiobooks on the production of some of the world’s most popular albums.  Offerings will include audiobooks on Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, David Bowie’s Low, and Metallica’s Black Album.  Bloomsbury Publishing is best known for releasing the Harry Potter novels.

Facebook takes on Musical.ly.

Instagram may be launching a very serious music feature. Recent changes in the app’s code reveal that users will search for music alongside other content.  This includes searching for songs, genres, and even musical moods.  Music will reportedly play when viewing other users’ Instagram Stories.

This could be very, very big — our full coverage starts here.

Roger Vorce passes away.

Roger Vorce, co-founder of the Agency for the Performing Arts, has passed away.  He was 88.  At the time of his passing, Vorce held the title of Chairman Emeritus at the talent agency.  He co-founded the company with former MCA executives David Baumgarten and Harvey Litwin.  Vorse represented Liberace, Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, and Ginger Rogers, among others.

Choon launches with notes token payments.

Blockchain streaming music service Choon has launched its beta program.  The service allows users the opportunity to listen to indie music.  Artists on the platform receive payments with /NOTES tokens, exclusive to the platform.  The beta program now has over 1,000 tracks from 500 artists, with several thousand more on a waiting list.

Dr Dre ≠ Dr. Drai.

The US Trademark Trial & Appeal Board has ruled against Dr. Dre in a lengthy trademark battle with a gynecologist.  The case first emerged in 2015, when Pennsylvania-based gynecologist Draion M. Burch attempted to trademark his nickname, Dr. Drai.  The gynecologist has released several books and videos, along with a YouTube channel, under the name.  The US Trademark Trial & Appeal Board ruled that Dr. Dre failed to show the similar names would mislead consumers.

Taylor Swift holds a private concert for foster and adoptive families.

Taylor Swift invited 2,000 foster children and adoptive families to a final dress rehearsal in Arizona.  According to one mother, the singer performed her entire 2-hour concert ahead of her Reputation tour.  Swift also bought everyone pizza and desserts afterwards.

Clive Miller joins Support Act as CEO.

Clive Miller has joined Support Act, an Australian charity, as its new CEO.  The registered non-profit organization raises funds to provide crisis relief arising from illness and accidents among people working in the Australian music industry.  Miller will start on May 21st and will replace current CEO Joanna Cave, who leaves Support Act after 5 years.

Arcade Fire honored at Canadian Music Week.

On May 10th, during Canadian Music Week, Arcade Fire will be honored for their charity work.  The group had previously received the International Achievement Award at the Juno Awards gala dinner.  Frontman Win Butler told over 1,500 members of the music industry and fellow artists then to be more philanthropic.

AIR Studios up for grabs.

London’s AIR Studios, founded by Sir George Martin, is up for sale.  Major names in the industry – Paul McCartney, Adele, Coldplay, and U2, among many others – have recorded their music at AIR Studios.

Live Nation strengthens New Zealand team.

Live Nation has made several strategic changes to its New Zealand team.  The company has named Stuart Clumpas as Chairman of Live Nation New Zealand.  Rick Latham and Steve Wheadon have been named Head of Operations and Head of Production, respectively.  Live Nation has also promoted Mark Kneebone to the role of Head of Promotions.

Jana Gibson heads up APRA AMCOS membership.

Jana Gibson has accepted the role of Head of Member Services at APRA AMCOS.  She’ll start on June 1st.  Dean Ormston, the current Head of Member Services, will serve as CEO of APRA AMCOS starting July 1st.  In the new role, Gibson will oversee member initiatives, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office, SongHubs, SongMakers, and outreach programs.

The Spice Girls will return.

Mel B has confirmed that popular 90s girl group the Spice Girls will return to touring.  The group will also reportedly make new music and have signed with the group’s former manager, Simon Fuller.

Tom Coulson-Smith joins Warner Chappell Music.

Warner/Chappell Music has announced that Tom Coulson-Smith will join the company as A&R Manager.  Based in London, he’ll report to Amber Davis, A&R Director of Warner/Chappell Music UK.

XITE signs a deal with fuboTV.

Dutch music video company XITE has reached an agreement with US OTT provider fuboTV to launch three new music videos in the US.  The networks, which broadcast the most popular music videos, are now available completely localized through fuboTV.

Who are rap’s biggest Momma boys?

In honor of Mother’s Day, LyricFind has published an infographic about which artists rap about their ‘Mommas’ the most.  Snoop Dogg topped the list with 58 mentions about his mother.  2 Chainz took second place with 51 mentions.  2Pac, Lil Uzi Vert, and Kanye West rounded out the top 5 with 24, 22, and 20 mentions, respectively.

COLORS announces R&B Only’s Summer tour dates.

Entertainment company COLORS Worldwide has announced its Summer tour dates for “R&B Only.”  The tour, scheduled for 26 stops across the US, kicks off in Las Vegas on June 2nd.  The R&B Only Summer Tour will end in the Bay Area in California on September 7th.  Fans interested in purchasing tickets can find out how here.

Post Malone goes platinum in just 4 days.

The Recording Industry Association of America has certified platinum Post Malone’s sophomore album, Beerbongs & Bentleys.  Thanks to the popularity of his hit single, ‘Rockstar,’ the album had already been eligible for a gold certification prior to its release.

In addition, Beerbongs & Bentleys has broken the first-day streaming record on Spotify.  According to the streaming music service, the album has racked up 78,744,748 plays in just one day.  The album racked up 47,930,039 streams in the US alone.

J. Cole earns his fifth No. 1.

Cole’s fifth studio album, KOD, has debuted #1 on the Billboard 200.  This marks the singer’s fifth consecutive album to reach the top spot.  In addition, J. Cole also hit No. 6, No. 8, and No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘ATM,’ ‘Kevin’s Heart,’ and ‘KOD,’ respectively.

Edison Research finds that heavy radio listeners probably already own a smart speaker.

Edison Research has released a new study titled The Infinite Dial: Heavy Radio Listeners.  The firm found that one-fifth of radio’s biggest users own a smart speaker.  In addition, ‘Heavy Radio Listeners’ now compromise 30% of the American population aged 12 and up.  Among these listeners, 44% streamed music on YouTube.  29% used Pandora.  20% listened to AM/FM streams.  One in six heavy radio listeners has listened to a podcast in the past week.  You can find the complete study here.

R. Kelly’s reps evoke images of black lynchings to defend the beleaguered singer.

Kelly’s representatives have responded to sexual allegations against the embattled R&B singer.  They called the Time’s Up-backed #MuteRKelly movement to boycott his music “unjust and off-target.”  His reps added that the singer has become a target of “a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy.”  Citing, America’s troubled history with racism, they said in a statement,

“Since America was born, black men and women have been lynched for having sex or for being accused of this.  We will vigorously resist this attempted public lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.”

Jeff Sosnow receives a promotion at Warner Bros. Records.

Warner Bros. Records has promoted Jeff Sosnow to Executive Vice President of A&R.  He will oversee the signing and developing of artists for both Warner Bros. Records and Reprise.  Sosnow had served as Senior Vice President of A&R since 2012.  He has worked with artists including Tegan and Sara, ‪Deftones, Mastodon, ‪Mac Miller, AJR, Death from Above, ‪The Head And The Heart, Twin Shadow, ‪Houndmouth and Rufus Du Sol.

Sources confirm Avicii’s suicide.

A new report has confirmed that Avicii took his own life.  Sources speaking with TMZ claim that the famed Swedish DJ smashed a wine bottle and “used a shard of glass that caused massive bleeding.”  In a statement released last week, Avicii’s family had strongly hinted that the DJ committed suicide.

Orkila goes Down the Drain.

US capital fund Orkila has purchased 40% of Danish festival promoter Down the Drain.  The promoter currently owns music festivals Northside in Aarhus and Tinderbox in Odense.  It also owns another promoter, Beatbox Entertainment.

Record Store Day breaks a new record.

Nielsen Music has released its report on this year’s Record Store Day.  The 11th annual edition, which took place on April 21st, yielded 733,000 vinyl albums sold in the US.  Independent retailers sold 580,000 of those albums.  The numbers mark the biggest week for vinyl album sales outside the Christmas season since Nielsen Music started tracking sales in 1991.

Restoring Massey Hall.

The governments of Canada and Ontario have announced a combined investment of up to $60 million into one of Toronto’s most iconic heritage venues, Massey Hall.  Through the Revitalization project, engineers will restore the exterior and interior of the 124-year-old National Historic Site.  A new addition will be connected through the construction of a 7-story South Tower.

Gibson files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Gibson Brands Inc. has announced that it will reorganize the company to focus its core business on the manufacturing of musical instruments and professional audio products.  It will also continue developing its portfolio of Gibson and Epiphone brands.  The company has reached a “Restructuring Support Agreement” with most shareholders.

TickPick acquires Razorgator.

Secondary ticketing marketplace TickPick has announced the acquisition of ticket resale platform Razorgator.  TickPick purchased Razorgator for an undisclosed amount after the latter company declared financial insolvency last February.  Razorgator will retain its company website and name.

The USTR releases its 2018 Special 301 Report.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published its yearly Special 301 Report.  The report highlights countries that have failed to adequately protect US copyright standards.  The USTR identified 36 countries on the Priority Watch List.  In 12 countries – including Argentina, China, and Russia – the US will focus on the IP issues during intense bilateral engagement during the coming year.

Edge Music Network’s new partnership with MondoTunes.

Streaming music video platform Edge Music Network (EMN) has announced a partnership with digital distribution service MondoTunes.  Edge has also launched Artist Pages.  The feature provides a way for artists and musicians to establish connections with fans, venues, and record labels.

Keeping the music industry in good health.

Country stars Rodney Crowell and John Vezner will lead Music Health Alliance’s (MHA) 2nd annual “Heal the Music Day.”  Launched last year, the day serves as a nationwide music industry fundraiser.  Taking place on Friday, October 19th, it will also raise awareness of MHA’s free emergency services.

PRX signs with WME.

PRX, a podcast company, has signed with entertainment agency WME.  WME will expand PRX’s work into film, television, and books.  PRX’s work includes the distribution of This American Life and The Moth Radio Hour.

Entercom makes two key hires.

Entercom has hired two executives for its Radio.com brand.  It has named Pamela Russo as Senior Vice President and General Manager.  She will focus on advertiser and consumer products, client development, and revenue growth.  Christopher Rosen will serve as the editorial director of Radio.com.  He will lead content development, editorial, and video strategy for the platform.

Coca-Cola promotes BTS.

Coca-Cola has named Korean boy band BTS as promotional ambassadors ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.  The company will debut as the group’s promoter in June.  Coca-Cola has served as an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup since 1978.  BTS will release their third full-length album, Love Yourself: Tear, next month.

Nappy Roots launches two craft beers.

Nappy Roots will launch two new craft beers this month.  On May 2nd, the Southern rap group will debut Watermelon, Chiquen & Gritz at Against the Grain brewery in Louisville, Kentucky.  On May 18th, Nappy Roots will launch The Humdinger at Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta, Georgia.  The group has previously experimented with their own home brewery, Atlantucky.

Four Tone Artists launches.

Four Tone Artists, a new boutique booking agency, has launched in Australia.  The agency will offer comprehensive booking services across the Asia-Pacific region.  Adam Montgomery and Josh Lane will head Four Tone Artists.

Vivendi will discuss UMG’s IPO.

Vivendi has set a date to discuss Universal Music Group’s IPO with its Board.  During the next Supervisory Board Meeting on May 17th, the Vivendi Management Board will present its initial findings.  The Board will also discuss the different hypotheses of how Universal Music Group capital may evolve.

Donald Glover signs a publishing deal with Kobalt.

Kobalt Music has signed a publishing deal with actor and rapper Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino.  The worldwide agreement includes publishing administration – global synch and creative services – for all of Childish Gambino’s future songs. In addition, Kobalt has signed Wolf + Rothstein, Glover’s teams of collective songwriters and artists.

Featured image by The Come Up Show (CC by 2.0)

So, how much does Zoe Keating make from streaming?

Every now and then, Digital Music News covers what real artists make from streaming platforms.

One artist last year, for example, made just €403.27, or $470.47, on Spotify from 122,364 total plays.  Last June, after fans streamed another artist’s songs 4.3 million times on the platform, TuneCore only sent a check for $5,078.  And, one more artist, after reading a separate piece on average per-stream payouts for 1 million plays, couldn’t get paid despite hitting 100,000 streams.

Canadian-born cellist and composer Zoe Keating has her catalog available on multiple streaming music platforms.  The recipient of the 2009 Performing Arts Award, she recently reached out to Digital Music News to share her royalties.  Today, we’ll rank the streaming platforms from the best to worst reported per-stream rates.

Using RouteNote as her distributor, Keating earned the most from Amazon Prime Music.  At a per-stream rate of $0.0663649, Keating earned $1,265.38 from 19,067 streams on the platform.

Microsoft’s defunct Groove platform, labeled here Xbox Music, had the second highest per-stream rate at $0.0319997.  Keating scored $502.94 from 15,717 plays.  TIDAL, labeled here Wimp, paid $0.0162451 per stream.  She received $354.42 from 21,817 streams.

Deezer, Spotify, and Prime Music ranked as the streaming music platforms with the lowest per-stream rates.  Deezer paid out $0.0048416 per play.  After just 20,460 streams on the French-based music streaming platform, she earned $99.06.  Keating also made $0.0038015 per stream on Spotify.  After 1,154,513 total streams, she received $4,388.93.  Surprisingly enough, Amazon Music (most likely Music Unlimited) paid out much lower than Spotify and Prime Music.  At $0.0037711 per stream, Keating netted just $167.31 from 44,366 plays.

Using CD Baby as her music distributor, Zoe Keating received significantly lower rates.

At $0.018873 and $0.0118831, Amazon Premium and Tidal had the highest per-stream rates, respectively.  Napster’s service, labeled here Rhapsody, also had a notably higher payout rate.  At $0.0090479 per stream, Keating scored $50.65 for just 5,598 plays.  Apple Music had a decent per-play rate of $0.0078276.  After 29 streams, she earned 23 cents.  Interestingly, Zoe Keating had a higher per-stream pay on Apple Music through her record label.  At $0.0098949, she earned $6,214 after 628,000 plays.

Along with YouTube, Spotify and Amazon Prime ranked as the services with the lowest per-stream rates once again.  At $0.0039 per stream, she earned $5,654.58 after 1,449,887 plays on Spotify.  Amazon Prime’s per-play rate plummeted to just $0.0034152.   After 140,943 plays, she received just $479.81, much less than what she had earned through RouteNote.   YouTube paid her $2.47 for 865 plays at an unsurprising $0.028497 per-stream rate.  Relatively unknown internet radio service 8Tracks came in dead last with a per-stream rate of $0.0004045.  Keating earned $0.82 from 2,027 plays on the service.

Despite falling digital download rates, iTunes and Bandcamp downloads, along with Amazon MP3, proved a great source of income for Keating.

Proving the company’s statement of skyrocketing income last year, Bandcamp paid significantly higher per download.  Keating earned $5,849.76 from just 879 downloads.  From 7,450 downloads on iTunes, she scored $14,600.  For 258 MP3 downloads on Amazon, she received $656.96.

Under performing rights income, Keating earned $36,929 from ASCAP.   She also netted $3,557 from Pandora via SoundExchange.  For advertising share via YouTube CMS, Keating scored $1,504.

You can check out the full report here.

Featured image by It’s The Roop (YouTube screengrab)

A neural network on what you love to listen to.

Music Audience Exchange (MAX) has unveiled its Artist Matching Engine.  The platform’s data model uses neural networks to map music tastes onto the demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioral attributes of music listeners.  Ford is among the first brands to leverage the platform’s insights. The Artist Matching Engine is the result of a 3-year project from a team of engineers & data scientists.

Goodbye, third-party ad serving on YouTube.  In Europe, at least.

YouTube will close access to third-party ad serving and pixel tracking globally.  This comes a month before the European Union’s privacy regulation, dubbed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect.  A memo obtained by AdExchange reads,

“YouTube will no longer support third-party ad serving on reserved buys in Europe beginning May 21, and it will assess whether to extend that policy globally.”

Advertisers who don’t use DoubleClick Campaign Manager will have to “retraffic their ads” by May 21st to avoid “any downtime in delivery.”

Going to the movies.

Michelle Slavich, a high-ranking communications executive at Google, has joined Warner Bros. Pictures.  She will serve as the Executive Vice President of Global Publicity and Strategy.  Slavich oversaw entertainment PR and corporate communications at YouTube.

‘Strong-arming’ Iowa.

Live music advocates in Iowa have taken a stand against Live Nation.  The company plans to open two music venues in Des Moines’ East Village.  It partnered with Christensen Development, a local company, to propose a $12 million to $15 million renovation of the Argonne Armory.  Live Nation and Christensen Development would create two theaters holding 2,000 and 800 people, respectively.  In light of a recent government investigation into Live Nation’s ‘strong-arm business tactics,’ city music leaders and entrepreneurs have strongly opposed the plan.  Dan Green, Director of the 515 Alive Music Festival, said,

“These guys will control everything.  They’ll control the tours.  They already control the ticketing.  It creates a complete monopoly.”

Taylor who?

Cardi B has obliterated a streaming record previously held by Taylor Swift.  The rapper’s newest album, Invasion of Privacy, has racked up over 100 million streams on Apple Music.  It set a record for first-week streams by a female artist on the service, more than double the record previously held by Taylor Swift’s Reputation.  Invasion of Privacy has now become the fifth most-streamed album on the platform, surpassing The Weeknd’s Starboy and Ed Sheeran’s Divide.

Even more exclusives on Apple Music.

Australian EDM producer Flume has announced two new music documentaries exclusively on Apple Music.  According to 9to5Mac, the first documentary, Flume: When Everything Was New, will likely focus on his rise to fame.  The second, Sleepless: The Story of Future Classic, may document Flume’s career and his involvement with indie label, Future Classic.  Both documentaries will drop on April 20th.

“Alexa, hear all of my conversations, please.”

Amazon has patented a “voice sniffing” algorithm.  The patent describes listening in to conversations and building a profile of consumers’ likes and dislikes.  The company may use the patent on its Echo speakers.  In a statement, Amazon immediately dismissed rumors of invading users’ privacy.

“We do not use customers’ voice recordings for targeted advertising.  Like many companies, we file a number of forward-looking patent applications that explore the full possibilities of new technology.”

$100 million in revenue.  $74.5 million in losses.

SoundCloud has filed its 2016 financials through Companies House in the UK.  While the company’s revenues rose 88.9% to €50.3 million ($62 million), net losses also grew 45.7% to €74.5m ($91.9 million).  Cost of sales, which include royalties, increased by 135.9% to €36.1 million ($44.5 million).

Fruit Punch Music – Basically Spotify for kids.

Fruit Punch, Inc. has announced the world’s first streaming music platform made just for children.  Dubbed Fruit Punch Music, the app lets families access a huge library of ad-free parent-approved ‘appropriate’ music.  Kids will have access to dozens of stations ranging from Pop to Country, Alternative Pop to Disney.  They’ll hear songs from artists including Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and The Temptations.  Parents can sign-up for a free 7-day trial.  They can then pay $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year to continue using the app.

Blockchain music payments – merely overly inflated promises without a proven foundation.

Blockchain startup Soundpruf will offer a web and mobile software application built on blockchain technology.  It will aggregate every user’s music listening portfolio and pay artists and listeners in cryptocurrency for streaming sessions via Spotify or another streaming music platform.  Yet, how exactly the application will work as well as payout rates remain unknown.

Avoid threats to your music business.

INgrooves, a distribution and marketing company, has launched a new data-mining tool.  It will help labels sift through and make sense of copious amounts of information flowing from digital services to music suppliers.  The tool is aimed at making it easier for clients to spot marketing opportunities and potential business threats.  All labels currently distributed by INgrooves can access the tool through their personal portals on the company’s website.

Not dying anytime soon, apparently.  But, yeah, it probably will.

In a statement to The Sun, Apple has denied that the company will shut down iTunes.  The company had reportedly sent a letter to music industry partners titled ‘The End of iTunes LPs.’  In it, Apple reportedly stated that it would phase out iTunes by March 31st, 2019.

Following in Gibson’s footsteps?

This is looking familiar: Guitar Center has announced the expiration and final results of its previously announced exchange offer and consent solicitation.  The company had offered to exchange its existing 9.625% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2020 for 5% Cash/8% PIK notes due 2022.  The Unsecured Notes have a $325 million aggregate principal amount outstanding. Meanwhile, sales forecasts for the once-solid retail giant are sinking — for reasons that sound similar those being experienced by Gibson Guitar.

Featured image by Mike Prosser (CC by 2.0)

Sharing an entertaining vision of country success.

Texas country artist Cody Wayne has inked a management deal with Nashville-based Vision Entertainment.  His brand new single off his upcoming album will hit radio this summer.  Speaking about Wayne’s potential for success this year, Chuck Sweeney, Vision’s Chief Development Officer, said,

“Cody Wayne is a natural entertainer with a powerful voice and a high-energy stage presence.  His music has been receiving substantial recognition within the industry, and we know he’s only just begun to achieve his true potential.”

Signs you have too much money.

Discogs has confirmed the most expensive records sold for February 2018.  A 1982-released blue transparent LP reissue of Pink Floyd’s Meddle (Columbia) sold for $4,400.  The number of copies of the blue transparent variant remains unknown.  Other notable sales include Big Mack’s release of Bob & Fred’s 1966 single ‘I’ll Be On My Way (Part 1)’ for $4,239.  Damon’s Song of a Gypsy sold for $3,500.

A $1 billion windfall for Sony.

Sony has officially sold 17% of its stake in Spotify for more than $250 million.  This happened right before Spotify’s first day on the NYSE ended.  After its first day of trading, the music streaming service closed with a $26.5 billion market valuation.  Sony said that it would book a profit of ¥105 billion, or around $986 million for its first fiscal quarter.  While it didn’t reveal what it plans to do with their Spotify windfall, the financial filing included the following statement.

“If a sale of SME’s Spotify shares results in the recording of a gain, SME will share that gain with its artists and distributed labels.  Unrealized valuation gain (net) and the realized gain on the sale of shares (net) are calculated by deducting the estimated amount to be shared or the amount actually shared with such artists and distributed labels.”

Coming out of the woodwork.

A notorious patent troll has sued Spotify, SoundCloud, and Deezer over a patent on a “music organizer and entertainment center.”  MOAEC Technologies, a “patent licensing” company, sued the music streaming services weeks before Spotify’s launch on the NYSE.

US Patent 6,232,539, cited in the suspiciously frivolous/trolly lawsuit, reads,

“A music organizer and entertainment center provides… a graphical user interface display having a plurality of selectable screens, at least one of the selectable screens including a plurality of category buttons constructed and arranged so that when a predetermined of the category buttons is activated, music selections having category flags matching the predetermined category of a respective of the buttons are selected and listed on the display.”

How much is too much for MTV?

MTV has denied rumors that it has canceled TRL.  Instead, it will expand the show into two new programs: one in the morning, and the other at night.  Total Request AM will premiere on April 23rd.  TRL will return on the same day at 3 pm.  Launched in February, Total Request LateNight will expand to three nights this summer.  By the end of the year, the late night show will air four nights a week.

Like my music?  Then, give me cryptocurrency.

Feedbands, a crowdsource record label, will become the first streaming music platform to pay musicians through cryptocurrency.  It has teamed up with Dash DAO, the world’s first Decentralized Autonomous Organization.  With the implementation of DAO, fans will now transact with artists directly using the cryptocurrency.  Artists can then transfer the earned cryptocurrency to a bank.

Just like Spotify.  But, will anyone care?

Following Spotify’s successful non-IPO launch on Wall Street, Sonos has prepared to launch its own IPO.  The connected-speaker maker has posted job listings to hire people to fill legal and finance roles.  According to Variety, one listing mentions that Sonos “is preparing its financial reporting to comply with rules for public companies.”  A company spokesperson declined to comment on the job listings.

“We like where our business is and an IPO is something all tech companies think about.”

Can you manage Hall & Oates?

Amidst a serious federal government investigation, Live Nation has acquired Jonathan Wolfson’s Wolfson Entertainment.  Its management roster includes Daryl Hall & John Oates, Loverboy, and Nelson.  Speaking on the acquisition, Jonathan Wolfson said,

“This is a great opportunity for the artists on my roster, and it’s very exciting to join the impressive Live Nation team.  I’m grateful to Michael Rapino for bringing us into the fold, and we look forward to a long, successful partnership.”

Recognizing the music industry’s inspirational and ingenious risk takers.

The Second Annual Innovation Awards (IMA) will take place on June 3rd in Nashville.  The event will honor some of the music industry’s top risk takers and creative thinkers.  Organizers and producers for the event include Pete O’Heeron, John Ettinger, Shanna Strassberg, Bret Wolcott, and Marie Wapelhorst.

A rare defeat for the RIAA.

Texas District Court Judge Lee Yeakel has handed the RIAA a partial defeat in a piracy lawsuit.  It has dismissed a vicarious copyright claim against ISP Grande Communications.  However, the judge denied the request to dismiss a contributory copyright claim.  The RIAA contested the verdict, claiming Grande can be held liable for vicarious infringement.  According to the trade organization, the ISP has a “direct financial interest in keeping pirating subscribers on board.”  That’s an iffy legal argument, by okay.

Can you lead my music program?

The Washington State University School of Music now has new leadership.  Former Director Greg Yasinitsky has stepped down.  Associate Professor Dean Luethi will take over.  He currently teaches several vocal ensembles and other classes, including a treble choir, choral methods, and studio voice.

Featured image by parveender (CC0)

No direct licensing?  Then, no tariffs for you.

PRS tariff talks have stalled in the UK amidst a licensing dispute.  According to IQ, the implementation of PRS for Music’s new live music traffic has halted due to an objection over the lack of any provision for direct licensing.

[IQ Mag]

Scam and run.

Band Management Universal (BMU), a phony management company that scammed over 20 indie European musicians, has abruptly closed its doors.  Following a BBC investigation, the company shut down its website, email accounts, and canceled its telephones.  BMU reportedly charged up to $5,600 for ‘packages’ that included music production and marketing and touring services. It also vowed to help indie artists secure a recording contract.  The head of the Musicians’ Union in the UK called it “the worst scam” he had seen.

[IQ Mag]

Stay with me just a little while longer.

South Korean girl group Black Girl’s music video ‘Stay’ has reached over 100 million views.  It has become the group’s fifth music video to achieve the milestone.

[The Consunilbo]

Growing the Asian market.

Rhapsody International has promoted Brian Ringer to a new role.  He will now serve as Executive Vice President and General Manager for the Asia Pacific region.  Ringer will be responsible for strategic growth in the market.

[Business Insider]

Dead on arrival.

EDM star Deadmau5 has released an exclusive orchestral rendition of his work on Jay Z’s beleaguered streaming music service, TIDAL.  True to his notorious trademark style, he slammed any potential criticism for the move.

“Don’t come at me with your dissent towards whatever streaming service you want.  I chose this because it’s my music and it’s my work and my IP and I will do as I see fit.  I want to put it out lossless, and that’s not something Spotify is gonna give me.  Spotify sure as hell didn’t co-produce this, so why the f— would I just go ahead and give it out?  But nothing is permanent.  You’re not never gonna hear it because it’s exclusively on Tidal.  I’m just giving it what I felt it deserved and if that makes me a weird, horrible person who doesn’t give their shit out to Apple and Spotify fans, whatever, that’s cool.”

[Variety]

Amazon Music enters the music exclusives fray.

Amazon Music has announced The Soundboard with Elton John.  The immersive original audio program features exclusive conversations and stories with the legendary artist.  Releasing on April 6th, The Soundboard will tell the stories behind songs with John and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin.  You’ll only find the audio program available for 24 hours.

[Variety]

Stay jazzy.

The city of Philadelphia has announced that it will celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month.  Along with the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, as well as other jazz organizations in town, the city will showcase talented musicians who keep the genre alive.  The month-long celebration will feature free live performances, art, dance lessons, exhibitions, panel discussions, and films.

[The Philadelphia Tribune]

Managing Irving Azoff.

Irving Azoff will launch a new talk show on SiriusXM.  Titled Unmanageable, he’ll host conversations with “some of the most influential people in the music business where they’ll dive into music’s past, present and future.”  Listeners can find the show on all-talk Volume channel 106, where it will play at various times throughout April.

[Billboard]

Finally making a profit from Spotify.

Ahead of Spotify’s direct listing on Wall St., Swedish telcom giant Telia has sold its minority stake in the company.  It first acquired a 1.4% stake in the company three years ago, when it invested $115 million.  Telia sold its stake in Spotify for $272 million, having achieved a 2.4X return.  Johan Dennelind, the telcom’s CEO, wished the company “all the best” as it transitions into a new phase as a global listed company.

[Music Business Worldwide]

‘Go’-ing away from a subscription model.

Following major troubles last year, SoundCloud’s revenue surpassed its goal of $100 million.  Speaking with the Financial Times, CEO Kerry Trainor said that its total user base has grown in each of the last three quarters.  He added that the company has shifted away from its own subscription product, SoundCloud Go.  It now wants to focus on its original market among music creators.

[Financial Times]

Instant feedback for your music works in progress.

Check My Track, a new social music platform, has launched on iOS and Android.  The platform aims to encourage music enthusiasts, aspiring musicians, and established music producers to share developing ideas and receive instant feedback.  Check My Track lets users record, upload, and share 1-minute segments musical works in progress to a community of like-minded music lovers.  They can also pin the most useful feedback for easy access when further developing their composition.

[Jukebox Media]

The slow and shameful walk to a Chapter 11 filing.

Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has admitted fault for the company’s current status. Speaking with the New York Times, he said that this decision to turn Gibson into a “music lifestyle company” effectively backfired.  Juszkiewicz had hoped to attract a new crowd by selling high-end audio equipment.

“No, it wasn’t a great decision.  It didn’t work out very well. I think it was a rational decision, but it turned out to be a very poor decision, and it’s a decision I made.  It is what it is.”

[The New York Times]

Not so unqualified.

Philadelphia Judge Genece Brinkley has denied a request from Meek Mill’s lawyer to recuse herself from the case.  Attorney Joe Tacopia claimed that the judge became “enamored” with the jailed rapper.  In a statement to NPR, Meek Mill’s lawyer also claimed that she had a “personal vendetta” against the rapper.  His post-conviction hearing is now scheduled for April 16^th.

[NPR]

Featured image by lilian_darling (CC by 2.0)

Researchers at BuzzAngle Music can probably guess what you’ll stream on Spotify and Apple Music.

So, how popular were streaming music platforms last year?

In the US, audio streaming consumption exploded 50.6% over 2016.  Subscription streams also made up 80% of all audio streams, up from 76% in 2016.

In total, researchers at BuzzAngle Music found that people consumed 377 billion streams.  Meanwhile, digital album and song sales, as well as physical albums continued their slow decline into obscurity.  Vinyl sales, however, grew 20.1% and comprised 10.4% of all physical album sales.

But, did you know that 99% of those 377 billion streams were from the top 10% of 2017’s most-streamed tracks?

Less than 1% of streams accounted for all other music.  According to BuzzAngle Music, people readily prefer to stream the most popular releases each year over most other songs.  Rather than solve this discrepancy, music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have only helped to fuel it.

All of which raises the question: with more people only streaming songs from popular musicians, how exactly will indie music survive?

Can music platforms geared towards indie artists solve this glaring disparity?

In stark contrast to BuzzAngle’s report, Bandcamp reported that digital album sales grew 16% over 2016.  Track sales increased 33% and merch 36%.  Led by vinyl at 54%, physical sales also exploded.  CD sales grew 18% and cassettes 41%.

Revenue from 3,500 indie labels on Bandcamp also skyrocketed 73% over 2016.  Last year, all-time payments to artists through the online music distribution platform reached $270 million.

Bandcamp also noted the problems of streaming platforms exerting control over what music fans listen to.

“Allowing the distribution of an entire art form to be controlled by so few has troubling implications…  The streaming giants exert tremendous influence over what music gets heard, and must primarily serve their most important supplier, the major labels.  The result is that independent labels, and especially independent artists, are far less likely to be discovered on those platforms.”

As a music fan, what can you do?

On an article posted on Pitchfork, musician and writer Damon Krukowski has an idea.  Individual tracks on popular playlists on these services lack information, especially for some indie musicians.  So, why not fill in the gaps and tell others who performed, wrote, and published the track?

Krukowski recommends using Discogs and Bandcamp, as well as visiting music publications and blogs.  Citing Bill Gates’ famous 1996 phrase that “Content is King,” Kurkowski added another oft-forgotten Gates phrase.

“For the internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work.”

Featured image by Paul Hudson (CC by 2.0)

Your younger self is telling your older self what to listen to.

So, when exactly do people form their lifelong musical tastes?  18?  21?  35?  63?

Writing for the New York Times, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz decided to find the answer to that question.

For his project, streaming music platform leader Spotify gave him data on how often men and women listened to chart-topping songs between 1960 and 2000.  Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ for example, ranked as the 168^th most-popular song among 38-year-old men.  These men were 14 when the first song came out in 1993.

According to Stephens-Davidowitz, the song didn’t chart for people born 10 years before its release nor after.

The most important period in forming lifelong musical tastes for men comes between ages 13 to 16.  Women formed their tastes slightly earlier than men, roughly between ages 11 to 14.  Analyzing Spotify’s data, Stephens-Davidowitz found that older women’s favorite songs typically came out when they were 13.

Image by The New York Times & Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Don’t expect your musical preferences to change much after your teens.

Stephens-Davidowitz also noticed a peculiar trend once men and women reached their early 20s.  During this period, new songs were only half as influential.  Entering into adulthood, the choices people made only reinforced musical biases formed during their teens.  This remains consistent when looking what which songs adults would stream, for example, or which concerts they’d likely attend.

Analyzing the tastes of older audiences, Stephens-Davidowitz also found a noticeable generation gap.  Roy Orbison’s ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ remained fairly popular for women aged 69.  The song came out in 1964 when they were 11 years old.  Looking at men aged 63, they preferred to stream Van Morrison’s 1970 hit, ‘Crazy Love.’  When the song came out, this same male audience was 16 years old.

Yet, at aged 72, men preferred streaming Ray Charles’ “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”  38-year-olds, however, enjoy Savage Garden’s ‘Truly Madly Deeply.’

Image by The New York Times & Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Near the end of his report, Stephens-Davidowitz admits that his study may not completely explain all of our musical preferences.

He can’t explain, for example, why he remains obsessed with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, or Paul Simon.  These songs came out before his birth.  Stephens-Davidowitz also loves Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run,’ a song he found unpopular among his fellow 35-year-old peers.

He also joked that he now knows what songs to stream during Valentine’s Day.  For 30-year olds, put on Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love.’  45-year-olds will most likely enjoy Van Halen’s ‘When It’s Love.’  Those in their 60s will love Marvin Gaye ‘Let’s Get It On.’

Featured image by chiesADIbei(CC by 2.0)

Janet Jackson fans quickly took to Spotify to drive up the singer’s catalog following Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl performance.

Following Justin Timberlake’s much-maligned performance at the Super Bowl last Sunday, music fans immediately took to Twitter to lambast the singer.  Under the hashtag #JusticeForJanet, people slammed him for singing ‘Rock Your Body’ without Janet Jackson.

Fourteen years ago, Timberlake and Jackson performed the song right before a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ exposed the female singer’s breast.  The controversial malfunction, dubbed ‘NippleGate,’ would cause the NFL to blacklist Jackson and CBS to receive a heavy fine.

Timberlake, however, got a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card.

With #JusticeforJanet and #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay, the singer became a top-five trending topic on Twitter.  The singer’s fans celebrated her impact on pop music and culture.  Janet Jackson Brasil, a popular fan group on Facebook, wrote,

“The Super Bowl stage won’t be graced with Janet’s presence, after all.  We will, however, stream her iconic catalog in appreciation of her unmatched talents in crafting and delivering music.  Join us today.”

The group added in a separate post,

“Janet has a legacy that survives any malfunction.”

The call to stream the singer’s catalog worked.  Shortly after the game concluded, Spotify confirmed that Janet Jackson streams jumped 150% one hour after the game.  In a statement, the company said,

“All increases were calculated by comparing US streams in the hour that followed the broadcast with the same hour the previous week.”

Justin Timberlake also enjoyed a similar boost.  Despite the criticism for his tribute to Prince last Sunday, ‘SexyBack’ streams skyrocketed on Spotify.

“Following Justin Timberlake’s performance during [the] halftime show, streams of the ‘SexyBack’ singer surged 214 percent on Spotify in the U.S. during the hour that followed Philadelphia Eagles’ win over New England Patriots.”

The streaming music platform said that people also heavily streamed ‘Until the End of Time’ and ‘Suit & Tie.’  In addition, Prince’s ‘I Would Die 4 U’ received a similar boost.

Janet Jackson didn’t comment on the hashtags.

Days before the Super Bowl performance, she tweeted the lineup for the Panorama NYC Festival, an event she’ll headline.  Jackson will also headline the upcoming Essence Festival.

Guess she’s moved on.

Featured image by -MaDMAn- (CC by 2.0)

As a Spotify subscriber, does Australian Senator Cory Bernardi have the right to create a playlist that musicians despise?

Last year, in a controversial move, government-funded Australian radio station Triple J announced that it would change the date of its annual ‘Hottest 100’ playlist.  Traditionally held on January 26^th, the playlist release date coincided with Australia Day.

First celebrated as a public holiday in 1994, Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the British fleet in New South Wales.

Not everyone in Australia agrees with Australia Day, though.  Critics claim that the day causes pain to Indigenous Australians.  They are reminded of Australia’s history of discrimination, violence, and dispossession against them.  The backlash became so fierce that multiple artists, including Indigenous artists, called for Triple J to change the date.  The government-funded radio station agreed, choosing to release its popular Hottest 100 countdown in the fourth week of January.

Cory Bernardi, however, disagreed.  The charismatic right-wing Australian senator published an alternate playlist to celebrate Australia Day.  Dubbed the AC100, fans could stream music from Savage Garden, Kylie Minogue, Peter Garret, and others on Spotify.

A statement on the Australian Conservative party website reads,

“As taxpayer-funded Triple J and their ‘Hottest 100’ abandon our national day for political correctness, we’re inviting you to cast your vote by telling us your favorite 3 tracks from our #AC100 playlist.”

 

Musicians featured on the prominent Australian Conservative Spotify playlist immediately lambasted Bernardi.  Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes, the most vocal critic, tweeted,

“I do not want to be associated with you, your party or your views.  Remove my music from this stunt or expect contact from my publisher.”

In a public tweet sent to multiple artists, he asked,

“Are you guys cool with the far right Australian Conservatives using our music to promote their agenda?  Because I’m not.  What say you?”

Mick Thomas, former guitarist for Weddings Parties Anything, demanded that Bernardi remove the group’s songs from the playlist.

Speaking on the criticism, Cory Bernardi told the media that he had the right to create his own playlist.  Believing that Australia Day is worth celebrating, he lambasted musicians for denying his privilege as a paid Spotify subscriber.

“I’m allowed to put whatever music I like on my playlist, just like every other Australian…  I’m a subscriber to Spotify.  All of these artists have sold their music, their moral rights and everything else to Spotify.  I’m complying with Spotify’s terms of conditions and there’s nothing they can do about it.  They can whinge and whine and complain all they want.  It’s like a pylon of hate from a bunch of privileged prima donnas.”

Slamming Triple J as well as other rival political parties for “politicizing Australia Day,” Bernardi added,

“If these people don’t want people like me to be creating playlists with their music on it, then remove it from Spotify.”

You can find the tendentious #AC100 playlist here or listen to it below.

Featured image by SavageGardenVEVO (YouTube screengrab)

Hip-hop and latin music take the top spots in Digital Music News’ ‘Top 100 Songs’ list.

Breaking down the top 100 songs today, you’ll find some interesting information.

Underscoring the global rise of Latin music, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ has taken the top spot.  You’ll also find music fans listening to Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, Shakira, and other Latin artists on the list, including Spanish-only songs.

Signaling a shift away from pop, however, artists like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift make few appearances on our list.  Music listeners prefer hip-hop artists and producers, including DJ Khaled and Kendrick Lamar.  Ed Sheeran’s Divide also continues to be a fan favorite.

For this list, we’ve also placed the songs below in descending order starting with artist names.  Without further adieu:

100. Kiiara – ‘Whippin’ [Feat. Felix Snow]

99. Anuel AA – ‘Sola’ (Remix) [Feat. Daddy Yankee, Wisin, Farruko, Zion & Lennox]

98. Migos – ‘T-Shirt’

97. Ozuna – ‘Tu Foto’

96. Bruno Mars – ‘24K Magic’

95. Lorde – ‘Green Light’

94. Childish Gambino – ‘Redbone’

93. AJR – ‘Weak’

92. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey – ‘Starving’ [Feat. Zedd]

91. One Republic – ‘No Vacancy’ [Feat. Amir]

90. Cashmere Cat – ‘Quit’ [Feat. Ariana Grande]

89. Daddy Yankee – ‘La Rompe Corazones’ [Feat. Ozuna]

88. Blackbear – ‘do re mi’

87. XXXTENTACION – ‘Look At Me!’

86. Little Mix – ‘Touch’

85. Zion & Lennox – ‘Otra Vez’ [Feat. J Balvin]

84. DJ Snake – ‘Let Me Love You’ [Feat. Justin Bieber]

83. Migos – ‘Slipper’ [Feat. Gucci Mane]

82. Big Sean – ‘Bounce Back’

81. The Chainsmokers – ‘The One’

80. Drake – ‘Fake Love’

79. Katy Perry – ‘Chained To The Rhythm’ [Feat. Skip Marley]

78. CNCO & Yandel – ‘Hey DJ’

77. JP Cooper – ‘September Song’

76. Sam Hunt – ‘Body Like A Back Road’

75. Drake – ‘One Dance’ [Feat. WizKid & Kyla]

74. Migos – ‘Bad and Boujee’ [Feat. Lil Uzi Vert]

73. Ed Sheeran – ‘Perfect’

72. J Balvin – ‘Sigo Extrañándote’

71. Future – ‘Selfish’ [Feat. Rihanna]

70. The Weeknd – ‘Starboy’ [Feat. Draft Punk]

69. Travis Scott – ‘goosebumps’

68. Shakira – ‘Chantaje’ [Feat. Maluma]

67. Hailee Steinfeld – ‘Most Girls’

66. Kendrick Lamar – ‘ELEMENT’

65. ZAYN – ‘Still Got Time’ [Feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR]

64. Kodak Black – ‘Tunnel Vision’

63. Ed Sheeran – ‘Castle On A Hill’

62. The Chainsmokers – ‘Closer’ [Feat. Halsey]

61. Harry Styles – ‘Sweet Creature’

60. Pitbull – ‘Hey Ma’ [with Pitbull & J Balvin Feat. Camila Cabello] – Spanish Version

59. Burak Yeter – ‘Tuesday’ [Feat. Danelle Sandoval]

58. Lord Huron – ‘The Night We Met’

57. Chris Jeday – ‘Ahora Dice’ [Feat. J Balvin, Ozuna, & Arcangel]

56. Kendrick Lamar – ‘LOYALTY.’ [Feat. Rihanna]

55. Drake – ‘Portland’ [Feat. Quavo & Travis Scott]

54. James Arthur – ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’

53. Wisin – ‘Escápate Conmigo’ [Feat. Ozuna]

52. Katy Perry – ‘Bon Appétit’ [Feat. Migos]

51. Martin Jensen – ‘Solo Dance’

50. Niall Horan – ‘Slow Hands’

49. Jax Jones – ‘You Don’t Know Me’ [Feat. RAYE]

48. Nicky Jam – ‘El Amante’

47. The Weeknd – ‘I Feel it Coming’ [Feat. Daft Punk]

46. Kendrick Lamar – ‘LOVE.’ [Feat. Zacari]

45. Maroon 5 – ‘Cold’ [Feat. Future]

44. ZAYN & Taylor Swift – ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)’

43. Calvin Harris – ‘Rollin’ [Feat. Future & Khalid]

42. Starley – ‘Call On Me (Ryan Riback Remix)’

41. The Chainsmokers – ‘Paris’

40. Clean Bandit – ‘Rockabye’ [Feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie]

39. Khalid – ‘Location’

38. Imagine Dragons – ‘Believer’

37. Halsey – ‘Now Or Never’

36. G-Eazy & Kehlani – ‘Good Life’

35. KYLE – ‘iSPY’ [Feat. Lil Yachty]

34. Lady Gaga – ‘The Cure’

33. Danny Ocean – ‘Me Rehusó’

32. Maggie Lindemann – ‘Pretty Girl – Cheat Codes X CADE Remix’

31. Enrique Iglesias – ‘SÚBEME LA RADIO’ [Feat. Descemer Bueno & Zion & Lennox]

30. Imagine Dragons – ‘Thunder’

29. Logic – ‘1-800-273-8255′ [Feat. Alessia Cara & Khalid]

28. Cheat Codes – ‘No Promises’ [Feat. Demi Lovato]

27. Post Malone – ‘Congratulations’ [Feat. Quavo]

26. Calvin Harris – ‘Slide’ [Feat. Frank Ocean & Migos]

25. Ed Sheeran – ‘Galway Girl’

24. Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa – ‘Scared To Be Lonely’

23. Julia Michaels – ‘Issues’

22. Kendrick Lamar – ‘DAMN.’

21. French Montana – ‘Unforgettable’ [Feat. Swae Lee]

20. Maluma – ‘Felices Los 4′

19. Kygo & Ellie Goulding – ‘First Time’

18. Lil Uzi Vert – ‘XO TOUR Llif3′

17. Harry Styles – ‘Sign of the Times’

16. Drake – ‘Passionfruit’

15. Charlie Puth – ‘Attention’

14. Luis Fonsi – ‘Despacito’ [Feat. Daddy Yankee]

13. Clean Bandit – ‘Symphony’ [Feat. Zara Larsson]

12. Bruno Mars – ‘That’s What I Like’

11. Shawn Mendes – ‘There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back’

10. Miley Cyrus – ‘Malibu’

9. Jason Derulo – ‘Swalla’ [Feat. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign]

8. Kygo – ‘It Ain’t Me’ [Feat. Selena Gomez]

7. Zedd – ‘Stay (With Alessia Cara)’

6. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay – ‘Something Just Like This’

5. Future – ‘Mask Off’

4. Kendrick Lamar – ‘HUMBLE.’

3. Ed Sheeran – ‘Shape Of You’

2. DJ Khaled – ‘I’m The One’ [Feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Lil Wayne & Chance the Rapper]

1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee – ‘Despacito (Remix)’ [Feat. Justin Bieber]

Featured image by DJKhaledVEVO (YouTube screengrab)

There’s a new industry in town.  Spotify, Deezer, and SoundCloud now have their own lobbying group.

How big is the streaming music business?

According to a report published in September, major labels make $14.2 million a day from streaming.  A recent study by MiDiA Research shows that streaming platforms generate $5.7 billion in revenue.

But, did you know that streaming music now has its own lobbying group?

Meet DME.

Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, and other music streamers have announced a new digital alliance.  Dubbed Digital Music Europe (DME), the alliance will “showcase and promote the success of the European digital music industry.”

DME will also serve as “a resource for policy-makers, media, and the digital music industry.”

In a statement about the coalition group, Hans-Holger Albrecht, DME President and CEO of Deezer, said,

“For a decade, European digital music companies have led the transformation of the music industry globally.  Bringing these companies together to create DME is a great opportunity to highlight European leadership in this sector, inspire other European entrepreneurs and create a unique voice with policy-makers.”

Olivia Regnier, DME Chair and Spotify’s Director of EU Regulatory Affairs, added,

“DME is eager to share the experience and vision of its members to contribute to policy debates shaping Europe’s Digital Single Market. We believe that policy-makers have a key role to play to support the growth of the entire music sector and enable more innovation in Europe.”

The lobbying group will represent streaming music companies’ interests in Brussels.  Member groups have actively engaged in “debates on copyright, geo-blocking, online platforms, e-privacy, data transfers, digital contracts and taxation.”  DME will work closely with European lawmakers to “create a legislative and regulatory framework that supports the growth of digital music, artists and consumers.”

7Digital, Soundcharts, and Qobuz are the coalition’s founding members.

Featured image by Richard Revel (CC0)

Millions of people use Apple Music on iOS devices.  Now, Apple is planning to dramatically increase that number — and squeeze Spotify in the process.

Apple may convince you to spend up to $1,200 on an iPhone 8.  They also may rope you into an Apple Music account, one that will cost hundreds of dollars over the next few years.  It’s all part of a package that’s seriously starting to gel.

In a new study published by Music Watch, Apple Music is the most popular paid subscription service among iOS users.  However, Spotify Premium ranks as the platform with the most listening hours.

Before analyzing the report, it’s important to note that Music Watch didn’t provide the total number of iOS devices sold.  Apple reported last year that they’ve sold one billion iPhones worldwide.  They’ve also sold 308 million iPads and 100 million iPods.

Unsurprisingly, more users prefer the platform’s native music streaming service.

During the first half of 2017, one in five iOS users listened to Apple Music.  At 21%, this number jumped 8% over the same period last year.

Spotify remains popular on iOS devices, though the platform is losing steam.  During the first half of 2016, 10% of users on the platform used Spotify Premium.  MusicWatch noted that while both services saw significant listener gains, Spotify only grew 3% in 2017.

More people engage through Spotify Premium (at least for now).

While one in five iOS users listen to Apple Music, others actually stream more music through Spotify Premium.  Music Watch found that Spotify had the highest share of listening hours among iOS users.

Spotify Premium had a 32% share of music listening hours.  Apple Music came in second with 23% and Amazon Prime Music/Unlimited finished third with 13%.  Pandora Plus or Premium came in last place with 11%.

All other paid streaming platforms combined accounted for 21%.  This includes Tidal, YouTube Red, Napster, Slacker, and Soundcloud Go.

So, Spotify users on the iOS platform spent 40% more time listening to music than Apple Music subscribers.  But why?  MusicWatch hinted at one possibility.  Simply stated, Spotify Premium may be offering better engagement features that iOS users like.  Yes, they’re doing a better job than Apple on its own platform.

That’s a tough pill for Apple to swallow.  But with a possible Apple Music/iCloud bundle on the horizon, the company may have the opportunity to better engage with newer listeners.  That is, if they can convince them to spend $1,000 on a new iPhone.

You can more information on Music Watch’s study here.

Image by Philip Brookes (CC by 2.0)

Nearly half of all Swedes and Norwegians are paying for a streaming service. And here’s another interesting fact: more than 60% of people in Sweden and Norway use YouTube.

Across Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, 80% of inhabitants aged 12 to 65 have used at least one streaming service.  But did you know that most of them are paying for premium streaming services, including Spotify?  Yet even with these premium subscriptions, many people still love to use YouTube.  It’s all part of an evolving picture of how different music services coexist and even feed one another.

YouGov conducted the Polaris Nordic Digital Music Survey in Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden in April and May of this year.  The survey targeted internet users aged 12 to 65 and attracted 4,047 online respondents in these Nordic countries.

YouGov found that free music dominated the streaming scene.  YouTube ranks as the streaming service most used by Nordic inhabitants with a 60% share.  Spotify came in second place with 51%.  iTunes downloads had a 13% share.

In each of these Nordic countries, eight out of ten people have used digital music services.  87% of all digital music consumers had streamed music from at least one free service.  An average of 40% of people in all Nordic countries subscribed to a premium music streaming service.

That number was most pronounced in Sweden and Norway, where the average subscription level moves to 48%.

For this study, premium/bundled services are:

• Telmore Musik, YouSee Musik, Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Deezer, Groove, Napster, Beat.no, and GubeMusic.

Free music streaming services (which include trial subscriptions) are:

• YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, vidFlow, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play Music, Groove, Napster, and Tidal.

A bundled service simply refers to a premium streaming service packaged into a broader account.  Most commonly, that is an ISP or mobile account, though the broader bundled number was fairly small.

A significant percentage of people don’t stream their music in Denmark

In Denmark, 75% of the population have used at least one digital music service.  43% have subscribed to a premium service.  31% have used a free music streaming version or a trial.

YouTube ranked as the most used music streaming platform in the country with a 48% market share.  Its percentage increased 11% from 2015.  Spotify came in second with 38%, up 5%.  YouSee Music came in third with an 18% share.  It previously had a 21% market share in 2015.

43% of Danes will access their favorite music through a premium or bundled service.  31% will use a free streaming platform or a trial version.  26% do not regularly used a streaming service.

iTunes in Norway remains popular, though it’s lost a big chunk of its market share

In Norway, 81% of the population have used at least one digital music service.  48% have subscribed to a premium service.  33% have used a free music streaming service or a trial version.

As with Denmark, YouTube ranked as the most used digital music service in the country with a 62% market share.  Its percentage increased 16% from 2015.  Spotify came in second with a 55% share.  It had a 50% market share the year prior.  iTunes came in third with 16%.  Its market share significantly declined, down from 24% in 2015.

48% of the Norwegian population have accessed their favorite tracks through premium streaming platform.  32% will use a free music streaming service and 20% haven’t streamed music at all.

Spotify reigns as king in their home country

In Sweden, 83% of the population have used at least one digital music service.  48% have subscribed to a premium platform.  35% have used a free music streaming service or a trial version.

Unsurprisingly, Swedish streaming platform Spotify came in first place with a 64% market share in 2016.  This number remained unchanged from the year prior.  YouTube skyrocketed to 60%, up 10% from 2015.  As with Norway, iTunes came in third place with 13%, down 4% from a year earlier.

48% of the Swedish population have accessed their favorite tracks through premium services.  35% will use a free music streaming platform and 17% haven’t streamed their favorite songs at all.

Free music reigns supreme in Finland

In Finland, 82% of the population have used at least one digital music service.  Unlike other Nordic countries, only 22% have subscribed to a premium service, the lowest in the list.  Why the change?  Most people in Finland prefer to stream their music for free.

So, which free music streaming platforms do people in Finland prefer?  Compared to other Nordic countries, YouTube had the highest market share with 69%, up 14% from the year prior.  Spotify also came in second place with a 46% market share, up 8% over last year.  It’s unclear whether this number represents premium streams, ad-supported streams, or a mix of both.  iTunes remained stagnant in third place with an 8% market share, the same as 2015.

The Finnish population ranked the lowest when it comes to premium subscriptions.  Only 22% will access their favorite tracks on a premium service.  A whopping 60% will use a free music streaming service or a trial version.  18% of the Finnish population haven’t streamed their favorite tracks at all.

So, how many people use Spotify and YouTube?

On a weekly basis, YouGov found that three out of four people in Nordic countries will use Spotify and YouTube.

In Nordic countries, more people streamed music through Spotify than on YouTube.  The Swedish streaming platform had an average 77% weekly user frequency share.  YouTube had 71%.

For Spotify, the Swedish population had a 79% net share.  50% used the service daily.  29% used it weekly.  Daily service use increased in Norway, up 1%.  Weekly use, however, declined 3%.  In Denmark, 45% of the population used the platform daily.  28% used the service weekly.  In Finland, 46% used the Swedish platform daily.  30% used the service weekly.

YouTube had its highest share in Norway with 73%.  37% of the population used the Google-owned platform daily.  36% used the service weekly.  Finland had the second highest net share with 72%.  In the country, 39% used YouTube daily, and 33% used it at least once a week.  Sweden came in third place with a 71% net share.  36% of the population used the platform daily, and 34% used it once a week.  Denmark had the lowest net share with 66%.  30% used the Google-owned platform daily, with 36% using it at least once a week.

What service do young people prefer to use?

Spotify ranked as the most used streaming platform for those aged 12 to 17.  In Finland, 72% of teenagers streamed their favorite music on the platform.  Sweden and Norway tied with a 74% share.  Denmark came in last place with 67%.

In only one Nordic country, YouTube outperformed Spotify with teenagers aged 12 to 17.  74% of Finnish teens used the platform to stream their favorite music.  Sweden had a 73% share with the same age group.  Denmark and Norway had a 64% and 63% share, respectively.

What about older audiences?

One key thing to note about YouGov’s study is older audiences’ listening habits.

Most people aged 50 to 65 prefer to use Spotify.  20% in Denmark listened to their favorite tracks on the platform.  In Sweden, the percentage increased to 25%. Spotify had the highest older audience share in Norway with 30%.  In Finland, only 26% of older audiences streamed their favorite tunes through Spotify.

For the older audience market, YouTube had its highest share in Sweden with 23%.  20% preferred YouTube in Finland, and 19% in Norway.  Only 10% of older audiences in Denmark used the Google-owned platform.

Featured image by YouGov

Some of the most powerful people in the music industry hate YouTube.  Now, they have a way to destroy it — without destroying fan relationships or feeding piracy.

It’s not that YouTube can’t be stopped.  It’s that the music industry doesn’t have the balls to stop it.  Because if Taylor Swift can figure out how to remove her content from YouTube, then so can everyone else.

How?

It’s called Content ID, for starters.  And it’s a simple system for identifying, removing, or otherwise managing copyright content.  It’s how you get your videos off of YouTube, and get some control over their use.

But Content ID doesn’t work!

That’s a constant complaint, especially from smaller content owners.  And for the bigger content owners, there are the endless workarounds designed to sidestep Content ID.  Like slowing down a track to evade fingerprint detection.

But if major labels (like Universal Music Group) and high-profile managers like Irving Azoff are really serious about removing their content, then it’s time to declare war on the workarounds.  And put some serious heat on YouTube to clean every copyrighted version, period.

War is ugly.

I often wonder what the IFPI and RIAA are doing to really combat YouTube.  Maybe they’ve gotten too comfortable, too used to their lofty salaries and family dinners at 5:30 pm every night.  We get a lot of useless press releases from these organizations decrying the ‘value gap,’ screaming that YouTube isn’t being fair.  But YouTube clearly doesn’t give a shit.

So why doesn’t the music industry make them give a shit?

The reason is that YouTube has called the music industry’s bluff.  They’ve outsmarted the music industry at every turn.  And they pay a pittance on music videos because they can.  YouTube is not only the largest platform for consuming music, it’s a major defense wall against piracy.  Shut down YouTube tomorrow, and watch streaming and download piracy explode.  It’s really that simple.

Which is where Spotify comes into the picture.  Check this out:

We’ve been hearing about music videos in streaming services for years.  Now, it’s happening.  And Spotify is leading the charge.  So, if I can check out this Big Sean video on Spotify, what about checking out ALL of his videos on Spotify?

Bandwidth isn’t a problem anymore.  Smartphone storage isn’t a problem anymore.  The licensing issues are getting ironed out.  Spotify just settled its last copyright battle.  So what if every track on Spotify had a video attached (if there’s a video)?  Not to mention endless artist videos and vignettes?  What then?

The answer is that YouTube becomes a lot less important.  And they suddenly have a lot less leverage in this war.

Spotify has a funnel from ad-supported to paid that’s working.  YouTube has a joke called YouTube Red.  Which one should the music industry support?

The answer is obvious.  Spotify has 50 million paying subscribers right now.  Red isn’t even on the premium radar.  It doesn’t fit Google’s business model.

The major labels have an ownership stake in Spotify.  They don’t have a stake in YouTube.

CEOs are taught to starve problems and feed opportunities.  So again: which one should get the support here?

Now, let’s examine the terrain in a few years.  It’s not hard to imagine Spotify with 100 million paying subscribers, maybe 150 million, with a complete collection of music videos.  Not all of them, but 99% of the ones that matter.  So, if a big percentage of those videos aren’t available on YouTube, guess what happens?

The answer: YouTube either renegotiates, or loses a major amount of traffic, revenue, and relevance.

It’s brutal, but it’s the only way the music industry can win.

Oh, and for all the smaller content owners that aren’t even eligible for Content ID?  If you’re too small, you need the publicity.  Your war is against obscurity, and little else.  And if you’re a bigger indie, then Merlin should be fighting just as hard as the majors.  That’s because indies are collectively just as big.  So they get the same terms, period.

As far as bickering between the different strata?  Unite, or die.

So stop complaining about the ‘value gap’.  Stop bitching to the EU.  And force YouTube to pay a reasonable price or lose your content to a competitor.  That’s how the music industry wins and builds long-term prosperity.

Windowing albums for Spotify’s premium users?  I applaud you, UMG.  Making those albums exclusive to Spotify?  I will burn you, Universal Music Group.

I woke up this morning to some pretty game-changing news.  Universal Music Group and Spotify had finally completed a long-term licensing deal.

Which means a lot of things, including that Spotify’s once-hopeless IPO is back on.  Or at least a distinct possibility again.  Which also means that billions of dollars in loans and investments may actually be recaptured.  Which also means that Spotify doesn’t have to implode into a fiery ball once the boom goes bust.

Hooray!

+ Spotify’s Billion-Dollar IPO Is Back on Track (Thanks to a Juicy UMG Deal)

But there’s a catch.  Almost two years ago, we first reported that Spotify would be moving towards ‘gated access’ for premium users (basically, only paying customers get access to certain songs).  And that Universal Music Group — the biggest label — was driving the effort.  Now, a short-term, high-royalty deal is being replaced with a longer-term, multi-year, lower-royalty relationship.

That’s right: a ‘deal’ is like ‘we’re just f*&king’ in the dating world.  But a ‘relationship’ is a multi-year thing.  There’s a commitment.  Which means there’s compromise.

And the biggest compromise is that Spotify must now allow UMG artists to gate their content.  According to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, that means Universal artists can restrict access to their complete albums to paying subscribers only.  Singles will still be accessible to free users from the go.

Which is a great idea!  Why?

Because it rewards the users that are contributing the most to the music industry and its artists.  But it doesn’t completely alienate users that aren’t paying (or, simply can’t pay).

It also doesn’t create a mass exodus towards YouTube, torrents, or some other piracy platform.  You can still listen to your singles, freebie users, and make ad-supported playlists.  And get access to the full album later.

Sure, you can also go to disorganized, unreliable YouTube or SoundCloud and cobble together an album that might get ripped down.  Or — picture this — you can pay $4.95 a month and get clean access forever.

Onward with music industry growth!  But WAIT…

There’s one thing that absolutely, positively cannot happen at this moment.  Because premium-only is one thing.  But premium-only exclusives are a different animal, entirely.  A vicious animal that preys on its young.  And to layer exclusives into this ‘relationship’ would be a grave mistake, UMG.

Why?  Exclusives alienate music fans, cause confusion, and increase piracy.  But they also fail to reward the music industry’s best customers, who are dutifully paying up to $10 a month and reviving your moribund business.  Those paying subscribers are bringing the business back, so why not punish them?

+ How to Fix Spotify’s Business Model and Save the Music Industry

You’re paying $10 a month for Spotify.  You’re doing everything right.  Yet Beyonce’s latest album isn’t available unless you drop everything, cancel Spotify, and subscribe to Apple Music.  At which point, Spotify gets an exclusive to another artist you love.  It’s maddening, destructive, and brutally punishing.

And that behavior will continue to retard the growth of the streaming music industry.

But the streaming music industry is booming!

No, it’s not ‘booming’ as much as it should be.  There are more than 100 million paying subscribers, but there should (easily) be more than 150 million.  Or, 200 million.  Who knows.

Which is where Universal Music Group comes in.

Apple is selfish.  They only care about Apple (go figure).  But UMG is the biggest label in the world, and benefits from a giant music streaming ecosystem that rewards paying customers while encouraging free users to start paying.  Across ALL services and experiences.

That means free trial Apple Music users going into month 4.  Free-access Spotify users becoming paid subscribers.  Pandora users trying out Plus.  And YouTube users ditching their disorganized playlists for something better.

And it all happens by smart windowing, not by industry-limiting exclusives.

Capiche?

Alexas Fotos (PD)

SoundCloud RIP? Last July, SoundCloud was ‘mulling a $1 billion offer.  Now, the company is willing to sell for $250 million.

Is SoundCloud headed for a date with bankruptcy?  That’s looking like a distinct possibility, with buyers bailing and valuations plunging.

Now, there’s this.  According to a record in Re/Code this morning, the streaming giant is now entertaining any offer above $250 million.  That’s the amount that investors have plowed into the company.  In other words, the amount where investors aren’t flat-out losing money.

“SoundCloud is now at a point where it may sell for less than the $700 million investors thought it was worth a few years ago,” Re/Code veteran journalist Peter Kafka declared in a morning report.  “One source thinks it will consider bids, as long as they’re above the total investment it has raised to date — about $250 million.”

But forget about $700 million valuations.  Last July, Bloomberg reported that the streaming company was ‘mulling’ a $1 billion offer.  “SoundCloud Ltd.’s owners are considering a sale that could value the German music streaming company at $1 billion as it looks for ways to boost growth and profit from its user base, according to people familiar with the matter,” the magazine reported.

+ Will SoundCloud Go Bankrupt This Year?

Life (or death) after Spotify.

The desperation is happening after suitor Spotify decided to pass on a purchase.  In fact, that might have been the $1 billion offer being ‘mulled’ (in fact, it probably was).  But bailing was probably a smart move, given Spotify’s own financial duress.  But the decision to bail left SoundCloud’s valuation in dire straights, with remaining buyers less motivated.

+ If You’re Buying SoundCloud for a Billion Dollars, You’re an Idiot

Meanwhile, the streaming services has decided to lock horns with the Financial Times after an unfavorable report.  The Times called SoundCloud’s situation ‘desperate’ with financing uncertain and future prospects dim.  In response, the streaming behemoth blasted the Financial Times for spreading ‘fake news’ and mischaracterizing routine financing efforts.

Now, it looks like the Times was on the right track.  Re/Code is now reporting that SoundCloud is seeking a $100 million cash infusion, but has been unsuccessful for months.  Actually, since last summer, with subsequent financials exposing some ugly details.

Unfortunately, investors now appear unwilling to burn more cash on this boondoggle without a reasonable business model or path to profitability.

Stream image by Tim Bustin, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

The music streaming wars may soon ramp up with the entry of a well-funded Amazon music streaming service. Last week, a German coder found that there were hints about the service in their Music mobile app for the Fire TV. The service will be named Amazon Music Unlimited. But will users respond? How much weight will the online shopping giant put behind their music service?

We’ve seen hints about offering Amazon Prime users a discounted monthly price. They’ll also receive unlimited song uploads to their Cloud. It seems Amazon is ready for a fight.

…more streams than Apple.

In an interview with Larry Blanc, Martin Goldschmidt said that Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. Goldschmidt is the CEO of Cooking Vinyl Group, a global music powerhouse. The subject came up when Blanc spoke first about how sustainable the freemium model could actually be.  According to Blanc, Spotify is currently out of contract with all three major music companies.

Goldschmidt responded to Blanc’s statement by saying that Spotify has had a good year so far.  There’s also a potential IPO in the works due to come out soon.  The big two in the streaming music service space are Apple and Spotify.

According to Schmidt, Apple has been building strongly. Yet, despite not having an official music streaming service, Amazon is making a big play.  The reason they could make a strong impact in the music service is because of their well-established user base. Schmidt said,

“In the U.S. market, even though they haven’t launched a proper streaming service yet, Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. When they launch their new service they have this incredible customer base that they can market to in the same way that Apple does. That could be a very big play. And a lot of those customers don’t pay for music. You are talking about 80% or 90% of Amazon customers don’t pay, and they are going to try to monetize that.”

There’s still no official confirmation from the company about their music streaming service. However, if and when Amazon Music Unlimited is released, the company looks to stand on sure footing.

If you can’t beat ‘em, might as well join ‘em.

At an event today in New York City, Sonos announced that they’re going to be adding compatibility with Amazon’s Alexa voice control and compatibility with Spotify Connect.

Today’s event didn’t feature any brand new Sonos hardware, but instead, the announced Alexa support will be available “as a free software update that will work with existing Sonos products & Alexa-enabled devices,” according to a tweet posted by Sonos. This was done when a Twitter user asked if there will be Amazon Echo support.

Continuing to respond tweets by excited users, Sonos wrote that they would deliver a private beta this year, with an expected 2017 general availability launch.

The recent partnership with rival Amazon comes at a moment when Amazon’s Alexa has grown even more powerful since its 2014 launch, writes Forbes.  This includes “ordering an Uber car to turning up the temperature on an internet-connected thermostat.”

According to Forbes, Sonos has grown to almost $1 billion in annual sales, but has had to deal with Amazon’s growing thunder in the connected speakers arena.  That’s thanks in large part to Alexa and its Amazon Echo device, which has become “an increasingly popular way to play streaming music.”

In a blog post announcing the layoff of several Sonos employees, CEO John MacFarlane wrote,

“Alexa/Echo is the first product to really showcase the power of voice control in the home. Its popularity with consumers will accelerate innovation across the entire industry. What is novel today will become standard tomorrow.”

Sonos went on to tweet on their company blog that Sonos owners “will be able to control their Sonos speakers directly from the Spotify app,” very good news for Spotify subscribers who also happen to own Sonos speakers.  The big question that’s being asked in Twitter is how will users be able to enroll into the private beta?  Thankfully, Sonos has also posted a link where users can sign up here under the Beta Option.

Windowing: It’s just good business according to Jason Aldean…

So far, the big push for Tidal and Apple Music have been to lock down timed exclusives, with some mixed results (for Apple, at least).  But instead of getting bogged down by offers to launch exclusively on one music streaming platform, country superstar Jason Aldean won’t release his upcoming album, They Don’t Know on Tidal, nor Apple Music, nor Spotify.

According to Billboard, the upcoming Aldean album that’s expected to drop on September 9th will not be available for streaming until early October.  So why exactly did Aldean take the decision to not stream?  Speaking to Billboard about his decision, Aldean explained,

“A new album is just like anything else.  When the new iPhone comes out, when you go to the Apple store, they’re not just handing them out for free.  If you want something that’s brand new, you’re willing to pay the price for it.  And then, after it’s been out for a while, you may get it at a discount.  That’s just business 101.”

Surprising move by Aldean, considering that his last album, according to TasteofCountry’s Sterling Whitaker, “set a new record for best-ever debut week for a country album with more than 3.04 million streams.”  Despite having very high streams, Aldean followed Taylor Swift in pulling down his album due to what most music lovers will already know: Spotify just pays way, way too little for each stream.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Aldean said:

“The debate the whole music industry is having on streaming is complicated.  And while I’m definitely paying attention to the business side of things, I am first and foremost an artist.  I’m an artist whose career has been built by the songwriters, publishers, producers and engineers that line Music Row in Nashville.  What they do has value, and I want everyone who is involved in making my music to be paid fairly.  This is about trying to do what is right for the people who have given me a great life.”

Aldean’s decision to pull his last album due to the poor streaming rates ultimately led him to be criticized heavily, causing him to be labeled as just another artist who wanted to be paid more.  Speaking with Billboard, Aldean explained the true motive.

“This isn’t about me making more money.  It’s about the younger artists coming up and having a legitimate shot at having a career in this business, a long career… I’ve been made to look like I was greedy for wanting to stand up for not only myself but for an entire genre of music and an entire town — Nashville. It’s about the writers, publishers, producers, everybody is getting the short end of the stick on this deal.  I have a lot of friends in this town who make their living writing.”

They Don’t Know will be available to be streamed on October 9.

Jason Aldean at CMA Fest 2011; image by Larry Darling, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

If the company is able to successfully raise the money, Vevo will use this money on aggressive international expansion, including “potential acquisitions” and brand new mobile and television services. Just last month, Vevo rehauled their website and apps, and announced that it would start working on original programming. This isn’t very strange, as last year, Vevo hired Erik Huggers, who had previously worked led a team on the creation of the BBC iPlayer.

The news of Vevo’s fundraising efforts also comes at a time when the digital streaming market is heating up. Both Spotify and Apple are looking to branch out of streaming just music and turning their eyes into streaming videos as well in order to both solidify and grow their current customer base, with Spotify recently launching an original cartoon series. Writing about Spotify’s original programming plans, Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw wrote, “Spotify is counting on video to bring in new customers and convince current ones to spend more time on the service.” Apple Music appears to be following suit, with the company having recently bought out the rights to stream the popular Carpool Karaoke series.

Speaking on Vevo’s expansion plans, Billboard’s Andrew Flanagan wrote,

“If Vevo is unable to grab a significant number of eyeballs around the world, in a reasonable amount of time, its reason for existence will be difficult to justify.”

Vevo Tv image by Sean David, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

Music companies, music streaming companies, and manufacturers are pushing more and more for listeners to enjoy a truly beautiful sound experience without all that loss.  The examples are everywhere: Tidal initially launching a $19.99 service for hi-fi audio fidelity, Deezer offering hi-fi as well, and an iPhone 7 without a headphone jack supposedly due to physical analog headphone jacks not being able to deliver high quality audio.

But does all of this truly matter? According to a CNBC report, maybe not as much as you’d think.

The question CNBC posed was the following: “Is the full CD sound quality (and all that 1,411 kbps data you’d be streaming) any better than the typical 320 kbps being offered by services like Spotify, Google and others?” CNBC decided to conduct their test in their “high-fidelity audio ‘sweetening’ room.” In an article laying out the details, 15 colleagues ranging from 21 to 55 years old were brought in and asked to pick 3 songs each, with a few asking for 4 songs. They then played each on Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.

A few other testing details: if the last two services happened to crash, they would use Deezer instead. In order to ensure impartiality, each participant didn’t know what service they were listening to.  The song would move on when the participant told testers to move on.

Now, here’s the kicker. Out of 48 total songs played, only 1 out of every 3 participants identified the correct high-fidelity sound service. But “at least four times” people couldn’t hear any difference.

After reaching out to the music services, Alexander Holland, chief content and product officer at Deezer, was the only one to defend its service. He reportedly told CNBC:

“The difference is audio quality can depend on external conditions such as the environment, headset, speakers and devices. Music-loving audiophiles can definitely detect the difference between the different level of sounds.”

According to other sound professionals and audiophiles, yes, you can tell the difference if you’re playing back the music on high-quality devices, and you probably won’t be able to tell if you’re playing the music through common, everyday equipment. Refuting this argument, CNBC was quick to point out that they subjected their participants “in a room with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment.”  

They also noted that an NPR online survey, along with other studies, that show that in general, people like you and me probably can’t tell the difference.

For audiophiles quick to dismiss CNBC’s admittedly “non-scientific test,” an in-house engineer pointed out “that ‘lossless’ music reduces stress levels, while heavily compressed audio requires listeners’ brains to fill in the gaps” and truly depends on how the music track was designed to be outputted.

Mercenary Field Amplifier image by Andrew Pilling, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

Will the world’s first profitable streaming music company come from China? QQ Music says it’s already in the black.

Spotify is beating out Apple Music with 40 million paying subscribers.  They have an impressive 100 million users.  But just one problem: Spotify is actually bleeding money.  And most other streaming platforms are also in financial trouble.  So who says QQ Music, based in China, will be any different?

Well, according to parent company Tencent, QQ Music is indeed turning a profit.  Wu Weilin, general manager of the music division for Tencent, proudly disclosed the accomplishment.

So what’s driving the difference?  Maybe this boils down to the fundamentals.  Spotify boasts high annual salaries for full-time workers, reported at over $168,000.  But those perks are expensive, and Spotify’s losses are staggering.  Last year, Spotify reported a loss of over $194 million, way up from ‘just’ $28 million in 2010.  Perhaps all of that cash burn is avoidable in a market like China.

QQ Music also enjoys the advantages that come from a giant parent company.  Enter Tencent, an e-commerce and tech giant in China.

TenCent now appears to be dominating China’s online music market.  In mid-July, the company merged QQ Music and China Music Corporation, a deal valued at $2.7 billion.  QQ Music and China Music Corporation’s KuGou both claim to have over 800 million users each.

But TenCent doesn’t focus only on the music streaming industry.  It also manages a social network, a gaming platform, and WeChat, which has more than 700 million active users.  All of which gives TenCent a huge advantage when negotiating deals with record labels, thanks to its substantial product reach.

Spotify’s unprofitability is largely due to the amount of revenue it has to pay to the music industry.  Just last year, Spotify paid out over $1.796 billion on royalty payments.  The company pays 85% of their revenues back to rights owners, according to one analyst estimate.

Then there’s the user picture.  QQ Music claims to have over 800 million users, about half of which are active monthly users.  That makes for a substantial active user base of 400 million.  Or, roughly 4 times the current size of Spotify’s monthly user base.  Another question is whether Spotify’s 100 million are active or disengaged, though 40 million are now paying subscribers.

Unlike Spotify, QQ Music also offers other music services.  That includes selling concert tickets, and controlling more of the process.

But the bigger advantage may come from lowered pricing, enabled by the Chinese market.  QQ Music offers an ad-free listening subscription of just 10 Chinese Yuan.  Given that the average Chinese laborer earns 62,029 yuan a year (roughly $9,300 a year), 10 yuan is really cheap.

Top Chinese music artist SeungRi image by BigB_Art_LIFE, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

“I need Tim Cook Jay Z Dez Jimmy Larry me and Drake Scooter on the phone or in a room this week!!!”

While not giving specifics on what exactly he was referring to, it might have to do with a report published by the Wall Street Journal in June that Apple was reportedly in talks to buy Jay Z’s struggling music streaming service and a rumored ongoing power play between both companies’ executives.

Going further in his rant, and adding a thinly veiled insult to CEO Tim Cook, Kanye West seems to suggest that Apple needs to give Jay Z a large check to save the music industry:

“Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve.”

Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming service hasn’t been doing very good. After being founded by Norwegian and Swedish company Aspiro in 2014, the company changed hands after Jay Z bought out Aspiro for $56 million in March 2015 in order to help struggling music stars like Madonna, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk, and Beyonce get better deals. In an announcement on March 29, 2016, Tidal reported that it had added 2.5 million new subscribers, making for a total of 3 million paid subscribers. These numbers do pale in comparison to Apple Music’s reported 15 million users after its launch in 2015 and Spotify’s impressive 30 million subscribers. Since Tidal’s acquisition, the company has gone through 3 CEO’s in less than a year.

Tidal’s numbers may have to do with Kanye West brokering a deal to exclusively release The Life of Pablo before finally making it available through Google Play, Spotify, and Apple Music on April 1.

Kanye West image by G.6sou, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

But will this be enough to convert SoundCloud’s 175 million users to its paid subscription service, ‘SoundCloud Go’?

Earlier in the year, SoundCloud announced the addition of a stations feature.  Now, the streaming service has announced an update to this feature which allow users to discover music in what SoundCloud calls ”a lean back, seamless listening experience”.

The new update allows users to create stations from artist pages, as opposed to previously just being able to create stations from tracks.

How it works…

When you start a station from an artist’s page, the algorithm creates a long queue of tracks tied to the artist.  The songs included are of a similar genre of music, new songs and other popular songs.  The tracks are skippable and are continually updated and refreshed.

For existing listeners it will include suggested stations based upon artists that the user has liked, or previously experienced.  For new users, the streaming platform will offer some starter suggestions. SoundCloud Go users will have access to the platform’s entire library which consists of more than 125 million songs, and those that use the free service will have access to tens of millions of songs.

This is SoundCloud’s latest effort to get its 175 million free users converted to its paid subscription service, SoundCloud Go, which launched in March this year.  Last month, the service launched a ‘suggested tracks’ feature which is very similar to Spotify’s ‘Discover,’ as it uses the listening activity of its subscribers to automatically find new artists and tracks.

But, whether this is enough to covert even a small percentage remains unknown, especially when the platform has a long-established reputation of being free.

Good news for artists. Music fans are streaming more music through on-demand audio streaming services than video streaming platforms, according to the latest data.

According to BuzzAngle, Americans are consuming more music through on-demand audio streaming services than through music video platforms.  That represents a huge shift, and a big development in a growing industry war against YouTube.

Here’s what the latest stats show.  In the first six months of 2016, Americans played more than 114 billion audio streams on streaming platforms like, Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.  That same group played 95 billion video streams on music video platforms like YouTube.

What this information suggests is that people are starting to focus more on listening to music rather than just watching music videos.  And, perhaps more importantly, that YouTube’s vide0-heavy, messy UI isn’t a winner, after all.

Overall, streaming continues to explode.  Total on-demand streaming in the US grew by 58% in the first six months of 2016 when compared to the first six months of 2015.  But this increase was fueled by a rise in on-demand audio streaming, which grew by a massive 107%.  Video streaming grew at a lower rate of 23%.

YouTube and SoundCloud have ballooned on free content.  But there’s another nugget in this data: the majority of on-demand music streaming comes from paid subscription services like Spotify (30 million paying subscribers) and Apple Music (15 million paying subscribers) which charge users $9.99 per month. On these services, artists earn more revenue, as the per-stream royalty rate is higher than ad-supported free streaming services.

YouTube is the undisputed king of music videos, although YouTube now has a paid streaming service (YouTube Red).  That theoretically solves some monetization problems, though the actual number of people signed up to the paid service is unknown.  At present, the number of people paying for Red is thought to be a very small fraction of the one billion people who use the ad-supported free service.

Meanwhile, artist royalties from YouTube remain abysmal, with endless royalties statements reaffirming the issue.  In that light, the fact that people are now consuming more music through on-demand audio streaming, as opposed to video streaming, is good news for artists.

Now that the real money’s been made…

Adele has never been a fan of music streaming services and has admitted that she doesn’t use streaming services herself.  Instead, she prefers to buy physical CDs or download a song or album.  When discussing with TIME why she didn’t originally put her album on streaming services, Adele said…

”I don’t use streaming. I buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming.”

But, today (June 23rd), Adele’s latest album, titled ’25,’ is available on Spotify and Apple Music.  That’s over a half a year after the album was officially released, and after most of the biggest profits have been made.  ’25’ is Adele’s third album and was the most popular album of 2015.

Just to highlight how successful the album was, the hit single ‘Hello’ hit a billion views on YouTube in just 87 days – a new record that was previously held by PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’.  In its second week  ‘25′ became the first album ever to sell more than a million copies in two different weeks, and it did the same in its third week – that’s three million-selling weeks.

Now that sales have slowed down, it makes perfect strategic sense for the album to be made more widely available across an array of streaming platforms.  Windowing albums from particular streaming service is becoming a more popular strategy for big-name artists.  And if you’re a mega superstar like Adele — who has a fan base that will download and purchase — then streaming can quickly become an afterthought.

DMN zooms in on what Spotify has been up to lately, and what this means for artists and fans…

Healthy subscriber growth.

Spotify announced on March 21st that it had hit 30 million subscribers.  DMN predicts that Spotify now has approximately 32 million paying users, based on a simple growth calculation of one million users per month.

Spotify has the most paying subscribers of all, which means generally that artists will gain more streams on the service.   But this doesn’t necessarily mean that artists will make more money, there are streaming platforms that pay far more per stream.  Part of the problem is Spotify’s 70 million users that are signed up to the free ad-supported tier – this generates a small fraction of premium.

Reduces family plan price to better compete with major rival, Apple Music.

Spotify didn’t want to let their family plan stand in the way of being the number one streaming service in the market.  And the major benefit of Apple Music, aside from its radio service, was the family plan.  Apple allows 6 different users to have full access to its streaming platform for just $14.99 a month.

This was a major advantage over Spotify, whose service used to cost over $30 for up to 5 users.  But now the streaming platform has updated their family plan, which now matches the price of Apple Musics’.  The newer price option may be enough for subscribing families to move over to Spotify’s service, as there is now another affordable choice.

Starting to focus on streaming exclusives?

This is a company that hasn’t really dabbled into streaming artist exclusives.  Quite the contrary: the streaming service has previous dubbed long-term exclusives as ‘bad for artists and bad for fans’.  But maybe that’s about to change: just recently, the streaming platform hired Troy Carter to improve artist and songwriter relationships.  Now, there’s speculation that Carter was hired to focus on setting up exclusives for Spotify.

The fact that Spotify may want to start working with artists on exclusives represents a serious shift.  That would follow similar moves by Tidal and Apple Music, though the overall market impact could be confusing.  Indeed, the wider issue of windowing artists’ music can be frustrating for a music fan, and few will sign up for multiple services.

The massive lawsuit.

Spotify has been battling a massive combined $150-200 million copyright infringement lawsuit brought forward by David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick.  Also, according to legal filings obtained by DMN, a Dutch photographer by the name of Dana Lixenberg is claiming copyright infringement over an image of Notorious B.I.G. within the application.

Spotify’s lawsuits won’t help the reputation as a service, though it may have little effect on music fans.  The bigger effect will be on artists: after non-stop copyright infringement lawsuits and unpaid royalties, artists may think twice about making their music available on the platform.

Losing features (and gaining others)

Spotify recently ditched Musixmatch, that little button located next to the play bar on Spotify desktop which once allowed users to access lyrics to songs being played.   That feature is no longer available: regardless of the button still being present, it simply doesn’t populate any results. According to Spotify, the lyrics feature is now unavailable due to ‘big improvements to the feature,’ with promised ‘updates soon’.  According to one source, that could be a blown-out replacement by Genius, the well-financed, wiki-style lyrics site. 

A service that routinely loses features is never a good thing — music fans find this disruptive, especially those that were active users of the feature.  That said, fresh and exciting upgrades are sometimes worth the hiccup.

Spotify, one of the leading music streaming services, is now set to roll out original video content on its platform. The company has announced the addition of 12 new original video series on music and popular culture. The series will be available in the US, UK, Germany, and Sweden on both iOS and Android. Each episode is expected to last up to 15 minutes. They will be available to both paying subscribers and those on the free ad-supported tier.

The video series will reportedly have a second phase which will focus more on comedy and animation. “We are developing original content that is rooted in music, pop culture, and animation that is driven by the passion and sense of humor of our audience,” said Tom Calderone, Global Head of Content Partnerships for Spotify.

Calderone went on to say that Spotify is “working with artists, producers, and partners who understand that the Spotify audience has a strong connection to artists and wants to go deeper into their worlds, see their performances and expressions, and hear their stories.”

Spotify’s move into original video content is a strategic one, aimed at keeping users on its platform for longer. By offering a range of original content, the company is hoping to set itself apart from other music streaming services such as Tidal and Apple Music, both of which have also been developing original video content.

Apple Music recently joined forces with Vice to bring an exclusive six-part docu-series called The Score, which looks at local music scenes across the world. Tidal puts videos front-and-center on its app, with a focus on rap, R&B, and urban-themed content. The platform just premiered the debut of Cipha Sounds’ No Small Talk comedy series and the second season of the popular drama Money & Violence.

However, Spotify’s move into original video content is not just about competing with other streaming services. The company is also looking to take on YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, which currently has over 1 billion active users. Spotify is hoping that this push into video content will get users to spend more time on their streaming service and less on others.

Spotify’s strategy is not without its challenges, however. The company has been facing criticism from some artists and labels over its royalty payments. Some argue that the company pays too little for music, and that this is leading to a decline in the value of music as an art form. Others argue that the company’s move into original video content is a sign that it is moving away from its core business of music streaming.

Despite these concerns, it seems clear that Spotify is committed to developing its platform and offering a range of original content to its users. The company has already made some significant moves in this direction, such as the acquisition of podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor earlier this year. With the addition of original video content, Spotify is hoping to keep its users engaged and loyal to its platform in an increasingly competitive market.

(Image by free stocks.org, Creative Commons, Public Domain Dedication, cc0 1.0 Universal)

Drake’s upcoming album, Views From the 6, has been the talk of the town for months now. And while fans are eagerly waiting for the album to drop, they might be disappointed to know that they can only listen to it if they’re subscribed to Apple Music. The album will be released first as an Apple Music exclusive, and then it will be generally available from April 29th.

This is not the first time Drake has shown his support for Apple Music. The Canadian rapper was present at Apple Music’s launch in San Francisco last year and has been a keen advocate of the streaming platform ever since. His hit song Hotline Bling was first released on Apple Music before any other streaming service, and his OVO Sound radio show is also an Apple Music exclusive and currently only available on Apple’s Beats 1 radio station.

The news of Drake’s album dropping as an Apple Music exclusive was confirmed by Apple on Beats 1’s OVO Sound Radio. Drake’s relationship with the streaming platform is evident, and it’s no surprise that he has chosen to release his album exclusively with Apple Music. The financial payouts that come with this deal are also significant, making it a win-win situation for both Drake and Apple Music.

However, this move has left fans of other streaming services disappointed. Exclusive content is becoming a common strategy for most major streaming platforms to increase subscriber numbers. Tidal, for instance, is famous for this and reportedly doubled its subscriber numbers as a result of exclusively streaming Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo.

Apple Music has already grown considerably since its launch last year. In just nine months, it has racked up 11 million paying subscribers. With this new Drake exclusive, Apple Music is widely anticipated to grab another big chunk of paying users. Apple Music is the closest streaming service to Spotify in terms of subscriber numbers.

Spotify, on the other hand, has recorded 30 million paying users, and Apple Music only has roughly 30% of this figure. However, Spotify is indeed moving to widen that gap. In fact, this may be one reason why Spotify has just recently raised a massive $1 billion in debt financing.

Drake is one of the most popular artists in the world, and his album release as an Apple Music exclusive will undoubtedly attract a considerable number of subscribers to the platform. However, this move also highlights the fact that streaming exclusives remain a sucky reality for music fans who get punished for actually paying but can’t get access to the best new content because they’re on the wrong service.

In conclusion, while Drake’s album release as an Apple Music exclusive is exciting news for Apple Music subscribers, it also raises questions about the future of music streaming and the impact of exclusives on the industry. It remains to be seen how other streaming services will respond to this move and whether exclusive content will continue to be a common strategy for gaining subscribers.

(Image by thecomeupshow; licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Google, and Rhapsody charge $9.99 a month (or more) for unlimited streaming music.  But is that way too expensive?

That’s become a pressing question for the music industry, especially with free, ‘low rent’ music streaming absolutely surging.

Now, there’s more data showing that consumers thing $9.99 is simply too much.  According to a US-based survey on the matter conducted by Nielsen Music at the end of 2015, a vast majority of Americans are unlikely to pay for music streaming in 2016.  And the number one reason: cost.

Question #1:

In the next six months, how likely are you to pay money for a music streaming music service?

Question #2:

If you are not likely to pay for a music streaming service, what is the reason?

Question #3:

If you were to subscribe to a streaming music service, what would be the most important factors for you?

Source: Nielsen Music, US-based study.

At least one company is paying attention: Spotify.  The company has a ‘list price’ of $9.99 a month, but has been offering aggressive discounts to students and trial users.  Elsewhere, streaming services like Deezer and Rhapsody have been increasingly bundling their services into mobile data plans, a move that slips the broader costs into a bigger bill.  Both strategies have boosted paying subscribers, though price-chopping has raised serious questions about long-term profitability.

Separately, Apple Music has remained firm on a defined, $9.99 price point, with a strict three-month trial window.  That has resulted in roughly 8-10 million paying subscribers, according to the latest estimates, though a vast majority of music fans remain on free versions of Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora.

Written while listening to streaming music from Terrorizer and Repulsion (check out both at the ‘Show Your Scars Fest’ at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles this weekend).

Source: Nielsen Music.

The music industry has been undergoing a significant shift over the past few years, with the rise of streaming services and the decline of traditional music sales. Nielsen Music, a leading market research firm, recently released some data that sheds light on just how much this shift is impacting the industry.

According to Nielsen, song downloads in the United States fell by 12.5% in 2015, and by a whopping 23.4% since 2013. Meanwhile, streaming has exploded in popularity, with the total number of streams doubling in just one year. Americans streamed a total of 317.2 billion tracks in 2015, up from 164.5 billion in 2014.

Leading the pack of streaming services are some familiar names: YouTube, Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, and Google Play Music. However, it’s worth noting that these figures don’t include non-interactive radio streams like Pandora.

Perhaps the most significant trend in streaming is the rise of ad-supported music. While most streaming is free, with services like YouTube and Spotify offering ad-supported options, this model is still a relatively small part of the overall music industry. In fact, vinyl sales still outpace ad-supported streaming, with total LP sales growing by nearly 30% in 2015 to 11.9 million units. CDs, on the other hand, continue to decline in popularity.

It’s worth noting that these figures only tell part of the story. For example, they don’t take into account the growing popularity of concerts and live events, which are becoming an increasingly important part of the music industry. Likewise, they don’t account for the impact of social media on music sales and marketing.

Despite these limitations, Nielsen’s data is a clear sign that streaming is reshaping the music industry in a major way. For example, the decline of song downloads has been particularly pronounced in recent years. This is largely due to the convenience and affordability of streaming services, which offer users access to huge libraries of music without the need to purchase individual tracks or albums.

At the same time, streaming services have also had a major impact on how music is marketed and promoted. For example, platforms like Spotify and Pandora use algorithms to recommend new songs and artists to users, which has helped to boost the popularity of lesser-known acts.

Overall, the rise of streaming has been a mixed blessing for the music industry. While it has made music more accessible to a wider audience, it has also disrupted traditional revenue models and created new challenges for artists and labels. For example, while streaming services pay royalties to artists, these payments are often quite small, and it can be difficult for smaller artists to make a living solely from streaming revenue.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that streaming is here to stay, and the music industry will need to adapt to this new reality if it wants to continue to thrive. Whether this means embracing new revenue models or finding new ways to connect with fans, one thing is clear: the music industry will need to keep evolving if it wants to keep pace with the changing habits of music consumers.

Updated: Monday, 12/7 9:00 am PT: Tunecore offers an official statement on the hack (updated below).

Security breaches are sadly becoming routine these days, though hacks are suddenly spiking in the music industry.  On Friday, Tunecore became the latest to suffer a breach, though the exact nature of the damage remains uncertain.  Initial correspondence from CEO Scott Ackerman started late Friday night and into Saturday morning, with an official statement now released to Digital Music News:

A recent data breach may have resulted in unauthorized access to some of our customers’ personal data and account information. TuneCore takes data security very seriously, especially the security of our customers’ personal information.

 

 

TuneCore already had in place a number of security measures, including: manual review of all requests for payment, restricting access to our main website and protecting account passwords. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this unlawful act, and we have retained a leading cybersecurity firm to help prevent this from happening again. We are also working to further enhance our network and software security, and will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead.

 

TuneCore greatly values our customers and respects the privacy of their information, any customers with additional questions can refer to this FAQ page.

The actual fallout could take weeks or months to understand, though Tunecore appears to be playing tight defense.  Among the potentially stolen data are customer names, addresses, email addresses, account numbers, and passwords, according to Ackerman, though no mention of credit card numbers has been made.  Unfortunately, this damage can easily ripple beyond Tunecore, with hackers using passwords to break into other accounts that employ the same login credentials.

In response, Tunecore has already invalidated passwords, and other measures are certainly being taken.  Thankfully, Tunecore is giving its users the bad news in a straightforward fashion, a smart hedge against potentially more serious issues ahead.  “It is possible for a determined hacker with sufficient time, using advanced computing tools, to recover those passwords,”Ackerman noted.

The unfortunate breach follows cracks at Spotify, Patreon, and Songkick in recent months, among others.  In the case of Songkick, an overwhelming level of demand for Adele tickets led to some strange mishaps, including the display of other fans’ ticketing purchases.  “At no time was anyone able to access another person’s password, nor their payment or credit card details (which are not retained by Songkick),” the company told the BBC.

In the other cases, the damage seems to be contained, though none of that is especially reassuring to affected users.

Cover image by Leo Grübler, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

“They’ve seized control of it – it’s like what the Nazis did during the Second World War. Actually, it’s like what everyone was doing during the war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries. What difference is there?”

Thom Yorke, discussing YouTube with La Repubblica.

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is taking some of his biggest swings yet against streaming music and YouTube in particular, comparing the low-paying video platform to Nazi Germany in the 1940s.  Here are some notable snippets translated from an  interview between La Repubblica with Yorke.

“I definitely don’t use YouTube,” Thom Yorke clearly stated on the topic, before diving into the issues surrounding the now-widespread use of AdBlocker on the platform.

“The funny thing is that YouTube has said ‘that’s not fair’,” Yorke noted.  “You know? They say it’s not fair – the people who put adverts in front of any piece of content, making a load of money, while artists don’t get paid or are paid laughable amounts – and that seems fine to them.  But if they don’t get a profit out of it, it’s not fair.”

On the topic of YouTube profiting while artists make micro-pennies:

“I don’t know, you tell me.   I don’t have the solution to these problems.  I only know that they’re making money with the work of loads of artists who don’t get any benefit from it.”

On the ‘corrosive effect’ that the shift towards digital has created:

“Recently I got out all the vinyl that I had.  Stuff collected over a lifetime… with every single vinyl there’s a relationship.  Like when I’m DJing: there’s this direct contact, you have to take the disc, choose it, put it in a bag, and put the bags in the taxi and then you have to get them down, open them and so on.  That relationship doesn’t exist with digital files, USB sticks.

“And that has a corrosive effect on how music is made.”

On David Byrne’s recent stance against Spotify:

“When [David] Byrne sided against Spotify it was a relief for me. Finally, I’m not the only one to say ‘Hey, excuse me, it’s not fair that it works like this.'”

On YouTube and the fallacy of ‘free music’:

“People continue to say that this is an era where music is free, cinema is free.  It’s not true. The creators of services make money – Google, YouTube. A huge amount of money, by trawling, like in the sea – they take everything there is. ‘Oh, sorry, was that yours? Now it’s ours. No, no, we’re joking – it’s still yours’.

“They’ve seized control of it – it’s like what the Nazis did during the Second World War.  Actually, it’s like what everyone was doing during the war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries.  What difference is there?”

Image: Nuremberg Rally, 1934, licensed from the German Federal Archive under CC by SA 3.0 Germany.

Guvera has yet to make much dent against heavyweights like Spotify, Pandora, or Soundcloud, though maybe this will change that.  According to details just revealed by CEO Darren Herft, the Australia-based Guvera has now raised a hefty $100 million in ‘pre-IPO’ funding, with some “wealthy Australian families” driving the purse.  “A number of wealthy Australian families have been looking for new opportunities in the tech and digital space, but more specifically in mobile and digital,” Herft told the Australian Financial Review. “Guvera presents an opportunity in this space, and it’s growing quickly in Asia.”

Enter India, where Guvera has been attracted roughy 6.5 million users.  That’s a figure that Indian tech insiders might laugh at, especially since Guvera is free and India has a bulging population of roughly 1.3 billion.  But that userbase has more than double since April, according to Herft, and worldwide, the user population is roughly 15 million.

Guvera offers a mix of free and paid streaming, just like Spotify, a company struggling with massive cash burn and nosebleed licensing costs.  Wall Street is getting cool to these plays, though Guvera is now pondering an initial public offering (IPO) in either on the Australia Securities Exchange or Nasdaq in the US, according to the Review.

Earlier, Guvera raised a healthy $60 million, though shockingly, that stockpile is utterly eclipsed by piles being burned by Deezer and Spotify.  Earlier this year, Deezer abruptly canceled its IPO plans in Paris after some unimpressive numbers came to light.  Spotify, and backers like Goldman Sachs, are now angling towards a Wall Street IPO, though serious financial issues and unstable label licensing deals are rumored to be causing delays.

Updated: November 24th, 9:20 am PT (12: 30 ET): Sales of 25 have now surpassed 2.45 million copies and are rapidly approaching 2.5 million after just 4-5 days on the market, according to data now released by Nielsen Soundscan.  Now, one-week sales are projected to hit 3 million (more on that here). 

We’ll keep updating that figure; the original article (published early Monday with a sales figure of 1.5 million after 2-3 days) and subsequent discussion follows. 

Last week, Adele decided to boycott Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and anyone else who wanted to stream her new album for free.  This week, she’s enjoying the fruits of that decision: according to Nielsen Soundscan figures released this morning, 25 sold 900,000 paid downloads on its first day, a one-day digital sales record.

On iTunes, where most of the download action took place, fans were placing pre-orders of the entire album on iTunes, before being able to buy individual tracks after street date.

But that’s just the beginning: according to initial, first-week states from Target, which is carrying an exclusive CD with 3 bonus tracks, physical sales were in the ‘deep’ hundreds of thousands on day one.  Overall, CD sales passed the 600,000-mark by Sunday night, per DMN sources.

All of that puts total albums sales at roughly 1.5 million, after just three days.

Now, with Thanksgiving and Black Friday approaching, lighter fluid is being splashed on the fire.  According to a projection now being bandied by Billboard, 25 is expected to sell north 2.5 million units in its first week, thanks to healthy download and (yes) CD sales.

That would be the biggest-selling, debut week for any album in history.

Pandora is burning an epic pile of cash.  Rdio has already burnt theirs.  Which brings us to the latest music industry acquisition: a $75 million acquisition of a bankrupt streaming music platform by a cash-hemorrhaging streaming radio platform.  Seems like a pretty awesome idea!

In its multi-year tenure, Radio achieved virtually zero traction against Spotify, and plunged into bankruptcy as a result despite $125 million+ in financing.  Now, the woefully-underperforming Rdio is being plucked out of bankruptcy by Pandora for $75 million, with technology and personnel the acquisition ‘assets’.

“I couldn’t be more optimistic about Pandora’s future and the future of music.”

A huge question is where this cash is coming from: after massive royalty charges and a questionable $450 million acquisition of Ticketfly, Wall Street is starting to bum-rush the exits on a potential sinkhole.  Over the past three months alone, shares of Pandora (P) are down more than 32 percent, with overspending and royalty uncertainties curbing the enthusiasm.

Brian McAndrews, Pandora CEO, sees this as part of an aggressive, blue-sky expansion.  “We are defining the next chapter of Pandora’s growth story,” McAndrews stated against the warm, crackling noise of a bonfire in the background. “Adding live music experiences through Ticketfly was a transformative step.  Adding Rdio’s impressive technology and talented people will fast-track new dimensions and enhancements to our service.   I couldn’t be more optimistic about Pandora’s future and the future of music.”

“Pandora is not acquiring the operating business of Rdio, it is acquiring the technology and talent to accelerate its own business strategy.”

The final purchase comes with plenty of strings attached, including a successful Rdio bankruptcy proceeding.   That will allow Pandora to strip out the nasty, money-draining overhead and operational costs that got the company into trouble in the first place.  “The transaction is contingent upon Rdio seeking protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California,” a Pandora statement continued.  “Upon approval of the proposed transaction by the bankruptcy court, Rdio will be winding down the Rdio-branded service in all markets.  Pandora is not acquiring the operating business of Rdio, and is acquiring the technology and talent to accelerate its own business strategy.”

Pandora pointed to the launch of its “expanded listening experience” by the end of 2016, which would presumably include an Rdio integration.

From Google’s beta-stage measurement analysis of topics, designed to accurately measure overall interest in a broader topic area, not just one specific search term.

Results are relative to previous interest, but Google doesn’t offer absolute search volumes.

Position: Music Publisher Relations Apple Inc., Cupertino, Ca

Posted 1 Day Ago

Telecommuting not available

Travel not required

Job Description

Changing the world is all in a day’s work at Apple. If you love innovation, here’s your chance to make a career of it. You’ll work hard. But the job comes with more than a few perks.

This role in Apple Music and in iTunes is working with music publishers. Music publishers supply the songs that we all enjoy listening to in Apple Music. Your job will be to work with the publishers to develop the processes and systems and reports we need to make sure the songwriters around the world get paid for their work. It is a business critical role and youll need to be entrepreneurial, quick to turn around solutions to our partners and accurate in everything you do.

Key Qualifications

• Have good relationships with key music publishers and experience of music publishing operations either as a publisher or as a DSP (copyright management, royalty operations, reporting, invoicing and payment) Be technically proficient e.g. be able to write your own queries or have understanding of the system development life cycle
• Be a good communicator and good at managing relationships with people
• Be a good problem solver able to solve problems working on your own and in a team
• Be able to manage business systems projects from gathering requirements to putting the feature live in production
• Have technical skills and be able to manipulate data and even code yourself to solve problems
• Be known as someone with great attention to detail and accuracy. Its noticeable that some people make less mistakes in what you do than others be it an email, checking a contract, a spreadsheet or payment to a supplier; youll need to be one of those people.

Description:
You’ll take on responsibility for working with music publishers in various countries of the world including initially the USA and China. Day to day this will involve keeping a close working relationship with the publishers, making sure our obligations for reporting and payment are fulfilled and that we are properly informed of developments which might impact our licensing or operations. You will work closely with the iTunes business and content teams, and also the legal and finance teams in the respective territories to develop licensing and operating strategies and to support negotiations where called upon.

As problems come up you’ll need to solve them. Sometimes you’ll need to be creative and work with the publishers investigating their issues or queries in real time. Perhaps they’ll want you to dig into the data and answer questions for them and well need you to be able to be hands on and comfortable looking in the database, producing good queries and solving the problems for them on your own. The team will always back you up but your ability to be self-serving is how we can deliver best service to our partners. Other times you’ll need to analyze the business process looking for improvements and identifying requirements for either modifying the systems or building new features. These sorts of changes don’t just need to be reactive to publishers needs, we also want you to come up with new ideas: is there a better way of doing this, how can the reports be improved, how can we deliver them differently, how could we make use of the data we have to make invoicing better, what extra data do we need to make it better, how can we eliminate manual tasks, how could we get more of the money moving faster, how can we eliminate errors.

We are always developing our systems and being able to manage the systems development process and our relationship with our software engineers is core to what we do. You’ll be responsible for identifying business needs in your territories, developing the plans, documenting requirements and working with the rest of the publishing team to prioritize what gets built and when.

This role will involve some domestic and international travel.

Education:
Degree and ideally MBA or further qualification

Apple is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We also take affirmative action to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all applicants, including minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

Soundrop was launched as a social jukebox app inside Spotify’s App Finder in November of 2011.  But that was shut down when Spotify shuttered its App Finder last October, effectively ending third party apps.

Soundrop provided Spotify’s users a way to build communities with its listening rooms, before Spotify launched its own share features.  Users of Soundrop were able to enter themed rooms to chat and listen to music with other people who share the same taste in genre or artists. As Spotify cut the strings, the team behind Soundrop were quietly working on a new service. Now, they’ve made their comeback with the launch of Playlist Sync.  The beta-stage allows users to automatically sync playlists created on Spotify to Deezer and YouTube, part of a cross-platform approach.   Playlists are automatically synchronized, which eliminates the chore of making playlists available on multiple platforms.

Soundrop were eager to share their success, stating on their show.co blog that they ‘have more than 66 public playlists in Spotify with almost 1 million total followers’.  The playlisting madness starts here.

What could possibly go wrong?

Pandora shares are down 37 percent in the last week alone, thanks to a recent quarterly loss of $85.9 million.  Spotify is delaying its IPO indefinitely against continued licensing uncertainty.  After just three months, Apple Music now has more paying subscribers than Deezer.

But half of Deezer’s 6.34 million subscribers haven’t even accessed the service once in the past month.

Perhaps catching a whiff of pungent reality, Deezer has now smartly decide to indefinitely postpone its initial public offering (IPO) in Paris, citing ‘market conditions’.  The well-funded Franco-streamer is staying on the sidelines indefinitely, while perhaps focusing on its core proposition and/or waiting for ‘conditions’ to improve.

Deezer, which is now present across 180 countries excluding the US, has roughly $150 million in funding.  Access Industries, headed by Russian billionaire Len Blavatnik, is by far the biggest backer.

It’s a streaming music IPO. What could possibly go wrong?

Earlier, we pointed to some very troubling subscriber numbers at Deezer, the Spotify competitor that still hasn’t set foot in the US and remains woefully unprofitable.  Previously, Deezer claimed to have amassed 6-plus million subscribers through an ex-US, global approach, but IPO filings revealed that roughly half were bundled subscribers that hadn’t even played a single song in the previous month.

And, just 1.54 million were paying the full subscription rate, part of a growing-and-glaring problem surrounding actual, paying users.

Sounds wildly unpromising, though Deezer is now plowing forward with its initial public offering in Paris.  According to more details now filed with Euronext, Deezer is aiming to raise roughly €300 million ($334 million) on French Wall Street.

Specifically, Deezer will generate 8,241,758 new share at an expected valuation range of between €36.40 and €49.24 per share.  The resulting valuation, at least on paper, would land between  €884 million and €1.088 billion ($1 billion to $1.24 billion).

Deezer expects to kick-off as ‘DZR’ on Euronext by October 30th.

Image by Tomás Fano licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

“A flat line for U.S. streaming subscribers is quite a worrying signal for music industry investors.”

Seeking Alpha analyst Pim Keunsler.

It’s been a rollercoaster for Pandora on Wall Street, but IPO hopefuls like Spotify may never get to ride.  And one huge concern for traders and investors, according to sources to Digital Music News, are soggy numbers around paid subscriptions.

In the US, streaming subscriptions rose a scant 2.5% to 8.1 million in the United States during the first half of this year, according to recent stats by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).  Billboard has pointed to the cancellation of Muve Music as one possible explanation, though it’s unclear whether those 2+ million heavily-bundled subscriptions were solid revenue contributors in the first place.

Meanwhile, Apple Music is threatening to woefully under-deliver, with early intelligence suggesting initial paid subscribers in the low millions.  And Spotify, while surging towards 100 million total users, is showing less-than-spectacular gains on the paid side.

“…my general bullish outlook for the sector might be at risk.”

All of which has Wall Street nervous about the state of the music industry.  “A flat line for U.S. streaming subscribers is quite a worrying signal for music industry investors,” Seeking Alpha analyst Pim Keunsler wrote.  “I even consider music streaming growth the most important argument to invest in music-related stocks.  The most recent report by the RIAA indicates that my general bullish outlook for the sector might be at risk.”

There are deeper problems, according to insiders.  The biggest issue right now is happening in Paris, where a problematic Deezer is trying to go public.  As part of its IPO filing, federal law mandates the filing of financial and company data, a move that is exposing some serious issues with the world’s second-largest streaming service.  Chief among them is the lack of actual ‘subscribers’: according to IPO filings, roughly half of Deezer’s claimed 6.34 million subscribers haven’t even accessed a single song in the last month, while only 1.54 million are paying full fare.  “This could be ugly,” one major label executive observed.

Actual ‘subscribers’ are also an issue at Spotify, where a large percentage are paying discounted or introductory rates (we just don’t know how many).  But more pressing for Spotify are renegotiations with the Big Three major labels, all of whom are renewing right now and demanding heavy licensing costs.  Those deals, according to sources close to the negotiations, may also include ‘gated content,’ which means limiting content for free-access users, something Spotify has fiercely resisted.

But even if Spotify maintains its freemium, ad-supported tier intact, its major label licensing deals are unlikely to be renewed for more than one year, according to sources.  All of which puts Spotify’s IPO plans in an unhappy holding pattern.

Image of female brown bear by Tambako The Jaguar, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

“I’d ballpark, roughly 3.5 million after November cancellations.”

Apple’s Spotify competitor Apple Music is performing way below initial projections, according to a pair of sources close to the numbers.  At present, the first batch of trial users are being confronted with a three-month payment wall, with at least half of those appearing to have already opted-out.  “It’s not the easiest to say what the [initial paid subscriber] number is going to be, keep in mind this is day one of the payment requirement,” one source supplying content to Apple Music told Digital Music News on Thursday.  “But this is looking like Apple [Music] will have low millions of paying subs,” while agreeing that “between 3 and 4 million sounds about right.”

A second source close to the data noted that many users will cancel their subscriptions in October after realizing they’ve been charged, creating an initial, one-month ‘blip’.  “I’d ballpark, roughly 3.5 million after November cancellations.”

from our partners…

Initially, Apple executives confidently projected more than 100 million paying subscribers, without identifying how long that would take.   “While Apple wouldn’t comment last week, a person familiar with its plans said Apple has an ambitious goal to sign up 100 million subscribers for a new streaming service that will cost $10 a month and compete with other on-demand services such as Spotify and Rhapsody,” the New York Times reported around Apple’s unveiling in June.

(Survey results of active Apple Music trial participants conducted by MusicWatch over the summer).

Several months later, statements from top Apple executives suggests a far lower tally.  “Ultimately, you never know until it happens.  But we’re pleased with the number of people who have tried,” Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services (and iTunes Store chief) Eddy Cue told the Evening Standard. “Everybody gets fixated on the short term but we’re in this for the long haul.”

 “It’s going to be a road.”

Others are similarly subdued, affirming the lower paid figures.  “It’s going to be a road,” noted Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine and current Apple Music architect.  “But if you make the service great enough, people will pay for that.”

The question is whether this was a ‘great’ Apple effort.  Critics have assailed the service for being complicated and difficult for users to navigate, with streaming and paid downloads now overlapping in the same iTunes interface.  That may ultimately be driving lower conversions, despite heavy iPhone 6 uptake: according to a recent New York Post article, 15 million have trialled the service, though roughly half have pro-actively declined automatic credit card charges after the three month window.

Meanwhile, Spotify is racing ahead: the company is now projecting nearly 100 million users by year end, or close to it, with paid subscribers easily past 20 million.  Even TIDAL is getting on the map: according to a tweet issued Tuesday by Jay Z, TIDAL now has 1 million paying subs.

Spotify rival Deezer is now planning a major IPO in France, yet the process of going public is exposing some very unflattering details.  The biggest is that roughly half of Deezer’s ‘subscribers’ are actually bundled into mobile plans are entirely inactive, if they even know they’re subscribed.

Specifically, 3.34 million of 6.34 million total are classified as ‘monthly inactive bundle users,’ who are technically generating some revenue but aren’t really users.

Dig deeper, and the numbers get even uglier.  Of the remaining 3 million that are actively using Deezer, just 1.54 million are paying the actual, full subscription price.  That might explain why Deezer has never produced a profit, though losses could be easing.  According to the disclosure, losses for the first-half of 2015 were €8.97 million ($10.02 million), narrower than €12.82 million ($14.36 million) at the same point last year.

The disclosures bode poorly for a streaming music sector, and could weigh heavily on Spotify’s stalled IPO on Wall Street.  Spotify has fewer bundled mobile deals, but the number of subscribers paying cut-rate or introductory rates is rumored to be high.  Deezer’s paperwork also shows monstrous payouts to major label partners, which account for 67 percent of songs played on the service.

That undoubtedly mirrors the situation at Spotify, with major label negotiations apparently delaying the company’s IPO timetable, according to sources.

Deezer’s full IPO financial disclosure is here.

Top image by Boby, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).  Middle image from Deezer’s IPO disclosure.

“We’ve always gotten screwed from record royalties, anyway…” — Troy Carter (ex-manager, Lady Gaga)

Last year, Digital Music News published a leaked portion of Lady Gaga’s contract with Universal Music Group sub-division Interscope Records.  The source of the leak wanted to show how artists like Lady Gaga were being systematically underpaid, or not paid at all, on streaming through misleading and deceptive contract language.

Now, Lady Gaga’s ex-manager, Troy Carter, has confirmed that his superstar client was definitely being cheated during her period of peak popularity.  “We’ve always gotten screwed from record royalties, anyway,” Carter bluntly stated at TechCrunch Disrupt.  “So when you look at it, the live business and the merchandise business have always been the bigger piece of the pie.

“And with record labels, I think it’s more of just chickens coming home to roost.”

“Well, let’s rephrase that: labels made a significant amount of money off of Spotify that didn’t match up to the artist royalty statements…”

Since overseeing Gaga’s career, Carter has expanded his presence as a music and tech investor and entrepreneur.  “Spotify came in and did a presentation for us, maybe about a couple of months ago, and our clients made a significant amount of income from Spotify,” Carter relayed.   “Well, let’s rephrase that: the labels made a significant amount of money off of Spotify that didn’t match up to the artist royalty statements that the artists received.”

“So, Spotify is paying out a lot of money, it’s just not finding its way into the hands of the artists.”

The accusation raises serious questions about one of Apple Music’s top executives, Jimmy Iovine.  During Gaga’s heyday, Iovine was CEO of Interscope, while simultaneously starting Beats and ultimately selling the headphone and streaming music service to Apple for north of $3 billion (Iovine officially departed Interscope in 2014).  As CEO, Iovine undoubtedly had access to Gaga’s financials, and in his current role, is likely structuring deals back with UMG and other major labels.

More as this story develops. 

The finding, released by Nielsen to Digital Music News on Wednesday night, raises more questions about a streaming industry that simply isn’t attracting enough paying subscribers.  According to a just-concluded study involving nearly 3,500 Americans, 78% are ‘Somewhat/Very Unlikely’ to pay anything for a streaming service within the next 6 months, with 13% in a gray, unknown area.

That leaves 9% in the ‘Very/Somewhat Likely’ category, a nebulous number that may simply cover ‘churn,’ or the natural rate of existing subscribers that abandon their accounts (for any reason).

The Nielsen projection complements some extremely soggy figures released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) this week.  According to the stats, there were 8.1 million paying subscribers for services like Spotify at the midpoint of this year, a mere 2.5 percent increase over the same point in 2014.  That raises very serious questions on whether paid streaming subscription rates have already plateaued.

Financially, a plateau would represent a disaster for major labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, all of whom have bet heavily on platforms like Spotify.  According to the RIAA, which represents the ‘Big Three,’ paid subscriptions accounted for 73 percent of total on-demand streaming revenues last year, with ad-supported, ‘freemium’ accounts woefully underperforming on the revenue side.

The Nielsen data highlighted two main reasons for not paying: (1) streaming services are charging too much, and (2) free services are good enough.  That puts the spotlight once again on YouTube, which is surging forward as the fastest-growing component of the streaming music sector, but is completely free.  According to earlier data also released by Nielsen, YouTube is now growing 60% faster than all other on-demand streaming services combined, including audio-specific platforms like Spotify.

The data now puts monstrous pressure on Apple Music.  The bug-riddled, bloated release may have as many as 15 million trial users, according to a New York Post report published Tuesday.  But that same report noted that at least 7.5 million of those users have already de-activated automatic credit card charging within their iTunes settings, which means they’ve already decided not to pay after their three-month accounts expire.

It’s unclear how many of the remaining trial users will ultimately decide to pay.

In about one month’s time, we’ll know how many people are willing to pay for Apple Music.  That number is absolutely critical to the future of streaming music, a sector that is proving ineffective at getting enough people to pay.  According to the latest data released by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), paying subscribers increased just 2.5 percent in the past year, to 8.1 million by the mid-point of 2015.

The stat bears repeating: paying subscribers only increased 2.5 percent in the past year in the United States, the largest music economy in the world.

The question is critical, because without more paying subscribes, there really isn’t a sustainable streaming music business.  a quick look at the data shows that paying subscribers contribute disproportionately large amounts of revenue: in fact, 73 percent of all streaming music revenue comes from paying subscribers (for year 2014).  The remaining 27 percent comes from advertising, or ‘freemium,’ which means that most users are contributing very little revenue to companies like Spotify.

And without more of these paying people, there isn’t a sustainable streaming music industry.

Can Apple save this situation?  Maybe, but for most users, there are just way to many free options, starting with YouTube, SoundCloud, and iTunes podcasting.  According to a report this morning in the New York Post (for what it’s worth), Apple Music now has 15 million people trialling their service, with 7.5 million of those not disabling the automatic rollover setting into paid accounts.

So if every single one of those 7.5 million people ended up becoming long-term subscribers (beyond one month of realizing they’re getting charged), then the US-based streaming music industry just doubled its paid subscriber total.  The more realistic number, however, is probably much lower than that.

Does this make any sense?  Spotify is struggling to add paying subscribers, while YouTube music video views are surging on greater selection and totally free content.  In fact, according to stats compiled by Nielsen, YouTube delivered 60.6 percent more streams than all audio-only, on-demand streaming music services combined, free or paid, during the first half of 2015.

That includes Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, Rhapsody, Rdio, Xbox Music, Cricket (Muve), Google Play, all of whom YouTube Music eclipses (we’re not including streaming radio giant Pandora into this equation).

Overall, YouTube (which includes VEVO) served 76.6 billions music video streams during the first half of this year, a gain of 109.2 percent, while all other audio-only streaming music services delivered 58.6 billion streams, a gain of 74.2 percent.  That’s a different of 18 billion songs.

Overall, music streams (video+audio) surged 92.4 percent to 135.2 billion for the half-year.

Spotify now counts 20 million paying subscribers, and 55 million free, ad-supported users.  YouTube’s planned paid platform, Music Key, doesn’t have a known launch date.

…from an interview with Charlie Rose, which also featured Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex).

Charlie Rose: Let’s look at this clip with [Spotify CEO] Daniel Ek, here it is.

Daniel Ek clip (from 5/1/2014): What I hope is that we can take this technological shift and move it from just being about listening to music to being about how we create music.  When you think about the internet, the internet is not just audio, it’s audio, it’s visual, and it’s interactive. What’s the future of music going to be if the format isn’t just about the actual sound itself anymore, if it’s about the sound that’s the visual, and perhaps it might even be the interactive part.

Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex): That guy’s cool.

Thomas Pentz (aka Diplo): — yeah.

Charlie Rose: — would you agree with him, is the point? In essence he said the same thing you guys agree with.

Skrillex: — yeah, for sure, I think inevitably it’s all coming together —

Charlie Rose: — the technology, yeah —

Diplo: — for us, the one thing that helped lead us to be more successful this year, is a lot of the guys that are older that battle streaming services, that battle distribution systems, we instead embrace it, 100%.  We’d rather people listen to our music than try to make every cent we can make off of it.

It’s more important for us to get our music heard than to grab every penny we can get.

Skrillex: The way I’ve looked at it is you have to divide, it’s like what a market is.  It’s like you have different aisles, you have the girls section, you have the socks section, maybe someone is only going to buy socks.  If you’re going to take away from that area, there’s a whole different demographic that only goes to that aisle.  So, there’s a whole other demographic of people that buy CDs.

So those people that — but this is my philosophy, I’m not telling anyone else they have to do it that way but — you know, people go to Spotify and subscribe, that’s how they get their music.  And that’s a whole group of people, and if you take it away from them you’re alienating a group of people that’s never going to see your music.  And they’re not going to change.

A lot of times they’re not going to buy a CD just because you took yourself off of Spotify.

Charlie Rose: Does it also mean that people who might not have had a chance of making a record now have access to getting their music heard?

Diplo: Well technology has never really benefited the artist, it’s always benefited the audience.

Charlie Rose: But today — is that true today, do you think?

Diplo: Yeah, when I first had a cassette tape, I was immediately recording stuff illegally off the radio, it’s always been in the favor of the audience to make it easier for them, and it’s not going to get any easier for the artist.  We’re actually — the more you fight it the more you’re wasting your time, because the audience is going to find easier and easier ways to find the music, and it’s not — you can’t stop that, you know?

Rose: And the easier you make it for the audience to find it, the better off you’re going to be. That’s what you’re saying.

Skrillex: — that’s the philosophy.

Charlie Rose: Accessibility is the key word.

Diplo: —that’s why we’re doing it here today, we’ve always rode that wave, you know, and if we had fought it we’d still be in our studios complaining.

Skrillex: The one thing I am kind of bummed about, is like recently all the major labels – and we distribute through majors because we — they all took — made it so all the full songs on SoundCloud are being taken down and limited to clips, and shorter previews.  And it’s like at the end of the day, those kids on SoundCloud — they’re actually — we’re some of the biggest people on SoundCloud with the most followers, and that’s a huge asset to our overall business of how people listen to our music.

And there’s kids that only go on SoundCloud and will never buy at iTunes and even never go to Spotify, and that’s how they listen to music.  And what that does is it eliminates a huge asset and is cutting off our music to an audience that could potentially come to our shows and be fans.

So there’s definitely a lot of controversy in all these things, but I almost wish that it was up to the person that owns the art, the way they want it to be heard.

Legal threats against SoundCloud from major content owners are now intensifying, according to sources, with filings likely to happen within a few months if negotiations don’t progress.  Earlier, Digital Music News pointed to looming legal threats from major labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, based on massive and unresolved levels of infringing content on the site.

Now, with negotiations spinning in circles, the clock is ticking as a stalemate approaches.  “[The lawsuits will] be filed before Christmas, definitely,” a source closely tied into the situation told Digital Music News.

“Before Thanksgiving? Very likely.”

The biggest litigation threat easily remains Universal Music, whose principals remain “deeply unsatisfied” and “grumpy” with SoundCloud’s response to aggressive compensation demands.  That is partly being driven by corporate parent Vivendi, whose brass have been squeezing the reproductive organs of UMG chief executive Lucian Grainge to fix the free music problem.  “[Universal] aren’t getting their pound of flesh,” another source relayed, while pointing to “wide-scale infringement at an insane level” on SoundCloud that keeps getting higher.

Exactly how much Universal is asking for is unclear, though it’s enough to substantially delay an agreement, cool investor support, and wreck a lot of good night sleeps.  Typically, UMG pushes a percentage of the ‘partner’ company, an upfront payment, or both, while threatening massive content pullouts and legal action if terms aren’t met.  That’s certainly the case with Spotify, whose launch in the United States was substantially delayed by endless back-and-forth over major label ownership and payment demands.

Currently, the major labels control as much as 15% of Spotify, according to sources.

If legal action proceeds, SoundCloud would represent one of the largest legal targets yet for the major labels, a group accused of cautiously selecting small- or medium-sized companies to crush.  That was certainly the case with Grooveshark, whose lawyers at Rosenberg & Giger mounted a costly defense for years, but were ultimately incinerated by a Universal Music Group legal department waging ‘legal jihad’.

On April 30th of this year, Grooveshark was shut down forever.  Less than three months later, Grooveshark co-founder Josh Greenberg was found dead at age 28 with no declared cause of death.

The question is whether history is now repeating itself with SoundCloud, a far bigger gorilla whose audience and impact eclipses anything Grooveshark achieved.  According to stats just released by Next Big Sound, SoundCloud has nearly doubled in size over the past year alone, thanks partly to EDM.  Indeed, SoundCloud’s roots are with the DJ, who helped build SoundCloud with endless mixes, live sets, and podcasts that cater to a ravenous music crowd.

Then, there are the cooler heads.  Enter Warner Music Group, who’ve already signed an agreement with SoundCloud and whose CEO, Stephen Cooper, warned against ‘burning freemium at the stake‘.  Still, it’s entirely feasible that Warner could let its offer lapse and join the broader legal assault, if only to present a united front.  Sony Music Entertainment, meanwhile, has shown some mixed signals, according to sources, but is almost guaranteed to follow UMG’s combative lead.

And then there’s the problem of SoundCloud’s financing.  According to a DMN source, “the Valley isn’t touching [SoundCloud] with a 10-foot pole” given the predicament, but existing investors may be looking at a “too big to fail” scenario.  That means mitigating losses, or at least getting out unscathed.  “[SoundCloud] believes they are going to raise the money,” the source continued, while noting that one major investor has issued a “don’t worry, we won’t let you go under” assurance.

More details as they become available.

Turkey image from the US Department of Agriculture, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC by 2.0).  Middle image supplied by Next Big Sound.

1. Stop free use, and develop users’ willingness to pay.

Amongst the millions of ‘users’ that streaming services claim, the proportion of real subscribers who pay the advertised price is an absolute minority.  However, if everyone paid – even if it was just a couple of pounds or dollars – everything would be different.  The advent of paying streaming services like Apple Music is terrifying to services like Spotify or Deezer, who have made free access their unique selling point to reel in users.

2. Reform reporting methods, and encourage a more fair distribution of the money that comes in.

A subscriber paying $9.99 per month listening to nothing but the saxophonist John Saxo probably thinks that money goes to John Saxo (after deductions for taxes, royalties and the platform).  But this is not the case: those contributions are lost amongst the much larger numbers of mainstream music listeners.  The money is distributed on a pro-rata basis, and this will always work to the disadvantage of minority-interest collections.

In the age of Big Data, rebuilding the moral and financial contract that has always connected fans to artists should be simple.  In the physical world, big distribution doesn’t force the artisan cobbler to adopt the same economic model and distribution system as the industrial shoe manufacturer.  It shouldn’t be the same in streaming music.

Rights holders: please understand that your income from streaming platforms, for the time being, depends upon the success of others, and by the same system your revenue is crushed by the pro-rata system.

3. Target offers and tailor platforms.

No consumer is more discerning and diverse than the music lover, but current platforms display a grinding homogeneity that is not much improved by complex algorithms.  These systems don’t facilitate serendipity, no matter what the hype may say.  By creating different subscription tiers, platforms will create a pyramid of user willingness to pay, which will in turn increase ARPU.

This pyramid can be created through various methods, most of which have yet to be invented: packages based on varying sound quality, niche music catalogues, or the offer of add-ons (see below).  Real user targeting will be done by setting up a system of recommendations by real music experts according to style, excellence in any given musical genre, or giving more back to the rights holders in this or that category of music.

This is all powered by the unique relationship that a platform is able to create between their subscribers and their suppliers.  This is why, for example, nearly 50% of the money paid out by Qobuz (my streaming service) goes to classical and jazz music, while it is probably less than 10% elsewhere.

4. Dare to choose selective distribution!

It’s time to break with the religion of “all collections, everywhere” and instead dare to take up selective distribution.  Let’s reject the myth that says “free use boosts promotion,” and stop giving content away for free on certain platforms and selling it for a price elsewhere.  Selective distribution in the era of streaming doesn’t mean refusing streaming flat-out, but rather working closely with platforms that are well-adapted to premium add-ons – and daring to then hold these products back from other platforms who are perhaps not as well-positioned.

Let’s make a comparison to audio-visual media: you’ll never find all the new film releases on Netflix or Sky Go.  In the same way, whether you are a music producer or an artist, you can’t permit your new products to be squandered on a music streaming site for minuscule revenues – at least not unless the platform offers you an additional monetization solution which is appropriately adapted to your product.

5 . Implement optional subscription add-ons.

In order to better serve collections which are in development or in the process of being created, ultimately, a model of incremental subscription is needed.  This would consist of combining a generalized subscription package with a system of additional purchases. In the old days of iTunes downloads this was called “à la carte,” but is better renamed “definitive rights acquisition,” as opposed to the “temporary rights” associated with a streaming subscription.

This is where the model of tomorrow lies: acquiring “supplements” to a subscription, consisting of this or that recording, label, quality, exclusivity, or previews not included in the subscription – and ultimately creating additional value for the rights holder.

Yves Riesel is the co-founder of the Qobuz (qobuz.com), a streaming and download music service based in France. 

Top image by Neil Turner, middle image by Nicolo J, both licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.o).