Photo Credit: Konstantinos Hasandras

Denver-based record club Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) has entered liquidation, leaving lots of vinyl fans in limbo. The boutique record subscription club was founded in 2012—but months of customer complaints about not receiving their orders have blossomed into a full-on bankruptcy proceeding.

The company’s financial troubles reportedly accelerated after a failed attempt to build its own pressing plant, which included the controversial firing of three senior staff members in March 2024. Allegations surfaced that these staffers attempted to diver company funds towards the pressing plant, destabilizing VMP’s finances and operations.

Vinyl Me, Please has sent out an email to subscribers letting them know about the liquidation. “As a customer and creditor of Vinyl Me, Please, we wanted to let you know that on April 4, 2025, [VMP] commenced an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC),” the email begins.

“The ABC process is led by an independent fiduciary who is referred to as the Assignee. The Assignee has undertaken a process involving the sale of business. We expect that at the conclusion of the sale process, the buyer of [VMP’s] business will try to resolve outstanding and future orders where feasible. We anticipate this sale process will conclude by mid-May 2025 with further details to follow.”

Photo Credit: Vinyl Me, Please Website

Creditors, including subscribers who are owed records or refunds, now have until October 1, 2025 to file claims. The liquidation aims to maximize returns for those left with outstanding obligations—but whether full reimbursement will be possible remains uncertain. As it stands, the Vinyl Me, Please website does not mention the liquidation process at all and still continues to sell vinyl record pre-orders. The lack of transparency around the liquidation has left many current and former customers upset after renewing memberships.

“I filed a claim for the five remaining records they owe me,” states one redditor on a thread about the liquidation process. “I doubt anything will happen. It is wild that they are still soliciting business and claim I have two pending orders. I will also see if I can make this the credit card company’s problem, but we are well past the 60 day cutoff for the annual charge.”

While vinyl sales have seen steady growth in recent years, smaller players in the space are facing mounting pressures. Supply chain disruptions, increased competition, and the capital-intensive nature of pressing plant investments have all lead to closures of several  boutique vinyl outlets in the last two years.

Photo Credit: Dario

Sonos and IKEA appear to be quietly ending their partnership and the ‘Symfonisk’ line of products that turned everyday furniture items like lamps and bookshelves into connected home speakers.

Sonos confirmed the partnership had ended to The Verge, stating that current inventory for the Symfonisk line will be phrased out globally. There are no future devices planned. Existing products will continue to receive software updates from Sonos.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with IKEA and are proud of what we’ve achieved,” Sonos spokesperson Erin Pategas said in an email to The Verge. “Although our work together has largely wound down and we won’t be releasing new products as partners, we’ll continue to support every existing Symfonisk product so customers can keep enjoying great sound in their homes for many years to come.”

The news of this partnership ending come as Sonos is prepping to deliver its latest quarterly earnings tomorrow. Sonos underwent a major leadership shakeup in January 2025, with CEO Patrick Spence stepping down after holding the position for eight years. The departure came after a disastrous app rollout which was plagued by bugs and missing features—prompting widespread customer backlash. Tom Conrad, a Sonos board member and former tech exec is now in the interim CEO position.

The botched app update hurt Sonos’ reputation as a stable luxury speaker manufacturer, but also increased costs as the company spent millions to fix the app. This poor rollout delayed other products like the Sonos Ace headphones and likely contributed to declining sales as long-time customers promised to swear off the brand. Interim CEO Tom Conrad has also canceled plans for a Sonos video streaming player—which were quiet far along in development.

With the earnings report tomorrow, the world may get a clearer picture on how the U.S./China trade war may impact Sonos through tariffs. Tariffs have increased costs, squeezed margins, and the first round of tariffs from Trump’s first administration were blamed for lackluster IPO performance in 2018. Sonos’ global manufacturing and supply chain woes could lead to even more price increases—and product discontinuations like the IKEA Symfonisk line.

Photo Credit: Victrola Record Players

Vinyl sales slowdowns amid broader economic uncertainty spell trouble for several smaller vinyl companies.

Vinyl records surpassed CDs as the most popular physical music format over the past few years; 2024 marked the 18th consecutive year that vinyl record sales grew. But the strain on vinyl production facilities has only been compounded by the increased demand.

That increased demand was made all the more difficult by many manufacturing plants having closed down when vinyl sales first started to slow down back in the 80s. Now, the problem is getting worse again as vinyl sales appear to be cooling off—after a 33% drop in sales between 2023 and 2024.

The birth of new manufacturers, like Jack White’s Third Man Records, helped ramp up capacity over the last decade. But supply shortages during the pandemic contributed significantly to longer lead times.

In 2021, lead times averaged 27 weeks for new vinyl albums, compared to only six weeks of lead time two years prior. Ultimately, only major artists like Taylor Swift have the time and resources to put into a vinyl option with an album release.

Now, in a post-pandemic landscape facing economic headwinds, numerous small vinyl manufacturers are calling it quits. Just last year, Brooklyn-based Leesta Vall bit the dust, while The Vinyl Lab in Nashville announced in January they would be closing their doors.

This week, dozens of subscribers to the Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) record club in Denver have reported unfilled orders, a lack of refunds, and an unresponsive customer support staff. Worse still, some have noted liquidation notices from the company, even while the Denver business insists it will return to normal operations this month.

“It seems VMP has stopped shipping records entirely and they’re still charging for memberships that promise new releases,” said long-time member Stewart Eastham, who says he is still seeking refunds from the company totaling over $1,000 in unfilled pre-orders and annual membership fees. “There has been zero communication and no response from customer support for over a month now.”

Another long-time member, Chris Kaley, said he blames layoffs at the company within the last year for the lack of response. “They fired everyone,” he said. “Who’s left? They’ve never been this late in ten years.”

The company appeared to be doing well in late 2023, but a slew of executive firings and lawsuits in early 2024 led to shipping delays and more job cuts. Between this and the broader economic uncertainty, it’s unknown whether VMP will be able to get back on its feet.

Photo Credit: Otherbrick

Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the operator of a website he claims is selling counterfeit merchandise.

A company belonging to Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, David Gilmour Music Ltd., is filing suit against the owner of Otherbrick.com, alleging trademark infringement and counterfeiting.

The lawsuit, filed in Illinois on Monday, April 21, states it was created to “combat online counterfeiters who trade upon [Gilmour’s] reputation and goodwill by selling and/or offering for sale products in connection with” his “David Gilmour Trademark,” US Trademark Registration No. 3,756,468.

According to the website’s about page, it is the “ultimate destination for Pink Floyd-inspired merchandise,” such as t-shirts, accessories, and home decor, that “reflect the spirit of this iconic band.” Most importantly, the website features David Gilmour-related merchandise, which Gilmour and his company claim are being sold without his permission.

“[David Gilmour Music Ltd.] is in the business of developing, marketing, selling, distributing, and retailing high-quality concert merchandise […] under the federally registered ‘David Gilmour’ Trademark,” the lawsuit reads.

The suit claims that Otherbrick’s “sales of counterfeit products [are] in violation of [Gilmour’s] intellectual property rights, [and] are irreparably damaging [David Gilmour Music Ltd.]” Further, it asserts that Gilmour and his company “remain active,” and an “official source of authentic David Gilmour products.”

Since David Gilmour’s trademark has been “continuously used and never abandoned,” the filing says products bearing his name and trademark are “widely recognized and exclusively associated by consumers, the public, and the trade as being products sourced from [Gilmour].”

“[Otherbrick] is using a fake online storefront designed to appear to be selling genuine [Gilmour] products, while selling inferior imitations of [Gilmour] products,” says the filing, further asserting that the owner of Otherbrick has “intentionally concealed [their] identity and the full scope of its counterfeiting operations in an effort to deter [Gilmour] from learning [the owner’s] true identity.”

Gilmour is seeking a permanent injunction to stop the unauthorized use of his trademark and future sales, transfer of the domain name to Gilmour’s company, removal of the site from search results, as well as substantial damages and attorneys’ fees.

Etsy has inked a Reverb sale agreement with Creator Partners and Servco. Photo Credit: Oberon Copeland

Almost six years after acquiring Reverb, Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) is selling the instruments marketplace to Fender investors Creator Partners and Servco Pacific.

Reverb reached out with a formal announcement about its sale – and its return to private ownership – this morning. Meanwhile, Etsy confirmed the divestment in a regulatory disclosure, chalking up the move to a “focus on driving growth in the core Etsy marketplace.”

The seller, which previously acknowledged “significant GMS [gross merchandise sales] headwinds in 2024,” also noted that it would provide additional information in its Q1 2025 earnings report. Having reportedly paid $275 million for Reverb, Etsy is scheduled to release the first-quarter performance breakdown on the 30th.

Shifting to Reverb’s buyers, the mentioned Creator Partners was founded in 2022 by former SoundCloud head Kerry Trainor, a longtime Fender board member who, in keeping with another of his company’s investments, joined BMI’s own board towards the top of 2024.

Fellow SoundCloud vets including Jaydan Heather Malsky are also aboard as Creator Partner execs.

The more than century-old Servco, for its part, touts itself as “Hawaii’s largest private company,” with operations in the automotive sector as well as venture capital. On the VC front, Servco possesses an ownership stake in Fender, which is said to represent its “largest investment to date.”

Notwithstanding the buyers’ Fender holdings, Reverb went ahead and pledged not to provide preferential treatment to the instruments giant. Plus, the marketplace signaled that it would continue operating independently with its existing team in place; a straight merger into Creator Partners isn’t forthcoming, per Reverb.

Though the latter’s users “won’t notice any disruption as a result of this news,” significant updates are said to be on the horizon.

“We’ve got a lot of exciting changes in the works,” Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot elaborated in part. “We’re expanding access to music-making software on Reverb and we’re getting ready to pilot a new option for selling that allows musicians to get paid faster, while skipping the listing and shipping process.

“Our teams are working on improving our search functionality, making it easier to ship, and shortening the time it takes to resolve support issues,” the former Indiegogo CEO proceeded.

Those remarks appear to indicate that Mandelbrot will remain aboard Reverb, which he’s led since early 2020. And the marketplace, which declined to provide sale-price details to DMN, expects the transaction to close “in the coming months.”

Photo Credit: Molson Coors Beverage Co.

Molson Coors Beverage Co. is releasing a beer-filled vinyl called ‘Dive Bar Sounds.’ The vinyl record actually plays and is filled with Miller High Life beer.

The beer-filled vinyl record goes on pre-sale later this week for an $18 price point. Miller says each dive bar tells its story through sounds, from the creak of the door opening to the clink of glasses. “Now these iconic sounds are captured in this High Life-infused vinyl. Here’s a peek at what’s included:

Side A

1. “Welcome to the Dive”
2. “Champagne Nights”
3. “Happy Hour”
4. “Rack ‘Em Up”

Side B

1. “Regular’s Remix”
2. “Another Round”
3. “Last Call”

The beer-filled vinyl is intended to celebrate musicians and the culture of neighborhood dive bars. The limited-edition launch album marks the launch of ‘The Soundtrack to the High Life’—a new platform focused on spotlighting musicians.

“Dive Bar Sounds comes to life through original tracks that blend the authentic sounds of your favorite dive bar with The Champagne of Beers to tell the story of a night at the dive,” says Molson Coors in a statement about the limited-edition release.

Pre-orders for the vinyl start on April 15 and April 16 at 11 am CT, with the vinyl expected to ship sometime in July 2025. The record goes for $18 bucks, but I’m not entirely sure why anyone would want to add the beer vinyl to their collection beyond displaying it. Any degradation of the vinyl is likely to result in the liquid seeping out—potentially ruining a vinyl collection if it’s stored improperly.

But hey, corporations love marketing gimmicks that get people talking. People are still complaining about the free U2 album that Apple gave away in 2014 because it was auto-added to any iTunes library that existed back then. KFC also got on board with a ‘Bucket Bangers’ Spotify playlist that released in 2019 in France, curating 46 hip-hop songs mentioning KFC.

Photo Credit: Bruce Springsteen by Takahiro Kyono / CC by 2.0

Bruce Springsteen announces a box set of seven “lost albums,” totaling 83 songs. The collection, Tracks II: The Lost Albums, releases on June 27.

It’s about to be a big year for Bruce Springsteen fans. The Boss is set to release a box set featuring some of his previously unreleased music. Tracks II: The Lost Albums drops on June 27, containing 83 songs recorded across four decades, 74 of which have never been officially released.

The collection spans 1983 to 2018, compiling “full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” said Springsteen, who says the project came together during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now,” he added. “I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”

The 75-year-old star can be heard spanning his career in this collection, from his early Nebraska sounds on a record called LA Garage Sessions 83. Meanwhile, Streets of Philadelphia Sessions expands on the sounds Springsteen experimented with for the 1993 film “Philadelphia,” which includes synthesizers and drum loops, and even some hip-hop influence. The next album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, returns to his previous sound in 1995.

Faithless is the soundtrack to a film that was never made, while some country-adjacent sounds rear their head for Somewhere North of Nashville. Twilight Hours presents a “noirish” sound, while Inyo offers “richly woven border tales.” Each album offers something different for die-hard Springsteen fans to relish in.

The physical release includes a 100-page book with rare archival photos and liner notes for each record. An additional 20-song selection from across the collection will also be released.

Bruce Springsteen returns to the road in the UK this summer, his third in a row, with performances in Manchester and Liverpool. On Record Store Day (April 12), Springsteen and the Killers will release the Encore at the Garden EP, which documents the New Jersey native’s surprise appearance alongside the band at Madison Square Garden in 2022. His most recent album, Only the Strong Survive, also debuted in 2022.

VInyl record (LP+EP) shipments in the United States, 2020-2024 (Data Source: RIAA)

Vinyl records are the comeback story that nobody saw coming. But are we also missing a pending plateau?

Streaming is the music industry’s cash cow, so it makes sense that subscriber levels are being closely watched. But what about vinyl records? In this report, we take a look at some scarily flat LP sales figures emerging in 2024, and assess whether a vinyl plateau might be afoot.

Report Table of Contents

I. Tackling the Core Question: Are Vinyl Record Sales Entering a Plateau?

II. The American Sales Picture

A. US-Based LP Sales Inch Upward 1% In 2024 – Though Per-Unit Revenues Remain Solid

B. The Factors at Play: Superfans, Methodologies, and Year-Over-Year Variations

C. Mixed-Up Data: Luminate’s Vinyl Counting ‘Correction’ In 2024

III. The European LP Sales Picture: Emerging Sales Stats In the UK, Spain, Italy

IV. The Broader Look: US-Based Vinyl Sales, 2015-2024

V. A Look at the Future of a Niche Format: Will Vinyl Ever Cross the Chasm Into Something More Substantial?

Please note: this report is for DMN Pro subscribers only. Please do not redistribute — thank you!

Photo Credit: Saturday Night Live / NBC

Television is no longer the needle mover it used to be for music discovery—but Saturday Night Live still holds its own with musical guests. Now, Morgan Wallen is capitalizing on his swift exit at the end of the most recent episode of SNL by selling ‘God’s country’ merch.

The abrupt and somewhat ham-fisted exit saw the country star walking obliviously in front of the camera instead of staying on stage with the SNL cast and guests. Shortly after leaving, the country singer shared an Instagram photo of his private jet with the phrase ‘get me to God’s country’ emblazoned as the caption. The walk-off prompted lots of media attention around the exit—as Wallen’s stunts always do.

The singer is capitalizing on the rough exit by selling ‘get me to god’s country’ merch on his website. The web store features pre-orders for hats and shirts featuring the phrase—each with a $45 price tag. Wallen has not addressed the viral incident since it happened (beyond hocking merch), though SNL cast member Kenan Thompson did comment.

“It was already such a small grouping on the stage anyway. So it was just like, oh wow, that was pretty visible,” Kenan said in an interview earlier this week. “You know what I’m saying? It was a pretty visible thing.” Thompson also likened the exit to Prince when he appeared on the show. “Prince did the same thing. I’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince, but we weren’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of stand-offish,” the comedian continues. “It’s just how he was. So we just thought like, ‘OK, now he’s gone back to fantasyland.’”

Morgan Wallen has had no shortage of public incidents that have heightened his profile among his chosen audience. The ‘n-word’ incident did not diminish his fans in ‘god’s country’ leading to fans crowdsourcing billboards praising the singer and asking the CMAs to re-think their ban on his attendance at the 2021 show.

Just last year, the singer drunkenly threw a chair from the rooftop of Chief’s bar in Nashville. He plead guilty in December 2024 to two reduced misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment under Tennessee’s Diversion Statute—avoiding a felony conviction. His sentence included seven days at a DUI education center, two years of supervised probation, and a $350 fine plus court fees. The charges will be expunged if Wallen completes his probation without any violations.

Photo Credit: Gina Miles for Beyerdynamic

Audio brand Beyerdynamic teams up with “The Voice” Season 23 winner Gina Miles to release new music.

The audio brand is bringing Gina Miles’ first original release to life as it shifts gears into the record business with the launch of its new artist program. Three singles set to debut this spring will mark Miles’ first release since winning the US singing competition in 2023.

“At Beyerdynamic, our mission has always been to empower artists by providing the highest-quality audio solutions, both in the studio and during their downtime,” says Andreas Rapp, CEO of Beyerdynamic. “Our new artist program builds on this commitment, fostering creativity and elevating the overall music-making experience. This ensures that artists like Gina Miles have access to pristine sound at every stage, from production to personal enjoyment.”

“With Gina Miles, we were able to fund and support the creation of three original songs, and we’re excited to continue partnering with her as she advanced in her career,” Rapp adds. “This collaboration also opens the door for future partnerships with other talented artists.”

“As we got to know each other, we talked about something that so many independent artists, like me, struggle with: finding support for projects without the traditional record label structure,” says Gina Miles. “That’s where Beyerdynamic, my producer/drummer John Richardson, and I came up with an alternative path. As a company that creates music products, they’re always looking for new music to license for content. So instead of going through the conventional channels, they provided the funds upfront to me to create and record my next release — in exchange for licensing the finished music. The best part being that I get to keep full ownership of my songs.”

True to Beyerdynamic’s legacy of delivering high-quality sound, Gina Miles utilized a range of the company’s products during the production of her new music. This includes the new DT 1770 PRO MKII headphones, M 160, M 130, M 201, TG D58, MC 950, and M88 microphones. In anticipation of her upcoming release, Gina will also host a series of Beyerdynamic product giveaways.

Photo Credit: Lady Gaga’s sweatshirt (left); Lost International trademark logo (right)

Surf brand Lost International sues Lady Gaga for using a logo on her new Mayhem merch they say is ‘near identical’ to their trademark.

Lady Gaga is being sued by a California surf company that claims she infringed on their trademark with the Mayhem logos featured on her newest merch. The company filed a complaint against the 38-year-old pop star in California district court on Tuesday, March 25.

According to the complaint, the logo featured on merch used to promote her new album is “substantially similar if not nearly identical” to the logo they trademarked in 2015. Lost International says they’ve been using the “Mayhem” trademark since 1986 on surfboards, surf equipment, clothing, accessories, and in videos. “Mayhem” is also the nickname of the company’s co-founder, Matt Biolos.

“Lady Gaga’s actions are likely to mislead the public into concluding that her goods originate with or are authorized by Lost, which will damage both Lost and the public,” reads the complaint. “Lost has no control over the quality of goods sold by Lady Gaga and because of the source of confusion caused by Lady Gaga, Lost has lost control over its valuable goodwill.”

Lost International is asking for a trial by jury, and claims they sent Lady Gaga’s team a cease and desist that was ignored.

“Lady Gaga’s Mayhem soared to No. 1 and shattered records; a testament to her unmatched talent and global impact. It’s disappointing — but hardly surprising — that someone is now attempting to capitalize on her success with a baseless lawsuit over the name ‘Mayhem,’” her attorney, Orin Snyder, said in a statement. “This is nothing more than an opportunistic and meritless abuse of the legal system.”

Upon its release, Mayhem debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Lady Gaga is set to embark on her Mayhem Ball tour in support of the album in July, for which she will play 32 shows across North America, Europe, and the UK through November.

According to the superstar, “Mayhem is about following your own chaos into whatever cranny of your life that it takes you to. And in that way, it was about following the songs,” she said in an interview with ELLE. “Writing as many songs as I did for this album was a labor of total love. And then you just have to be very cutthroat by the end.”

Photo Credit: Laced Records

Santa Monica Studio is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ‘God of War’ game series with a limited edition boxed vinyl LP release. The 13-disc vinyl set includes 150 remastered tracks spanning from the 2005 original God of War to 2023’s God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla.

Global pre-orders for the limited edition boxed sets are now available. It features a dual rigid board outer slipcase with leather effect and gold foiling. Each sub-set within the box features widespined outer sleeves, and each disc comes in a printed inner sleeve with artwork from Santa Monica Studio’s extensive archives of concept art for the series.

Gamers interesting in owning a collectible featuring their favorite tracks from their favorite games may help boost declining vinyl sales numbers. Limited edition vinyl releases for popular games seem to do well among collectible enthusiasts—whether they listen to the vinyls or not. This set features a unique color scheme of red and white and blue and white to differentiate between the Greek ‘God of War‘ saga and the Norse ‘God of War‘ saga.

What music is included in the God of War boxed vinyl set?

God of War (2005)

God of War II

God of War III

God of War (2018)

God of War Ragnarök

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla

The boxed set also contains selections from other handheld God of War games including God of War: Ascension, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta.

The music of God of War harnesses the might of an orchestra, the humanity and divinity of a choir, and thunderous percussion to amazing effect. A pantheon of composers have worked on the series including Gerard K. Marino, Mike Reagan, Ron Fish, Cris Velasco, Winifred Phillips, Winnie Waldron, Tyler Bates, and Bear McCreary. This also marks the first time the soundtrack for God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla has been pressed on vinyl.

The limited edition special color striped vinyls feature red on white for the Greek saga and blue on white for the Norse saga. The set is being released through Laced Records, which is the world’s leading video game soundtrack record label with over 250 releases across vinyl, CD, and digital.

Laced Records has released special edition vinyl sets for gamers from IPs including Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed, Bloodborne, Borderlands, DOOM, Fallout, Far Cry, Gears of War, Halo, Hitman, Hotline Miami, Metal Gear Solid, Monster Hunter, Prince of Persia, Resident Evil, Starfield, Street Fighter, Tekken, Warhammer, and Yakuza.

Partners on these releases include 2K, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Capcom, Devolver Digital, From Software, Gearbox Entertainment, Konami, Microsoft, Remedy Entertainment, SEGA, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Ubisoft.

Photo Credit: Round Hill Music Co.

Round Hill Music will open a new brick and mortar music store in Greenwich, Connecticut this May. The store is designed as a haven for musicians, collectors, and fans of all stages. It blends high-end guitars, vinyl records, apparel, and lifestyle goods into one immersive storefront.

Local musician and music industry executive Josh Gruss is leading the personal passion project. It aims to bring design, craftsmanship, and culture together in a unique space that bridges the gap between serious musicians and casual listeners. The store is a two-minute walk from the Greenwich train station and will feature curated vinyl selections and an inviting layout to make music discovery more effortless.

“Opening this store is a great way for me to connect with the community and offer an experience that I’m strongly connected to, while bringing back something that Greenwich Ave has been missing for a long time—a music store,” shares Josh Gruss, Founder of Round Hill Music.

“Growing up, some of my favorite memories are of going to 48th street in New York, which back then was a whole city block of instrument shops. The Round Hill Store is very much inspired by Manny’s, a famous guitar store on 48th street that I used to love going to as a teenager,” Gruss continues.

“Today stores like Manny’s have all but disappeared; there isn’t the same opportunity to enter a store and just comfortably hang out, chat music, and experience a selection of legendary guitar and amp brands. That Manny’s experience is what we’re creating with our store.”

“We have some amazing plans for in-store performances on the weekends and evenings, from our incredible artist roster at our own record label, Round Hill Records, as well as local artists and national touring artists who might want to stop in on their way to The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.”

Notable brands that will be available at the Round Hill Music Co. will include Gibson, Fender, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor, LsL Instruments, Rock N Roll Relics, Ernie Ball and Suhr. The store will also carry premium speakers from Divalet and Transparent in addition to artisanally-produced amps, pedals, turntables, books, candles, and more.

Photo Credit: Artone

Artone and Drew Hill have acquired the assets of the UK’s Proper Music Group—including Proper Music Distribution—the UK’s leading physical distributor of independent music.

The acquisition follows the appointment of joint administrators, Mark Supperstone and Ben Woodthorpe of Evelyn Partners, to Proper Music Group on February 27. After a competitive bidding process and appointment of those joint administrators, certain assets were sold to Artone and Drew Hill—former Managing Director of PMG. That includes the shares of all companies trading under PMG—Proper Music Distribution, Proper Records, Proper Music Publishing, and the propermusic.com website.

The acquisition will enable clients of both PMD and Artone to unlock sweeping pan-European deals for distribution, production, packaging, retail and direct-to-consumer sales.

“Artone has been actively looking for opportunities to expand its distribution footprint and PMD represents a perfect fit,” says Jan Willem Kaaschieter, CEO at Artone. “PMD has played a vital role in supporting independent labels and artists in the UK. By bringing PMD into the Artone family, we ensure its continued success and provide stability for its partners. Our expertise, financial strength, and extensive network will support the long-term growth of the business and maintain a strong, diverse physical music market. We look forward to working closely with Drew and the Proper team to build on its legacy.”

The sale has been agreed alongside the signing of a new multi-year lease for PMD’s warehouse in Dartford. Under Drew’s stewardship, the company has expanded across all divisions and now distributes for over 5,000 independent labels and services companies. Proper Music Group’s trading companies will no longer be affiliated with Proper Group AG (formerly Utopia Music AG), for which bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in September 2024.

Drew Hill was at the helm of Proper Music Distribution for more than 18 years. He will remain as its Managing Director. “In its 35 years, Proper Music Group has always strived to go above and beyond for its partners,” Hill said in a statement. “This next step is an opportunity to secure the future of the business and continue to deliver a bespoke service to independent artists and labels. I’ve worked closely with Artone and Bertus Distribution over the years, and together we’ll continue to champion a healthy and competitive physical distribution sector which ensures diversity of choice.”

Photo Credit: Zig-Zag

Zig-Zag Rolling Papers have introduced a new limited-edition portable vinyl record player in celebration of the brand’s rich music heritage.

Zig-Zag says it is synonymous with creative expression in music culture, from gracing iconic concert posters to featuring on album art like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. The suitcase-style turntable is designed for music enthusiasts on the move. It features a convenient carry handle, making it easy to enjoy vinyl records no matter where you are.

The record player is equipped with built-in stereo speakers that deliver crisp, clear sound, or you can plug-in your favorite headphones and immerse yourself in the music. The three-speed, belt-driven turntable minimizes vibrations for smooth playback and wireless Bluetooth connectivity allows streaming music from up to 33 feet away. It also includes a USB port, enabling the playback of music directly from a USB drive so a digital music collection is just as accessible as vinyl.

Vinyl record turntable sales have increased in the last five years according to recent data. The number of turntables sold in the United States rose by nearly 10% in 2021 as Gen Z began discovering the format offers a warm, rich sound that cannot be replicated digitally. Overall, around 82,000 turntables were sold that year, compared to just 75,000 in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic also sparked new interest in the format as people found themselves stuck at home.

In fact, the Vinyl Alliance reports that Gen-Z is more likely (61%) than Millennials (53%) and Gen-X (27%) to replace digital habits with vinyl listening. Gen-Z sees vinyl listening as a way to improve mental well-being by detaching from digital sources like Spotify and Apple Music. They especially love to shop for records in-store compared to other generational cohorts. Their interest in vinyl is helping drive a continued resurgence in the format as Gen-Z superfans buy multiple vinyl records per year.

Are U.S. vinyl sales actually declining? Luminate’s 2024 year-end report is raising questions about where the purportedly surging format stands. Photo Credit: Maryna Nikolaieva

Are vinyl sales suddenly declining in the U.S.? Newly released 2024 data is prompting discussion about whether the long-resurging format is grappling with a commercial plateau.

Yesterday, we touched on this 2024 vinyl sales data when breaking down the Luminate year-end report in which it appeared. But in light of the format’s well-documented (and, as calculated by different entities, ongoing) comeback, the matter warrants closer scrutiny.

To be sure, the RIAA registered a 17% YoY vinyl sales spike at estimated retail value for H1 2024. (The trade organization’s full-year recorded-market analysis is forthcoming.)

Luminate, on the other hand, pointed to a 1% YoY decline in full-year 2024 physical album sales volume (including vinyl, CD, and cassette alike, with vinyl by far the largest contributor of the three) in the U.S. – albeit when excluding “independent retail strata sales.”

The dip refers specifically to 55.6 million units moved in 2024, down from 56.2 million units in 2023, the report shows. Meanwhile, indie retail’s physical sales showing was isolated not on a whim, but amid continued controversy over the underlying methodology.

Just to recap, heading into 2024, Luminate overhauled its methodology for calculating independent retailers’ physical sales.

DMN tracked the multifaceted episode in detail last year, including fierce opposition from record stores, Luminate’s subsequent calculation adjustments, and more. But ultimately, sales figures under the retooled model decreased substantially.

We know as much because Billboard (which shares a corporate parent with Luminate) charted the possible vinyl sales slips in its Market Watch breakdowns. Eventually, Billboard pulled all physical sales metrics from Market Watch, and Luminate’s 2024 report acknowledges the measurement pivot in question.

“As previously reported,” the explanation reads in full, “Luminate changed the methodology behind its independent retail sales reporting beginning Week 1 of 2024. While the new modeled methodology more accurately represents the independent retail market, we do not have comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend.

“Therefore, independent retail physical sales under the new methodology for 2024 are isolated and no trending is provided versus 2023.”

Trending is, in fact, absent from the 2024 report, which simply discloses indie-retail album sales of 17.3 million vinyl units, 5.4 million CDs, and 165,000 cassettes.

Even after adding the cumulative 22.9 million indie-retail physical units to the non-indie total of 55.6 million units, however, we’re left with 78.5 million physical sales in the U.S. for 2024, per Luminate. That’s well beneath the overall physical sales of 87 million units (up 8.9% YoY) that the company pinpointed in its 2023 report.

It’s also noticeably beneath the RIAA’s H1 2024 estimate, which identified 42.5 million physical units shipped (not necessarily sold to customers) for Q1 and Q2 alone.

In any event, pressing questions remain, in part because there isn’t exactly a consensus on precisely what constitutes an eligible indie retailer for the purposes of Luminate sales data.

If the indie side’s modeled methodology really is more accurate, that would seemingly render Luminate’s historical physical sales data heavily inflated.

Also possible is that U.S. vinyl sales are actually declining – and/or that certain indie retailers’ sales aren’t registering under the fresh model. It’ll be worth keeping each of the possibilities in mind throughout 2025, particularly as the RIAA prepares to release its own 2024 annual report.

And it should be highlighted in conclusion that locally owned record stores, despite the often-used indie descriptor, move quite a few projects from well-known acts like Taylor Swift. Thus, the multifaceted subject carries commercial implications (or at least sales-measurement implications) for a variety of companies, stakeholders, and professionals.

Photo Credit: Caryn Noel Photography (Trey Watson, John Kunz and Caren Kelleher)

Austin’s Waterloo Records & Video has announced new ownership and a move from its current location after 42 years. The record store will move from 600 North Lamar to 1105 North Lamar in the Spring.

Long-time owner John Kunz is passing the torch to Caren Kelleher and Trey Watson. The move to 1105 North Lamar offers more space for events, improved parking, and a convenient proximity to downtown and nearby music venues in Austin. Kelleher and Watson are determined to honor and carry on the legacy of Waterloo Records passed on to them by Kunz.

“My decades-long hope, dream, and endeavor has been for Waterloo Records & Video to live on forever, continuing to promote Austin’s vibrant music culture and community,” says John Kunz. “Now with this transition, all of my boxes are checked: a new larger home, just five blocks away; Caren and Trey buy in as my new, talented, local music industry partners; all of my team are retained and they will gain the opportunity for store ownership; all of the Waterloo Records hallmarks and traditions continue on, including innovation; and now as a minority partner and not sole proprietor, I get to work less and play more. Thank you Austin!”

The new location will allow Waterloo to expand its current 6,400 sq. ft. store by 50%, but also increase its ability to host in-store performances and events with a larger stage. This continues Waterloo Records’ tradition of intimate artist-fan experiences. The new space makes it easy for artists to visit before their local shows as it is only five blocks away from the old location.

Caren Kelleher is the Founder & CEO of Gold Rush Vinyl, which pressed its first record in March 2018. Since opening, Gold Rush Vinyl has pressed records for thousands of musicians and record labels to help answer the $1 billion demand for new vinyl records.

Trey Watson is an Austin entrepreneur with multiple businesses and endeavors under his purview. He is the CEO of Armadillo Records, an Austin-based record label founded in 1969. Watson is also President of Globe Entertainment & Media Corp, which owners a number of historic photography archives totalling over 20 million images covering film, music, sports, and history.

The original Waterloo Records & Video location, located on South Lamar, opened its doors on April 1, 1982, the same year that John Kunz became co-owners with founder Louis Karp. In its first year of business, Waterloo won the Austin Chronicle’s “Best Record Store” award and so began its journey to become an Austin institution. In 1985, Waterloo expanded its offerings by adding video partners and VHS video rentals.

In 1987, Kunz became the sole owner of Waterloo Records when Karp sold him his 50% share of the company to start his own hospital video rental stores and promote concerts, before launching his decades long career in top tier management at Whole Foods. Kunz and Karp remain close friends even to this day.

Photo Credit: Taylor Swift by Paolo Villanueva / CC by 2.0

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour book has passed 1 million copies sold, selling nearly that many in its first week and making it the highest-selling new release print book of 2024.

Target, the exclusive retail partner for Taylor Swift’s official Eras Tour book, has announced that the book has sold nearly 1 million copies in its first week. That makes the 256-page book the highest-selling new release print book of 2024 to date, and the fastest-selling new release book in the last four years. It’s also the highest-selling music-themed book since Circana began tracking print release sales 20 years ago.

The book, alongside Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, available on CD and vinyl for the first time, launched exclusively at Target across the United States starting over the Thanksgiving weekend.

“We knew the release of ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Book’ and ‘The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology’ would be a huge, huge moment for Targets shoppers and Taylor Swift fans everywhere, but seeing the record-breaking response unfold over the last week has been an absolute thrill,” said Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Target. “I’m incredibly proud of Target’s partnership with Taylor and the way our teams worked together to make this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Week unforgettable for so many people.”

The book goes for $39.99 and spotlights Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour with over 500 images, including never-before-seen performance photos from each of the star’s eras. It also features exclusive rehearsal photos and images of instruments, costumes, set pieces, and designer sketches used throughout the tour. The book includes personal reflections and notes written by Taylor herself.

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology was previously only available as a digital album, and is now available on CD and vinyl for the first time at Target. The vinyl album includes four marbled, translucent discs and is accompanied by a never-before-seen 12-by-12-inch poster of Taylor. Both the vinyl and CD feature 35 tracks, including four bonus acoustic songs.

The album’s exclusive Target offering follows the retailer’s exclusive Phantom Clear vinyl version of the original release of the album earlier this spring, which set the record for Target’s largest music pre-order in the company’s history. The retailer is home to 10-plus exclusive versions of Taylor Swift albums.

Photo Credit: Emily @emermore7 on TikTok

Taylor Swift’s fans are annoyed by the amount of grammatical errors and low-quality photos inside her Eras Tour companion book.

Taylor Swift’s official Eras Tour book went on sale across the US exclusively in Target stores over the Thanksgiving weekend, selling over 814,000 copies. But fans are a little incensed over the quality of the $39.99 book, which is apparently riddled with typos and blurry photos.

Emily, a Swiftie who goes by emermore7 on TikTok, shared a video on the platform of her purchase, which she says she woke up at 5AM Friday morning (November 29) to acquire. The video outlines the “grammatical errors, blurry photos, and design flaws” in the book that fans are now referring to as the “Errors Tour Book.”

In one section, Emily points out major typos like “this is me rying” instead of “this is me trying,” a song from Swift’s 2020 album folklore. Another example fails to include a space in the title “gold rush.”

Other complaints include photos of the tour in which Swift is in the center of the picture, which creases the image in the spine of the book. “Most people are not going to flatten out these expensive books and break the spine just so they can see this part of the photo,” said Emily. Some photos she criticized for appearing blurry or like they were “taken on an iPhone.”

“If you’re paying $40 for a book, wouldn’t you expect it to not have this many errors? Wouldn’t you expect the pictures to not be cut off? Wouldn’t you expect the pictures to be crisp and clean and not blurry?” she said.

Though she did praise some aspects of the book, like Swift’s behind-the-scenes section, Emily said she felt as though the book hadn’t been properly edited before it was published.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if they were on a deadline or what. The grammatical problems that I have found should have been fixed right away,” she concluded.

“This book just had so much potential, and with a little tweaking, it could have been absolutely spectacular,” Emily added in the video’s caption.

The video has rapidly gained traction among Swifties, many of whom agree with Emily’s assessment and her video’s sentiment. “For $40 it should be all HQ 4K pictures we have never seen,” said one fan. “Why are there multiple pics from her [Instagram] and the Eras Tour movie?”

“As an editor, my skin is crawling at all the issues. 100 percent cash grab,” wrote another fan. “I think there was a deadline,” a third user wrote. “I honestly feel like they could have waited and done it properly after the Eras Tour ended.”

In fact, several fans agreed the release felt rushed to meet holiday sales, and would have preferred Swift waited until the tour had ended. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour doesn’t conclude until December 8.

Photo Credit: Taylor Swift by Paolo Villnueva / CC by 2.0

Taylor Swift’s Target-exclusive Eras Tour tie-in book sells over 814,000 copies in its first weekend, becoming the biggest publishing launch of 2024.

Taylor Swift only needed one retailer for her Eras Tour tie-in book to snag the crown for the biggest publishing launch of 2024. The Target-exclusive book sold 814,000 copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Those numbers put Swift in a unique category — not that she’s a stranger to being in rare company. The only bigger non-fiction launch to date, according to data from Circana, was Barack Obama’s presidential memoir, “A Promised Land,” which sold 816,000 copies in its first week on the shelves in 2020. Circana only tracks the print market, and does not include audio and ebook sales.

Sales of Swift’s $39.99 book skyrocketed during the Black Friday shopping weekend, even as some fans complained about the Target exclusivity and the book’s apparent typos and factual errors. Neither Swift nor Target have yet responded to media requests for comment on the subject.

Taylor Swift’s exclusive and non-traditional releases don’t stop at print, either. Her Eras Tour concert film, which released last year, bypassed Hollywood studio middlemen and saw Swift working directly with AMC Theatres and Cinemark Theatres for the release. The film made over $200 million at the box office and became the highest grossing concert movie in history.

Another top selling book this year, according to Circana, is Wendy Loggia’s “Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography,” designed in the tradition of other Little Golden Book children’s classics like “The Poky Little Puppy” and “The Little Red Hen.” Swift has also inspired her own mini-genre in the publishing industry, with coloring books, romance fiction, and even a cocktail recipe collection, “Shake It Up.”

Taylor has announced she plans to take a year-long hiatus from working after her exhaustive Eras World Tour, focusing on her personal life and her relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce.

Photo Credit: Target

Targets scores a win with an exclusive Taylor Swift deal, stocking 2 million copies of her official self-published Eras Tour book.

Target has secured an exclusive deal to sell Taylor Swift’s self-published official Eras Tour book, of which the retailer has stocked 2 million copies for the holidays. The book went on sale for $39.99 at Target stores beginning on Friday (November 29) and became available on the retailer’s website the following day.

It’s been a lackluster year for Target, which has increasingly lost ground to competitors like Amazon and Walmart, especially in a struggling economy that sees consumers focus on groceries and other staples rather than home goods.

Taylor Swift is no stranger to doing things her way. Her self publishing her Eras Tour book through her own imprint, Taylor Swift Publications, rather than going through a traditional publisher, is highly unorthodox.

“It’s been done in the past, but it’s rare because there are a lot of moving parts,” said Lorraine Shanley, President of Market Partners International, an industry consulting company. “In the case of Taylor, anybody would be willing to work with her in any capacity,” and most of the heavy lifting can easily be outsourced.

But Taylor has been known for keeping as much of her material in-house as possible. Her in-theater deal with AMC for the Eras Tour film cut out the distribution middleman too. And it’s no surprise she doesn’t trust easily, having lost the rights to her early catalog, leading her to re-recording her masters.

Target’s exclusivity deal is perhaps even more unusual, and 2 million copies might seem like a strange number. Comparatively, the biggest selling book in 2023, Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us,” sold nearly 1.3 million physical copies, according to data from Circana BookScan.

But Swift’s book might be better compared to Michelle Obama’s memoir, which sold 3.1 million copies in 2018 after being released only in November that year. “The big difference is that Michelle Obama’s book was available for sale everywhere, while Taylor Swift’s book is only being sold by Target,” industry analyst Brenna Connor told the Wall Street Journal.

Like most Taylor Swift memorabilia, the book is chock full of easter eggs and fun details for the discerning Swiftie. The 256-page book features over 500 glossy photos of the tour, as well as costume sketches and rehearsal shots, and musings by Swift in between.

“For a lot of people it’s a keepsake of the best time they’ve had in a long time,” said literary agent Richard Pine. “Target is going to sell an enormous number of copies, and she and they will be happy.”

Who earns what from vinyl sales at indie record stores? Here’s a to-the-point breakdown. Photo Credit: Jay Wennington

Who gets paid – and how much do they make – when fans purchase vinyl albums from indie record stores? Courtesy of a refreshingly straightforward breakdown, we have an up-to-date answer.

That breakdown comes from “soulful sounds” label Colemine Records, which posted the to-the-point information in a social media video featuring owner Terry Cole.

While it perhaps goes without saying, the involved numbers, factoring for Kelly Finnigan’s recently released A Lover Was Born, won’t apply to every vinyl project. Variables including manufacturing (complete with higher per-unit costs for smaller orders) and individual stores’ pricing particulars will affect the figures, of course.

And Colemine itself noted that the vinyl sales calculations assume the store at hand (in this case Toledo, Ohio’s Culture Clash Records) purchased from its (Colemine’s) direct distributor, Secretly Distribution.

Shifting to the actual numbers, Culture Clash sells vinyl editions of Finnigan’s A Lover Was Born for $24 a pop (not including tax). On a sale, the store would keep about $8.49 (35%) of that sum, out of which it would pay any credit card fees and cover shipping costs from the distributor, per the analysis.

The distributor, the mentioned Secretly, would then pocket $3.10 (13%) from the sale – once again less credit card fees. And the vinyl’s manufacturer, Cleveland-based Gotta Groove Records, charged about $6.03 (25% of the sale price) for each unit, according to Cole.

Consequently, Colemine and Kelly, which are said to split net profits down the middle, would be left with about $6.37, or nearly $3.19 apiece. Though a sizable sales volume is still required to generate material earnings at that rate, Cole emphasized the many stakeholders who benefit from each unit moved – besides vinyl’s apparent compensation edge over streaming.

“So, by buying a record from an independent record store,” Cole communicated, “you are supporting four independently owned small businesses and one artist. And you are supporting the entire music ecosystem as a whole.

“To have that same direct impact on Kelly Finnigan or Colemine, to make that same profit for us in the streaming world – let’s just take Spotify as an example. You would have to stream Kelly Finnigan for four and a half days straight to have that same financial impact.

“This is not a knock on streaming; we love streaming. But there’s very few things in this world that you can do to support an artist that are better than just buying a physical record,” Cole concluded.

Although the precise status of vinyl’s well-documented comeback isn’t clear in the States, we aren’t without evidence of the format’s continued popularity. To name one of the latest examples, a vertical vinyl player has now raised over $617,000 from north of 2,500 backers on Kickstarter.

Photo Credit: Manuel Bonadeo

K-pop CD sales are exploding in South Korea, but physical album production is raising concerns about the mounting environmental impact.

K-pop CD sales surpassed 100 million units in 2023 — an industry first, and a 50% increase from the year prior. That’s an impressive milestone, especially in the face of digital streaming dominance. But it raises concerns about the mounting environmental impact of physical album productions, according to a study from the UK’s Keele University.

The seemingly out-of-place surge in physical album sales is exclusive to South Korea, due to music labels’ sophisticated marketing strategies for idol groups. These albums regularly include collectible items such as limited addition photocards of artists, or chances to win special prizes. In essence, each album is like a lottery ticket for fans to win even more goodies.

Producing a single CD generates approximately 500 grams of carbon emissions, Keele University’s study finds, per a report by French news outlet AFP. And according to environmental group Kpop4Planet, founded in 2020 by a fan in Indonesia, weekly sales from just one K-pop group could generate carbon emissions equivalent to “flying around the Earth 74 times.”

K-pop powerhouse company Hybe has responded to environmental concerns by these groups. Hybe assures fans that they use “eco-friendly materials for our albums, video publications, and official merchandise, minimizing plastics.” That said, specifics were not provided.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s environmental ministry has made efforts to address the issue over the past 20 years with fines — but the fines are relatively minimal compared to the resulting album revenue. According to Yoon Hye-rin, deputy director of the ministry’s Resource Circulation Policy Division, labels were charged approximately 2 billion Korean won ($1,430,000) in 2023.

Notably, physical album production increased significantly during the pandemic, as labels pushed to offset their lost touring revenue. But environmental groups like Kpop4Planet continue to advocate for change through protests outside music label headquarters and petition campaigns. The group’s goal is to hold the industry accountable while still supporting the artists themselves.

Photo Credit: Assouline

Apple has partnered with lifestyle publisher Assouline to curate a coffee table book of the 100 Best Albums on the streaming service. Set to appeal to hardcore audiophiles—the gorgeous white-and-gold bound book will set you back $450.

The book is called ‘Apple Music: 100 Best Albums’ and it was created in partnership with the lifestyle publisher Assouline. Assouline has created coffee table books for several fashion brands, including Louis Vuitton. On its website, Assouline describes the book as “a celebration of Apple Music’s inaugural list of the greatest records ever made.”

The book is designed to be a lasting companion piece to the digital initiative, which launched in the streaming service in 2024. Only 1,500 copies of the book will be produced, which is why it comes with the eye-watering $1,500 price tag. Each copy is custom engraved with the number it is in the collection—making it a unique gift for anyone who lives and breathes Apple Music.

Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list has sparked fierce debate online when the first batch of albums on the list were revealed in May. Apple says the methodology in choosing the 100 best relied upon the expert opinions of artists (Pharrell Williams, Charli XCX) and is purely editorial—hopefully to stave off too much criticism.

The best album on the list is named as Lauryn Hill’s 1998 debut album, ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,’ which Ms. Hill seemed to deride herself after it was announced. “I appreciate the acknowledgement, I really do, but I’d be remiss not to also acknowledge all of the music and artists who informed and inspired me.”

The Assouline published book features 208 pages of content, including a forward written by Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Anyone interested in procuring a copy of the book can pre-order it now—though it is not estimated to ship until January 9.

Billboard has now removed CDs (and other physical sales) from its Market Watch breakdown, which compiles Luminate data. Photo Credit: Mick Haupt

The latest installment of Billboard’s weekly “Market Watch” sales breakdown is here – minus figures pertaining to CDs and all other physical formats, which have been removed from the commercial snapshot.

As many already know, that U.S.-focused commercial snapshot consists of data provided by Luminate, which elicited strong indie-retail pushback after retooling its sales-calculation methodology at the top of 2024.

Followed by additional pivots in the wake of further opposition, this recalibration (at least according to critics) effectively excluded a number of record stores’ sales from the appropriate calculations – and spurred the creation of a rival indie-sales chart.

While substantial, that controversy was in retrospect only the tip of the iceberg. Previously, we explored in detail an apparent discrepancy between Luminate’s view of the Market Watch data and the way the relevant stats had been laid out by Billboard.

In a nutshell, the latter was pointing to a massive year-over-year decline in stateside vinyl sales – a stark contrast to, among other things, RIAA data and the wider resurgence often attributed to the format.

After DMN Pro tracked an ugly disagreement between higher-ups at the companies (which share a corporate parent), Billboard booted vinyl figures, presumably temporarily, from Market Watch altogether.

And last week, we noted that the “weekly national music consumption report” showed a 19.1% YoY decline for CD sales, once again contrasting stats from the RIAA and others.

Now, the curious episode has taken yet another strange turn: As initially highlighted – and as things stand – CDs and physical music sales generally are no longer part of Market Watch.

As a matter of fact, the entire “Album Consumption Units by Format” section, previously featuring CD, vinyl, track-equivalent, audio-on-demand-equivalent, digital, and “other” data, is absent from Market Watch for the week of October 24th.

Predictably, when they were live, all those categories save audio-on-demand equivalent displayed material YTD sales declines from 2023, a Wayback Machine screengrab indicates. Similarly, Billboard’s “Album Sale by Age” analysis of Luminate data, likewise absent from Market Watch at present, suggested sizable sales falloffs for both current and catalog releases.

It’s unclear exactly how the increasingly involved episode plays out from here – but given Luminate’s reach in the sales-data space, a statement (and an eventual formal update to Market Watch) would probably be a good place to start.

Due in part to the benefit of hindsight, we can see that it definitely wasn’t a great idea to spring for year-over-year sales comparisons amid Luminate’s above-mentioned methodology changes.

Even in the current Market Watch installment, Billboard maintains that “the new modeled methodology more accurately represents the independent retail market” – simultaneously emphasizing that “there is not available comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend regarding physical sales, including vinyl.”

When it comes to Luminate data, then, that leaves a couple main possibilities, and neither is exactly encouraging for the figures in question. Most conspicuously, the adjusted approach to measuring sales might actually be more accurate – which, in keeping with the aforesaid YoY falloffs formerly displayed on Market Watch, would mean historical stats could have been inflated.

Furthermore, beneath this top-level consideration, Luminate may be registering, to some extent, a genuine sales slip.

Which country is witnessing a CD-powered surge in album sales? Read on… (Photo Credit: DMN Pro)

Before streaming, downloads, UGC monetization, and virtual concerts, the CD reigned supreme and powered the recording industry’s most lucrative era. But after flatlining into obscurity, is the CD format quietly staging a comeback?

In this DMN Pro Weekly report, we take a look at some strange new data surrounding this decades-old format. That includes canvasses across multiple markets and datasets for signs of CD-selling life, and a deeper examination of why so many artists — from Taylor Swift to The Weeknd to New Jeans —  are now pressing their albums on digital disc.

Enjoy.

Table of Contents

I. The CD: A Format That Refuses to Ride Into the Sunset

II. Artists Seem to Like CDs – And Why Not?

III. A Look at the Numbers: What Are They Saying About CD Sales?

A. US: The Luminate YoY Crash – And the Stark Contrast With RIAA Figures

B. UK: Sorry, No Booming Comeback Here

C. But Wait: Why Are Global CD Sales Ticking Upward?

IV. The Situation In Japan & South Korea

V. So, Are CDs Coming Back?

Please note: the following report is for DMN Pro subscribers only. Thank you!

At least according to Billboard’s breakdown of Luminate data, U.S. CD sales have declined substantially to this point in 2024. Photo Credit: Mick Haupt

It’s a tale of two CD sales stats: Luminate is pointing to a 19.1% year-over-year falloff in the format’s stateside units moved – a stark contrast to the 3.3% YoY units-sold growth attached to the same category for H1 2024 by the RIAA.

The data discrepancy has entered the media spotlight on the heels of Billboard’s removal of Luminate-powered vinyl sales figures. And that step arrived against the backdrop of a DMN Pro investigation into vinyl’s 33.3% year-over-year commercial slip in the States as (previously) displayed on Billboard.

Our latest weekly report explores the apparent controversy (complete with disagreements between Billboard and Luminate notwithstanding their shared corporate ownership) surrounding the figure. Meanwhile, the episode is casting doubt upon U.S. sales figures and the precise status of the “vinyl comeback” that’s so often touted.

Now, with the vinyl debate far from settled, additional questions are being raised on the CD side – in part because of Billboard’s present breakdown of the format’s U.S. sales.

According to the appropriate Luminate-based resource’s “Album Consumption Units By Format” section, CD sales in the category have numbered 22.2 million during 2024, down 19.1% year over year from 2023’s 27.4 million.

And while overall album sales (including standalone digital products as well as album- and track-equivalent units) have suffered an even more pronounced YTD falloff, per the resource, the physical dip is especially significant.

This is largely due to how it differs from the RIAA’s initially mentioned H1 2024 data. According to the latter half-year summary, which calculates physical sales’ worth at estimated retail value, 16.8 million CDs were sold in the States between January and June of 2024. That’s up 3.3% YoY from 16.2 million, with a smaller 0.3% bump on the value front ($236 million to $236.7 million).

Of course, those improvements, though modest, are a lot more positive than the nearly 20% YoY sales decrease identified by Billboard’s analysis of Luminate data.

What, then, are the reasons for the discrepancy? There are several components to the multifaceted question’s answer, but at the top level, Luminate’s much-publicized methodology changes should be reiterated.

To the dismay of the indie retail community, those changes went into effect at the top of 2024 and, in practice, allegedly booted a substantial portion of locally owned record stores’ sales data from calculations.

The revamped tracking system was altered in late April – a point also covered in DMN Pro’s deep dive into the subject – and unknowns remain about how exactly the methodology pivots are affecting both data comparisons and Luminate’s actual 2024 figures.

As described by a disclaimer from Billboard, Luminate’s methodology maneuvering “more accurately represents the independent retail market,” but nevertheless means there’s “not available comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend regarding physical sales, including vinyl.”

Following that idea to its logical conclusion, at least through the current year’s end, it’d seemingly be advisable to continue reporting and collecting sales data without attempting to illustrate YoY trends. Furthermore, other pertinent questions remain: What’s happening to the physical sales that are seemingly failing to register or, alternatively, what do the smaller-but-more-accurate figures mean for historical data?

Consequently, it’ll be interesting to see whether the relevant stats join their vinyl counterparts in being removed, perhaps temporarily, from Billboard’s “Market Watch” data.

Where’s Vinyl? Billboard Removes the Format From Its Site (Photo Credit: DMN Screengrab)

What are vinyl record sales like in the US? Don’t ask Billboard, which has now scrubbed its site of vinyl sales figures after reporting an extreme 33.3% year-over-year sales decline.

That shocking decline raised serious questions about the ‘vinyl comeback’ and resulted in an investigatory report by DMN Pro. Unfortunately, the takeaways from that report were hardly upbeat, with Luminate, Billboard, the Vinyl Alliance, and other organizations differing wildly over how many vinyl records are selling in 2024.

Has the Vinyl Comeback Been Greatly Exaggerated? A Closer Look at Some Confusing New Data

After DMN reported the 33.3% decline that appeared on Billboard’s site, angry emails and demands for corrections came next. The Vinyl Alliance called for an immediate correction, while Luminate blasted Billboard’s tallies —  which are ironically based on Luminate data — as ‘inaccurate’ and ‘unauthorized.’

If that isn’t confusing enough, read on.

Strangely, despite the demands by Luminate for corrections on Digital Music News, Billboard wasn’t updating their figures. A few days after DMN’s first report on the extreme decline, Billboard’s ‘Market Watch’ tally of format sales transitioned to a 32.6% year-over-year decline with a new disclaimer. Now, the vinyl sales figures have been removed entirely.

Exactly why Billboard has scrubbed its site of vinyl sales remains unclear, and owner Penske Media Corporation (PMC) declined to issue a statement on the matter.

Lying at the heart of this mess is a significant transition in how Luminate counts vinyl sales. Leading into 2024, Luminate’s updated methodology prompted howls of protests from independent record stores and vinyl groups. The result: indie retailers, led by the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA), branched off and launched their own vinyl chart, with Luminate sticking to their drastically reduced year-over-year figures.

Luminate told DMN that year-over-year comparisons were impossible given the methodological changes created at the beginning of 2024. These are two different counting methods, according to Luminate, though the revised methodology clearly resulted in dramatically lower figures.

Billboard’s ‘Market Watch’ page for ‘Album Consumption Units by Format’ on October 15th, 2024.

But year-over-year comparisons aside, why are the 2024 figures so much lower? Regarding the drastic change, Billboard issued this disclaimer on its site:

“NOTE: As previously reported, Luminate changed the methodology behind its independent retail sales reporting beginning Week 1 of 2024. While the new modeled methodology more accurately represents the independent retail market, there is not available comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend regarding physical sales, including vinyl, and therefore any YoY changes reflected here are not a clean comparison and should not be taken as such.”

It should be noted that sales figures from the RIAA, BPI, and IFPI all show continued year-over-year gains in 2024 vinyl shipments.

Those are documented in detail in DMN Pro’s investigatory report on the matter. Indeed, 2024 has witnessed a crush of vinyl releases from Taylor Swift, all variations of The Tortured Poets Department. That seemed like a dousing of lighter fluid on the vinyl bonfire, though it’s unclear how those releases registered on Luminate’s redialed radar.

So what happens next?

At one point, Luminate reversed course and stated that vinyl sales were actually up 6% on the year. A few days later, however, it slipped that this sudden increase was only generated after indie record store tallies were completely removed from the mix. And Billboard never changed its figures to reflect the increase (even though Luminate demanded that DMN change theirs).

Enter Penske Media Corporation, which counts both Billboard and Luminate as properties. It now appears that Billboard and its sibling Luminate are huddling on the next steps, perhaps figuring out which revised dataset to present to the world.

Will a dramatic ‘reversal of a reversal’ result?

Billboard now has a choice: switch to Luminate’s revised single-digit year-over-year gains, or stay consistent with its monstrous year-over-year declines. Or, something in-between.

Either way, more vinyl-counting fireworks are almost certainly ahead. Stay tuned.

Photo Credit: Patrick Perkins

Yesterday, Digital Music News reported on a severe year-over-year drop in US-based vinyl sales, based on data provided to Billboard by Luminate. Now, Luminate has clarified that sales have not dropped 33.3%, but are actually up 6.2%. So what the heck is going on here?

For nearly two decades, the music industry has been witnessing a steady comeback in vinyl record sales. But is that Cinderella story ending? Now, a confusing and conflicting slate of new data from Luminate, a leading music industry data company that powers Billboard’s charts, is throwing matters into doubt.

The fracas started with a weekly Billboard national music consumption report, which pointed to a 33.3% year-over-year drop in US-based vinyl sales, citing data provided by Luminate (formerly known as ‘MRC Data’ and the acquirer of Nielsen Music). The reason for the plunge, according to information shared with DMN by the Vinyl Alliance, is that Luminate has changed how it reports data on physical media sales this year by stripping out indie retailers and dramatically decreasing their resulting sales estimates.

According to the Alliance, the decision to exclude physical indie record retailers makes accurate year-over-year sales comparisons impossible because of the changed models.

The move apparently excludes more than 1,500 independent record stores in the United States, though it appears that Luminate’s estimates are no longer forming an accurate picture of total US-based physical sales.

Luminate isn’t sharing methodology details with DMN, though according to Alliance stats, Luminate tracked 47.3% fewer vinyl sales in January and February 2024 than the same months in 2023. That trend seems to have continued as the year has progressed, with Luminate receiving less actual data from independent retailers protesting the changes.

Here’s where this gets even more confusing: Luminate warned last year that its change in methodology would result in 2024’s vinyl sales numbers appearing to be significantly lower. Independent retailers have also been protesting Luminate’s data collection change, and some are no longer supplying any sales data to Luminate.

Yet despite those warnings, Luminate suddenly reversed its position this morning. Out of the blue, the company told DMN that YTD vinyl sales are actually up more than 6% on the year, though it’s not clear why they’re making the sudden and extreme change.

Are indie retailers back in the mix, or did Luminate mess up their broader sales estimates?

Already, there’s a big rift emerging. The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), the Record Store Day board, and the Music Business Association have all launched an alternative chart to measure physical and vinyl sales. But Luminate now seems to be toggling between two different sales totals, with the vinyl ‘comeback’ suddenly in doubt.

Luminate previously extrapolated indie retailers’ physical album sales using a methodology that weighted actual sales by a smaller sample of independent stores. Billboard estimates suggest the previous methodology used weighted sales from around 70 accounts totaling 140 storefronts to represent the 1,500 to 2,000 independent retailers operating in the United States.

In January, Luminate began basing indie physical sales solely on actual retailer sales reports. But it appears that Luminate is no longer getting the big picture from these retailers due to the protest. The company is only receiving reports from around 33 accounts with 70 storefronts, according to Billboard estimates.

But there’s more than potentially bad accounting. “Luminate is penalizing serious, career-building, album-oriented artists on the charts,” Matador Records President Patrick Amory told Billboard earlier this year. “Their sales are not being counted. Their market share is being allotted to the majors. That is a disaster for independent musicians, labels, and retailers.”

The Vinyl Alliance was quick to correct what it calls ‘misinformation’ surrounding the drop in sales. “US vinyl sales through the first three quarters of 2024 are actually up 6.2%—as reported by Luminate’s readjusted model which accounts for the previously mentioned changes,” the Vinyl Alliance says.

Coalition of Independent Music Stores President & Record Store Day Co-Founder Andrea Paschal says retailers tried to work this out with Luminate before the methodology change, but were “ignored and left in the dark, often finding out by word of mouth after the fact about major decisions that affected our stores.”

Pascal says Luminate has made “decisions that continued to erode and marginalize the efforts and sales taking place in indie stores while also misrepresenting the contributions of these unique retailers to the overall tally of physical goods sold and to the music industry as a whole, because their reporting is based on what you would call a mere data-sample representation of existing independent record stores.”

Meanwhile, DMN is catching wind of a potential conflict between longtime partners Luminate and Billboard.

At press time, Billboard hasn’t adjusted their figures to reflect the 6.2% year-over-year readjustment. Instead, they’ve modified their original year-over-year decline to —32.6%. Both companies are owned by Penske Media Corporation.

Luminate data as recently presented by Billboard.

After more than a decade of rising sales for the vinyl format, sales have fallen off a cliff this year with an estimated plummet of more than 30% year-over-year. What’s going on?

Update, Oct 16th AM: Luminate has confirmed to DMN that their earlier data was completely wrong. Vinyl Alliance GM Ryan Mitrovich first alerted DMN to the problem via email, though it’s currently unclear why Luminate’s data is being readjusted so dramatically. So far, Luminate has not offered any explanation for the change.

Luminate data reveals a 33.3% drop in vinyl sales for the year 2024 compared to 2023. That’s a drop from 34.9 million units in 2023 to just 23.3 million sold in 2024. Luminate data for other formats reveal this isn’t a vinyl-only problem, either. CD sales have fallen 19.5%, while sales of digital albums have dropped 8.3%. Album sales across all formats have dropped 23.8% year-over-year—dropping from 75.5M sold in 2023 to just 57.5M sold in 2024.

While the decline across physical media could be attributed to lack of consumer demand amid wallet tightening, the drop for vinyl is precipitous. While there’s some speculation here on what’s causing the drop, one answer could be higher vinyl prices as the format gained steam among collectors. Cost of living across the United States has soared in recent years, which could make spending $40 to $50 per record an untenable purchase for some consumers. That’s especially true when the same album can be streamed online for the price of a monthly Spotify or Apple Music subscription.

Digital Music News has covered the expansion of vinyl production in recent years, but bottlenecks in the creation process lead to higher prices for consumers. Supply chain issues exacerbated by the pandemic have led to higher manufacturing costs for vinyl producers—which means there’s not a lot of give in the end price consumers pay for a vinyl record. The rising cost of raw materials like PVC is also a contributing factor, with higher production costs passed on to consumers.

The vinyl format benefited from the cultural trend of nostalgia for older formats, with many music lovers seeking out records as the ‘authentic’ listening experience. But the trend of buying vinyls of albums may be starting a downward spiral as casual listeners opt for streaming and music collectors become more selective about the albums they’re purchasing each year as costs rise.

Vinyl fatigue may also be a factor for some consumers. For example, Taylor Swift has released 34 variants of The Tortured Poets Department, each with exclusive tracks, album art, or acoustic versions of songs. The intent there is to get superfans to collect all of these vinyl releases to complete their collection—but fans may be getting burned out on re-purchasing a vinyl album at $50 a pop for a single bonus track. Despite the plummeting vinyl sales across the board, Taylor Swift did come out on top in Luminate’s mid-year report.

The Tortured Poets Department sold 2.474 million copies throughout the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft took second place with around 306,000 copies sold and Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter takes third with 257,000 sales. Luminate data says the trend of physical album variants really kicked off about four years ago—we may be seeing the beginnings of consumer fatigue to these variations. Billie Eilish has notably spoken out against the practice, calling it ‘wasteful’ in an interview with Billboard earlier this year.

Children’s audio platform Yoto has announced $15 million in additional funding and disclosed plans to spearhead an aggressive global buildout. Photo Credit: Yoto

Just months after revealing a $22 million injection, children’s audio platform Yoto has scored “a $15 million funding package” from HSBC UK and set its sights on an aggressive international expansion.

London-headquartered Yoto, now approaching its 10th year as a company, reached out with word of the $15 million raise. Put up specifically by HSBC UK’s Growth Lending Fund, the capital will help the Universal Music– and Warner Music-partnered recipient expand into additional markets, higher-ups signaled.

As things stand, Yoto operates in five countries, having launched in Australia this past July. Now, however, the self-described “screen-free audio player for children” has made clear that it’s “looking to increase its reach organically beyond these existing international markets.”

In terms of anticipated accomplishments, Yoto says the $15 million at hand will lay the groundwork for an almost 100 percent increase in its export volume as well as an adjacent revenue spike. “The business is expecting to double revenues as a result of the funding,” reads the relevant line from Yoto’s official release.

At the intersection of the export and revenue goals, manufacturing of the namesake Yoto Player and the content cards (each featuring an audiobook, a collection of songs, or different audio entertainment) it supports will ramp up as well, the business indicated.

North of 1,200 of these cards are already available for purchase, including greatest-hits volumes from Queen and the Beatles. On the appropriate website, the Queen and Beatles cards are available to purchase for a cool $14.99 apiece, with a 52-minute duration for the former and 29 minutes for the latter.

Elaborating on his company’s objectives for the newly secured funding, Yoto CFO Ben Averis emphasized the above-outlined “ambitions to become truly global.”

“This funding provides a great leverage point to build on our rapid growth. We have ambitions to become truly global – supporting more communities around the world and providing high-quality, child-centric audio content that fosters creativity and independence in young listeners,” communicated Averis.

“We were presented with various funding opportunities and are glad to have chosen to partner with HSBC UK. The bank’s strong trade links will help us scale our manufacturing and deliver even greater value to our customers,” concluded the Pricewaterhouse Coopers vet.

Photo Credit: RIAA

The RIAA has released its mid-year report for 2024, revealing that U.S. recorded music revenues rose 4% to $8.7 billion in estimated retail value. That’s a record sum, according to the major label trade group, though paid subscription accounts improved just 2.7% year-over-year.

Recorded music revenues in the United States have grown for nine straight years, according to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) stats dating back to 2016. Digital streaming has now entered its third decade in the US, with paid music streaming subscriptions remaining the driving force of the industry.

By the first-half numbers, streaming now delivers more than two thirds of total revenues (84%), averaging 99 million plans over the first half of the year. The RIAA notes that this figure is easily over 100 million individual users as household plans such as Spotify’s family offering count as a single subscription in its data.

Photo Credit: RIAA

These are bullish numbers, and growth is always great. But do they demonstrate the presence of a streaming slowdown?

Picking the data apart, revenues from paid subscription services overall grew 3.8% in the first half of 2024—reaching $5.7 billion and accounting for 78% of streaming revenues. Limited-tier subscriptions actually fell 4% to $503 million and include services such as Amazon Prime, Pandora Plus, and music licenses for streaming fitness services like Peloton.

Zeroing in on one of the most important stats: ‘Paid Subscriptions,’ which refer to typical subscription accounts from the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and others, bumped a modest 2.7% year-over-year, according to the RIAA figures, suggesting a plateau ahead.

Meanwhile, advertising supported on-demand services like YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, and others have grown at a slower pace than recent years—up only 2% to $899 million. These ad-supported services contributed only 10% of total H1 2024 recorded music revenues.

Photo Credit: RIAA

Digital and customized radio grew 2% to $672 million in 2024 with SoundExchange distributions for revenues from SiriusXM and internet radio stations as well as direct payments from other similar services. SoundExchange distributions grew 4% to $517 million, while other ad-supported streaming revenues of $155 million were down 3%.

Photo Credit: RIAA

Overall revenues continue to stand on a strong and wide foundation that music companies have worked for decades to build. Amazingly, a format that peaked nearly 50 years ago is still intermingling with streaming.

Vinyl records alone grew 17% this period and are on pace to break the billion-dollar barrier by the end of 2024. The RIAA says this report comprises the broadest range of revenue categories ever—from traditional sync deals and ad-supported services to fitness platforms like Peloton—as well as newly emerging short-form video apps.

Revenues from physical music formats continued to outpace all other major forms of recorded music. Total physical revenues of $994 million were up 13% versus the prior year. For the fourth consecutive year, vinyl outsold CDs in units (24M vs. 17M) Revenues from CDs were relatively flat at just $237 million in 2024 so far.

Digital downloads have declined in share for the 14th straight year, accounting for just 2% of U.S. recorded music revenues. (A not-so-fun fact here is that TikTok was paying Universal Music Group less than that sum in total revenues prior to the major label’s catalog  pullout.)

Both digital album sales and individual track sales were down $88 million and $82 million respectively.

Photo Credit: Lechon Kirb

SoundCloud says streaming isn’t enough for artists to survive, that’s why its launching the SoundCloud Store to diversify income sources for artists.

A select number of Next Pro artists can design exclusive merchandise for their fans with minimal effort, allowing artists to focus on their craft while driving meaningful revenue from sources beyond streaming. The SoundCloud Store will offer tees, hoodies, limited-edition accessories, and more from artists who want to build an authentic connection with their biggest fans.

In addition to supporting artists, the new SoundCloud Store will offer an Essentials Collection, which is SoundCloud-branded merch for fans who want to rep the music platform. The collection includes a range of high-quality items including t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and more. The SoundCloud Store is currently available in the United States, European Union, and Canada. Merch design is only available to a limited number of Next Pro artists to start and artists can only participate if they own 100% of their merchandising rights.

Artists who are a member of SoundCloud Next Pro can apply to participate in this new merchandising program. All items are made to order through SoundCloud and are hosted on the SoundCloud store—with no hassle or upfront costs to artists. Artists who are part of the launch of this program include Wiz Khalifa, Denzel Curry, wolfacejoeyy, Bktherula, and Armani White with 100% of profits generated going directly to these artists.

“We’re always looking to help artists get heard, get fans, and get paid,” SoundCloud says in its official blog post. “It’s never been easier to connect with fans around your latest drop, whether that’s a fresh new track, a limited-edition hoodie, or both.”

SoundCloud launched its fan-powered ‘Buzzing Playlists’ in May 2024 to highlight up-and-coming artists that listeners enjoy. These playlists are updated weekly and are sourced from Next Pro artists who have opted in to have their tracks analyzed by First Fans. Songs featured in these playlists are based on ‘genuine engagement from fans’ and highlight up-and-coming artists on the platform in genres like pop, hip-hop, R&B, and EDM.

Photo Credit: Xavier Badosa / CC by 2.0

Bob Dylan fans’ dreams come true this fall with a 27-CD boxed set of his 1974 tour and live recordings, with 417 previously unreleased tracks.

Long have Bob Dylan aficionados begged for a more complete record of his historic 1974 tour with the Band as his backing group, dubbing his live double album from that year, “Before the Flood,” as insufficient. So how much do you love Bob Dylan? How about 400+ tracks’ worth?

This fall, Sony Music releases “Bob Dylan — The 1974 Live Recordings,” a boxed set across 27 CDs of Dylan’s live performances from the tour, releasing on September 20 via Columbia/Legacy. The set features 417 previously unreleased tracks, plus a dozen tracks from L.A.’s Forum that were already included on “Before the Flood.”

Interestingly, there will not be a full release of the collection in vinyl form — such a release would entail at least 50 vinyl records. But Jack White’s Third Man Records will be issuing a condensed vinyl version, a three-LP set augmented by a 7-inch single, which will contain one specially selected version of each song performed on the tour that was not previously included on “Before the Flood.”

That version, a green-vinyl companion volume, will be called “The 1974 Live Recordings — The Missing Songs From Before the Flood.” Fans looking to secure a copy will need to sign up for Third Man’s quarterly Vault subscription service before July 31.

It’s worth noting that the 1974 live recordings CD set is not being marketed as part of the ongoing “Bootleg Series” Bob Dylan collections. These offer a “more selective overview” of his work during a certain period. Instead, the 27-CD collection is best compared to the 14-CD “Bob Dylan — The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings,” which came out in 2019. That release was also not part of the “Bootleg Series.”

The new 27-disc set, though a massive collection, still pales in comparison to “The 1966 Live Recordings,” the 36-disc set released in 2016. Needless to say, diehard fans of Bob Dylan will have plenty of music to sate their appetite in the coming months.

Photo Credit: Liquid Death

Ozzy Osbourne warns teenagers not to snort Liquid Death’s new Death Dust electrolyte powder in the brand’s latest ad campaign.

Liquid Death’s new Death Dust, an electrolyte powder you add to water, has apparently been the subject of an unfortunate trend on social media of young people snorting it. To combat this, Liquid Death tapped Ozzy Osbourne, who is no stranger to snorting things, for a PSA to discourage consuming Death Dust like a drug.

The ad sees Ozzy leaning out of the window of his car to advise two young men equipped with Death Dust hydration powder that they had better not snort the stuff. And for that matter, don’t try freebasing it. Or injecting it. And don’t even think about boofing it. “Boof?” the boys ask. “You know,” Ozzy answers. “When you stick it up your—”

“Hey kids, Ozzy knows a thing or two about bad decisions,” writes the brand on their website. “Take it from him when he says our new, more intense flavored Death Dust hydration powder is much safer when you mix it with water and drink it.”

“I love how Liquid Death makes a healthy thing like hydration more fun,” said Osbourne in a statement. “Sharon, the family, and I drink Liquid Death all the time — it’s delicious. But seriously, don’t snort or inject anything they make. It’s much better for drinking.”

The new ad isn’t the first creative endeavor to come out of Liquid Death’s marketing department. The brand recently won its first Cannes Lion award, a Bronze Lion in the Social & Influencer category for its “Corpse Paint” spot with e.l.f. Cosmetics.

On Tuesday (June 25), Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife and manager, shared a video in which she explained that his planned appearance at the Mad Monster Party would have to be cancelled. Mad Monster Party kicks off July 12 through July 14 at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa in Westgate in Glendale, Arizona.

“Regretfully, the Osbourne family have to cancel our upcoming appearance at the Mad Monster Party in Phoenix because Ozzy is unable to travel at this time,” said Sharon. “However, Jack [Ozzy and Sharon’s son] will be there flying the flag for the Osbournes.”

“Everybody who bought the Osbourne package will, of course, get full refunds,” she continues. “We would like to thank you all for your constant support. It means so much to him, you have no idea. And all I can do is apologize that we won’t be there, and I’m apologizing for people we’ve let down from my heart. So God bless you all. Thank you so much.”

Ozzy was diagnosed in 2003 with a rare genetic form of Parkinson’s disease, which affects the nerve cells that send signals to the brain to control movements of the body. In November, he spoke to Rolling Stone about the possibility of returning to the stage: “I’m taking it one day at a time, and if I can perform again, I will.”

Photo Credit: Amazon

Amazon partners with Megan Thee Stallion for a Prime Day blowout ad, complete with an original song and music video for the sale’s tenth anniversary.

On Tuesday, June 25, Megan Thee Stallion unveiled an original song and accompanying music video, “It’s Prime Day,” in a partnership with Amazon for their tenth annual Prime Day sales bonanza. The video shows Megan purchasing fake eyelashes, cosplay and gaming items, kitchen supplies, pet supplies, and more from Amazon during the retailer’s two-day discount event.

“The music video was inspired by how customers use Prime Day deals to get closer to what they care about,” says Amazon. “We partnered with Megan and directors Dave Meyers and Mia Barnes from Radical Media to imagine how specific Prime Day deals could inspire all the different ‘Megans’ she could become.”

Notably, Megan Thee Stallion’s Prime song is also a bonus track from her forthcoming album MEGAN, dropping on June 28, and will be available for fans listening exclusively on Amazon Music.

Prime members can also shop Megan Thee Stallion’s Prime Day Picks inspired by her different interests featured in the music video. Amazon says it will also offer early deals on merch from Megan’s newest tour collection, Hot Girl Summer.

Amazon’s Prime Day two-day sales event offers discounts to Prime members who pay $14.99 a month (or $139 yearly) for access to perks like free shipping. This year, Prime Day will take place on July 16 and 17 — just after a four-day sales event from Walmart, which announced on Monday its intention to offer its “largest deals” in history between July 8 and July 11.

Amazon reports that Prime members in two dozen countries will take part in the summer discount event, which also marks the beginning of the back-to-school shopping season and rakes in beaucoup bucks for the company (albeit an undisclosed amount).

The online retailer has been hosting increasingly more sales events in recent years to attract customers in peak shopping seasons amid continued competition from low-cost retailers like Temu and Shein. In October, the company kicked off an October Prime event to ring in the holiday shopping season, and in March it held its first spring sales event for all customers.

Photo Credit: Earl McGehee / CC by 2.0

Fans claim autographed Bon Jovi albums were actually autopenned with a template of the frontman’s signature, accusing the band’s label UMG of deceit.

Some fans are accusing Universal Music of deceiving them, claiming the signed editions of Bon Jovi’s new albums contain autopenned templates of frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s signature, rather than authentic autographs from the man himself.

A thread posted on Autograph Live shows at least six alleged templates of autopen signatures across the album. The special edition autographed editions of Bon Jovi’s “Forever” cost the same amount as the standard edition, but fans claim it’s not about the price, feeling the lack of authentic signatures is deceitful.

“Buyers beware,” wrote one user on social media. “Bon Jovi store is sending out autopen signatures. Talk Shop Live is also sending out the same ones. The UK signatures appear to be hand signed.”

“I don’t care if it wasn’t super expensive — it’s the principle of the thing,” said another. “Disappointing.”

Update: TalkShopLive responded to the allegations and noted that they are not selling the Bon Jovi merch in question. “We did not sell or ship Jon Bon Jovi’s new album. It is not a product that is available at all on Talkshoplive, and never has been,” the company emailed DMN. The company also responded to the tweet in question.

Some have complained the signature is on the sleeve rather than the album itself; other versions are said to have it printed on a darker background that makes it difficult to see. But the variation in location for the signature doesn’t denote a lack of authenticity — it just seems to add insult to injury.

“Looks like Bon Jovi is the latest to sell autopenned as autograph,” wrote another fan. “Dear UMG, it’s costing you a lot of money to lie about your products. How many people are getting a refund on this? I know your time is so precious, but lying to fans ain’t the win. Nobody wants autopenned.”

A spokesperson for Bon Jovi simply said, “Jon has posted often,” and referred to a photo of the rocker in which he appeared to be signing copies of the album. But nobody was accusing Jon of not having signed any of them — fans have already indicated that some of the signatures are authentic.

The new Bon Jovi docuseries, “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” premiered in April, while the latest album, “Forever,” released earlier this month.

UMG has not yet responded to media requests for comment.

Photo Credit: Sonopress

Sonopress has developed a CD made from 90% recycled polycarbonate—sourced from post-consumer waste streams collected by non-profits like The Ocean Cleanup. This new EcoCD is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 78% and avoid the manufacture of more than five metric tonnes of virgin plastic.

Coldplay’s Moon Music album that is being printed on reclaimed river vinyl will be the first album released on EcoCD. The vinyl version of Moon Music uses nine recycled PET-plastic bottles per 140g EcoRecord LP—reducing emissions there, too.

“We are excited to announce the launch of our latest product, the EcoCD,” Sonos Managing Director Sven Deutschmann told Digital Music News. “[EcoCD] is a pioneering, sustainable storage medium that protects the environment while offering top product quality. Our development of the EcoCD underlines our commitment to supporting the music industry in its efforts toward circularity and climate neutrality.”

Sonopress developed the EcoCD with strict sustainability criteria in mind after the success of its EcoRecord project. The base material for the CD is polycarbonate, 90% of which has been reclaimed from post-consumer recycled material. Only 10% of the starting material for these EcoCDs uses new fossil-based plastic. Deutschmann notes that the carbon footprint of this material is more than 70% lower than that of newly produced polycarbonate.

EcoCD is produced on conventional injection molding machines, which R&D experts at Sonopress modified extensively to accommodate the recycled polycarbonate’s differing viscosity and other properties. “We are delighted to be making a contribution to sustainability with this new product and are thrilled that our customer Warner Music has decided, together with Coldplay, to release the band’s album as an EcoCD,” Deutschmann continues.

Coldplay’s album Moon Music is available for pre-order now with delivery expected in October 2024. Music collectors now have the choice between a reclaimed plastic vinyl or an EcoCD to support the band’s commitment to reducing their environmental footprint for merch and touring.

Photo Credit: The Ocean Cleanup

Coldplay has partnered with The Ocean Cleanup to release a limited ‘Notebook Edition LP’ release of the band’s album Moon Music. This album will be pressed using reclaimed plastic intercepted by The Ocean Cleanup from Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala.

The Ocean Cleanup project aims to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Achieving this goal involved a two-pronged approach—cleaning the oceans and installing interceptors at river mouths that empty into the ocean. Interceptors capture trash in rivers to prevent it from entering the ocean.

The partnership with Coldplay’s Notebook Edition LP is an innovative approach that answers the question of what to do with all of the reclaimed plastic. It is one of many product partnerships the company engages in to create new sustainable and durable products. The plastic from this project comes directly from Interceptor 006, which is deployed in the Rio Las Vacas mouth since 2023 to prevent plastic emissions into the Gulf of Honduras.

Interceptor 006 made significant impact and captured large quantities of plastic—which has now been sorted, blended, and tested. This plastic will be used to manufacture Coldplay’s limited edition physical release, using 70% of river plastic and 30% recycled waste plastic bottles from other sources. Coldplay provides financial support for the non-profit organization’s cleaning operations. It also sponsors Interceptor 005 in the Klang River, Malaysia.

Coldplay and The Ocean Cleanup Project collaborated closely during the intensive testing and quality control process. Processing and manufacturing partners Biosfera GT, Compuestos y Derivados S.A., Morssinkhof and Sonopress also contributed to the process of creating this recycled materials vinyl LP.

“Coldplay is an incredible partner for us and I’m thrilled that our plastic catch has helped bring Moon Music to life,” adds Boyan Slat, Founder & CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. “Ensuring the plastic we watch never re-renters the marine environment is essential to our mission, and I’m excited to see how we’ll continue innovating with Coldplay and our other partners to rid the oceans of plastic together.”

As of June 2024, the non-profit organization has collected over 26.4 million pounds of plastic from aquatic ecosystems around the world. The Ocean Cleanup was founded by Boyan Slat in 2013 and no employs a team of around 140 people, with headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It opened its first regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2023.

Photo Credit: Julien’s Auctions

A guitar once used by John Lennon has sold for nearly $2.9 million at auction, setting a new world record for the highest selling Beatles guitar.

The 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar used by John Lennon in the recording of the Beatles’ 1965 album Help! and seen in the film of the same name, had been lost for over 50 years. The guitar was recently discovered by a family in the rural British countryside during a move, and subsequently put up for auction.

The guitar’s provenance was authenticated through Julien’s Auctions by the Beatles historians Andy Babiuk and Danny Bennett, and was put up for auction with an estimate of between £485,000 and £647,000. It sold for an unprecedented £2.3 million (approximately $2.9 million), through a telephone bid at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York on Wednesday as part of a two-day music icons sale by Julien’s Auctions.

Co-founder and director of Julien’s Auctions, Darren Julien, said he travelled to the UK to have the guitar authenticated at the house it was being stored in. The original case was also salvaged, which had been thrown in a trash bin.

“We are absolutely thrilled and honored to have set a new world record with the sale of John Lennon’s lost Hootenanny guitar,” said David Goodman, chief executive of the auctioneers. “This guitar is not only a piece of music history but a symbol of John Lennon’s enduring legacy. Today’s unprecedented sale is a testament to the timeless appeal and reverence of the Beatles’ music and John Lennon.”

The instrument was once owned by Scottish guitarist Gordon Waller, known as one half of the pop duo Peter and Gordon. He later gave the guitar to his band’s road managers. The guitar was made by the Bavarian firm Framus in the early 1960s.

It was most famously used by John Lennon during the Beatles’ recording sessions for Help!, including the tracks “It’s Only Love,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” and “Girl,” and on the rhythm track for “Norwegian Wood” played by George Harrison. The guitar can be seen played by Lennon in the Help! movie when the group plays “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”

Julien’s Auctions sold another Lennon guitar in 2015 — a J-160E Gibson acoustic guitar stolen from him that was later unwittingly purchased by a musician in the late ‘60s. That instrument sold for £1.6 million (or around $2.4 million at the time). The company also sold a drum kit used by Ringo Starr for $2.2 million, and a copy of the Beatles’ White Album once owned by him.

Aespa (pictured) has released a debut studio album entitled Armageddon, and an over $100 edition includes a CD player and more. Photo Credit: SM Entertainment

After South Korean fans purchased north of 115 million physical albums during 2023, Aespa has sold out a more than $100 physical edition, complete with a CD as well as a CD player, of its debut studio album.

That album, Armageddon, became available via streaming platforms today. Coinciding with the SM Entertainment-signed group’s first full-length project is a series of physical editions packaged with posters, stickers, postcards, and more. And the most interesting of these editions appears to be that featuring the CD player.

Manufactured in South Korea and available only to domestic customers, the CD player option also includes five photocards, 10 stickers, and a Korean-language lyric sheet for the album, according to the appropriate product page. The Korea Times has reported that wired earbuds are part of the offering as well.

Priced at ₩145,000 (currently $106.45), the CD player Armageddon package is sold out on the main purchase page – that is, through SM itself. (One Instagram post plugging the product, published by Karina four days back, has racked up 1.61 million likes.) Pre-orders are expected to begin shipping out in late July, SM relayed, and it stands to reason that the player could encourage further physical sales down the line.

All told, Armageddon pre-orders – across all versions, not solely that boasting the CD player – have topped one million units, per SM. During today’s trading, the Kakao-allied business’s shares (KOSDAQ: 041510) spiked 5.27 percent to ₩95,800 ($70.30) apiece.

As mentioned at the outset, 2023 delivered record physical sales in South Korea – with K-pop acts dominating the year’s global albums chart and performing well on the IFPI’s bestsellers list (for artists’ overall physical, streaming, and downloads) as a result.

While only time will tell whether K-pop mainstays can top last year’s album sales in 2024 – Seventeen alone sold the better part of 20 million units in 2023 – leading companies are teeing up aggressive release schedules. For SM, that includes more than 35 total albums, among them an upcoming project from Red Velvet.

And notwithstanding the high-profile battle involving Ador and its Hybe parent, NewJeans released an EP entitled How Sweet this past Friday. Regional reports have indicated that the four-track effort (including “How Sweet,” “Bubble Gum,” and instrumental versions of each) moved a whopping 800,000 units on its first day of availability.

Also finding audiences are releases from relatively seldom-discussed K-pop acts such as Zerobaseone, which debuted in July of 2023 and dropped You Had Me At Hello two weeks ago. During the first week of availability, the seven-song EP sold over 1.4 million total units, Circle Chart data shows.

Photo Credit: Clem Onojeghuo

The explosive years of vinyl’s recent growth trend have drawn down—is now the time for more sustainable vinyl to take center stage? A new survey reveals consumer interest in sustainable vinyl is at an all-time high. Here’s the latest.

Between 2019 and 2020 (before the pandemic) vinyl sales grew 46.2% according to data collected by Luminate. From 2021 and 2022, vinyl’s growth rate exploded to 51.4% as new and old collectors alike rediscovered their love for the format. But vinyl sales from 2021 to 2022 grew only 4.2%—signifying a slowdown in interest. Could this slowdown be the time to explore more sustainable vinyl production?

Vinyl media made up 43.4% of all physical media sales in 2022—so it’s still quite popular among those who collect physical media. 48% of all vinyl sold in the United States is sold through independent record stores, while 32.8% of records are bought online—usually from artist stores. Vinyl sales hit a high in the week ending in December 22, with 2.232 million records bought. That breaks a previous weekly sales record for December 23, 2021 when 2.115 million records were sold.

A recent survey conducted by Key Production—the UKs largest broker for physical music production—says it sees increased demand for environmentally friendly vinyl among music consumers. Two-thirds (69%) of respondents to a recent survey said they would buy more records if they were made with reduced environmental impact. 77% of those respondents said they would be willing to pay a premium for reduced environmental impact products—a significant shift in demand for eco-friendly vinyl products.

What’s even more interesting is that general respondents (83%) said they don’t perceive or can’t tell a difference between 180g heavyweight vinyl and other alternatives. Among vinyl buyers, that number is still as high as 70% who don’t believe there’s any difference between standard and heavyweight vinyl.

“As consumer awareness of environmental issues continues to grow, it is evident that there is a substantial market opportunity for eco-friendly vinyl records,” says Karen Emanuel, CEO of Key Production Group. “Regarding 180g records—while this is often seen by the industry as a more sought after product, this survey shows that the industry is actually getting it wrong. Customers aren’t valuing the weight as they think.”

“High quality records can be made at 140g and this slightly lower weight can have a hugely positive impact across the whole supply chain.”

Vinyl record sustainability conversations in the industry have increased since 2020. Most recently Billie Eilish released her latest record with a sustainability plan in place. Vinyl copies of Hit Me Hard and Soft were pressed to either reground or bio-attributed vinyl and all the packaging was made from recycled materials.

While the years of explosive vinyl sales may be flattening out, vinyl sales are still reaching all-time highs. Recent data from ERA shows the combination of Record Store Day (April 20) and Taylor Swift’s latest album—The Tortured Poets Department— has delivered the highest weekly sales of vinyl albums in 30 years. As demand for new vinyl grows, producing it sustainably becomes something consumers want the industry to focus on.

“What we’re seeing is a consumer shift towards a demand for physical music made with a reduced [environmental] impact,” adds John Service, Strategy and Sustainability Director at Key Production Group. “Vinyl can be made more sustainably with new compounds which replaces the fossil-fuel ingredients, and packaging can be made with completely recycled materials.”

“With the increasing demand, we’re here to work with artists, labels, and other stakeholders to ensure we are creating high-quality physical music that is produced as sustainably as possible and meets the needs and values of today’s music consumers.”

Photo Credit: Kazuhisa Otsubo / CC by 2.0

Sam Ash music stores, which began with a single New York shop in 1924, will be closing all 42 of its locations this summer after 100 years in business.

The family-owned music store chain, Sam Ash, which has supplied musicians with instruments for 100 years, is closing all 42 of its locations by the end of July. According to Derek Ash, great-grandson of Sam and Rose Ash, who opened the first location in Brooklyn in 1924, the company couldn’t compete with online retailers.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that effective May 2, 2024, all Sam Ash Music Store locations will begin store closing sales,” the Ash family wrote on the company’s website. “This unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals across our premium selection of musical instruments and pro sound equipment. We will also be offering specials [online] during this time. Thank you for allowing us to serve musicians like you for 100 years.”

Sam Ash first announced closing 18 of its locations in March, in the hopes of that buying the company additional time before they would have to shutter all locations. Unfortunately, that time has come.

“A lot of this has been the move to online shopping,” said Derek Ash, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. “There are so many choices, and to maintain a store with that much selection is very difficult.”

Some Sam Ash locations — which exist across New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Ohio — will close by the end of May. The remainder will close by the end of July.

Many musicians for whom Sam Ash locations provided a communal music lovers’ experience have expressed their disappointment at the news. “It’s been a vital part of my life for as long as I can remember,” one musician posted on Facebook.

Others shared their nostalgia at frequenting the music stores, especially in New York during the 1990s, when the area was filled with music shops such as Rudy’s Music and Manny’s Music.

Photo Credit: Materia Music

Materia Music acquires Ship to Shore PhonoCo’s video game music inventory and catalog, further expanding Materia’s US market leadership of video game music soundtracks.

Materia Music, the Seattle-based independent record label and distributor, publisher, and rights administrator of video game music, has announced the acquisition of New York indie label Ship to Shore PhonoCo’s video game music inventory and catalog, further expanding their US market leadership of video game music soundtracks as both a label and a storefront.

The acquisition sees Materia gaining licensed properties with video game publishers including Capcom, Konami, Nintendo, Sega, Sunsoft, and Taito.

“Materia’s core strength exists as a music tech, music rights, and royalty platform. This independence has allowed us to grow and excel in areas that other labels in our space cannot,” said Sebastian Wolff, Founder and CEO of Materia Music.

The news comes less than six months after the company announced its acquisition of Australian gaming record label Boss Battle Records. Boss Battle is home to the work of composers like Kevin Penkin, known for his work on entries in the Star Wars and Pokemon video game franchises. The two entities had been in acquisition talks since 2019.

“The acquisition is not just a benefit to our artists, but a critical step toward the future of the ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) video game music industry,” Wolff said at the time.

Materia’s diverse roster of composers, recording artists, and game companies includes billions of streams across the most impactful and most listened to video game music in history.

As a record label, Materia has released nearly 1,000 albums digitally, on vinyl, CD, and cassette tape, representing nearly 10,000 recordings. The company’s storefront, Materia Store, lists nearly 1,500 unique products and distributes thousands of products to international fans of video game music.

Sheet music and vinyl records of soundtracks from the games UNDERTALE, Celeste, and Hollow Knight consistently out perform other products and IP. Materia’s catalog boasts approximately 15 billion annual streams and views across platforms.

Photo Credit: Jamakassi

Following an outcry of how Luminate gathers physical sales data from record stores, the data analytics body will now work with independent partners to gather that data.

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), and Department of Record Stores (DORS), who work together as Record Store Day, The Music Business Association, and Luminate have announced a new partnership for physical music sales reporting across the independent retail sector in the United States.

The new partnership went into effect on April 19 and will see Luminate collecting independent physical music sales, inclusive of CDs, vinyls, and cassettes, from StreetPulse. StreetPulse is a music industry data provider that receives daily metrics directly from stores. This data will be incorporated into the physical sales data that Luminate is already collecting from other retailers.

Billboard, which receives streaming, sales, and airplay data from Luminate to full its music charts, has also announced a rebrand of its Tastemaker Albums chart to Indie Store Album Sales—to reflect the weekly top-selling titles across independent stores in the United States.

“I’d like to thank the coalitions, the retail stores, and Luminate for taking this issue seriously and working together to reach a deal,” adds Music Business Association President, Portia Sabin. “Sometimes it takes a pinch to bring people together, and the industry response to the unweighting of physical data was perhaps necessary to highlight the importance of data to our industry.”

“I’d also like to thank so many people at the labels, distributors, and even individual artists for speaking gout and helping us to reach an agreement, because whenever our industry comes together to achieve a common goal it is inspiring for our future.”

“Luminate is always working towards the goal of providing quality and accurate data to the industry,” says Chris Muratore, Director of Partnerships at Luminate. “We always strive to be a good partner to those across the many sectors of the music and entertainment industries, and we are happy to announce this new partnership in alignment with that mission and our values.”

Photo Credit: Amanda Bemis

Audiodrome Record Pressing, the first entirely in-house solar-powered vinyl pressing plant in the US, opens its doors in Gainesville, Florida.

Audiodrome is the project of Dave Newell and Betsy Bemis, with a holistic focus on mitigating the environmental impact of pressing records while meeting the growing demand of vinyl. The rapid regrowth of vinyl has forced production to ramp up at an accelerated rate, which has led to struggles to meet the demand coupled with costly complications associated with pressing vinyl — a process that is notoriously impactful on the environment.

“Creativity is an essential part of our humanity and there is something about vinyl records that people find meaningful,” says Bemis. “They allow us to physically participate in the experience and build a tangible connection between the artist and the listener in a way that no other format does. It can be a beautiful thing, but the environmental cost of communion doesn’t have to be so high.”

To counter the negative environmental impact of pressing vinyl, Audiodrome will utilize resources and practices, including a fully solar-powered facility with steamless record presses featuring closed-loop chiller systems. The facility will burn no fossil fuels, and will generate no boiler chemicals or runoff, with minimal water usage. The company will also make use of recycled PVC to make new records, as well as offering a “Bio-Vinyl” option that will be fully available by May 2024.

“A big part of why I wanted to start this business is to have the opportunity to work with independent artists from all over and help them bring their projects to life,” says Newell. “It can be a daunting task as an artist to get your product out into the world; not only do you have to get your music recorded, but then you need to navigate mastering, artwork, retail, and a whole host of other considerations. A lot of bands and artists don’t even know where to start.”

“On top of that, it can be hard to get smaller runs of records pressed,” Newell explains. “We are committed to making the whole process an easy, transparent, and enjoyable experience that prioritizes our independent customers and their projects.”

Audiodrome has worked with packaging companies to develop new recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable exterior packaging. They continue to research new initiatives to find more ways to further minimize their impact.

“Real change will require a willingness to evolve on everyone’s part: suppliers, presses, artists, and customers,” says Bemis. “New materials might sound, look, and feel different, but ethically we have no choice.”

Amazon Music is officially “the exclusive merch provider” for Mariah Carey’s new Las Vegas residency. Photo Credit: Amazon Music

Amazon Music is officially “the exclusive merch provider” behind Mariah Carey’s new Celebration of Mimi Las Vegas residency.

The Amazon-owned streaming platform just recently announced the deal, with the artist’s latest residency kicking off at Park MGM’s Dolby Live theater today. Those who attend the shows (and those who visit Park MGM’s lobby gift shop) can, of course, purchase merch in person.

But on the e-commerce side, the Amazon Music collection, featuring a number of “exclusive items,” looks to be the only way to buy the products directly. That includes a variety of Celebration of Mimi t-shirts ($45 each), several types of sweatshirts ($90 apiece), a “fuzzy bucket hat” ($40), the vinyl anniversary edition of The Emancipation of Mimi ($32.99), and sweatpants ($90).

And while they didn’t seem to be available for purchase at the time of this writing, multiple additional items yet, among them a tote bag, a tumbler, a denim jacket, and a satin robe, are also part of the collection, Amazon Music disclosed.

It’s unclear whether Amazon is involved with the in-venue merch; coordination on inventory comes to mind given the exclusive nature of the items. In any event, it’ll be interesting to monitor the commercial results of the tie-up, which will presumably span the entire Celebration of Mimi residency.

Having started today, as mentioned, the event’s initial run is scheduled to wrap on Saturday, April 27th. Then, as a result of “extraordinary demand,” a second set of performances will begin on Friday, July 26th, and conclude on Saturday, August 10th, 55-year-old Carey announced yesterday.

Between the residency runs, certain diehard fans (possibly including past attendees and current ticketholders) could well turn to the e-commerce giant for the five-time Grammy winner’s merch; some of the products are already climbing Amazon’s sales rankings.

Moreover, logic and evidence suggest that the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” singer-songwriter would move all manner of items should the residency extend to or near the holiday season. Bigger picture, it’ll be worth closely following the ways Amazon Music leverages its parent’s decidedly significant merch capabilities, which competitors such as Spotify and Apple Music appear to lack.

Admittedly, these efforts aren’t new; Amazon Music launched a merch store, complete with exclusive products, back in 2021. But the increasingly high-profile initiatives seem to have ramped up as of late, including, besides the Mariah Carey union, a Renaissance Tour agreement with Beyoncé, a merch-integration pact with Bandsintown, and Stagecoach 2024 merch.

Photo Credit: WMG

The first Record Store Crawl events since the pandemic will happen this year across the United States. The Warner Music Group event is presented by Audio-Technica this year—with a fan-voted city in the mix.

The seventh crawl location will be chosen by vinyl collectors across the United States through voting, in a partnership with non-profit HeadCount. Participants are encouraged to check their voter registration status ahead of the 2024 election.

For the 2024 Record Store Crawl, attendees will experience exclusive performances, special edition vinyl releases, and unique giveaways on the Record Store Crawl bus. The event will start in New York City on May 18 before wrapping up in October in Los Angeles. Each date will offer a music-filled day complemented by delicious food, refreshing drinks, and more. See below for official dates.

The crawl will also include the launch of exclusive, limited-edition vinyl releases, including the first-ever vinyl release of Portraits by Quarters of Change. Also included this year are re-issues of the Twilight Saga soundtracks. Record Store Crawl exclusive LPs will be available at independent record stores nationwide and on the Record Store Crawl website.

Kicking off at Tower Records’ Brooklyn outpost, Tower Labs, the New York City Crawl will feature stops at prominent stores such as Generation Records, Rough Trade, and Crawlers which will have a first look at Audio-Technica’s turntable store coming soon to SoHo.

Record Store Crawl Dates

• 5/18 | New York, NY ft. Quarters of Change
• 6/15 | Seattle, WA ft. Joe P
• 7/20 | Austin, TX ft. Joe P
• 8/10 | Nashville, TN ft. Knox
• 9/7 | Headcount VOTE Crawl (TBD) ft. Joe P
• 10/19 | Los Angeles, CA ft. Alicia Creti

Tickets for each date go on sale April 9 at the official Record Store Crawl website. Vinyl enthusiasts who want to participate in choosing the city can vote now on the website to choose the location for the September 7 date.

Photo Credit: Hybe Labels

IFPI releases three more Global Charts for 2023, celebrating the biggest albums of the year across different formats — Taylor Swift, SEVENTEEN, and Morgan Wallen come out on top.

IFPI, the organization representing the recorded music industry worldwide, has announced three additional Global Album Charts to highlight the biggest releases of 2023 by sales and the top selling vinyl and streaming albums of the year.

The announcement follows last week’s launch of the IFPI Global Music Report, which announced annual growth in recorded music revenues of 10.2% globally, including an increase in subscription streaming revenues and double-digit growth across physical formats.

Leading the Global Album Sales Chart is Korean group SEVENTEEN (pictured), hot off the heels of their IFPI Global Album Chart success. Their album FML sold 6.4 million units globally in 2023, breaking the record for the most pre-orders ever for an album in South Korea.

An unprecedented 19 of the Top 20 albums on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart came from South Korean acts, demonstrating the global dominance of their physical album format.

The only non-Korean artist to reach the Top 20 was IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year, Taylor Swift — her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) also topped the IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart. Swift held each of the top three spots in the IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart, with an impressive seven albums reaching the Top 20 of that chart overall.

Fellow American artist Morgan Wallen achieved his first IFPI Global Chart No. 1 with the IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart. That chart counts global streams from both ad-supported and subscription platforms, calculating a weighted global unit number that accounts for differing economics across regions.

Morgan Wallen’s 2023 album, One Thing at a Time, was the biggest streaming album of the year on that basis, with Wallen also clocking in at No. 9 with Dangerous: The Double Album.

“Congratulations to SEVENTEEN and Taylor Swift for their second IFPI Global Charts awards of 2023, and to Morgan Wallen for his first ever global number one,” said Lewis Morrison, Director of Global Charts & Certifications at IFPI.

“Each of these artists created (or in the case of Taylor, reimagined) incredible music which found a global audience and achieved enormous commercial success in 2023, and the charts themselves highlight the multitude of ways in which music fans are engaging with their favorite albums all over the world.”

“As highlighted in IFPI’s Global Music Report, revenues from both digital and physical music formats continue to see healthy growth, and the combination of fantastic artistry, format variety, and the tireless work of record labels is the foundation on which this growth is built. Well done to everyone who featured in each of the album charts, which are a great summary of a fantastic year for global recorded music.”

IFPI Global Album Sales Chart 2023

IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart 2023

IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart 2023

Photo Credit: Bandzoogle

Music website platform Bandzoogle announced that in 2023, musicians made over $16.4 million in commission-free revenue using the platform’s direct-to-fan sales tools. For Bandzoogle and its members, the number represents significant year-on-year growth — a 21% increase from 2022.

The following was created in collaboration with Bandzoogle, a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.

Stacey Bedford, CEO of Bandzoogle, commented that it was ‘rewarding’ to see artists make an incredible amount of commission-free sales via Bandzoogle websites. “One of our main goals is to help make it easier for musicians to make money from their music by selling directly to their fans.”

Breaking down the $16.4 million artist revenue, musicians sold over $8.8 million worth of merchandise — including apparel, CDs, and vinyl. Digital music generated over $1.7 million in 2023, representing an increase of 28% compared to 2022.

However, ticket sales were the most significant area of growth for Bandzoogle’s members.

The platform reports that artists sold $4.1 million worth of tickets — commission-free — via Bandzoogle-powered websites, representing an impressive 102% increase from 2022.

Bedford pointed out that artists are better off selling tickets to events ‘directly to their fans, with no commission taken and no hidden fees,’ adding, “It’s another example of how savvy musicians can use our built-in tools to keep more of their hard-earned money while moving their careers forward.”

Acquired by DistroKid in 2023, 20-year-old Bandzoogle views fan engagement as a core strategy for musicians to generate revenue from their music online.

The platform allows artists and bands to build a commission-free store to sell music, merchandise, and tickets. Artists can manage their physical inventory, offer discount pricing or product bundling, connect with Printful to sell customized print–on-demand products to their fans, choose from multiple shipping and payment integrations, and more.

Bandzoogle’s built-in fan subscriptions feature also represented a significant revenue stream for artists, generating over $800,000 in 2023.

Fans also supported their favorite artists via Bandzoogle’s virtual tip jar feature, donating nearly $1 million to Bandzoogle members.

News of the revenue generated by Bandzoogle members in 2023 comes after the platform recently announced a new EPK Plan, which allows musicians to craft an impactful, single-page electronic press kit in minutes.

Bandzoogle powers over 65,000 websites for musicians, allowing them to earn over $121 million in commission-free revenue to date.

Plans start at just $6.95/month. Artists can try it for free at Bandzoogle’s website here.

Photo Credit: Sonopress / WMG

Sonopress produced the world’s first EcoRecord for Warner Music Group for an exclusive release of Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s new joint album.

Storage media producer Sonopress has produced and delivered the first EcoRecord order for Warner Music Group (WMG) — sustainable LPs in orange manufactured for an exclusive release of the eponymous joint album from Liam Gallagher and John Squire. The EcoRecord is available now through Amazon worldwide, and as JB Hi-Fi in Australia.

The EcoRecord is a new long-playing record that uses recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) rather than polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as its base material. The production process involves no natural gas or steam, meaning the environmental impact of the manufacturing process is reduced by up to 85% compared to conventional vinyl.

“We’re delighted that rock legends Liam Gallagher and John Squire have chosen to release an edition of their first joint album as an environmentally friendly EcoRecord.”

“We’ve used the past few weeks to meticulously check every production detail, refine all production parameters, and optimize the quality of the finished product, so we could go into regular production at the beginning of the year with complete confidence,” says Sven Deutschmann, Managing Director of Sonopress. “It’s great to be able to finally talk about the project after many months of hard work; the team at Sonopress have smashed it.”

“We’re proud to launch this stunning sounding, vibrant EcoRecord alongside Warner Records, Liam and John, and Sonopress,” adds Miriam Lessar, VP of Global Release Management at Warner Music International. “We’re huge advocates of sustainability at Warner Music Group — it’s vitally important for its artists and employees, and we hope to continue to lead by example in the industry. This is just the beginning of our journey, with exciting innovations to come as we advance more climate conscious products aligned with our climate goals.”

The first EcoRecords were produced on a new injection molding machine with nozzle contact pressure of up to 300 tons. The production line was completed at the end of last year, along with other required special tools and additional equipment, also developed entirely by Sonopress. It used the same injection molding process that has been used for decades to produce laser discs, CDs, DVDs, and other digital storage media.

The EcoRecord’s launch comes as the global vinyl market continues to experience growth; the IFPI reports revenues rose by over 17% in 2022, the third consecutive year of double-digit growth.

Photo Credit: Kevin Burkett / CC by 2.0

Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign have a new album coming and to celebrate the duo hosted a listening party in Chicago. Ye sought permission from Ozzy Osbourne for a sample of “Iron Man” but was denied—he used it anyway. Now Ozzy is speaking out.

The new album is called ‘Vultures’ and a listening party was announced on February 5. Tickets to the event at the United Center in Chicago sold out the next day. The album was originally slated to be released on December 15, 2023 but sampling difficulties from Nicki Minaj and apparently Ozzy Osbourne have left the album without an official release date. Ozzy took to social media to decry the use of the sample and to clear the air—saying no permission was given.

“Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of ‘Iron Man’ from the U.S. festival without vocals and was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many,” Ozzy said on X/Twitter. “He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night. I want no association with this man!”

Sharon Osbourne also chimed in, saying her husband typically does not refuse to clear samples—but made a special occasion to refuse Kanye West’s use of the sample. In speaking with TMZ about the issue, Sharon Osbourne says the couple sent a cease & desist to the rapper after hearing about the sample being used in a live performance.

According to Rolling Stone, Kanye has already removed the sample of “Iron Man” from the album version of “Carnival.” Instead, the song now features a sample of the Kanye song, “Hell Of A Life,” which featured a legally-cleared sample of “Iron Man.”

Following a bout of anti-semitic comments made on social media in 2022, the rapper was subsequently suspended and faced many social repercussions. His lawyers, talent agency, and record label dropped him—while his billion-dollar deal with Adidas imploded. On December 26, 2023 he issued an apology in Hebrew to the Jewish community.

At the listening event for his album, he raps “How I’m antisemitic? I just fucked a Jewish bitch,” and the line “And I’m still crazy, bipolar, antisemite / And I’m still the king.”

Photo Credit: Fat Beats

Rostrum Pacific acquires renowned retail brand and distributor, Fat Beats.

Rostrum Pacific has announced the acquisition of legendary retail brand and distributor, Fat Beats, hot on the heels of the 20th anniversary of Rostrum Records and the launch of Rostrum Pacific as a multifaceted entertainment company.

Fat Beats will continue as its own entity under the guidance of Rostrum Pacific’s team, including Kevin Engler as General Manager of Fat Beats, and Bobby Israeli as Rostrum Pacific’s Head of E-Commerce. The acquisition enables Fat Beats to maximize its strategic growth with access to resources, tools, and Rostrum Pacific’s sister companies.

For Rostrum artists, the partnership provides the direct backing of Fat Beats’ wholesale distribution, e-commerce support, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment with an open line to brick-and-mortar stores.

“Fat Beats is a legendary brand that I’ve been a fan of for decades. From Rostrum Records to our most recent expansion of Rostrum Pacific, we’ve diligently outlined the next 20 years of our company. One of our goals has been to get vertically involved with physical distribution, and Fat Beats is a key part of that strategy,” says Benjy Grinberg, Rostrum Pacific founder and CEO.

“Together we can offer a level of professionalism, strategy, and forward thinking that most physical companies lack. The ability to acquire Fat Beats and help it grow to new heights is incredibly exciting for us.”

“As a pillar of the independent hip-hop community since 1994, it was important to me to ensure what we’ve built over the last 30 years is well cared for and respected,” added Joe Abajian, founder of Fat Beats. “We have found the perfect custodians in Benjy and the Rostrum Pacific team, and we’re confident that Fat Beats now has the expertise and resources to continue growing well into the future.”

Key to the next phase of the company is the naming of two former Universal Music Group executives: Kevin Engler as GM of Fat Beats, and Bobby Israeli as Head of E-Commerce for Rostrum Pacific. Engler brings his 30 years of music industry experience, while Israeli has led the e-commerce teams and strategy for UMG’s East Coast labels, such as Def Jam, Island Records, and Verve Music Group. Both executives will report directly to Rostrum Pacific COO, Jonathan Partch.

Vinyl groups are pushing the ‘Indie Sales Chart’ in response to calculation changes at Luminate. Photo Credit: Andrea Cipriani

One month ago, Digital Music News reported that vinyl groups were prepping an alternative sales-calculation model following controversial changes from Luminate. Now, the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) and others are rallying behind a newly launched “Indie Sales Chart.”

The VRMA emphasized its support for the Indie Sales Chart via a formal release, about five weeks after Luminate doubled down on plans for a revamped approach to calculating physical sales at the retail level. Already in effect, these changes have, in brief, seen the Billboard chart-data provider cease estimating physical music sales figures for the whole indie sector based upon samples.

Instead, Luminate is now factoring solely for vinyl sales reported to it directly by indie retailers in the U.S.; according to the mentioned Billboard, the data company says its present reporting encompasses 95 percent of “U.S. independent retail stores that reach over 1,000 sales per week.”

But the VRMA and an objective analysis of pertinent sales stats suggest that a significant number of retailers have been left behind under the new system.

Enter the aforesaid Indie Sales Chart, which is being billed as a joint initiative from Record Store Day, StreetPulse (which had already powered the latter’s existing chart), and HITS.

Per the VRMA, this alternative chart “will track point-of-sale data from independent retailers” – over 200 of which are said to be enrolled at present, “with more on the way.” The organization also took the opportunity to reiterate vinyl’s long-running sales resurgence in the U.S. and other nations.

“The 2023 numbers have indicated that the demand of vinyl is continuing to grow,” VRMA president (and Hand Drawn Pressing chief creative officer) Dustin Blocker communicated in part. “Luminate’s new reporting, with such a small percentage of indie retailers onboard, is an inaccurate representation of the strength of the record pressing industry, with the potential to have a negative ripple effect on pressing plants and the vinyl supply chain.”

As 2024 progresses, it’ll be worth monitoring the number of additional retailers that begin submitting data for the Indie Sales Chart. Bigger picture, time will tell whether the just-established chart can draw substantial attention away from its Luminate counterpart and/or prompt fresh changes in the calculation methodology at hand.

Regarding vinyl’s previously noted comeback in countries besides the U.S., trade-body breakdowns likewise point to strong showings in Italy, Spain, Japan, and the U.K., to name a few.

Photo Credit: Dzmitry Tselabionak

Self-service vinyl platform Qrates seems to have imploded with no word to artists who utilized the service—leaving thousands of customers without vinyl they paid to receive.

Qrates promised to offer a one-stop shop for artists who wanted to sell vinyl records on demand directly to their fans. The service was founded by Taishi Fukuyama and is based in Tokyo, but over the course of 2023 the company has ghosted nearly all of its customers.

The company promised to handle all production, warehousing, shipping, and customer service for music fans—so artists could focus on making music. Qrates advertised being able to press as few copies as 100 vinyls or 50 cassettes, making it seem like an ideal approach for small indie artists. It advertised the ability to crowdfund production costs, so artists don’t have to front anything financially or buy inventory they risk not selling.

Around July 2023, Qrates reported a cybersecurity incident with their shipping company. As a result, the company stopped shipping vinyls, despite telling customers that the incident would have no impact on their ability to ship goods. Artist Jade Cicada has revealed around 200 people who purchased a vinyl from them received their record around July/August 2022. Since then, Qrates has ceased shipping for all orders.

“Qrates works off of pre-orders, long pre-orders,” one frustrated artist writes on Reddit. I put my order in January 2023 and I can no longer dispute the order with my credit card provider or PayPal.” Meanwhile, Qrates promises fans who order on the service: “Records and cassettes purchased from Qrates are carefully packed one by one in our affiliated warehouses in the U.S., U.K., and Japan in special packaging and shipped to our customers worldwide.”

The only update from Qrates is an orange banner at the top of their website that states, “We are currently suspending the acceptance of new project starts, due to maintenance work to stabilize the service.” So Qrates is not accepting new projects, but it also is not shipping products that were pre-ordered more than six months ago.

A help article from their website that was published at the beginning of December 2023 says that “orders will start shipping soon.” It notes that operations will resume in a limited shipping capacity, but there’s been no indication that people are receiving records they’ve purchased despite this notification.

Another artist has detailed their troubles in getting Qrates orders to customers. “I’m a relatively small artist who has several projects through [Qrates] and I have fans/customers that have been waiting way too long to receive their orders. The oldest order is pending from July 2022,” the artist writes.

“I have talked to other artists and they are in the same position. Customer support has been unhelpful and has blamed the warehouse for the delay and then later changed it to a ‘hacker breach’ excuse. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s hard to believe their reasoning, as it has changed over the last few months.”

American funk band Vulfpeck was left with customers wondering where their vinyls are to the point that the band switched to a different vinyl producer. “Trying to get in touch with support. No one is responding. Please check email,” the band wrote on Qrates’ official Instagram more than three months ago.

“I ordered two other Vulf records through Qrates and none of them ever came with tracking. They only took six months to ship though and I’m never ordering with them again after this experience. Glad Vulf has already moved to another company,” one frustrated user wrote on social media.

So What’s Going on with Qrates?

At this point, it’s unclear if the vinyl producer will ship all of the record orders it received in 2022. Several artists have moved their production elsewhere, while rumors abound about why the company has been so slow to fulfill orders. One rumor suggests it may be an issue with Qrates vinyl pressing partner.

“Qrates uses GZ Media as their pressing plant. GZ was well known for being a safe plant for sample-based music. Lots of vaporware artists got their stuff pressed there, for instance. Around June 2022, GZ started using AI technology to identify samples and require clearance documentation. A LOT of Qrates’ projects were sample-based music, and around the middle of this year, a lot of projects had to be mass refunded.”

While that is speculation, it could explain why Qrates seems to be having trouble shipping records for so many smaller projects.

Photo Credit: Julio Rionaldo

U.S. vinyl record sales topped 2 million in the week before Christmas (ending 12/21) according to data firm Luminate. The format’s sales continue to grow, but proposed changes to how Luminate calculates these sales in 2024 have some vinyl groups seeking data from the source.

According to Billboard, this past week in vinyl sales was the third-largest week of the modern era, since Luminate began tracking sales data in 1991. Holiday shopping and promotions likely contributed to the massive sales week, with Taylor Swift’s 1989 coming out on top with 57,000 copies sold. Swift’s re-release of her albums gave her the top four spots of best-selling vinyls. Taylor Swift’s total vinyl sales were 194,000—accounting for 9.5% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. for that week.

Luminate says it has plans to direct report sales from indie record stores, rather than offering a weighted average as it currently does. Vinyl organizations have opposed the change, including The Vinyl Alliance and the Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association (VRMA).

“With less than 5% of independent physical retailers currently reporting directly to Luminate, the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation of the sales of physical products,” the VRMA told Digital Music News earlier this month.

Since Luminate plans to go forward with its data reporting changes on December 29, VRMA says it is actively engaging with alternative third-party reporting source to “collect and report quarterly data at the record-pressing plant level to ensure we have a counter-balance to Luminate’s reporting.” It’s unclear who that third-party partner may be, but it will be interesting to see the data compared to what Luminate reports as these changes take effect.

Luminate claims it receives 93.3% reporting coverage for sales data, but industry sources claim that’s a gross overstatement. According to Forbes, who spoke to a major label source, around 600 indie stores sell meaningful amounts of records and of that number, only 12% report data to Luminate. The VRMA estimates that the changes could impact vinyl reporting by as much as 40%.

Audiophile Music Direct and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) have officially settled a class-action complaint centering on the latter’s mastering process. Photo Credit: Jace & Afsoon

A federal court has officially signed off on a settlement agreement as part of a much-publicized class-action lawsuit centering on Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s unadvertised incorporation of digital mastering.

The court just recently granted the plaintiffs’ motion for final approval of the settlement, besides dismissing the complaint (which had named as defendants MFSL as well as its Audiophile Music Direct parent, the operator of the namesake Music Direct) with prejudice. The signed decision by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, was shared with Digital Music News earlier this morning.

One of several suits levied against MFSL over the “Ultradisc One Step” and “Original Master Recording” descriptors and adjacent claims made about certain products, this particular complaint was filed by customers Stephen Tuttle and Dustin Collman back in August of 2022.

In the interest of relative brevity – DMN has already covered the largely overlapping cases’ pertinent details – the plaintiffs maintained that they’d paid a premium for MFSL products because the records were meant to have been created via an all-analog process.

But it came out last year that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab had for some time been incorporating digital into its mastering process. Pushback promptly followed the alleged misrepresentation’s entrance into the spotlight, and apologies as well as other media initiatives from MFSL were evidently unable to convince ticked-off consumers to forgo legal action.

Though the litigating audiophiles’ arguments revolved around the same main points, as mentioned, the parties proved less united in their position as to how the matter should be resolved.

In May of this year, the presiding judge granted a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement for the complaint that Tuttle and Collman had submitted.

However, multiple individuals behind similar suits in different venues had formally opposed the estimated $25 million settlement, including $10,000 apiece for the two plaintiffs, as much as $290,000 in attorneys’ fees, and a combination of refunds and coupons for class members, DMN reported.

Notwithstanding these qualms, the settlement has been finalized, as noted at the outset. Different legal documents show that related cases, which will presumably be shelved now that a nationwide settlement’s come to fruition, had been stayed pending the settlement outcome.

On the 5th, the court overseeing another suit, filed in Illinois by an individual named Adam Stiles, set a late-January deadline for the “next status report on the Tuttle litigation,” per a docket entry. This judge is also overseeing a complaint against Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab from one Gregory Bitterman and established an identical status-report cutoff.

Lastly, a California federal judge in late February stayed a different suit yet, from a plaintiff called Thomas Molinari, pending a determination on the settlement that just wrapped.

Photo Credit: Sander Crombach

Vinyl LP sales in the UK increase for a 16th consecutive year as the physical music market enjoys a robust 12 months, according to analysis from the BPI.

Vinyl album purchases in the UK have risen for the 16th consecutive year in 2023, growing at their fastest rate this decade, according to analysis of Official Charts data by the BPI. With just a few more days left in the year, the vinyl market in 2023 has increased over four times as fast as the year previous — with an 11.7% rise to 5.9 million units, up from a 2.9% improvement in 2022.

New releases from artists including Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi, Taylor Swift, and The Rolling Stones have led the increase, with the ever-rising demand for vinyl albums and other physical format releases reflecting a thriving market. In the UK, this is further exemplified through the popularity of independent record stores, paired with the success of specialist music and entertainment chain HMV, which re-opened its original flagship store on London’s Oxford Street this November after a four-year absence.

More than four-fifths of recorded music consumption in the UK is now made up of streaming, but demand for vinyl LPs continues to surge; the market is at its highest annual level since 1990. Over a quarter of a million vinyl albums have sold in the UK just last week alone — the highest sales week for the format this century.

Meanwhile, the CD market has sustained its smallest annual decline in nearly a decade this year, as it moves closer to a plateau. Nearly 11 million CDs were sold across 2023, while sales of cassettes topped 100,000 units in a calendar year for the fourth consecutive year.

“Led by vinyl, the resurgence of physical product underlines the resilience of the UK music market at a time when streaming consumption continues to hit record levels,” says Dr. Jo Twist, OBE, BPI Chief Executive. “Whilst LP sales have now been on an upward path for the past 16 years, it is encouraging to see a stabilization in demand for CD, as well as new generations of music fans falling in love with the cassette. It is giving people more choice than ever in how they enjoy their favorite music.”

Seven of the 10 biggest vinyl LP sellers this year are 2023 new releases, led by Taylor Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Lewis Capaldi’s “Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent,” Kylie Minogue’s “Tension,” Blur’s “The Ballad of Darren,” and The Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds.”

Over 40% of the 100 most-purchased vinyl LPs of 2023 were released in the past two years, including releases by UK artists such as The 1975, Depeche Mode, Ed Sheeran, Gorillaz, Liam Gallagher, and Noel Gallagher. This is alongside big-selling vinyl releases from international artists including Blink-182, boygenius, Olivia Rodrigo, Paramore, Queens of the Stone Age, and the soundtracks to the films “Barbie” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”

Here are the top pro tips to ensure you make the most out of your time at the NAMM Show — from DMN and NAMM organizers themselves.

The NAMM Show, organized by the National Association of Music Merchants, is one of the largest music industry events in the world. Aimed at uniting the global music, sound, and entertainment technology communities, the annual show serves an incredible experience — whether you’re an influencer, content creator, musician, producer, retailer, instrument manufacturer, or buyer. Here are some top tips for attending NAMM like a pro.

NAMM is right around the corner and will take place on January 21-25, 2025, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California.

Every year, NAMM produces this epic trade show to strengthen and promote the music products industry — specifically instruments, gear, and the technology that backs them all. But the show offers more than just a showcase of these products.

If planned correctly, the event can unlock opportunities to kickstart lucrative deals and make lasting business connections. NAMM isn’t just a retail-focused show, it’s a broader industry gathering that surrounds you with tens of thousands of like-minded people. Just recently, NAMM partnered with DMN to showcase the extensive opportunities that sometimes get missed by attendees.

Pete Johnston, Director of Marketing at NAMM, explains how The NAMM Show kickstarts new avenues of music businesses. “The NAMM Show is a launchpad for a lot of careers,” Johnston told DMN, adding, “I always talk about the inspiration — I come home so fired up after some NAMM sessions.”

“Companies and ideas are born at NAMM,” says Johnston.

“I see people morphing and changing and playing different roles — with music being the core. The foundation underneath all of this is active music — the art of actively participating in music.”

Whether you’re an influencer, creator, musician, producer, or a tech developer, you can leverage the NAMM Show to grow your audience, brand, and business. If you’re planning to network, make valuable connections, score an endorsement deal, or nab a spot on an interview or podcast, the time to prep would be right now.

Here are the top pro tips to ensure you make the most out of your time at the event — from DMN and NAMM organizers themselves.

1. If you’re a content creator or influencer, “Leverage NAMM for collaborative opportunities and endorsements,” says Alex Solano from AlexProMix.

Solano says arranging meetings with software and hardware companies before the event will maximize opportunities — for channel growth, scoring a feature on a panel or podcast, or to nab a brand endorsement deal. “Initiate conversations through emails or direct messaging on social media to book slots,” Alex advises. “Engage in dialogues about potential video projects, and synchronize your content timeline with their product release dates. This proactive strategy secures exclusive content that aids in expanding your channel’s reach and enhancing the company’s market presence.”

Solano shares that companies are on the lookout for influencers who can attract the next generation of music creators. He emphasizes that NAMM can be a tool for artists and producers to evolve from regular users of music products to brand endorsers. “Compile a portfolio or EPK that shows your use of a brand’s equipment, highlighting its integration into your performances or productions. Visit the brand booths with confidence, present your portfolio, and propose a partnership for endorsements.”

2. Whether you’re an artist, producer, or a music tech mastermind, don’t shy away from connecting with media outlets in advance.

“Request interviews to discuss your innovative contributions to the music industry, whether it’s through recent works or new technologies like AI and Dolby Atmos,” Solano also advised.”Landing features on podcasts or video interviews can boost your brand’s narrative and solidify your footprint in the music industry.”

3. Prepare for a ‘NAMM Show Week.’

Johnston reveals that even though the four official exhibit days run Thursday to Saturday, ‘we also have events, meetings, and education sessions starting on Tuesday, January 21st’ adding, “We’re calling it a NAMM Week. It’s a gathering spot for the week for a lot of the industry.”

4. Attending the NAMM Show as a member and non-member.

A NAMM membership is specifically tailored to provide relevant benefits and support. It also entitles members for year-round benefits, including access to the NAMM Show. Register as an individual member, Service Provider, Manufacturer Representative, Commercial Affiliate, Retail Affiliate, or Retail Professional. Your NAMM Show badge will reflect membership type.

If you’re not a member and want to attend the show, NAMM requires every user to register directly with a unique email address.

5. Don’t look like a tourist with a map — download the NAMM Show+ App for effective floor and time management.

Head over to the NAMM schedule on the NAMM Show+ App — for attendees and exhibitors — well before the show. It has everything you need, including hotel reservations backed by NAMM and its official housing partners.

Plan your vendor appointments around the sessions that you want to attend. Strategizing from the get-go is the best approach to get the most out of NAMM.

View the terrain to map out a plan that works for your goals and your company’s. The NAMM Show+ App gives you everything you need to access educational sessions and details, guiding you where you need to be – and when. Connect with attendees, get navigation tools to help plan your meetings (using the map of the show floor will help you avoid walking back and forth), and stay up to date with post-event stuff.

Head over to the NAMM schedule on the NAMM Show+ App.

6. Leverage the 200+ educational opportunities for NAMM member communities.

NAMM has also announced over 200 industry and educational opportunities for the show for NAMM member communities. These professional communities include retail, brands, professional audio, music tech, live event production, artists, music education, nonprofit and community leaders, college music business students, and more.

Johnston talks about a program called TEC Tracks where it’s all about music production, dissection, how people made albums, mastering, immersive audio, AI, and others. “There are so many people that started businesses because of somebody they met at The NAMM Show, or an idea they gathered from the opportunities there,” said Johnston, adding, “Get in with the developers, the engineers, and you never know what you’ll create or what you’ll start.”

John Mlynczak, president and CEO of NAMM explained how this years’s show is aiming to reconnect the global music industry and excel on every level, ‘from our music stages, to educational and industry programs, to incredible exhibitors on the show floor,’ adding, “The NAMM Show will provide critical platforms and industry innovations that will drive growth to create a better future for the next generation of music industry leaders.”

As a snapshot of 200+ educational sessions up for grabs, members can check out the following:

Music Business Track features 45+ sessions to educate business leaders in our industry, with a focus on artificial intelligence as a marketing and business-efficiency tool, along with key sessions on leadership, social media and online marketing, finance, music lessons and retail tech.

Audio Production and Music Technology Track with 65+ sessions covering the latest innovations and new ideas in recording, live sound, music technology and music business.

Entertainment Technology Track brings 25+ sessions and training opportunities for professionals in lighting and production design, rigging, touring — even event safety to navigate a post-pandemic world.

College Students and Faculty Track; K-12 Educator Track offers 46+ sessions, workshops, and events for music students and faculty in collaboration with the College Music Society (CMS) and others — with multiple opportunities to network with industry professionals.

Non-Profit Track will offer sessions that cover tools of community building via the creation of and support to non-profit music service organizations, alongside best practices, fundraising, and governance.

NAMM’s education sessions are free, and Johnston says, “If you have a NAMM badge, you get to come and get educated.”

7. Take advantage of the NAMM U Breakfast Sessions

Coffee, food, and music is on the menu with early morning sessions and panels. You’ll get to network before the venue gets packed and crowded.

8. Balance fun with goals — but don’t get distracted.

Even though it’s fun to watch every demo, concert, and artist signing (whether you’re a regular attendee or it’s your first time), don’t let all the fun distractions cannibalize your time. Decide exactly what’s worth seeing, pick up innovative ideas that apply to your business or brand, and remember to take notes.

9. Prepare to be overwhelmed — but remember you can ‘choose your adventure.’

The NAMM Show is big — many football fields big. Picture a small town that’s packed with the population of a small city. The NAMM Show is a broader music industry gathering rather than just a retail-focused show. The buzzing global marketplace is a massive celebration — it will be loud, chaotic, and a bit mad.

According to Johnston, people who feel the NAMM Show is too big are forgetting that they can pick portions that excite them and suit their goals. “You can choose your adventure. And whichever adventure you choose, it’s going to benefit you. It’s like a campus with all the different majors. you have your communities, and you can grow your knowledge and your skills.”

10. Avoid bottlenecks: travel, shuttles, dining tips, more.

If you’re flying to attend NAMM, your trip will be smoother if you pick a flight on lower-traffic days. Tuesday or Wednesday are generally the best to ensure you miss the crazy rush.

And here are a few last tips; wear comfortable shoes (you’ll be walking a lot), and grab a pair of earbuds (NAMM gets loud!). Plus, arriving early to avoid the pouring NAMM crowds can save time and energy. For meals, aim to eat outside of normal mealtimes — say, grab a bite at 11:00 am instead of 12:30 pm.

Enjoy!

Vinyl for sale at Vinyl Solution Records’ San Mateo location. Photo Credit: Mick Haupt

Last week, Luminate confirmed plans to move forward with changes in the way it calculates physical music sales attributable to indie retailers. Now, having opposed the pivot from the outset, vinyl organizations are in talks to begin collecting data directly from record-pressing plants.

The Vinyl Alliance and the Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association (VRMA) reached out to DMN with a formal response to Luminate’s changes, which are expected to go into effect on the 29th. Formerly P-MRC Data, Luminate provides sales information for Billboard’s charts and, in brief, is poised to cease estimating the commercial particulars of the entire U.S. and Canadian indie-physical markets based upon a collection of samples.

Instead, the entity intends to account only for indie sales reported directly to it by retailers. And while Luminate has identified a purported “consensus that the current weighted modeling should be retired,” the aforementioned Vinyl Alliance and the VRMA have made clear their position that the switch would effectively box out the vast majority of indie record stores.

“With less than 5% of independent physical retailers currently reporting directly to Luminate, the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation of the sales of physical products,” the VRMA and the Vinyl Alliance maintained last week.

As the changes are set to roll out in 10 days in any event, the VRMA and the Vinyl Alliance have underscored their belief that “the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation of the sales of physical products in general and vinyl specifically.”

To minimize this anticipated inaccuracy, the organizations are calling on “Luminate to expedite its efforts to onboard sufficient numbers of independent music retail locations to offset the removal of their current weighting calculation.”

“Anything short of this is an abdication of their responsibility to measure and publish accurate and accountable results,” the Vinyl Alliance and the VRMA communicated. “The public has the right to know that all sectors of the retail music business are represented accurately when Billboard announces its weekly charts. Without sufficient representation, this change will erode confidence in both Luminate’s market measurement and Billboard as the publisher of the weekly charts.”

Time will reveal the extent of Luminate’s onboarding efforts, but evidence suggests that the company may not be in a hurry to connect with the soon-to-be-excluded retailers.

Per Billboard, which is tied to Luminate via Penske Media, the data-focused business said its coverage extended to 93 percent of “the total U.S. physical market” as of mid-November, with sales figures collected from 95 percent “of U.S. independent retail stores that reach over 1,000 sales per week.”

Of course, touting the percentages doesn’t exactly imply an eagerness to develop an all-encompassing network of reporting indie retailers. Moving more than 1,000 non-secondhand units (with most of the sales presumably involving the long-surging vinyl) per week implies an average of at least 143 or so products sold each day.

According to the RIAA, 23.4 million vinyl units were shipped (not necessarily sold) in the States during 2023’s opening half. Needless to say, a sizable portion of the total is attributable to mega-retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

Assuming for argument’s sake that all the units had been forwarded to the approximately 1,400 stateside indie record stores identified by Record Store Day, though, the establishments would have received about 16,700 products apiece.

Spread out across the six-month stretch, those products, if completely sold off, would represent an average of only 93 units moved per store daily and 650 units moved weekly. That’s not to say indie record stores’ new-product sales are insignificant; instead, the top-level stats provide a rough idea of how very many retailers and cumulative sales may be left behind and underrepresented by Luminate’s new system.

Bearing in mind the points, the VRMA says it’s “actively engaging with an alternative third-party reporting source,” which would “collect and report quarterly data at the record-pressing plant level to ensure that we have a counter-balance to Luminate’s reporting.”

The VRMA didn’t elaborate upon these talks, but it’s worth noting that Record Store Day’s indie-store chart is powered by StreetPulse. The latter’s website says the company “provides daily sales data updated in realtime built on a powerful filterset producing millions of data combinations.”

Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo Credit: Joshua Olsen

Despite pushback from organizations including the Vinyl Alliance, Luminate is moving full steam ahead with major changes to the way it reports indie vinyl sales.

Luminate’s intention to proceed with the pivots, about which we reported earlier in December, entered the media spotlight in a recent piece from Billboard. Besides providing chart data to the latter, Luminate (formerly P-MRC Data) is tied to the publication via Penske Media.

Beyond these multifaceted ownership specifics, Luminate previously communicated that it would cease extrapolating physical sales data (for the still-surging vinyl and, less significantly, CDs and cassettes) for indie retailers in the US and Canada.

Abandoning this longstanding practice of estimating overall commercial volume based upon a limited supply of sales figures, Luminate explained in more words that it would instead begin counting only the sales reported directly to it by indie businesses.

As initially mentioned, the likes of the Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association (VRMA) and the Vinyl Alliance quickly expressed their opposition – including because of the small number of record stores that feed sales stats to Luminate.

“With less than 5% of independent physical retailers currently reporting directly to Luminate, the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation of the sales of physical products,” the organizations spelled out in a to-the-point joint statement.

Notwithstanding this and other concerns, though, Luminate is poised to implement the changes in just over two weeks, when its 2024 calendar year kicks off, per Billboard.

In explaining the decision to stick to the plan amid the aforementioned opposition, Luminate drew attention to a purported “‘consensus that the current weighted modeling should be retired.’”

Meanwhile, per Billboard’s description, the data company has indicated that it boasted as of mid-November 93 percent coverage for “the total U.S. physical market” as well as data inputs from 95 percent “of U.S. independent retail stores that reach over 1,000 sales per week.”

Behind the 95 percent figure, which may appear positive at a glance, logic suggests that more than a few record stores fail to hit the implied average of 143 non-secondhand products moved each day of the week – meaning that the percentage, in keeping with the vinyl organizations’ remarks, could potentially be far lower for all indie retail businesses.

Longer term, one needn’t stretch the imagination to grasp how the development may impact chart data in favor of certain super-popular projects.

In any event, Luminate is reportedly working with retailers to streamline reporting, including via support “resources,” with indie-specific bestseller stats expected to be forwarded to participating stores weekly once the retooled system is up and running.

Utopia Distribution Services and Proper Music Group MD Drew Hill. Photo Credit: Utopia Music

Notwithstanding the well-documented operational woes it’s grappled with throughout 2022 and 2023, Utopia Music has revealed that its UK warehouse shipped north of 3.3 million physical-media units during November.

The Switzerland-based company reached out to Digital Music News with word of the “record-breaking” November, which is said to be the “busiest month to date” for Utopia Distribution Services (UDS) since the September of 2022 purchase of Cinram Novum.

Despite this buyout’s having arrived about 15 months ago, it was only in late August that UDS, not to be confused with “film distribution and sales company” Utopia Distribution, opened the 269,000-square-foot Bicester warehouse (under a tie-up with Dubai World’s DP World) behind the initially mentioned distribution feat.

Then, we reported in October that Sony Music and Universal Music had seemingly swooped in with an asset-backed financial lifeline to keep UDS afloat. Though the precise details of the agreements weren’t publicly disclosed, regulatory filings shed light upon the stringent nature of the pacts, including the far-reaching powers held by the major labels over UDS in connection with the union.

In any event, Utopia Distribution Services specifically shipped 3,360,067 units (covering both physical music and visual-media products) throughout November, with a peak of 820,778 units moved during the month’s final week, according to the company.

The sum attached to the whole of November marks a 26.2 percent boost from October and its 2,662,314 units distributed, Utopia also signaled.

Particularly on the music side, the warehouse is said to distribute “70% of the UK’s physical music for clients” such as the aforementioned Universal Music and Sony Music as well as [PIAS] (in which Universal has a stake) and Cargo Music. Meanwhile, the final major label, Warner Music, has tapped UDS for “invoicing, cash collection and returns services,” per the latter business.

Addressing his company’s November milestone, UDS managing director Drew Hill emphasized the need for a capable and evolving distribution framework for physical products including vinyl.

“As demand for physical music continues to grow,” communicated Hill, “it remains essential that the recording’s business can benefit from a fit-for-purpose supply chain able to service the biggest major to the smallest indie.

“I am incredibly proud of the infrastructure UDS has built, with the success of our new warehouse being testament to the collective hard work from industry stakeholders to ensure physical formats can continue to thrive in years to come,” he concluded.

Photo Credit: Konstantinos Hasandras

A change to how Luminate reports indie vinyl sales has the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) and the Vinyl Alliance bristling. Here’s the latest.

In Autumn 2023, Luminate announced a change to how it reports physical sales (vinyl, CD, cassette), relying on a direct representation of sales reported from indie retailers in the U.S. and Canada who have agreed to participate in Luminate data reporting. Historically and currently, indie sales are algorithmically determined due to the small number of record stores contributing to weekly sales activity.

Both the VRMA and the Vinyl Alliance believe this shift will unfairly minimize numbers, creating a change in the true insight of indie sales at physical retail stores. “With less than 5% of independent physical retailers currently reporting directly to Luminate, the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation of the sales of physical products,” the group believes.

“There will be an immediate break between the market reporting by the RIAA and the IFPI, both important and globally recognized industry organizations. Reviewing current data, the overall U.S. physical market reporting could be reduced by as much as 40% in units and 35% in value in retail dollars,” the Vinyl Alliance estimates.

“This break from the historic measurement process will have many consequences, most notably the decimation of market share currently held by independent retail. This reduction will have an immediate effect, and the downward perception of the value of the market will reverberate around the globe.”

“We agree that accuracy is the goal and with the proper amount of time dedicated to onboarding an expansive list of new independent retail reporters, we will arrive at the desired destination—an accurate measure of the market confirming the most popular artists in any given chart week.”

In 2022, vinyl record sales surpassed CDs for the first time in 30 years, marking a huge comeback for the physical format. Luminate reported vinyl sales YTD for 2023 are up 18.4% in the U.S. with fifty-two pressing plants in the U.S. producing around 200,000,000 record discs per year. That capacity is expanding, with close to 200 plants targeted to be online by 2024.

“The continued growth of vinyl sales was the impetus for starting the Association,” adds VRMA President and Chief Creative Officer of Hand Drawn Pressing’s Dustin Blocker. “This new reporting would be a widely imprecise reflection of the popularity of physical products and the strength of the industry as a whole, with the potential to have a large ripple effect on not just pressing plants but the entire vinyl value chain.”

“We have over 50 members from across the industry which include half the pressing plants in the United States, but also audio companies, plating, mastering print, packing, technology, record labels, and of course, record stores, all of whom would be affected.”

Photo Credit: UMG

Universal Music Japan opens a UMG retail destination in Tokyo, dedicated to serving music superfans.

Universal Music Japan has announced the grand opening of a concept UMG retail store dedicated to supporting music superfans. The four-story superstore opened to the public on Friday, October 20, in the heart of Harajuku, Tokyo — a world-famous destination for fashion, culture, and fandom.

Locate on Takeshita Street, Universal Music Store Harajuku will serve as a hub for UMG artists and fans from around the world to connect in person. Spanning four curated floors, the store will feature dedicated fan experiences, product launches, and retail pop-up shops, while also serving as a platform for artists to express their creative visions and share them with their fans through exciting, unique events.

“We are excited to welcome the new Universal Music Harajuku concept store to Tokyo’s world-famous Harajuku district, a gathering point for people, styles, and culture from all over the world,” said Naoshi Fujikura, President and CEO of Universal Music Japan.

“This store represents an exciting new venture for UMG and celebrates the incredible impact and role that fans play in supporting their favorite artists. In the coming months, the store will offer unique fan experiences for our artists, both domestic and international, creating new commercial opportunities for our artists and business.”

“Like Harajuku as a district, Japanese music fans are globally known for their dedicated fandom, and this store will only help to strengthen the connection between our artists and their fans, while becoming the go-to destination in Tokyo for all fashion, culture, and music lovers.”

The new music store features the launch of the RS No. 9 Harajuku flagship store — a brand born in London, now opening its second global location. In 2020, RS No. 9 opened a street-level store on London’s Carnaby Street, gaining widespread attention from fans of the Rolling Stones for its apparel, merch, and exclusive collaborations, both online and in-store.

The Harajuku RS No. 9 location features the Stones’ globally recognized lips and tongue logo and offers a variety of unique items on display and for sale. The shop also offers exclusive Japanese-only merchandise to coincide with the release of the Rolling Stones’ new studio album, Hackney Diamonds.

“We’re thrilled to bring the RS No. 9 brand to Japan to support our new album,” said the band. “We hope our fans are excited to experience everything the store has to offer.”

UMG will announce additional artist and fan experiences to feature across the four floors of the Harajuku store in the coming months. IFPI notes Japan is the world’s second-largest music market and leads the world in physical music sales.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Interscope Geffen A&M Records

The Rolling Stones partner with Major League Baseball to release limited edition team-customized vinyl pressings of their new album, ‘Hackney Diamonds.’

Major League Baseball has teamed up with The Rolling Stones to release a limited edition vinyl collection of the band’s upcoming album, Hackney Diamonds, dropping on October 20. Available exclusively on The Stones’ website, the collectors’ item features custom art for each of the 30 MLB Clubs in pocket jackets containing a single disc baseball-white vinyl.

The connection between the two might not be obvious to the uninitiated, but The Rolling Stones have had a long history with MLB. During the band’s Steel Wheels Tour in 1989, the Stones played half of their North American dates at homes (or previous homes) to Major League Baseball teams. In 1997, their Bridges to Babylon Tour saw the band play at Dodger Stadium, while their A Bigger Bang Tour in 2005 started off with two shows at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Hackney Diamonds is The Rolling Stones’ first studio album of brand-new material since 2005. Earlier this month, the band launched a globally livestreamed event from Hackney Empire in East London to promote the upcoming release. The premiere of the music video for “Angry” immediately followed the livestream, which has enjoyed over 15 million views.

The 12-track album includes two songs featuring the late drummer Charlie Watts: “Mess It Up” and “Live By the Sword.” Additionally, “Live By the Sword” features former Stones bassist Bill Wyman and piano from Elton John, who also plays on “Get Close.” “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” includes vocals from Lady Gaga with piano from Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney’s bass can be heard in “Bite My Head Off.”

Although The Stones hadn’t released an album of new material since 2005, the band has continued to smash records with a series of global sell-out tours. Their 2016 release, Blue & Lonesome, featured their versions of many of the blues tracks that helped shape their sound. Last year, they delighted European audiences on their 60th-anniversary Sixty Tour.

Photo Credit: Sam Jones

Warner Records releases ‘Extra Mojo Version,’ a digital re-release of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ 2010 blues album ‘Mojo,’ featuring two previously unreleased tracks.

On October 20 — the late Tom Petty’s birthday — Warner Records will release Extra Mojo Version, a digital re-release of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ 2010 album, Mojo, featuring two unreleased tracks. The first, “Help Me,” a Sonny Boy Williamson II cover, is out today with an accompanying video featuring newly discovered footage of Petty and the band.

The band’s most blues-influenced record, Mojo features a collection of guitar-driven rock songs beloved by Petty fans worldwide. With such strong blues inspiration throughout the album, “Help Me” fits in perfectly among the expanded version. Tom Petty often played blues-heavy music on his radio show, “Buried Treasure,” including Sonny Boy Williamson II’s discography; Petty & The Heartbreakers performed a cover of the song during the recording sessions for the album.

Extra Mojo Version will also include “Mystery of Love,” a second previously unreleased track. The rare outtakes will be featured exclusively on the forthcoming digital version, also available in Dolby Atmos. The album’s other highlights include the hit “I Should Have Known It,” a driving rock track written by Petty and lead guitarist Mike Campbell, along with fan favorites “Good Enough,” “First Flash of Freedom,” and “Something Good Coming.”

The special vinyl reissue of Mojo will also release on October 20, now available for pre-order. The highly requested reissue will be available in a limited-edition translucent ruby red double vinyl LP pressing, also in Dolby Atmos and Spatial formats.

Recorded live in the band’s Los Angeles rehearsal space, The Clubhouse, Mojo was released in June 2010, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. “With this album, I want to show other people what I hear with the band,” said Petty. “Mojo is where the band lives when it’s playing for itself.”

With the rise of audio technologies such as Dolby Atmos on streaming platforms, spatial audio has become unmissable for all artists. Whether we discuss the perspective of well-established musicians or emerging artists, there’s no denying that the music industry is evolving, and leaning more and more toward a potential new standard of audio experience.

Sweetwater has been a long-term partner of Digital Music News, which is proud to share this news.

Apple Music launched the Dolby Atmos format on its platform in 2021, making waves in music streaming by giving significant visibility to new immersive audio formats. The following year, the platform reported that most of their listeners (80%) had switched to the spatial audio format. What does that widespread adaptation mean for music professionals?

Spatial Audio Well On Its Way to Become A New Standard

First things first: spatial audio is special because it matches a human’s natural perception of sound. At any given time, the human mind perceives and registers multiple sources of noise from our environment. There are several sources of sound when we walk down a street, for example. But when we listen to music in a stereo format, we receive only two sources of sound. With spatial audio, sound sources instantly jump to 37.

Thanks to its partnership with Apple Music, Dolby Atmos is now one of the most well-known formats. Developed by Dolby Lab, it allows the listener to be surrounded in immersive 3D sound. However, that is only one of the many gifts spatial audio brings to the table.

It goes without saying that any spatial audio format has to be taken seriously by all music professionals — especially artists and producing teams.

But there are two primary reasons why industry professionals should stay up to date on the spatial audio trend, and fully embrace it.

• • • To fit the requirements of music streaming platforms and maximize chances of getting playlisted, Dolby Atmos mastering is quickly becoming crucial for artists. Over the last couple of years, the audience for spatial audio mixes seems to be growing. Reports also suggest listener engagement for this format is higher than older formats.
    • With spatial audio, artistic vision can attain entirely new dimensions of listener experience. Major labels are in a rush to re-record and remaster back catalogs of some of the most influential artists. However, these actions of remastering tracks are not binary. Re-coloring music and dividing parts of it is highly subjective and specific equipment is required to get the job done right. All in all, spatial audio is taking up more space. It is giving artists more freedom to engage and attain specific aesthetics that fit their creative vision during studio mixing.

Staying Ahead Of The Curve: The Best Practices

So what now? Spatialized audio does make significant new promises for the creative process. However, to ensure that mixes fit an artist’s unique goals and ideas, the right equipment is crucial. Whether we talk about a home recording studio or a more professional space, the right setup is key. Every artist, producer, or music professional has their expertise and specialty. But when we talk about technical recording details in a studio, not everyone is capable of tackling it effectively.

When setting up a studio with the intention and the gear to create music in these new formats, you need to rely on the right people to guide you and set it up.

This collaboration-led excellence is what Sweetwater had in mind. After starting as a recording studio, gearing up to be on the cutting edge of technology, they created a commercial audio offer that could potentially benefit any music professional. From designing to building, the equipment can be expertly handled and utilized. However, the way these tools are leveraged is what will make or break the final track.

It’s all about learning from experience and artistic perception — something Sweetwater launched in their studio with workshops and masterclasses. But what happens once the tracks are finalized as perfectly as possible?

Making Sure That Music Is Rendered The Right Way

If we’re working on creating better music, higher-quality audio, and finding a better way to convey emotion through music, listeners should be able to hear it anywhere. When composing and mixing in a studio, we consider how it would sound at home or in cars. However, venues such as stores, restaurants, or even elevators are often overlooked. This new technology and format demands novel requirements of how we play music in outdoor venues and businesses. If these places aren’t equipped with the right hardware to deliver new formats, how can we render the music the way it was created?

With a focus on solving this problem, Sweetwater launched their Commercial Audio service. This bespoke service designs, builds, and installs the entire sound system in accordance with architectural and budgetary limitations. For obvious reasons, nobody expects contractors or business owners to be well versed in sound systems’ and speakers’ technical aspects and placement in various spaces. Sweetwater will take the initiative to create the right spatial audio atmosphere for any public place.

Spatial audio has introduced a new vision of how music is formulated, created, and broadcasted. As a result of this evolution, the general perception of music is also gradually shifting. Demand for this format continues to grow, leading to inevitable implications for the music industry and the broader retail side.

About Sweetwater

From a recording studio to the first online retailer of commercial audio in the US, Sweetwater has made the journey deeply rooted in professional music. Having gone through the discovery of spatial audio and the testing and setting up of new equipment, Sweetwater has gained extensive experience of spatial audio, and how it will impact the industry. One of the first steps that should be taken is picking up the right hardware for listening to audio. That focus will vastly impact the creative process in a studio — and amplify the final listener experience.

With the capability of setting up sound systems in recording studios, hair salons, and even Olympic stadiums, Sweetwater is here to support upgrades and developments. Recording arts is a job in itself; yours is music!

Photo Credit: Sonospress

Sonospress is unveiling a new form of vinyl LP made from recycled plastic to drastically reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing vinyl. Here’s the latest.

Sonospress says the new LP is being launched in collaboration with Warner Music and uses polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as its base material. Traditional vinyl LPs are manufactured using polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which uses massive amounts of chlorine. PVC production accounts for 40% of use in the United States and releases chlorine—a building block of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Sonospress says pressing the new vinyl LP made from PET plastic requires neither natural gas nor steam and a test operation saw an energy savings of up to 85% compared to the traditional process. The first production line of EcoRecord vinyls has gone into operation today at its plant in Gütersloh, Germany following a series of tests last year.

“The tests were so encouraging that we gave the green light for extensive investment in the construction of a pilot line in the twelve-inch LP format,” adds Sven Deutschmann, Managing Director of Sonospress. “Life cycle analyses by independent third-party labs proved that we can significantly reduce emissions of climate-changing CO2 with our new process.”

“We’ve used the past weeks to check every production detail a hundred times over, comprehensively refine all production parameters, and optimize the quality of the manufactured products so that we can now move into regular production with complete confidence.”

“From the beginning of development, we set out with the ambition that the quality of the EcoRecord should match that of a conventionally produced vinyl LP in terms of sound quality. It should not only convince the experts, but above all offer the music lover an excellent feel and a great listening experience.”

The EcoRecord is produced and assembled by a new injection molding machine with a contact pressure of up to 300 tons. Alongside other necessary special tools and supplementary equipment also developed by Sonospress, the production line was completed in just a few months. It harnesses the same injection molding process that has been used for decades to create LaserDiscs, CDs, DVDs, and other digital storage media.

Sonospress says the EcoRecord line was launched as the global vinyl market continues to surge. A recent IFPI reported vinyl revenues increased 17.2% in 2022—marking a third year of consecutive double-digit growth for the format.

“We’re pleased to work closely with Sonospress in the development of this sustainable vinyl format,” adds Salvatore Monteleone, Executive Vice President Global Operations at Warner Music. “It’s one of several green innovation initiatives we’re developing with partners to help reduce our industry’s environmental impact. Our goal with this project is to provide fans with the high-quality sound of vinyl, while minimizing carbon emissions in production and eliminating the use of PVC.”

Photo Credit: Yuri Efremov

Sometimes controversy sells – but not this time. On the heels of a disastrous New York Times interview, Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner has released The Masters, which is currently ranked 7,639th by book sales on Amazon.

77-year-old Wenner’s latest book, full title The Masters: Conversations with Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen, officially became available to the public yesterday. Spanning about 370 pages, the work, as its name suggests, consists of “new and collected interviews” with “some of the greatest rockstars,” including a “never-before-seen” discussion with Bruce Springsteen, according to the appropriate description.

(Springsteen today revealed that he “will continue treatment” for peptic ulcer disease “through the rest of the year on doctor’s advice,” with his planned shows postponed until 2024. The 74-year-old’s team is expected to announce the rescheduled dates next week.)

Meanwhile, the initially mentioned Times sit down appeared to experience heavy turbulence out of the gate, with Wenner acknowledging that he’d allowed his interviewees to edit their comments (directly on the transcripts) prior to publication. “It’s interview subjects clarifying what they want to say,” maintained the Like a Rolling Stone author.

Things hardly improved from there, for Wenner proceeded to downplay the lazy, defamatory, and extremely damaging “A Rape on Campus” article published by Rolling Stone in 2014.

And to top off the trainwreck of a conversation, Wenner provided a highly offensive and demeaning attempt at an explanation as to why he didn’t interview any female artists (“just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level”) or black artists (“Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”).

But the ensuing controversy, complete with a public denunciation from Rolling Stone, hasn’t resulted in a major commercial boost for The Masters, as highlighted at the outset.

Besides being ranked 7,639th overall on Amazon’s book-sales list and having received just one on-platform review, The Masters was at the time of this writing occupying the 96th spot in the ecommerce giant’s “Arts & Literature Biographies” category, the 24th position in the “Essays & Correspondence (Books)” category, and the fourth ranking in a decidedly specific category for Beatles books.

Additionally, the price of the book’s main Amazon listing had been reduced by 10 percent to $27 – with other sellers offering The Masters for slightly less than that. Not to be outdone, a seller on Walmart has moved to attract library-averse readers with an aggressive $23 price point.

Photo Credit: Travis Yewell

Travis Scott offered a discount code to longtime fans to drop the price of the vinyl version of Utopia from $50 to just $5. The strategy helped the album chart—but should it?

Fans of the rapper quickly latched onto a reddit post advertising a discount code for the vinyl titled, “$5 VINYL GO!” in August. Following that post, Luminate data reveals Scott sold 88,500 vinyl copies of the album, four week after release. Between July 28 and September 7, fans have purchased an estimated 331,000 double LPs.

Photo Credit: Statista

The growth of vinyl as a format has exploded in recent years. It is in its 17th year of straight growth, with 2022 seeing 41.7 million units sold—for 50% growth over the 27.5 million sold in 2019. Just a peek at this graph of vinyl sales from 1993 until now highlights how much the format has grown since 2006. Scott’s offering of $5 vinyls came through discount codes and bundled add-ons when fans bought merchandise from his web store.

But Billboard estimates the rapper did not make a profit on any of the albums sold for $5. “One manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity says he was recently quoted around $7 a unit to manufacture an order of double vinyl,” the report reads. So, if it costs $7 for a double LP, then offering it up for sale for $5 means Travis Scott can’t be making anything at all. This cost doesn’t even consider the mechanical royalties paid out by the song (around 12 cents per song).

Scott moves plenty of merch at sky-high prices, so taking a loss on an order of vinyl to help an album chart isn’t a surprising strategy. But is it one that should catch on? Billboard’s data collected by Luminate cannot distinguish between a vinyl LP sold for $5 at a loss or one sold at $50 to generate a profit. In its books (and charts), a sale is a sale.

Scott’s strategy is very similar to one employed by many authors to wind up on the New York Times best-seller list—simply because appearing on that list can generate additional sales. A 2004 study found that appearing on the NYT best-seller list helped increase debut authors’ sales by 57%. On average for non-debut authors, it helped increase sales around 14%.

So Scott is taking a loss on the backend by moving merch at a massive discount simply for the visibility it provides by remaining in Billboard’s charts from the physical sales boost.

Photo Credit: Warner Music Group

Newly remastered ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ album released on vinyl, CD, and Blu-Ray, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original Pink Floyd release.

Pink Floyd and Warner Music, alongside Sony Music outside Europe, have announced the upcoming standalone release of the newly remastered “The Dark Side of the Moon” on CD, vinyl, and Blu-Ray, to be released on October 13.

Initially released as part of “The Dark Side of the Moon” 50th Anniversary Box Set, the new remaster of the classic album will be available for the first time on its own. The Blu-Ray contains the Dolby Atmos, a 5.1 Surround mix, and the remastered Stereo version. The package comes with commemorative postcards, stickers, and a 24-page booklet.

Since its debut in 1973, the album has become one of the most iconic and influential releases ever, continually finding new global audiences. “The Dark Side of the Moon” has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. The famous sleeve depicting a prism spectrum was designed by Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis and drawn by George Hardie.

The 50th Anniversary celebration continues as Pink Floyd invited a new generation of animators to enter a competition to create animated music videos for any of the album’s ten songs. Pink Floyd has enjoyed a rich history of collaborating with animators from the band’s early days. In some cases, the visuals accompanying the songs have become synonymous with the music itself.

Animators can enter up to ten videos, one per song on the album. A winner will be selected from a panel of experts, including Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and the band’s creative consultant, Aubrey “Po” Powell. The deadline for submissions is November 30. The event will take place on September 6 at Noon ET on YouTube.

In recognition of the album, a fully immersive experience with visuals of the solar system played alongside “The Dark Side of the Moon” in planetariums worldwide. The show is presented with a different theme for each track, all relating to a time and space experience with all-encompassing surround sound. Check your local planetarium for any screening details.

Utopia Distribution Services and DP World are preparing to open a previously announced UK music distribution warehouse later in August. Photo Credit: Adrian Sulyok

Utopia Distribution Services has kicked off a physical distribution partnership with logistics company DP World, and the businesses are set to open what’s described as the UK’s largest warehouse for media products.

Initially announced earlier in 2023, the tie-up between Utopia Distribution Services and DP World was just recently confirmed in a formal release from the latter company, which is a subsidiary of the government-owned Dubai World.

Notwithstanding several signs of operational difficulties within the overarching Utopia Music, it’s worth noting at the outset that Utopia Distribution Services and Proper Music Group have largely been insulated from less-than-ideal developments.

Specifically, salary delays didn’t impact Proper or Utopia’s distribution unit, according to the relevant reports and the Swiss company, which says it’s cleared “all outstanding tax debts.”

Back to the DP World-Utopia Distribution warehouse, the approximately 269,000-square-foot Bicester, Oxfordshire, facility is expected to open its doors later this month.

According to the involved parties, 70 percent of physical music and 35 percent of physical home-media products sold in the UK annually will pass through the warehouse, which is poised to service some 400 indie record stores, Amazon, and a number of others.

Moreover, a team of 240 human workers and north of 80 Locus Robotics robots will power the warehouse and drive its average daily handling capacity of roughly 100,000 units as well as an upper-end capacity (“during peak periods”) of 250,000 units, per DP and Utopia.

Addressing the warehouse’s imminent opening in a statement, DP World sales VP Jonathan Himsworth indicated that his company is “very excited about working with Utopia Music to support the renaissance of physical music in the UK.”

And in remarks of his own, Utopia Distribution Services MD Drew Hill communicated: “We’re pleased to be working closely with DP World on a smooth transition to our brand new state-of-the-art facility. With UDS distributing for over 50% of the UK’s combined music and video market, our investment in this infrastructure marks a bright and exciting future for physical entertainment.”

Notwithstanding the well-documented resurgence of vinyl (in the UK, the States, and other markets), CD Baby revealed its exit from the physical distribution game and shuttered its warehouse in May. That same month, Alliance Entertainment reported a double-digit Q1 revenue decline; in July, execs announced the conclusion of a 1,335,000-share offering that had priced these shares at $3 apiece.

Photo Credit: eBay

The Korean Fair Trade Commission is investigating major K-pop agencies over deceptive album sales practices related to photocards.

Entertainment agencies in the K-pop sphere have increasingly begun selling photocards of band members with their albums, a practice that increases the amount of units fans must buy to increase their chances of getting the photocard they want. Korea’s antitrust agency is launching a probe into whether the practice violates laws or disrupts the market.

Often included in albums, photocards are photos of K-pop stars that have never been released in other media, leading many avid fans to collect them in a show of affection. But because the cards are randomly placed in each album, the most die-hard fans purchase several copies of the same album to increase their chances of getting the photocard they want — and many K-pop groups contain numerous members.

The Korean Fair Trade Commission has stepped up its efforts to investigate major entertainment agencies to determine whether the practice is exploitative of fans. On July 31, SM Entertainment was investigated under this suspicion, as were JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment on August 1 and 2, respectively. The investigations follow increasing complaints about excessive spending on photocards, extras of which are often sold on secondary marketplaces such as eBay.

NCT, a larger idol group of 20 members, was cited as an example; in their 2020 album, 50 different photocards were launched. Because fans can’t preview which photocard is contained in the album before purchase, some purchased tens of hundreds of albums to secure photocards of their favorites.

As a result, the social media trend of album unboxing, or “album kkang,” emerged, where fans unbox multiple copies of an album to show off which photocards they got. That, unsurprisingly, leads to excessive purchasing from even more fans.

The FTC investigation is to determine whether the process of manufacture and sales are handled fairly, as many companies have been suspected of altering production numbers to make some photocards rarer among the same set, thus promoting additional sales.

Korean officials have rejected media requests for comment.

Photo Credit: Amazon Music / Bandsintown

Amazon Music rolls out integrated merch for nearly 600,000 artists in collaboration with Bandsintown.

Amazon Music has announced a new merch integration with leading global concert-discovery platform Bandsintown. Over 590,000 artists registered with Bandsintown for Artists are now empowered to leverage its suite of free marketing tools to easily promote their merch and music to followers and followers of similar artists through in-app notifications, email, and social media.

Merchandise available on Bandsintown is drawn from the Amazon Music Artist Merch Shop, developed and curated by the Amazon Music team. A centralized hub of merchandise ranging from apparel to physical music, the Amazon Music Artist Merch Shop is a one-stop shop for fans to discover authentic merchandise from their favorite artists.

“Amazon Music and Bandsintown are coming together to make it even easier for fans to find merch from their favorite artists,” said Sean McMullan, director of artist services for Amazon Music. “Merchandise and touring are uniquely intertwined, and we’re making it easier than ever for artists and fans to connect.”

“Merch is an opportunity to demonstrate fandom and a critical source of revenue at times when touring costs are rising,” said Fabrice Sergent, Bandsintown co-founder and managing partner. “We’re proud to come together with Amazon Music to further our mutual goals of helping artists and their fans.”

Amazon Music continues to carve out a mark for itself in the merchandise space as a fan destination for one-of-a-kind merch. Recent collaborations include exclusive merch for Latin superstar Rauw Alejandro’s Saturno Tour, Fall Out Boy’s So Much For (Tour) Dust Tour, and unique online merch drops for the North American leg of Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour.

Bandsintown for Artists’ free platform empowers nearly 600,000 registered artists with marketing tools and insights to build audiences, engage fans, and promote music, merch, and tickets to 80 million registered fans on Bandsintown. An audience of passionate live music lovers, Bandsintown’s user base has grown by 10 million in the last year alone.

Adidas is preparing to sell off a second batch of leftover Yeezy shoes beginning on August 2nd. Photo Credit: Adidas

About nine months after terminating its partnership with Kanye West, Adidas has officially announced plans to offload a second batch of already-manufactured Yeezys.

The German athletic-wear company detailed the forthcoming Yeezys drop – as well as the related donations it intends to deliver to “selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate” – today.

For reference, late May saw Adidas kick off a massive sale for its reportedly $1.3 billion worth of remaining Yeezy inventory. Reports suggested that fans had been quick to scoop up the footwear, which will reportedly deliver a total of over $140 million to Kanye West (or 11 percent of each sold item) notwithstanding the well-documented implosion of his Adidas tie-up.

(On platforms including Ebay, profit-minded sellers appear to be asking for and receiving substantial sums for a variety of Yeezy items.)

In any event, Adidas communicated that the drop at hand will occur “in phases” after beginning on August 2nd, featuring “products which were initiated in 2022.” The precise availability and timing behind these phased releases “will also vary depending on location,” the company indicated.

Furthermore, besides becoming available to prospective customers through the CONFIRMED app, the Adidas app, and the Adidas website, the involved shoes will be purchasable via “selected adidas wholesale partners” – albeit on “their digital platforms only.”

Lastly, in terms of the sale’s specifics, Adidas relayed that the drop will encompass the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, 500, and 700 as well as the Yeezy Slide and Foam Runner, to name some. As part of an initiative with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, certain Yeezy products sold directly by Adidas in North America will ship with “blue square pins,” per the business.

Upon posting its second-quarter financials – including €5.34 billion (currently $5.89 billion) in revenue – Adidas forecasted a 2023 operating loss of €450 million ($496 million), down from a prior estimate of €700 million ($771.55 million). “If successful, potential future Yeezy drops would further improve the company’s results,” execs noted.

Specifically in the music space, 2023 has brought the end of Adidas’ Ivy Park collaboration with Beyoncé, reportedly due to sluggish sales. Nevertheless, the entity is moving forward with a Bad Bunny union – the reimagined “Campus Chalky Brown” is expected to go on sale at $160 a pop tomorrow – and a Korn partnership. The products associated with the latter, among them sneakers, tracksuits, and t-shirts, are set to debut in October.

Photo Credit: Adidas

Bad Bunny continues his Adidas partnership with the launch of the newly reimagined ‘Campus Chalky Brown’ at $160 starting July 29.

Adidas has announced the latest in the Adidas Originals x Bad Bunny collaboration with the launch of the new Campus Chalky Brown on July 29. A simple, “timeless design, reimagined from the artist’s point of view,” the Campus Chalky Brown incorporates a warm palette of ochre and browns with a unique set of laces. 

The new shoe will be available in-store, online, on the Adidas CONFIRMED app, on Bad Bunny’s website, and in the Adidas flagship store starting July 29, with a price tag of $160.

“The latest iteration of Adidas Originals x Bad Bunny brings us one step closer to Benito’s personal style and musical influence, with all his spirit, inviting us to wear these shoes any time and any place,” says Adidas. 

“The shoe is a classic design with a padded collar, offering maximum comfort and reinforcements in the heel which together with a unique set of laces builds a premium silhouette, (featuring) a rubber sole and three stripes on the sides, the classic double set of tabs, and the characteristic eye symbol.”

Bad Bunny is currently on his first stadium tour in the United States and Latin America and is well on his way to setting more records. Thus far, he has set the record for the highest-grossing concert in each venue he has performed and the highest-grossing show by a Latin act. 

His fourth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti, released in 2022, became the second all-Spanish album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart, behind another Bad Bunny release, El Último Tour del Mundo. Un Verano Sin Ti clocked the most significant streaming week ever for a Latin music album, with more than 356 million on-demand streams in its debut week. The album also set a record by having each of its 24 songs chart on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs.

Photo Credit: Onyx Record Press

A new vinyl pressing plant focusing on indies, Onyx Record Press, has opened up in Los Angeles with a plan to begin pressing vinyl as early as August.

Onyx Record Press is a new vinyl pressing plant opening in Los Angeles County, the brainchild of LA-based DJ and producer, Drumcell. Based in the city of Arcadia, the pressing plant is already taking pre-orders and is anticipated to begin pressing vinyl as early as August.

“We believe in investing in our music communities by prioritizing non-major labels and artists, creating access for customers that are faced with unrealistic timelines or flat-out denied, and having new state-of-the-art pressing machines for a quicker turnaround,” says Drumcell.

“Our team has over 25 years of experience in the vinyl manufacturing industry. We uphold the notion that getting records pressed is a distinguished compliment for an artist,” the statement continues. “We believe that the sum of feeling the weight of vinyl in your hands, listening to the needle translate the grooves into music, and admiring the large artwork is the ultimate form to experience recorded music. At Onyx Record Press, we are committed to delivering this quintessential music format in the highest quality possible.”

The news comes almost a year after a new vinyl-pressing plant opened in California, hoping to become “America’s premier vinyl production facility,” amid a trend of shortages and delays for plants worldwide. New vinyl pressing plants also opened in Germany and the UK last year.

US vinyl sales increased by 21.7% in the first half of 2023, according to Luminate’s mid-year report. Despite the continued resurgence in vinyl’s popularity, manufacturing delays and rising costs continue to strain the independent vinyl market; many smaller or indie musicians have been turned away from pressing plants in favor of more prominent artists, something Drumcell hopes to help alleviate. 

Photo Credit: NME

NME announces the return of its print magazine after a five-year hiatus, with a new bi-monthly edition featuring the best new artists and bands, industry insight, reviews, and more.

Music and pop culture brand NME is returning to print after a five-year gap with a new global bi-monthly magazine, showcasing the best contemporary artists and bands, industry insight, expert reviews, and new features. 

First launched in 1952, NME’s last printed edition of the weekly version of the magazine was released in 2018, with NME going on to reach its largest-ever readership as an online publication, alongside one-off printed specials and a title in Australia. The new version of the magazine seeks to entertain, inform, and inspire entertainment obsessives and the industry at large.

Each cover of the new incarnation of the magazine will feature an edition of The Cover, NME’s existing flagship editorial property championing emerging talent and elevating new artists and bands as part of NME’s commitment to global new music discovery.

“Print has always been a cornerstone of the NME brand, and we are thrilled to announce the return of an icon,” said NME Networks’ Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, Holly Bishop. “Our new global magazine will curate the very best of NME, championing emerging artists and bands and serving as the definitive voice in pop culture.”

“Today, we announce NME’s return to print with a brand new global magazine, offering an immersive journey celebrating the best in music, film, TV, and gaming,” says Meng Ru Kuok, Group Chief Executive Officer and Founder of NME parent company Caldecott Music Group, which also owns BandLab Technologies and Vista Musical Instruments.

“Building on our commitment to supporting the new talent shaping the future of music and the industry itself, we are prouder than ever to showcase and immortalize emerging artists in our new global edition.

“NME has never reached more people than it does today, and we’re excited to embrace our legacy, giving emerging artists the recognition and exposure they truly deserve while creating new synergies and opportunities for both talent and fans.”

The July/August issue of NME Magazine will have exclusive worldwide availability through music retailer Dawsons, alongside limited issue drops made available through artists, record stores, and select partners. Those interested can register for further information and updates on issue drops. The first issue will be available to order online at Dawsons starting Wednesday, August 9.

Photo Credit: Luminate

The music industry’s top physical sales of 2023 so far have been revealed per data from Luminate, further highlighting the relationship between K-pop fans and physical music sales.

While streaming continues to dominate as the most popular music consumption method, physical sales are also up across all formats — and super fans are helping to drive those numbers, according to mid-year data from Luminate. 

Luminate defines a super fan as a music listener aged 13+ who engages with an artist and their content in multiple ways — streaming, social media, purchasing physical merch or music, or attending live performances. In this case, super fans were participants who self-reported as engaging with their favorite artists in five or more ways. 

In the US, super fans account for 15% of the population, and they influence an artist’s relationship with their listeners. Fans who buy physical music in the form of CDs, cassettes, or vinyl are 128% more likely to be super fans, and they spend 80% more money on music each month than the average listener.

Top Physical Sales of 2023 So Far — CD & Vinyl

Luminate data reveals that K-pop fans are more than 69% more likely to purchase a vinyl record in the next twelve months than other primary genre super fans, and they’re more than 67% more likely to buy music to show their support for an artist. K-pop fans drive CD sales (46%) and cassette sales (23%) more than fans of other genres, and one in four K-pop fans have purchased a cassette in the last year.

Top CD Album Sales

1. TOMORROW X TOGETHER – The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION – 395,000 copies
2. Stray Kids – 5-Star – 322,000 copies
3. TWICE – Ready to Be – 258,000 copies
4. Seventeen – Seventeen 10th Mini Album “FML” – 233,000 copies
5. Agust D (Suga of BTS) – D-Day – 186,000 copies
6. Taylor Swift – Midnights – 176,000 copies
7. Jimin (BTS) – FACE – 168,000 copies
8. Ateez – The World EP 2: Outlaw – 129,000 copies
9. ENHYPEN – Dark Blood – 127,000 copies
10. Stray Kids – Maxident – 114,000 copies

Top Vinyl Album Sales

1. Taylor Swift – Midnights – 251,000 copies
2. Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – 132,000 copies
3. Taylor Swift – folklore – 107,000 copies
4. Tyler, The Creator – IGOR – 104,000 copies
5. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours – 103,000 copies
6. boygenius – The Record – 100,000 copies
7. Melanie Martinez – PORTALS – 93,000 copies
8. Michael Jackson – Thriller – 85,000 copies
9. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon – 85,000 copies
10. Lana Del Rey – Born to Die – 84,000 copies

Photo Credit: Ronald Woan / CC by 2.0

Luminate’s mid-year report for 2023 reveals the top albums by sale so far — both physical and digital combined — with Taylor Swift and K-pop albums dominating the list.

It’s been a big year for Taylor Swift, and the music industry’s mid-year data from Luminate reflects that — in addition to K-pop groups’ continued phenomenal worldwide success. Over half of the top ten best-selling albums of 2023 thus far are from Korean pop groups or solo releases from members of BTS during the band’s hiatus.

Among the top handful of albums by sale for the first half of 2023 are Taylor Swift’s Midnights, three albums from K-pop bands — TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, Stray Kids’ 5-Star, and girl group TWICE’s Ready to Be), and country star Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time.

The second half of the list is rounded out by Korean boy band Seventeen’s 10th mini-album “FML,” Metallica’s eleventh studio album, 72 Seasons, two solo albums from members of BTS (Suga’s Agust D project D-Day and Jimin’s FACE), and Melanie Martinez’s PORTALS.

Notably, this list does not account for Total Equivalent Album (TEA) consumption or on-demand streams and only considers verifiable physical and digital album sales. It also highlights just how important physical sales are to driving K-pop sales, landing several acts on this list thanks to their legions of super fans willing to buy physical albums in multiple formats (vinyl, CD, and digital sales) to support their favorite artists.

Top Albums by Total Sales (Digital & Physical)

1. Taylor Swift – Midnights – 607,000 copies
2. TOMORROW X TOGETHER – The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION – 399,000 copies
3. Stray Kids – 5-Star – 327,000 copies
4. TWICE – Ready to Be – 286,000 copies
5. Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time – 242,000 copies
6. Seventeen – Seventeen 10th Mini-Album “FML” – 236,000 copies
7. Metallica – 72 Seasons – 215,000 copies
8. Agust D (Suga of BTS) – D-Day – 200,000 copies
9. Jimin (BTS) – FACE – 196,000 copies
10. Melanie Martinez – PORTALS – 194,000 copies

Photo Credit: Amazon Music

Amazon is the official online merchandise partner for Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour. Here’s the latest.

Beyoncé has partnered with the online retailer for a series of four distinct merch drops throughout the North American leg of her tour. Drop 1.0 includes five items that celebrate the iconography of the tour, available at Amazon’s Beyoncé hub. All online merchandise will be different from the product available at venues.

The collaboration offers customers around the world access to never-before-seen product and memorabilia styles only on the Amazon Music Artist Merch shop. The inaugural drop of this four-part collection includes five items including:

• Renaissance Tee | A custom dyed, premium heavyweight tee, with the iconic artwork that first announced the tour.
• Renaissance Marquee Tee | A custom dyed, premium heavyweight tee, featuring a custom Renaissance Marquee graphic. 
• Renaissance Marquee Sweatshirt | A custom died, premium heavyweight sweatshirt emblazoned with the Renaissance marquee graphic.
• Renaissance Marquee Pants | A custom dyed, premium heavyweight sweatpant, designed to pair with the crewneck sweatshirt.
• Renaissance Marquee Poster | A lithograph-style print featuring the Renaissance marquee graphic.

Future drops as part of the physical merchandise for the Renaissance tour will be announced on Amazon Music social channels. Each drop will feature exclusive Renaissance merchandise that includes designs that are different from the products sold in venues. 

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is predicted to smash the $1 billion tour barrier this year—but this online merch drop could help Beyonce narrow the gap. Selling merch online through Amazon is a smart move, especially as exclusive merch drops have become a defining feature of live tours. Meanwhile, it speaks to the e-commerce power of Amazon featuring a tour drop for Beyonce with Amazon Music as the official partner. 

The merch drop is in collaboration with the singer’s Parkwood Entertainment company. Parkwood Entertainment produced The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013-2014), The Formation World Tour (2016), and the ‘Homecoming’ performances at Coachella in 2018. It also co-produced the On the Run Tour (2014) and On the Run II (2018).

Photo Credit: antonbe

TikTok could launch an online retail store in the United States as early as next month, according to reports. 

The e-commerce store would sell goods from China, allowing the company to compete in the e-commerce segment. Amazon, Shein, and Temu would be the major competitors for the newly conceived ‘TikTok Shop.’ The report from Semafor suggests TikTok’s store will sell kitchen gadgets, toys, and other household items. These items would appear in the TikTok Shop tab, which currently exists in the app with businesses paying a commission to sell their products to TikTok’s user base. 

TikTok’s means of breaking into the e-commerce market in the United States is still developing. It launched TikTok Shop in November 2022, but the platform has yet to gain significant traction. TikTok is also experimenting with something it calls ‘Trendy Beat’ in the U.K. Products are sold and shipped by a Singapore-based company owned by ByteDance. TechCrunch spotted a trademark application for the ‘Trendy Beat’ feature in the United States, so this is likely an extension of the U.K. test. 

E-commerce is wildly successful for TikTok in Asia, where the industry at large is growing at astronomic rates. Southeast Asia, in particular, is a hot spot for the company. TikTok is aiming to quadruple the size of its e-commerce venture to $20 billion in gross merchandise value for 2023, compared to just $4.4 billion in sales last year.

“It’s very, very difficult to make either European consumers or North American consumers purchase from these social networks,” Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Kodali told Yahoo Finance. “That’s just not how we shop, it may be a little bit of how we discover, but it’s not how we buy.”

The e-commerce market in the United States is already well-saturated with established players. Even brick-and-mortar retail giant Walmart struggled to get its e-commerce business off the ground after Amazon had dominated the landscape for so long. It took purchasing an e-commerce retailer and adapting its business to Walmart’s needs. It’s also hard to get consumers to care about buying items from an untested store—especially if they’re items they can get elsewhere. TikTok is facing an uphill challenge in these markets, especially with its regulatory scrutiny. 

Photo Credit: Adidas

Adidas is finally releasing a collaboration with nu-metal band Korn in October, featuring shoes and apparel — 25 years after the band wrote a song about the brand.

First reported by Kicks Finder on Twitter in February, Adidas has finally announced an upcoming collaboration with nu-metal band Korn, to release in October. The Korn x Adidas project will consist of two pairs of sneakers and seven pieces of apparel.

Korn has long been associated with the German sportswear brand, with all members having frequently worn Adidas clothing and shoes during their heyday in the ’90s. The group even released a song called “ADIDAS” in 1997, with the title a play on the joke that the name stands for “All day I dream about sex.”

According to Kerrang, Adidas gave Korn plenty of free product to wear back then but was unwilling to sign the group to a proper deal. Instead, Korn signed a deal with Puma in 1998.

“We switched to Puma because they told us they’d put us in a commercial and give us a little money to wear their shit,” Korn frontman Jonathan Davis told Kerrang.

Nearly 30 years later, Adidas is preparing to release an official collaboration with the band in October. The Korn x Adidas Campus 00s will retail for $130, while the Korn x Adidas Supermodified will retail for $140. Both pairs of shoes will feature the band’s logo on the right tongue, guitar pick keychains, and art from Korn’s album Life is Peachy on the insoles. 

The Korn x Adidas apparel will include two t-shirts at $50 and $60 each, a black and white Korn logo hoodie for $120, and two tracksuits: one in sequins ($120 for the pants and $180 for the top) and one in black and white ($80 for the pants and $100 for the top).

All designs currently revealed are samples and may differ from the final retail versions.

Photo Credit: Ballantine’s

The first in a series of drops in collaboration with Ballantine’s, Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA has designed a branded “one-of-a-kind” vinyl turntable and Bluetooth speaker in partnership with Crosley Radio.

Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA unveiled his branded Crosley vinyl record player in an unboxing video showcasing the first in a series of drops through his new collaboration with Scotch Whisky brand Ballantine’s. 

Designed and signed by the legendary hip-hop star, the Ballantine’s x RZA Crosley turntable comes with a Montero Bluetooth speaker, available beginning June 30. The limited-edition release coincides with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and the 30th anniversary of Wu-Tang Clan’s debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

The record player, built by Louisville-based audio electronics specialist Crosley Radio, is the first in a wave of product releases between Ballantine’s and RZA, “whether it’s discovering new music, trying out new recipes, or getting your hands on a limited-edition capsule collection.”

“Whether you’re an audiophile or simply a lover of extraordinary experiences, this partnership invites you to witness the intersection of mastery, passion, and creativity,” reads the release on Ballantine’s website.

“Crosley is proud to announce a partnership with Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky and hip-hop legend RZA, commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop,” begins Crosley’s announcement about the collaboration. 

“Together, we are releasing the Ballantine’s x RZA Crosley collection, featuring a bespoke C6 record player and Montero speaker. The distinctive design, rooted in a shared love for music, encourages self-expression across genres. By celebrating individual taste, Crosley, Ballantine’s, and RZA want to inspire you to embrace your passions and forge your own path.”

“RZA’s multifaceted background as a kung fu master, filmmaker, chess champion, producer, and actor aligns seamlessly with Ballantine’s pioneering spirit, dating back to its founder, George Ballantine, who challenged conventions in whisky-making since 1827,” the release concludes.

The limited-edition Ballantine’s x RZA Crosley record player is available beginning June 30 for $399. 

Photo Credit: Dawid Zawiła

Lobbyists in the U.S. auto industry are pushing back on lawmakers over proposed AM radio requirements in new vehicles.

After bipartisan lawmakers introduced a bill requiring automakers to retain AM radio functionality in their 2024 model year vehicles, the lobbyist group Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AIA) is pushing back, arguing that the functionality is unnecessary.

The AIA began making its argument to the House’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology today and in an upcoming hearing to discuss the proposed bill, called the AM for Every Vehicle Act. The bill aims to direct the NHTSA to issue a rule requiring automakers to retain AM radio in their vehicles at no additional cost to consumers.

Lawmakers in favor of the bill express concern that removing AM radio in vehicles might impact emergency broadcast situations, particularly in rural communities. That pushback had seemingly worked initially, as Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that his company would retain AM radio in its latest model year vehicles. But the AIA — a Ford-backed lobbyist group — is pushing back with the argument that AM radio has no impact on delivering or receiving emergency communication alerts.

“Whether or not AM radio is physically installed in vehicles in the future has no bearing on the multiple methods of delivering those emergency communications alerts to the public,” says AIA CEO John Bozzella. “Mandating audio features in a vehicle isn’t necessary. Congress hasn’t ever gone this route, especially in a competitive environment with so many choices — many of them free.”

AIA Vice President of safety policy, Scott Schmidt, testified to the House panel today that AIA members are “committed to ensuring drivers have access to free, public alerts and safety warnings through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.” 

“The intent is not for the public to rely on a sole source to receive the alerts but to create a ‘net’ of sources in which the public can receive them. In other words, the more, the better.”

Still, lawmakers in favor of the bill argue that in an emergency, such as a natural disaster, there are times when access to public alert systems is limited, meaning that AM radio could play a vital role. That includes times when there is no cell service, internet, or television, due to a lack of electricity, according to U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

Photo Credit: David Lezcano

Kanye West’s net worth has jumped by more than $140 million — but he’s still a far cry from his once-held billionaire status.

Following Ye’s removal from Forbes’ billionaires list in October 2022 after a slew of antisemitic remarks, the disgraced rapper was no longer at the top of the publication’s prestigious list. 

According to Forbes, the Adidas/Yeezy collaboration was worth around $1.5 billion at its peak; without that deal, Kanye’s net worth dropped to $400 million — and that was before the collapse of several other ventures in his name.

Sportswear giant Adidas struggled with what to do with the approximately $1.3 billion in remaining Yeezy stock after severing ties with Yeezy himself. 

The company announced in May that it would sell off the already-manufactured product and donate a “significant amount” of the revenue to “selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change are among those organizations.

But Bloomberg reports that Kanye West is entitled to 11 percent of each Yeezy product sold, regardless of the dissolution of that partnership. As a result, Adidas might be handing Ye around $143 million if it successfully unloads all its inventory.

Meanwhile, Kanye now has access to a previously-frozen Yeezy-brand bank account containing around $75 million. Last month, Adidas abruptly dropped a case against West that started in late 2022 to recover some of its losses from the partnership dissolution. 

Adidas maintains that it is entitled to that money. Still, a federal judge overturned the freeze on West’s account due to “Adidas’ failure to file a motion to confirm,” nullifying the previously green-lit order.

Though the judge overturned the court order, the arbitration process is still ongoing, and Adidas will continue to argue that it is the rightful owner of the capital in question. The judge has left things open for further requests to freeze Yeezy accounts and assets as the case continues. 

Adidas has resumed selling off its remaining Yeezy stock, with multiple variations of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 going on sale for $230 a pair.

Photo Credit: Herb Snitzer

Unearthed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Evenings at the Village Gate, showcasing the brief musical partnership between John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy is available to order now on Impulse! Records. 

Recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, jazz icon John Coltrane’s Evenings at the Village Gate, a headliner performance at the celebrated venue in the summer of 1961, will be released globally on July 14 on Impulse! Records.

John Coltrane headlined at the Village Gate in the summer of 1961 with a lineup of musicians, including McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Elvin Jones, and Eric Dolphy. Evenings at the Village Gate captures the creative and transformative spirit that sprang from the pairing of Coltrane and Dolphy and the ever-evolving but short-lived quintet.

The recordings on the album — recorded by engineer Rich Alderson as part of a test of the club’s new sound system — were seemingly lost, then found, and then lost again in the vast sound archives of the Library for the Performing Arts. The tapes’ circuitous route over several decades mirrors Coltrane’s musical journey in August 1961.

Recorded during Coltrane’s month-long Village Gate residency with his quintet (often with a revolving cast of musicians), the album contains eighty minutes of never-before-heard recordings. It offers a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended too soon — Dolphy sadly passed away three years later. This recording is the only version of their Village Gate performances ever captured.

In addition to some well-known Coltrane material, there is an incredible feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “When Lights Are Low,” and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition of “Africa,” that includes bassist Art Davis.

The first track from the fabled performances, “Impressions,” is now available before the full album release. A special edition orange vinyl variant is also available for pre-order.

Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy Tracklist:

1. My Favorite Things
2. When Lights Are Low
3. Impressions
4. Greensleeves
5. Africa

Photo Credit: Luminate Data

Record Store Day 2023 has become the most successful since its creation in 2007. We look at some revealing data — like how few vinyl record buyers own a record player — and the biggest stars of Record Store Day 2023.

For those who don’t have their finger on the pulse of the record industry, Record Store Day might sound like a madcap attempt to drum up enthusiasm for a niche resurgence in the physical format — even among some who appreciate the younger generation’s seeming interest in vinyl alongside the diehard enthusiasts.

Conceived in 2007 as a way to celebrate the fun and diverse culture surrounding independent record stores and the communities they serve, Record Store Day has also become a way to encourage and celebrate the unique culture of the physical music format space in an industry dominated by streaming.

But naysayers to the sheer volume that Record Store Day is capable of moving need look no further than the Luminate data revealed following Record Store Day 2023 to see the value in the promotion and to recognize that it’s more than just a nod to vinyl’s comeback in the industry.

Record Store Day 2023 is the best vinyl week on record for independent record stores since its inception. Participating independent record stores sold 1.7 million physical units (LPs, CDs, and cassettes) during the week — 82% of which were vinyl (1.4 million.)

Further, independent record stores were a significant contributor (64%) for the entire week’s physical sales, while the week (Week 17) is the biggest for physical sales so far this year, with a total of 2.6 million units sold.

The emerging star of Record Store Day in 2023 is as the event’s founders had hoped upon its inception: exclusive content. Vinyl buyers predominantly want to own content from their favorite artists not available elsewhere. In many cases, these are fans buying for the collector’s aspect rather than to listen to the physical format — the percentage of vinyl buyers who own record players increases as the listeners get older.

57% of Gen Z do not own a record player, while 52% of Millennials do not. Meanwhile, 35% of Gen X do not own a record player, while only 16% of Boomers do not. That means 84% of Boomer vinyl buyers own a record player and are most likely to buy a vinyl record to listen to it.

The Stars of Record Store Day:

1. Taylor Swift – folklore: the long pond studio sessions
2. Pearl Jam – Give Way
3. The Cure – Show (2023 Remaster)
4. Stevie Nicks – Bella Donna Live 1981
5. The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet
6. Grateful Dead – Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5/7/77 (Live)
7. Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes – The B-Sides
8. Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires – The Sound Emporium EP
9. Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival – You
10. The Ramones – Pleasant Dreams (The New York Mixes)

Record Store Day 2024 begins on April 20, 2024.

While music typically represents a small percentage of advertising budgets, Songtradr says it has the data to prove that smartly prioritizing music triggers big wins. Now, the company is trotting out research on how AI-driven music selection can help businesses gain higher brand recognition and customer loyalty, ultimately boosting revenue.

Neuroscientific research has proven that individuals react faster to auditory stimuli compared to visual ones. So far, however, those findings have largely remained academic on Madison Avenue. But could the curation of a unique sonic identity be the winning tool brands need to attain strategic business goals? And just how effective are music elements in influencing message processing?

Songtradr, a top sync-licensing company, has recently focused its research efforts on how AI-driven strategic music selection can amplify marketing efforts and deliver brands’ messages more powerfully. Throughout, Songtradr’s research has focused on how brands can forge deeper emotional connections with their target audiences. Just recently, the company partnered with DMN to disclose the findings across multiple reports.

To examine the connection between music and long-term business performance, Songtradr has been gathering music data for brands in the US beer and UK beauty industries. Songtradr audited individual pieces of paid and owned media used by these brands, extracting unique music tracks and feeding them into the company’s AI music tagging platform.

Songtradr’s ‘SmartMusic’ score for US beer brands, graded from ‘smartest music’ to ‘least smart music’ used in paid or owned media advertising.

Songtradr says its proprietary SmartMusic process merges human creativity with real-time data, AI and machine learning, and neuroscience — pinpointing the most relevant and effective piece of music to improve any brand’s marketing performance.

According to Songtradr, AI-tagging technology allowed the company to analyze brands’ music choices, profiling elements such as mood, genre, personality, target audience, music quality, and source of music. By harvesting this data, Songtradr could estimate variables such as category differentiation, consistency, and audience brand fit.

Analysis was conducted by splitting data into two independent streams, ‘MusicIQ’ and ‘Brand Performance.’

Songtradr explains MusicIQ as a sonic profile for each brand — an AI-powered composite metric quantifying how strategically a brand uses music on television, radio, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other ‘sounds-on’ media. It contained six components of music used in advertising content, which are consistency (musical coherence across brands’ paid and owned media), distinctiveness (relative uniqueness to other brands’ musical content), ubiquity (percentage of brands’ paid and owned media containing music), source of music (licensed, stock, or bespoke), engagement (volume of attention and response), and sonic branding (formation and presence of audio identity in media).

Brand Performance assesses how effectively a brand’s branding and marketing communications drove consumer behavior, such as sales, repeat purchase rate, and social evangelism. The score was calculated by conducting neuroscience experiments that collected rational (explicit) and emotional (implicit) data. This metric quantified the impact of emotions triggered by music on consumer decision-making and long-term memory encoding.

Comparing these two independent scores answered the big question: Did a brand’s strategic use of music influence its market performance?

Songtradr’s “Music of Beer” study assesses how specific beer brands’ use of music in advertising influenced their business performance. They discovered that consistent and strategic use of music in beer branding and advertising accounted for over 33% of overall business performance.

‘Music of Beer’ — Strategic use of music in beer advertising accounted for over 33% of overall performance.

The most successful brands used not only brand-aligned and distinctive melodies but also energetic and arousing music. Key findings of the study also revealed that brands could improve performance by taking a more strategic, consistent, and differentiated approach to music usage in advertising content. Moreover, choosing the wrong music (in terms of clashing sonic branding) could also damage brand preference.

By studying some of the most influential brands in the beauty industry from the lens of the UK consumer, Songtradr also measured the effect of music choices on a beauty brand’s overall market performance.

MusicIQ score for beauty brands in the UK — graded from smartest music to least smart music — used in paid or owned media advertising.

The beauty industry relies more heavily on user-generated content, alongside influencer and celebrity marketing than any other industry. According to YouTube statistics, 86% of the top 200 beauty videos on YouTube are uploaded by individual content creators rather than brands, and 62% of women follow beauty influencers on social media. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that beauty brands represent 25% of all influencer marketing activity.

This uniqueness of advertising methods revealed a significant challenge for beauty brands: how can a cohesive, distinct brand identity be established and maintained when such a wide range of third parties represent your brand? According to Songtradr, ‘Strategic use of music is the answer.’

According to Songtradr, beauty brands’ MusicIQ and Brand Performance displayed a strong positive correlation (reinforcing the results of ‘Music of Beer’). In essence, music performance drives revenue, and consistently strategic use of music in branding and advertising accounts for 15% of beauty brands’ overall business performance.

‘Music of Beauty’ — Within the beauty industry, strategic use of music in advertising accounts for 15% of brands’ overall business performance.

The study also made other insightful revelations. Researchers found that a hyper-focus on visual branding caused brands to blend in rather than stand out. They also discovered that none of the brands analyzed in the study leverage the true power of sonic branding.

If key findings from the two beer and beauty studies can be considered generalizable for other niches and industries, Songtradr says development and publication of curated music libraries could be the answer.

Soundtradr notes that this move will optimize production budgets, minimize brands’ exposure to copyright strikes, and provide insurance against takedowns and compliance issues. A curated library of licensed commercial tracks will also ensure advertising messages are musically aligned across all various media channels — custom-fit for the target audience.

Research in consumer behavior also suggests that musical structure in marketing efforts could maximize breakthroughs, deepen emotional connection, and promote brand preference.

Songtradr emphasizes that without developing a cohesive sonic profile in advertising efforts, brands could face implicit brand confusion, fail to grab attention, and miss out on consumer engagement. To reinforce a brand’s identity and index it into listeners’ memory, the right music is key.

Songtradr’s sync-matching technology offers this AI-driven music analysis to individual brands. The company believes that by creating a unique and memorable sonic identity, brands can win increased marketing performance, resulting in higher brand recognition, customer loyalty, and revenue.

Alliance Entertainment posted an almost 30 percent revenue decline for Q1 2023 amid “macroeconomic headwinds.” Photo Credit: Sean Benesh

Now a publicly traded company, Alliance Entertainment (OTC: AENT) has revealed that it generated $227.73 million during 2023’s initial three months – down about 28.93 percent from the same stretch in 2022.

The Florida-based media retailer, which merged with a special purpose acquisition company called Adara in February, just recently posted its Q1 2023 (Q3 of its fiscal year) financials. Notwithstanding a year-over-year (YoY) reduction in cost of revenues ($200.40 million total, down about 28.50 percent YoY), Alliance Entertainment’s aforementioned income falloff contributed to a $7.75 million net loss (or about 16 cents per share) on the quarter, according to the resource.

For reference, the company previously disclosed $3.71 million in net income for the opening quarter of 2022. Shifting back to the $227.73 million in quarterly revenue, vinyl led the pack by generating $75 million for the 13-year-old business, per its Q1 earnings report – although the resurging format’s sales volume is said to have decreased.

CDs, for their part, experienced a two percent average-price boost but nevertheless suffered a 17 percent revenue dip during Q1 as a result of reduced sales volume, Alliance Entertainment indicated.

“Along with other Retailers and Distributors in the United States,” Alliance wrote not long after CD Baby bailed on physical, “we are not immune to the macroeconomic headwinds caused by increased inflation and interest rates. … Our B2B wholesale customer base revenue was down 31% compared to prior year due to their relatively rigorous inventory management.”

Expanding upon the points, Alliance also relayed that vinyl sales had slipped by three percent to total $242 million during the nine months ending on March 31st, with CDs’ own revenue having declined by 24 percent throughout the window.

Addressing his company’s Q1 showing, Alliance Entertainment chairman Bruce Ogilvie touched upon subjects including the “incredible growth in Vinyl shipments at our Kentucky warehouse” and an adjacent automation push.

“Operationally, during the quarter we installed a cube-based warehouse automated storage and retrieval system that is now live and operational, supporting order fulfillment of 33 million pieces of inventory across more than 425,000 SKUs,” Ogilvie communicated in part.

“With our incredible growth in Vinyl shipments at our Kentucky warehouse, we needed a system that could reduce the distance walked to pick product, to store in a more compact form, and reduce the amount of labor needed to handle the product. This system is designed to support future capacity as we shift toward larger scale automation,” he finished.

Elsewhere in the report, Alliance disclosed that it had a $127.43 million revolving credit balance with Bank of America as of March 31st, with “two separate $250,000 promissory notes” having been in June of 2022 “executed between Adara and two of its then shareholders to provide cash to pay operating costs.”

The interest-free notes had an outstanding balance of $471,599 as of March 31st, according to the performance analysis. At the time of this writing, Alliance Entertainment stock was trading for an even three dollars per share.

Photo Credit: Bandcamp United

Bandcamp employees officially voted to unionize, 31-7, in favor of forming Bandcamp United, a union represented by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) in affiliation with the Tech Workers Union Local 1010.

The majority of eligible Bandcamp employees have voted 31-7 in favor of unionizing to create Bandcamp United, a union represented by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). The results now await certification by the National Labor Relations Board, followed by a collective bargaining process.

“Bandcamp United and Bandcamp management are committed to working together to continue to advance fair economic conditions for our workers and the artists who rely on us,” reads a joint statement from Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond and Bandcamp United. “We look forward to negotiating with an open mind and working in good faith to promote the best interests of all of our staff and the artist and label community we serve.”

“While we have won this election by 24 votes — leadership contested 16 ballots. These ballots were not counted,” says Bandcamp United in a tweet, indicating that contractors working for Bandcamp voted to unionize but were not eligible for inclusion. “To be clear, we will not leave our colleagues behind (and) plan to fight for the inclusion of everyone who is eligible in our union.”

“Forming our union is critical to our ability to do our best work and make good on the promise and mission of Bandcamp to provide fair economic conditions, direct support, and transparency for ourselves and all of our users,” wrote Bandcamp staffers in March when first announcing plans to unionize.

Epic Games, Bandcamp’s parent company as of 2022, has worked previously to counter unionization efforts within its own company, leading Bandcamp workers to call on the company to enable a “timely and fair election” when seeking to unionize. Bandcamp affiliated its unionization efforts early on with OPEIU’s Tech Workers Union Local 1010.

Photo Credit: Damian Barczak

Adidas has resumed selling its unsold Yeezy shoes stock, with plans to dump the rest throughout May 2023. 

The Germany sportswear company says it will sell the collection exclusively through the Adidas Yeezy website. “A significant amount will be donated to selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism. These include but are not limited to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change,” the press release announcing the sale reads. 

This is the first time that Adidas Yeezy products have been available to purchase since the company terminated its partnership with the rapper in October 2022. The products available for sale are existing designs and designs initiated in 2022 for sale in 2023. “Additional releases of existing inventory are currently under consideration, but timing is yet to be determined,” the release continues. “Today’s announcement has no immediate impact on the company’s current financial guidance for 2023.”

Adidas says it explored multiple avenues when considering what to do with its unsold stock. “The process involved seeking feedback and listening to a diverse group of employees, organizations, communities, and consumers for how to responsibly manage the existing product. The company went ahead with already committed production orders after the partnership was terminated. This was done to help protect its supply chain partners from being negatively affected by cancellations,” Adidas continues. 

“After careful consideration, we have decided to begin releasing some of the remaining Adidas Yeezy products,” CEO Bjørn Gulden says. “Selling and donating was the preferred option among all organizations and stakeholders we spoke to. We believe this is the best solution as it respects the created designs and produced shoes, it works for our people, resolves an inventory problem, and will have a positive impact on our communities. There is no place in sport or society for hate of any kind and we remain committed to fighting against it.”

The Rhino High Fidelity limited-edition reissue of The Cars (1978). Photo Credit: Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group’s Rhino Records has announced a high-fidelity “quarterly premium vinyl series” that’s kicking off with reissues of The Cars’ eponymous 1978 debut album and John Coltrane’s Coltrane’s Sound (1964).

Rhino reached out to Digital Music News with word of the Hi-Fi vinyl series today, making clear off the bat that each of the two quarterly releases will be available to purchase exclusively through its website. Additionally, the WMG subsidiary emphasized that the involved records, contrasting the majority of vinyl today, will pull from analog masters as opposed to digital versions.

Of course, it was only last week that a judge approved an estimated $25 million settlement from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, which was named in a class-action lawsuit (and subjected to ample audiophile criticism) over alleged misrepresentations. Specifically, the company is alleged to have attached an “Original Master Recording” label to products that incorporated “direct stream digital” into the production process.

But Rhino Hi-Fi vinyl is being “cut from the original analog master tapes by” veteran mastering engineer Kevin Gray, per the reissue product descriptions of The Cars and Coltrane’s Sound, which are limited to 5,000 numbered copies apiece.

Priced at $39.98 (plus another $7.99 for shipping and handling), the 180-gram Optimal-pressed records at hand will likewise boast “glossy covers and ‘tip-on’ jackets,” according to Rhino.

Plus, the products are expected to feature “exclusive content,” referring here to “a new interview with guitarist Elliot Easton” as well as “producer Roy Thomas Baker’s tracking notes for ‘Good Times Roll’” with The Cars. Coltrane’s Sound, on the other hand, will per Rhino include “notes and images from the master tapes” and “an archival essay by legendary producer Tom Dowd.”

Rhino is set to announce its next Hi-Fi releases “in the coming weeks,” higher-ups disclosed, and the project represents just the latest in a line of recent efforts to capitalize upon strong vinyl demand in the United States, Japan, and a number of different markets.

March saw Metallica purchase a 70,000-square-foot pressing facility, for instance, whereas Universal Music’s Interscope Records earlier in May unveiled a collection of (extremely) limited-edition vinyl from acts including Billie Eilish, Nine Inch Nails, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Dr. Dre, Blackpink, Lana Del Rey, Machine Gun Kelly, and 50 Cent.

Superfans willing to part with $2,500 – neither taxes nor an approximately $12.50 shipping charge is included in the massive price tag – can purchase the products, which are said to feature Gucci-designed packaging and new artwork crafted by high-profile visual artists. Net profits will be donated to the Iovine and Young Foundation, per Interscope.

Photo Credit: Target

Taylor Swift hands Target an exclusive vinyl release of ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ with a lilac marble design, available now for pre-order.

Taylor Swift’s “Taylor Nation” fan page revealed on May 18 that the vinyl for the upcoming re-recording of her 2010 album Speak Now is available for pre-order at Target while supplies last. The vinyl perfectly captures the album’s aesthetic with a lilac-marble color scheme.

Swift revealed during the first of her three shows at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on May 5 that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will arrive on July 7. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) as the third re-recorded studio album of her original six.

“I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20,” wrote Swift on her Twitter following the announcement. “The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions, and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up flailing, flying, and crashing… and living to speak about it.”

In 2010, Speak Now became the first Taylor Swift album to cross the 1 million sales threshold in its launch week, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 1.047 million copies sold. According to Luminate, Swift’s third album has earned 7.8 million equivalent album units in the U.S. through April 27.

Luminate data revealed in its “Top Entertainment Trends for 2023” report also found that about half of vinyl LP owners do not own a record player. Of 3,900 U.S.-based respondents surveyed, 50 percent of consumers who bought vinyl in the past 12 months own a record player, compared to 15 percent among music listeners overall. 

That data indicates that half of the fans buying vinyl appreciate such items’ collectibility and exclusive nature rather than listening to the vinyl format. Since the vast majority of music revenue still comes from streaming services — 84 percent in 2022 — the numbers imply that “superfans” purchasing vinyl are completionist-minded, buying the merch but relegating their listening to playlist-oriented online avenues.

Photo Credit: Rockaway Records

Over 10,000 pieces of rare Rolling Stones memorabilia and vinyl items, including a 1977 promotional display designed by Andy Warhol, have been acquired by Rockaway Records.

During the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones, Los Angeles mainstay Rockaway Records has acquired an extensive collection of Stones vinyl and memorabilia with over 10,000 items, including rare LPs and 45s, vintage t-shirts, dozens of concert posters, promotional items, and more.

Notable highlights include a copy of “Beast of Burden,” the second rarest Rolling Stones picture sleeve 45, and a 1977 promotional hanging display designed by Andy Warhol. The collection comes from the estate of a longtime fan, collector, and famous skateboarder, Brad “Squeak” Blanck, a well-known and beloved figure in the Rolling Stones community.

Already creating buzz, the collection has attracted buyers like Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson (pictured), who purchased a rare set of 1978 U.K. promo posters for “Some Girls,” among other rarities.

“We have bought many amazing collections over the past 45 years, but this is definitely the most exciting one in a long time!” says Wayne Johnson, co-founder of Rockaway Records. “Some of the highlights are a 1967 ‘Satanic Majesties’ lenticular that is different from the one on the album cover, 1970s t-shirts that look like new, and a 1977 promotional display for ‘Love You Live’ that was designed by Andy Warhol.”

While many independent record stores in Los Angeles have long since shut their doors, Rockaway Records continues to thrive, having shifted focus to high-end vinyl and collectibles. Co-founders and brothers Wayne and Gary Johnson began aggressively acquiring extensive record industry and personal collections of vinyl, posters, autographs, and other similar rarities. 

Expert appraisers of music memorabilia, the Brothers Johnson have traveled the world buying and selling some of the most highly sought-after music collectibles. Rockaway Records continues to be a premiere destination for collectors seeking unique, hard-to-find music memorabilia from their favorite artists, having seen tremendous success with their Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, and 1970s punk collections. 

Photo Credit: Mediamodifier

A mysterious book topping the best-sellers list in recent weeks was driven there by Swifties and BTS fans battling it out in pre-orders.

Many Swifties speculated that the July 9 release date for the book would coincide with the release of her upcoming album. The speculation was fueled by a TikTok video posted by the owner of the Good Neighbor Bookstore in Lakewood, New York, sharing the fan theory that it was Taylor Swift’s memoir.

The untitled book scheduled for release on July 9 was described as a “4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023” in book store releases, convincing Taylor Swift fans that the book would be hers. They pre-ordered the book in masses, driving it up the Amazon and Barnes & Noble best-seller lists. 

A Macmillan spokeswoman has confirmed the book is about the K-pop boy band BTS and celebrates the 10th anniversary of the group—which formed on July 9. Macmillian says it expects to print a million hardcover copies of the 544-page book celebrating BTS for BTS ARMY fans. 

The owner of the original TikTok video that sparked furor among Swifties has taken down the post at the request of the publisher. He says he stopped taking preorders for the book after he had gotten over 600 requests—then cancelled all of them when he began to doubt the book was a release from Taylor Swift at all. 

“We connected the dots, but I feel like we connected the dots wrong,” says Bob Lingle, owner of the bookstore in Lakewood. Lingle says he began to lean toward the BTS side of the argument when he learned the significance of the date to the BTS ARMY fans. 

“What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve done because of Taylor Swift?” asked one fan on social media. “I pre-ordered a book I know nothing about on the SLIGHT chance its her memoir,” the fan continues, showcasing just how rabid fans became online over the possibility of a memoir. 

Photo Credit: Connor Houtman

Adidas will sell through its $1.3 billion dollar stock of unsold Yeezy shoes after all. Here’s the latest.

Adidas’ new CEO Bjørn Gulden says the company will sell through its stock of the shoes and donate the proceeds to charity. Gulden previously told shareholders that the company spent months deliberating on what to do with its unsold merchandise following its acrimonious split with the rapper in October 2022 following the latter’s string of antisemitic comments.

“What we are trying to do no over time is to sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements,”Gulden says of the move. Previously the CEO warned the company was wary of creating a black market for unsold Yeezy merchandise—since no more will be made.

While Adidas will be donating a portion of the sales to charity, their business arrangement with the rapper still stands. He will be entitled to 15% of all sales, which is one reason why Adidas considered destroying the unsold merchandise.

Adidas originally planned to rebrand the shoes and sell them without the Yeezy branding, cutting out the 15% it would owe the rapper. In a statement made in October 2022, Adidas said it is the “sole owner of all design rights registered to existing product. We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023.”

Adidas’ Q4 2022 losses were around $1.3 billion, with much of that connected to the loss of Yeezy revenue. In the last two fiscal quarters, loss of Yeezy sales has amounted to an additional $441 million lost. Gulden’s Adidas has made the decision to sell the product regardless of the reputational risk just to wipe its hands of the issue and start with a clean slate.

Music celebrity partnerships haven’t worked out so well for the sports company. Aside from its disastrous Yeezy lineup, it also cancelled its collaboration with Beyonce’s Ivy Park clothing line. Instead, Adidas says it will focus on marketing with sports celebs.

Photo Credit: Batiste Safont / CC by 4.0

Interscope Records announces that only 100 copies of a limited-edition Kendrick Lamar vinyl LP are available for purchase, selling for $2,500.

Interscope Records has released a limited edition vinyl LP of Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 project, To Pimp a Butterfly, in collaboration with Gucci, of which only 100 copies are available. The album has been signed by artist Lauren Halsey, with custom packaging designed by Gucci, featuring an 11.5″ x 11.5″ gallery-quality giclée by Halsey, affixed to a tan custom-dyed linen vinyl jacket. 

The limited edition vinyl sells for $2,500. Each comes with a large-format Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined catalog. The vinyl begins shipping on Thursday, May 11.

The album is part of Interscope’s limited-edition vinyl series, Interscope Reimagined, together with curated social marketplace NTWRK, to celebrate the label’s 30th anniversary. Interscope and NTWRK will donate all profits from Interscope Reimagined to the Iovine and Young Foundation in South Los Angeles.

The Interscope Reimagined lineup includes albums and songs from Interscope artists like 2Pac, 6lack, Dr. Dre, Eminem, N.E.R.D., and more, with new artwork from visual artists like Amaoko Boafo, KAWS, and Kehinde Wiley.

Kendrick Lamar’s Big Steppers Tour, which has grossed over $100 million, has surpassed Drake’s previous tour record as the highest-grossing tour by a rapper as a headlining act. The tour has earned $110.9 million from 929,000 tickets across 73 shows, beginning in July 2022 following the release of Kendrick’s fifth album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, and ending that September.

More recently, Kendrick Lamar was named this year’s Met Gala “Ambassadors and Friends of the House,” along with iconic model Naomi Campbell, actor Margaret Qualley, and K-pop star Jennie Kim. This year’s event honored the late designer and former creative director for Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld.

Kendrick Lamar is scheduled to perform at several music festivals this year, including Chicago’s Lollapalooza and San Francisco’s Outside Lands.

Photo Credit: Alex Haney

Going on six months after its acrimonious split with rapper Kanye West, Adidas is still sitting on a mountain of Yeezy merch. A $1.3 billion mountain, by some estimates.

During its most recent investor call, Adidas’ new CEO Bjorn Gulden said the German sportswear giant is getting close to making a decision on what to do with the unsold merchandise. He told investors that the company’s “options are narrowing” following a reported $441 million in lost sales at the beginning of the year. Gulden says there are a lot of interested parties involved in the discussions, but no concrete decision yet.

Gulden became CEO of Adidas in January 2023, following the company’s split with the rapper. He says the company is trying to avoid destroying the merchandise, but also that the company is hesitant to offer the sneakers for sale since the rapper would earn royalties on each sale.

The company has even considered restitching the current stock of Yeezy shoes to remove the rapper’s brand, but ultimately decided that course of action would be dishonest. Adidas is also afraid that just giving away the unsold stock to people in need could lead to a booming black market for the Yeezy sneakers and people willing to pay top dollar for them.

Adidas has not disclosed how many unsold pairs of Yeezy sneakers it has in its warehouses. That’s because Gulden is afraid if consumers know how many are left, it could “impact demand.” Adidas is expected to take a 500 million euro loss this year if it does not move the remaining Yeezy stock. Net sales declined 1% in Q1 2023 and would have risen 9% had sales of the Yeezy line not been discontinued.

Adidas is currently facing a class-action lawsuit from its investors who say the company knew the risks of associating with Kanye West since at least 2018. The lawsuit aims to represent people who purchased Adidas stock from May 2018 to February 2023. The lawsuit points to comments Ye made in 2018 suggesting slavery is a ‘choice’ people make and reports of Kanye making antisemitic remarks in front of Adidas staff.

Billboard has officially announced plans to reincorporate select merch bundles into its album charts beginning on June 30th.

This latest sales-eligibility pivot was just recently announced, after Billboard in the summer of 2020 revealed that its charts would cease factoring for merch- and ticket- related bundles. In a more than 600-word-long explanation of the latter decision, the outlet nearly three years back made clear that it had “decided to eliminate the practice of counting albums bundled with merchandise and concert tickets on its album and song charts altogether.”

In the interim, Billboard reiterated the no-bundle policy on multiple occasions – including when explaining that Donda 2, which Kanye West released exclusively on his $200 Stem Player, wouldn’t make its way onto the charts despite moving a number of copies and generating a substantial sum. (Some 15 months following its debut, the Player is continuing to sell on Ebay at present – albeit for a good amount less than its initial price.)

But the rules are set to change once again on June 30th (and for the charts dated July 15th), according to Billboard, which says that it will begin counting on charts “limited combinations of merchandise and physical albums.”

These limited combinations refer specifically to merch-album combos dubbed “fan packs,” which “will be restricted to just two options per album release.” Additionally, the various components of said options – a t-shirt with a CD and a sweatshirt with an album’s vinyl edition, for instance – must be available to purchase separately “in the same web store.”

Meanwhile, the fan packs can consist only of physical music projects (not digital downloads) and merchandise (excluding tickets, NFTs, meet-and-greet functions, and more), Billboard indicated. As another requirement for chart eligibility, the outlet as well as Luminate will have to approve the described fan packs “in advance of their on-sale date.”

Needless to say, it’ll be worth monitoring the byproducts of the decision, which certain acts with highly dedicated fanbases could potentially capitalize upon to improve their chart positioning. In a testament to K-pop diehards’ continued commitment to Hybe groups including BTS, for instance, the South Korean company relayed in its Q1 earnings report that the WeVerse social platform had topped 9.3 million monthly active users.

That’s nearly double the number of MAUs that WeVerse had as of 2021’s opening quarter, and later in 2023, these ultra-committed supporters (who are nevertheless taking issue with the dynamic ticket pricing model that Hybe is now employing) will be able to purchase subscription memberships on the service.