Streaming Music Revenue Up, But Per Song Rates May Have Dropped In 2018

In this piece, Bobby Owsinski breaks down some complex recent streaming data, which highlights the disparity between the royalty rates paid out by major streamers (with YouTube coming up particularly short) as well as the contextual challenge of drawing accurate information from these kinds of data sets. __________________________ Guest post…

Creating Better Spotify Playlists: Best Practices

Like it or not, music consumers and the industry as whole are all neck deep in playlist culture by this point. The good news is, building playlists is a skill like any other, and skills can be honed. In this piece we look at some of the best practices for…

5 Ways To Create The Greatest Impact Possible With Your Next Music Video

Music videos can be a massive asset when promoting new music, but only if you have an effective launch plan. Here we look at quick tips and essential features to incorporate into your release strategy to maximize your success. ___________________________ Guest post by Stephanie Kurse, Manager, Video Services at The…

Music Streaming Rates 2018: Per Stream Rates Drop and YouTube’s Value Gap Is Very Real

[UPDATED] 2018 saw music streaming come into its own as the dominant source of recording music revenue. But as streaming volumes swelled, the YouTube value gap and its pitifully small payout percentage became even more apparent. _________________________________ Guest post by David Lowery of The Trichordist Here we go again. To…

Why A Trademark Can Be Valuable To Your Music’s Brand

If you’ve gone to the trouble of cultivating a specific logo or brand for your music, there are a number of benefits to "making it official" by getting it trademarked. Besides just establishing a potential source of revenue, a trademark can provide you with certain legal protections down the road….

Instagram Soon To Allow Sharing Of Links To Entire Stories

In what could be an exciting new marketing opportunity for artists and bands, the popular photo sharing platform Instagram will soon allow user to share links to their entire stories. ______________________ Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix A new Instagram update will empower artists, brands, and everyday consumers to…

Orchard Co-Founder Issues Warning To Music Industry: ‘You’re Probably Going To Be Replaced’

In this article, Oisin Lunny shares a dire warning from Scott Cohen, the enigmatic music tech pioneer affiliated with company’s like, Spotify, The Orchard, and the British Phonographic Industry. In a recent keynote presentation, Cohen warned a massive industry sea change would likely soon reshape the music business entirely. _________________________________…

Fair Pay, Fair Fight: For Musician Radio Royalties, Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

After the struggle of getting the Music Modernization Act passed and allegedly gave pre-1972 artists the royalties they finally deserved, a new merger between Sirius and Pandora by their hold-tightening parent company Liberty Media, has artists and advocates gearing up for an ongoing fight against tech companies and their lobbyists….

Why Musicians Should Think More B2B, Less About B2C

In this piece, Bobby Owsinski explains why, in the new music economy, artists need to think more about Business to Business transactions instead of just focusing on Business to Consumer transactions. _________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 You might be wondering about the title and that’s because…

Classical Music Listeners Still Favor CDs

While CDs are certainly in decline, they haven’t vanished from shelves quite as quickly as anticipated. Indeed, when it comes to consumers of classical music, there remains a good deal of interest in this physical music format. ________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Sales for CDs keep…