Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y & Indie Music

In our tips and advice section this week, we offered independent artists wise counsel on maintaining the fans you made on your last tour, how to get a major financial loan as a songwriter, some of the most beautiful music residencies in North American (and how you can apply for…

How An Old Game Boosted A 2019 Streaming Hit

This piece explores the marketing genius of the Flappy Bird-esque old-school online game Billy Meets World, launched in conjunction with Lauv’s latest release and engineered to help casually grow the artist’s Spotify followers. ______________________________ Guest post from AWAL We recommend playing Billy Meets World for at least 30 seconds before…

Amazon offers Music Unlimited to Prime Student members for $0.99

College students who aren’t Prime members can also sign up to Prime for a six-month free trial
The post Amazon offers Music Unlimited to Prime Student members for $0.99 appeared first on Music Business Worldwide.

4 Mistakes To Not Make In Your Music Career

While the gauntlet of challenges musicians face has become a theme seen over and over again in popular culture and reality, many of these mistakes are as avoidable as they are devastating. Here we look at four common pitfalls artists stumble into and what can be done to prevent them…

Spotify Passes 232M Monthly Users, 108M Subscribers

Spotify has passed 232 million monthly active users, up 29% since this time last year, including 108 million paid subscribers, up 31% YoY. The new stats were one of many strong new numbers shared by the streamer in a Q2 earnings report on Wednesday.

L7 Pledges Legal Action Against PledgeMusic

In an open letter to fans, indie band L7 summarized their own experience and those of other musicians: "in a nutshell, the funds that many bands and their supporters raised through the crowdfunding platform were absconded by the company with zero accountability and unreturned legal appeals." Thanks to help from…

Come Together: Why The Music Industry Must Break Down Data Silos

In this article, Jeppe Faurfelt breaks down the different data silos which industry artists should be keeping track of, why the distinction between them is so important, and why everyone on an artist’s team should have access to all of them. _____________________________ Guest post by Jeppe Faurfelt, Co-Founder & CCO…

Secrets For Digitally Advertising Around Your Next Tour

We have reached a point where artists can run digital advertising simultaneously across Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube with relative ease, but with your budget likely already tight, making every dollar spent on digital advertising go as far as possible is paramount. Here we look at some secrets for getting…

Can Major Labels Survive The Indie Music Revolution?

At the heart of the music business almost since its inception, major labels have successfully weathered multiple challenges to their industry dominance. But as music once again reinvents itself, can the major labels continue cling to power? ____________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Major record labels have…

Who Are Winners And Losers In The New Music Industry?

Regardless of who’s getting the money, it is undeniable that streaming has made the music industry lucrative again. Now, as the business works to reinvent itself, are historically downtrodden artists finally coming out on top, or are record labels and management siphoning off all of the profits? _______________________________ Guest post…