Like many people, I first learned ‘Oh Susanna’ when I was a kid. Little did I know that the lyrics have been completely changed since 1848. Last week, a major controversy erupted over a statue commemorating American composer Stephen Foster…
Category archives: Feature Story
Former Songkick Publicist Now Works for Harvey Weinstein
Sallie Hofmeister once provided PR work for Songkick. Now, she’s defending Harvey Weinstein. Yesterday, in a letter sent to clients, once-promising ticketing startup Songkick finally confirmed that it would close its doors. The startup specialized in …
Spotify Pays 75% More Than YouTube on Free Streams; 515% More on Paid Streams
Would a fixed CPM across streaming platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music truly solve the value gap problem? Does the YouTube value gap actually exist? According to Google and YouTube, of course not. Yet, multiple studies have shown the con…
Spotify Has Burned More Than $1 Billion In 3 Years, Leaked Financials Show
Spotify’s cash burn is easily past $1 billion — in just 3 years — according to financial data leaked this evening. But the good news? Revenues are also surging. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek may have the strongest stomach in the music industry. Now, h…
The 7 Most Stinging Stereotypes About Musicians
1. They’re flaky. Always f—king late. Late to sound check. Late to the gig. Late to the media interview. Late to the meeting with the lawyer for the career-changing contract they need to understand. 2. Emotionally unstable. This one’s th…
Kobalt Beefs Its War Chest by Another $14 Million
$500 million in annual revenue. Nearly 500 employees and growing. Can anything stop Kobalt Music? British publishing company Kobalt Music has one thing in mind: reinventing the music industry so that it works better for creators. It also has the mon…
$130-a-Ticket ‘Gathering Festival’ Turned Out to Be a Giant Scam
Andrew Murdock managed to scam artists with a sham music festival prior to suddenly disappearing. 2017 hasn’t been a great year for music festivals. First, fans that attended Ja Rule’s $12,000-a-ticket music festival quickly found half-built tents, pil…
These 37 Country Artists Remain Adamantly Opposed to Any Form of Gun Control
Despite the hellish events in Las Vegas last week — at a country music festival — country artists remain adamantly opposed to gun control. In fact, very little has changed in the country music world. In the wake of the worst mass-shooting in US histor…
Bitcoin-Based Arena Music Has Been Screwing Me for Two Years
Is the music industry ready for blockchain technology? Not if executives that use the technology can’t pay up what they owe. To tackle the music industry’s complex licensing issues, startup company Blokur has raised $1.2 million. Using blockchain tec…
Eminem Releasing a ‘Major Anti-Trump Album’ Next Month, Sources Say
Eminem’s freestyle assassination against Donald Trump last night was just the beginning. Now, it looks like Eminem is planning a major anti-Trump album release. Eminem could become the face of rap’s anti-Trump fury. And last night’s…