SoundExchange To Power Global Podcast Music Licensing

SoundExchange and SourceAudio have partnered to license music for podcasts. Podcastmusic.com, a digital music marketplace for podcasters, will now have access to SoundExchange creators and offer licenses for label and publisher-owned music. The collaboration will enhance Podcastmusic.com’s current database of 700,000 production and music bed tracks by providing a global…

Apple Music For Artists vs. Spotify For Artists: A Side By Side Comparison

Late last week Apple Music For Artists exited beta and became available to any artist with music on the platform. Since this is Apple’s overdue answer to Spotify For Artists, we wondered how the two platforms compared. Veteran music marketer Jay Gilbert, the co-founder of Label Logic, has been using…

20 Years Of ‘Island Of Misfits’ Frenchkiss Records

Begun in 1999 by Syd Butler, NY-based indie label Frenchkiss records is celebrating its 20th anniversary and rise from bedroom run business to a power player of the NYC scene, having survived and thrived a tumultuous twenty years in a challenging industry. __________________________________ By Julia Greenspan from The Orchard’s The…

Why You Need To Double Check Your Distributor When Releasing New Music

Jay Gilbert and Michael Brandvold share real-world experience on why you need to double-check your distributor every time you release music on this new episode of the Music Biz Weekly podcast.

Portia Sabin Named President Music Business Association

The Music Business Association (Music Biz) has named respected industry veteran Dr. Portia Sabin as President. The trade group advocates on behalf of the music industry. The organization’s current longtime president James Donio will be stepping down from the post, but will continue in an advisory role, Music Biz said…

Payola At Radio Never Went Away, says New Report

Broadcast radio has been rocked by at least two payola scandals in the 1960s and again in 2004. But payola – the illegal practice of paying to be played on the radio – is still rampant in the US, according to multiple reports. ___________________________________ “Everyone knows it’s there,” Allen Kovac,…

Discogs Adds Inventory Platform For Professional Record Sellers, Serious Music Collectors

Music marketplace and community Discogs has launched NearMint, a new software platform for professional sellers. NearMint was created to help professional and hobbyist music sellers manage their inventory and business more effectively. The platform already manages over 1.9M inventory items for a number of large sellers who were part of…

18 Connected With Indie Label Fast Cash Boyz Indicted By Federal Grand Jury

A federal grand jury has indicted 18 people connected with independent label Fast Cash Boyz Entertainment with charges that include bank fraud and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The charges allege that all eighteen defendants, 17 from Memphis and one defendant from Los Angeles, were affiliated with Fast Cash Boyz…

Country Radio’s Gender Gap Continues: Men Top Billboard Chart 9X More Than Women

For three weeks in December of last year, not a single song on the country chart was sung by a women. A Billboard study showed a rapid decline from four songs by women in the Top 20 in December 2015, three in December 2017 and none in December 2018. Where…

Insiders Guide To Pressing Vinyl with CEO Of Disc Makers

Tony van Veen, the CEO of DIY Media joins Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert on the Music Biz Weekly podcast. DIY Media is home to Disc Makers, BookBaby and Merchly. At a time when the industry is focused on streaming, Disc Makers has become the top provider of physical goods…