Witch House, World Meditation and Dangdut are among the ten that top the list of new genres emerging in 2016 on Spotify. The music streamer did not share stats, but each is clearly worth paying attention to for any serious music junky or forward thinking music executive. ________________________ Top 10…
Category archives: Indie Labels
Checkmate: Frank Ocean Goes Independent
After ditching Def Jam and successfully releasing his latest album Blonde independently it seems rapper Frank Ocean has chosen to fully strike out on his own. Here we look at what implications this decision has for today’s industry as a whole. ___________________________ Guest post by Erin M. Jacobson from Forbes…
The Orchard Remembers Sharon Jones
Here the staff at The Orchard, who had the good fortune to work with Sharon Jones, share their remembrances of the talented artist and friend who passed away last week. _____________________________ Guest post by Chris Calabrese from The Orchard’s The Daily Rind Last week, the world said goodbye to Sharon…
Record Labels Shift From Promoters To Storytellers As Power Fades
In this piece, David Emery remarks on record labels’ directional shift towards promoting and selling artists "stories" as their power and influence in the music industry begins to fade. ____________________________ Guest post by David Emery, VP Global Marketing Strategy for Kobalt Label Services I was talking recently with someone I…
Busting The Myth That Artists Don’t Need Record Labels And Producers
While there has been a significant amount of hype over the past few years regarding self-releasing tracks and producing and marketing one’s music independently, the truth is that there remains a great deal that record labels can still do for artists that can’t do as well on their own. ________________________…
How Many Counterfeit CDs Is Amazon Selling?
While it’s difficult to get an exact number on such things, it seems as though Amazon has been doing a tidy trade in counterfeit CDs of late, with third party merchants now ripping albums off platforms like YouTube and reselling them in a physical format. __________________________ Guest post from Chris…
Do Playlists Make It Harder To Break An Artist?
While the rise of "playlist culture" has made song discovery that much easier, it has also made it much more challenging for labels to break new artists, stifling artist development and changing the business from artist driven to song driven. ______________________ Guest Post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0 A…
Emerging Artists Fund Launches Its 2nd Year
Help Musicians UK and PledgeMusic are once again teaming up to offer emerging artists a 75k development fund to help DIY artists with drive work towards their long term career development, and sponsor tours in the UK and internationally. _____________________ Guest post from PledgeMusic News Help Musicians UK and PledgeMusic…
BMG Deepens Ties With Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba
Think of Alibaba as the Amazon of China, only bigger. So a tie-in is a big deal for BMG and its growing catalog which includes music from Janet Jackson, blink-182, Scorpions, Kylie Minogue and Black Sabbath. _______________________________ Alibaba Music, the online music service of Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba, announced that…
Indie Music Store Top 100, Top Debuts, Vinyl Sales Charts For Week Ending 11/4/2016
This weekly indie music store sales charts come from The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), a collective of 50 independently owned record stores in 25 states across the U.S. Related articles Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y & Indie Music Indie Music Retailers Launch "Vinyl Tuesdays" Getting It…