Sony’s Morris To Launch Indie Label, But NOT With Apple

The long planned exit of Sony Music Entertainment non-executive chairmen Doug Morris will happen at the end of March, according to mulitple sources. But the 79 year old music execitive is not going quietly, but rather launching a new, well funded independent label. _______________________________ Retiring Sony Music chariman Doug Morris’…

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

This week, our wealth of wisdom for those independent musicians looking to make it in the music industry covered how to organize your music industry team, what it takes to cultivate a successful relationship in the music industry, why play counts don’t always translate to success, and much more. How…

Ravyn Lenae: Anatomy Of An Artist

In this piece, on the rise R&B singer out of Chicago Ravyn Lenae chats about the sounds and influencing factors behind her music in anticipation of her upcoming new release Crush, set to drop soon. ______________________ Guest post by Rachel Grate of Next Big Sound What if we looked at…

Talib Kweli Cancels Concert After Venue Books White Nationalist Band Taake

Rapper Talib Kweli has canceled a performance at a Kansas City music venue after the booked a Scandinavian accused of being Nazi sympathizers. According to the Kansas City Star, Kweli on Feb 20th told the management of the Riot Room that he would not be performing the following day after…

Stormzy, Dua Lipa Take Top Honors At Brit Awards 2018 [Full List Of Winners]

New artists beat the old guard at the 2018 Brit Awards which saw grime artist Stormzy and pop music singer-songwriter Dua Lipa take top honors at the annual awards show, winning British Male and Female solo artist, respectively. Lipa, who was the first female artist to pick up five Brit…

Playlist Culture And Our Shrinking Attention Spans

Besides getting the industry back on its feet as a whole, playlist have been a huge asset in bringing unknown groups and artists out of obscurity. While this all seems like a good thing, playlist culture has it’s own potential downsides. ______________________________ Guest post by Patrick McGuire on the ReverbNation…

Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel On Social Media, How To Get Signed

This week Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert are joined on the Music Biz Weekly podcast by Brian Slagel, CEO of Metal Blade Records. He shares his thoughts on the importance of social media and how important it is when considering a band for a record deal. We talk about bands…

Recording Academy ‘Math’ Implies Gender Gap Not So Wide

Like President Trump, Neil Portnow and too many other men refuse to admit without equivocation that they are part of the gender problem. Until that changes, not much else can. Is 12%, for example, or even 17% representation for women in music so much better than 9% that it deserves…

Music Manager, Marketer Timothy Collins Talks Strategy

In this interview Swedish twenty-two year old manager and digital strategist Timothy Collins discusses his company UNLTD, the importance of innovation, and the challenge of breaking through the social media landscape. _______________________ Guest post by Veselina Gerova of The Message Behind The Artist is a Q&A style interview series featuring…

Producer Matt Squire On SoundExchange Letters Of Direction

Here producer and SoundExchange member Matt Squire talks about the important role the company plays in the producer’s careers via their Letters of Direction. ___________________________ Guest post from SoundExchange Producers play an important role in the careers of recording artists and rights owners. And SoundExchange plays an important role in…