How An Indie Musician Made $26,000 Selling Just A Handful Of Albums

Many artists bemoan the transition from paid digital downloads to the fractions of a penny artists earn from streaming, but some artists are adapting to this shift, and in fact have made selling less work to their advantage. Here we look at how Buffalo-based electronic musician Spruke is selling his…

Portugal The Man Talks Hard Work Or Die [INTERVIEW]

Here Chris Robley sat down to chat with Zach Carothers of Portugal, The Man about the value of hard work in a tough industry, and how the group recently jumped from mid-level indie rock group to the crossover stars of 2017 with their chart-topping hit "Feel It Still". _______________________________ Guest…

UnitedMasters Lands $70 Million From Google To Take On The Record Labels

[UPDATE 2] Next-gen artist services and music technology platform UnitedMasters, led by former Interscope Records president Steve Stoute, has exited stealth mode with $70 million in funding from Google’s parent company Alphabet, respected venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, Translation and entertainment conglomerate 20th Century Fox. _________________________________ UnitedMasters has raised…

Concord Exec Grover Biery Jumps To BMG As EVP Recorded Music

[UPDATED] Concord Music exec Tom ‘Grover’ Biery has jumped to BMG where he will serve as EVP Recorded Music, based in Los Angeles. He’ll lead BMG’s recorded music teams, working alongside BBR Music Group, S-Curve and Rise Records. Biery was Concord Music Group’s SVP, Streaming Marketing, overseeing the global digital…

Behind Music’s Gender Divide: Is Hip Hop Keeping Female Artists Off The Charts? [Mark Mulligan]

[UPDATED] Music’s gender gap – in the executive suites, the recording studios and on the charts – is unquestionable. But at least on the charts, there are contributing factors, including the unintended consequences of label A&R strategy and streaming service curation, says MIDiA analyst Mark Mulligan. By Mark Mulligan of…

Taylor Swift’s "Reputation" Just Topped 1 Million In Sales

Taylor Swift’s new album "Reputation" topped 1 million units on Tuesday morning, less than 5 days after it’s release. More retail outlets are due to report throughout the day. First day sales for Taylor Swift’s new album "Reputation" topped 717,000, according to data gathered by BuzzAngle Music. Swift’s tally is…

‘Tis The Season, But Are Holiday Albums Profitable?

With November well under way, the sleigh bells are already ringing out, and holiday classics will soon dominate the airwaves, but for all the music played around the holidays, is releasing new holiday music really that profitable for the creator? _______________________ In this recent post to MusicThinkTank, Andrea Balogun looks…

Taylor Swift First Day Sales Top 717K, Tour Announcement Planned [UPDATED]

[UPDATED] First day sales for Taylor Swift’s new album "Reputation" topped 717,000, according to data gathered by BuzzAngle Music. "She’s got a shot at 1.5M for the week given this," says BuzzAngle CEO Jim Ledestri. That makes it the biggest first day release so far in 2017. No Streaming Stats…

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

In independent, do-it-yourself world, we’re offering the scrappy self-starters of the music industry tips and advice on social listening, how to overcome some of the most common songwriter struggles, which live video platform is best for you, and more. Could Your Next Album Be Released On Floppy Disk? Social Listening…

Could Your Next Album Be Released On Floppy Disk?

Releasing albums on antiquated formats has become a common occurrence in music industry, but one artist has taken things a step further, releasing their latest album on the long outdated floppy disk. _____________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Releasing albums on long outdated formats has gone from…