Spotify’s Most Streamed Artists, Tracks 2018 Are All Male and It Has Only Itself To Blame

Despite all the talk of equality for women in music, the top 5 most streamed most artists of 2018 on Spotify are all men. Spotify’s 5 Most Streamed Tracks were also all male. The streamer registered the same all male top artist inequality in 2015 and 2016. Spotify’s Top 5…

Will Fans Unsubscribe If Artists Leave Major Streamers?

In a followup to his recent piece regarding user-centric royalties and the idea of an "ethical pool" solution to streaming royalty allocations, Chris Castle here raises the question of whether artists’ departure from major streaming services would cause fans to follow suit and ditch them as well. ____________________________ Guest post…

SAG-AFTRA Ratifies Stronger Sound Recording Deal

T he members of performers union SAG-AFTRA have voted to approve the tentative deal struck with the major labels for sound recordings back in October. The new SAG-AFTRA Sound Recordings Code includes sound recordings on digital, CDs and vinyl. It also includes all music formats, including audiobooks, cast albums, and…

Grammy Nominees 2019 – The Full List

The nominations for the 61st GRAMMY Awards are in and Kendrick Lamar leads the 2019 pack with 8 nominations for his Black Panther soundtrack. Here are all of the nominees in each of the 84 categories. 1. Record Of The Year Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording…

Move Over Majors, Indies Grab 39.9% Label Market Share

A new Worldwide Independent Market report prepared by MIDiA for indie music trade group WIN shows impressive growth in the global independent music sector. Indie revenue grew 11.3% in 2017 to reach $6.9 billion vs. 9.7% for the major labels. Overall, the independents’ share of global revenue grew from 39.6%…

Edgeout Label Launches With Artist Development Focus

Music industry vet Tony Guanci, along with a team of experienced A&R, touring, live events professionals have launched artist development focused Edgeout Records distributed by Universal Music Group. Edgeout is focused on discovering, vetting and signing young radio-friendly artists, and assist them in developing a fanbase through recorded music as…

Spotify’s 2018 Top Artists, Songs, Albums and Playlists

Spotify has revealed its 2018 lists of most streamed artists, tracks, playlists, podcasts and more of 2018. Sure, there’s plenty of Drake and Ariana Grande. But there are also some newer artists represented, along with a few surprises. Spotify’s Global Top Lists 2018: Most-Streamed Artists Drake is the world’s most-streamed…

Streaming Services Hold Key To Music’s Diversity [Op-Ed]

Johan Svanberg of indie distributor Record Union looks at the need for music streaming services to become more diverse and egalitarian; not only where gender and ethnicity are concerned, but also in terms of creation and ownership. The answer, he believes, is to make streaming platforms a more hospitable and…

Grammy Nominees Announcement Moves To Friday, Apple Music Scores Co-Exclusive

The announcement of this year’s Grammy nominees is shifting two days to Friday December 7th to not conflict with coverage of memorial services for former President George H.W. Bush. Some categories will be announced live on “CBS This Morning” and for the first time on Apple Music at 8:30 AM…