When Musicians Find Justification In Piracy

Here, Wade Sutton weighs in on what he perceives to be hypocritical behavior by some musicians who, in spite of railing against music piracy, condone other forms of illegitimate downloading and/or streaming, and the ‘jailbreaking’ of devices like the Amazon Firestick or the Google Chromecast. ________________________________ Guest post by Wade…

CD Baby, Tunecore, DistroKid Add Rapid Apple Music For Artists Verification

Top 3 DIY music distributors CD Baby, Tunecore and DistroKid have all added rapid Apple Music For Artists verification, unlocking the platform’s expanded analytics for their artists. To be eligible, artists must use the same email address and password that they use for their distribution account when signing up for…

QUICK HITS: Warner Music Nordics • Ingrooves • Hipgnosis • WildKat PR • Sentric

Warner Music has named Mark Fry to the newly created post of vice president, Warner Music Nordics. Fry will also continue to serve as managing director of Warner Music Finland and operate out of the company’s Helsinki office. • Ingrooves announced the appointment of Jen Bontusa as Vice President of…

3 Techniques For Promoting A Show When Playing In A Brand New City

Whether you’re setting out on a country-wide tour or simply playing a show at the next town over, knowing how to break into a city you’ve never played is an invaluable skill as a DIY artist. Here we look at three essential ways in which you can boost your presence…

Why Taylor Swift Is Planning To Re-Record Her First 5 Albums

Typically a more forward-thinking artist, pop sensation Taylor Swift has recently developed an interesting focus on re-recording her first five albums. Here we look at what the motivation behind this seemingly random musical reinvention might be. ______________________________ Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix Taylor Swift always focuses on the…

Forbes Names Berklee, Julliard, NYU Top Colleges For Alumni Success in Entertainment

NYU, Julliard, and Berklee were the top three on a new Forbes list of the top 15 schools in the U.S. that produce alumni who have achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the entertainment industry. Alongside Harvard, Yale, Brown, UCLA, Forbes cited Berklee for the "sheer number of Grammy…

DistroKid Adds Distribution To TikTok

[UPDATED] DistroKid has become the first DIY music distributor top add TikTok to its offering. The short video app has more than 500 million active worldwide and served as the launchpad for the longest-running #1 in chart history, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. "Artists have been asking us…

New Way To Game YouTube Views Being Utilized By Artists, Labels

Paying for plays and view counts has been a common practice since the dawn of on-demand, and although YouTube view counts don’t mean as much as they used to, a high count can help pull in advertising dollars. Increasingly, some artists are purchasing Google ads to play their videos over…

YouTube Won’t Negotiate With New YouTubers Union

YouTube has refused to negotiate with the YouTubers Union, a group formed last year to represent the rights of the tens of thousands of creators who earn a living on the platform. The YouTubers Union recently aligned itself with IG Metall, a German metalworkers union that is the largest industrial…

Ready For A Manager? 5 Questions To Ask Yourself

Have a reliable problem solver/organizer you can turn to can be a huge asset when you’re trying to make your way as an artist in the music biz, but just because you’d like to have a helping hand, doesn’t mean you’re necessarily ready to make the leap of hiring a…