Amazon Sells Counterfeit CDs, Mixing With Your Eyes, And Amuse CEO Diego Farias On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Diego Farias, who’s a digital music and tech expert with experience from some of the world’s most successful tech companies. He now serves as the CEO and co-founder of record label and music distributor Amuse.  Amuse has a unique business model in that it provides free distribution to all the […]

Continue reading

Spotify Is Testing Higher Prices In Scandinavia

Now that it has a healthy number of subscribers, Spotify would like to raise its prices and the first place it’s trying is in its own back yard. The company is planning on increasing the price of its family plan by 14% in Scandinavia, according to Bloomberg. Since music streaming has the most penetration in Scandinavia […]

Continue reading

You’ll Be Amazed At The Number Of Fake Followers These Music Celebs Have

We all know that we can buy just about any kind of signs of social authority these days. Likes, streams, views – yep, they’re for sale. So are followers, and you’d be surprised just how many fake followers some of the biggest music celebrities actually have. ICMP in London looked at a number of available […]

Continue reading

Producer Joe Solo, Re-recording Old Songs, And The 64 Bit World On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Joe Solo, who turned a chance meeting with Macy Gray into a 17 year journey that culminated in a Grammy win, a double platinum album, and a hit MTV video.  Soon afterward Joe transitioned into the world of music publishing as the head staff writer/producer for Paramount’s Famous Music Publishing […]

Continue reading

Apple Music For Artists Program Launches

Even though Apple Music has always paid a lot more in per stream royalties than Spotify, artists and managers still felt something was missing. Spotify provides some deep insights into the listening audience thanks to its Spotify For Artists program, but now Apple has launched its own version of the program. The Apple Music For […]

Continue reading

The Major Labels Make $16k Per Second From Streaming, For Now

Yes, you read the headline right. The major labels are now bringing in over $16,000 per second from streaming alone. That amounts to over $1 million per hour, according to an analysis by Music Business News. That all sounds great, but the problem is that although the income from streaming is still growing, streaming itself […]

Continue reading

Apple Hi-Res Streaming Is Here With Apple Digital Masters

I’ve been predicted this would happen for a couple of years and now it’s finally here. Apple has taken its treasure trove of high-resolution audio masters and launched a new “initiative” called Apple Digital Masters. Details are sketchy and the only announcement has come through Billboard so far, but an Apple hi-res streaming component has […]

Continue reading

Tencent Comes Out Favorably Ahead In Its Deal With Universal Music

Vivendi announced today that discussions have begun with Tencent Holdings Limited for the Chinese media giant to buy 10% of its Universal Music Group. The price is pegged at $3.4 billion USD, which puts UMG’s valuation at $34 billion. Tencent will also have a one year call option to purchase an additional 10% of the […]

Continue reading

411 Music Group’s Kristen Agee, Katy Perry “Dark Horse” Verdict, And Musician’s SoundCloud Accounts On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Kristen Agee, who is a classically trained violinist and started playing multiple instruments at the age of 7. She opened a studio in Silver Lake, California where she recorded punk bands and wrote music for various artists, all while touring as bassist after learning the instrument from Rolling Stone’s bass […]

Continue reading

Sony Artists And Songwriters Can Now Get Paid Faster

You would think in this age of digital music consumption that it would be easy to calculate royalties, and as a result, pay them out quickly. That hasn’t been the case though, as major labels and publishers still pay as if it’s 1999. Kobalt has been the publisher that has led the way with almost […]

Continue reading

Tips For Crafting A Successful Artist Email Newsletter

There’s a lot of thought that goes into creating an email newsletter that accomplishes the task of conveying your important information to your email list subscriber. For instance, if your title doesn’t attract attention, the email may not get opened. If the content is weak, the next one might not get opened, or worse yet, […]

Continue reading

Another Music Celeb Is Defeated In Court As Katy Perry Loses “Dark Horse” Copyright Trial

It’s pretty hard to be a songwriter these days, especially if you have a hit. Chances are that you’ll be sued for copyright infringement and chances are you’ll lose in court. That’s what happened to Katy Perry as a Los Angeles federal court ruled that her song “Dark Horse” copied part of Marcus Gray’s 2008 […]

Continue reading

Engineer Steve Genewick, Producer’s Union, And More On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Steve Genewick, who has worked at Capitol Studios in Hollywood for 25 years and during that time he’s had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of legendary artists including Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Queen, George Harrison, Michael Jackson and many more. Steve has also been able […]

Continue reading

What Every Songwriter Should Know About The Music Licensing Collective

One of the many aspects of the recently passed Music Modernization Act by Congress is what’s known as the Music Licensing Collective, or MLC. This is the new entity that’s going to manage blanket licensing, collect money from streaming services, and pay copyright owners in the future. It’s slated to begin on January 1st, 2021 […]

Continue reading

Get More Post Engagement With Hashtag Sets

Not enough Instagram and Twitter users understand that hashtags have a specific purpose of helping other users find something in a search. That’s why vanity hashtags like #IhatetheDMV or #GoodbySadOldJob might make you feel good, but they do nothing to help anyone find your post. Not only are the type of hashtags important, but groups […]

Continue reading