One of the reasons that management pulled the Taylor Swift catalog from all streaming services in 2014 was that the revenue from streaming wasn’t sufficient to warrant it being there. Swift was the biggest artist in the world at the time and didn’t need the additional exposure, and she was still selling CDs, so other […]
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If you ever watched Live From Daryl’s House (which is a favorite of so many musicians), you probably have a lot of questions about the show. I was lucky enough to have the show’s musical director, guitarist Shane Theriot, on my latest podcast to pull back the curtain on how the show is done (and […]
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The last few days has seen plenty of news copy about the rumor of new Tesla music streaming service, and, as usual with anything that has to do with Elon Musk, the hype builds on itself. Let me throw the cold waters of reality on this rumor. Even if it does come to pass, it […]
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One of the things that we have to be aware of when making a video these days is how it will play on a mobile device. Here’s an excerpt from the YouTube chapter of my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book that provides 4 tips to make sure that your video is effective on a […]
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Apple has been pretty diligent about keeping the price of Apple Music at $9.99 per month with no discounts (except for the $14.99 family plan) since it launched, but now it looks like a new $99 per year option is now available as well. recently spotted this new tier, and found that the interesting thing […]
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Vance Powell is one of the few engineers to make a successful transition from live sound to the studio. After serving as the chief engineer at Nashville’s acclaimed Blackbird Studios, Vance stepped out on his own with a string of Grammy awards from Jars of Clay, Buddy Guy, Chris Stapleton and The Raconteurs. Since then […]
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Some fans thought it would never happen, but the Bob Seger catalog has finally come to Spotify and Apple Music. 13 of the singer’s most popular albums are now available to most streaming services, with the exceptions being Tidal and Pandora. The interesting thing here is not that Seger made it online at all, but what […]
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The music business has long been critical of YouTube not only for its 55/45 split (45% going to YouTube), but for the fact that songwriters and publishers frequently go unpaid. This could soon change for songwriters signed to ASCAP as the organization has agreed to a new plan that shares songwriter information with the video […]
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Many musicians are adept in at least one of the major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), but aren’t aware that those skills are transferrable to a platform that requires a lot more social interaction that you might think – Spotify. The service has done a good job not only as a music distributor, but […]
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Spotify may be in the lead when it comes to paid streaming subscribers, but Apple Music is closing the gap fast. The company announced last week during its presentation at the World Wide Developers Conference that its streaming service is now up to 27 million users. Spotify still leads the pack with 50 million, but […]
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Mastering engineer Pete Doell was on the podcast a couple of years ago, but he has a brand new room at Aftermaster in Hollywood so I thought it would interesting to talk to him about how he put it together. We talked about gear, acoustics, and dealing with a room that he couldn’t change much […]
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The streaming music service Pandora’s in trouble and it has been for some time. Its user base is shrinking, its losses are increasing, and it’s not able to generate enough revenue, a bad combination if there ever was one. Reports are that the company actually rejected a total acquisition by the satellite radio company Sirius […]
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Here’s the Music Industry News Roundup for the week ending on June 9th, 2017. There was a wide range of new this week, and for once it’s not all centered on streaming. Let’s get into it. The digital music war is over, and the major labels lost. Good article in Rolling Stone how the industry adapted to […]
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So much has changed in the music industry over the last few years that affect an artist’s ability to be successful. Some of it is brand new and a result of the technology we use, while some of it is good common sense that’s been used over and over during the past decades of the […]
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Sometimes consolidation is a good thing, and that certainly looks like the case with Sony Music folding its RED distribution into its Orchard operation. The move is being made in the name of efficiency, and no jobs will be lost in the transition, which is unusual. This is actually happening on a worldwide basis as […]
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