Liv Buli’s Weekend Reading List: Understanding Mechanicals, Apple takes a Pay Cut, and Kanye’s Birthday
One again, Liv Buli, the Data Journalist for Pandora's Next Big Sound shares what her caught her eye this week, as she parsed data while also taking the cultural temperature. Liv often sees what matters most before the rest of us; and shares it on Hypebot (almost) every Friday.
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On the road again – this time headed to Boston for a conference hosted by the Berklee College of Music. I’ll be on a panel discussing the value of data (big shocker, right?) with the Future of Music Coalition. I’m pretty excited for the conference, but it should be said that I am also pretty excited for the opportunity this affords me to eat lobster rolls all weekend.
First off let’s get the technical mumbo jumbo out of the way. If you don’t have a strong grasp on how mechanical royalties work, I suggest you take five minutes to read through this explainer.
“Always keep in mind that a mechanical license is all about the composition, not the actual sound recording.”
Apple announced that they’d be taking a smaller cut of subscription revenue from the app store.
News broke this week that Spotify (in a very Apple-esque move) have brought Troy Carter on board, ostensibly to help them develop relationships in the industry. I wonder how Gaga feels about that.
Here’s a solid round up of all things tech, music, and business at Midem.
Incidentally, I got to spend a little time with the bands and artists participating in the Midem Artist Accelerator program, a group of 12 talented emerging acts. Here are their deets and data:
It was Yeezy’s birthday this week, and of course I couldn’t let that pass me by without a taking a look at his last (adventurous) year on Twitter and other platforms.
And this is what it looks like when a relatively unknown artist releases a new track that really resonates. Check out what track station adds looked like for Dagny over the past few months (I am telling you, keep an eye on this girl, and I am not just saying that because she’s Norwegian and I am biased, I am telling you that because the proof is in the data pudding).
Why don’t we just go ahead and watch the music video and decide for ourselves?
So that’s my two cents for the week. Good night and good luck.
