Picking up the mic for reasons other than singing this week, we have an interview with viral rapping sensation Wynne, an explanation of why posting duplicative content on YouTube is a terrible idea, Neil Young slamming Trump over CA wildfires, and more.

Our tips and advice for those independent artists trailblazing their own path this week covered a comprehensive breakdown of effective email marketing, how to gather your first five thousand followers on SoundCloud, a beginners guide to building an audience, and much more!

This week on MusicThinkTank, contributors shared articles on the future of remote music collaboration, the ways in which millennials are changing the music industry, how to find the right mixing engineer for your project, and more.

As we flip back through essential music industry news and events from the past seven days, we're revisiting the full list of Latin Grammy Award winners, determining whether the CD is really dead, looking at some of this years big winners in Country Music, and more!

This week, a few pieces climbing to the top of the charts included ways to legally increase your plays on SoundCloud, whether music industry Titan T-Swift will choose to exercise the nuclear option, why followers on Spotify are preferable to pre-saves, and more!

Cartoonist Tommy Siegel shares a cynical and amusing, but all too true, look at four types of musicians roaming the music industry jungle in 2018. 

58.4 million people in the US use Spotify in 2018. That's 20.8% of internet users, according to eMarketer estimates.

But who are they?

Conventional wisdom is that an artist has to be on a major label to have major success in the music industry. But these 11 top artists are proving that the major label paradigm has shifted, Indie is in. 

Artists have been finding ways to game the system since the digital age began, often in the form of purchasing likes or subscriptions, but streaming isn't immune either. Here we look at the tactics employed by some artists to dramatically boost their streaming numbers.

Millennials are thirsty for music and are constantly immersing themselves in at every opportunity, to the point where it is fundamentally altering the music industry, impacting both traditional retail sales of music and digital streaming.

In an effort to improve the methods by which royalties are calculated, Chris Castle theorized something known as the "ethical pool". Here he takes a deeper dive, taking a look at a new study on the topic and how it compares more conventional royalty calculations.

Two Spotify alumni involved in the creation of Discovery Weekly, have raised a $4.5 million seed round from Matrix to release an app that offers music, film and other recommendations based on user preferences, but without sharing data with Spotify, Netflix, Facebook or anyone else.

Revenue at Universal Music Group grew 13.5% year of year last quarter, according to financials reported by corporate parent Vivendi. But on everyone's mind were Vivendi's plan to sell a 50% stake in the world's largest music group.

The winners of last night's 2018 Latin Grammy Awards came from a broad spectrum of styles and genres. The awards were televised on Univision from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. 

FRIDAY 11.16.18

Music Business News From Around The Web

Updated continuously under the More News tab

Latin music and artists have become a force to be reckoned with on YouTube. At the start of 2017 there were 5 videos from Latin artists in YouTube’s Billion Views Club, and as of today, there are 41. More than half of the top 100 most-viewed music videos of 2018 are Latin and 8 of the top 10 most-viewed music videos of 2018 feature Latin artists.

Although vinyl has been making a significant comeback in the age of streaming, the CD has largely been thought of as a relic of the past. New data suggests, however, that calling time of death on the CD may have been premature.

Currently one of the most powerful operators in the music industry, Taylor Swift's contract with Big Machine Records has come to an end, giving her freedom to go out on her own, shop around and choose another label...or maybe not.

In this piece, the people at Music Technology Policy provide a chart listing the key events in the necessary path to launch in order for the Mechanical Licensing Collective as needed by the recently ratified Music Modernization Act.

Pitchfork and record of the month club Vinyl Me, Please are partnering to curate and reissue four special edition vinyl albums over the next year. The series will kick off in December with UK shoegaze legends Slowdive and a limited 2,000 record pressing of their 1995 album Pygmalion.

In this sixth and final part of a multi-part series breaking down the ins and outs of email marketing, Cheryl B. Engelhardt focuses on how artists can use their email marketing strategy to actually monetize (or "Sell") their work.

With more music and music related stock traded on the public markets, Hypebot is stepping up its coverage of the markets, quarterly reports and earnings calls. Here, with a help from CelebrityAccess, are updates on Eventbrite, Spotify and Snap.

The 52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards were held last night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Here is a complete list of CMA 2018 winners and nominees.

THURSDAY 11.15.18

Music Business News From Around The Web

Updated continuously under the More News tab

While YouTube has certainly moved in on the music industry in a major way, carving out a huge swathe of listens and views, a recent news outage at Facebook has suggested consumers may not be as dedicated to these major sites as was at first thought, and that, were YouTube to disappear, consumers would have no trouble moving on to greener pastures in order to get the music they crave.

In this installment of the #nofilter interview series, AWAL talks with viral rapper and social media sensation Wynne about some of her more off-the-beaten path thoughts and opinions.

Did Spotify just share a big hint that is is investing in The Orchard?  Days before the streamer announced an investment and partnership with DistroKid, it prominently featured the DIY distributor as the only logo on a page announcing its Spotify Preferred Distributor program. 

NetEase Cloud Music has completed a $600 million funding round to take on Spotify partner Tencent Music in China and Asia's exploding streaming music market. NetEase boasts 600 million registered users, adding 200 million over the last twelve months.

iHeartMedia has named the members selected to serve on its Board of Directors upon its emergence from Chapter 11. The current board will remain in place until the company emerges from bankruptcy.