Five up-and-coming music tech startups will compete for the first Music Innovations Prize at the 2019 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal next month. This is the first time the competition is held by the Web Summit as part of the conference’s MusicNotes stage program.
Continue reading "5 Cutting Edge Music Tech Startups Vie For Music Innovation Prize By Web Summit" »
Last week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals told a lower federal court to reconsider Pandora's bid to negate a class-action lawsuit over the streaming of pre-1972 recordings.
In this piece, Kristen Westcott Grant explores the evolving role of data algorithms in the streaming industry, and how Spotify's continued rollouts of new personalized playlists can help not just fans and the streaming service, but also artists and labels.
At a time when many of the figures reinventing the music business belong to a new generation, Universal veteran Rod Linnum aka "LoFi Rod" is helping to lead the charge for the blossoming lo-fi genre.
Continue reading "Ballad of 'LoFi Rod': How DashGo Became The Home Of A New, Dynamic Genre" »
MONDAY 10.21.19
Music Business News From Around The Web
Commentators inside the music business this week gave voice to their opinions on why blockchain won't be saving the music industry any time soon, how publishers are driving the full sate music revolution, why the industry won't admit that piracy is on the decline, and more.
Continue reading "This Week In Music Commentary" »
In our flip back through a full week of music industry news, we look back at CD Baby and Dash Go's expansion into India, Google's new plan to being linking searches to key video moments, the slashing of music on public radio, and more.
Continue reading "REWIND: The New Music Industry’s Week In Review" »
Some of the most popular and often read articles on Hypebot this week covered how money flows from music streams into the actual artist's pocket, the top SEO Google ranking factors in 2020, what songwriters should be doing right now to prepare for the Music Modernization Act, and more.
Continue reading "TOP POSTS: This Week’s Most Read Posts On Hypebot" »
Spotify this week released a series of shoer videos dubbed "Life At Spotify" that offer a curated look inside the world's top streaming service. While quite clearly a carefully scripted PR piece, collectively they offer a look at who and what makes Spotify tick.
Continue reading "Life At Spotify: A Curated Behind The Scenes Look " »
Living as we are in the digital age, any company which plays host to entertainment media on a large is at constant risk of copyright infringement. Whether it's Spotify or YouTube, difficult challenges will inevitably arise over how to best monitor for and remove infringing content. Here we look at factors which determine how companies thread the copyright needle.
Continue reading "Copyright Infringement Liability In The Music Business" »
AWAL Promotes Two: Aaron Bogucki has been upped to Vice President, Marketing at AWAL based in the UK. Over the past 18 months, Bogucki has been building up AWAL’s global digital marketing and creative content team and forging strategic partnerships with third-party tech platforms.
Here Bobby Owsinski outlines why the rise of streaming culture has largely nullified the viability of a blockchain-based system for selling music, and why services like Audius, which do utilize blockchain tech, are more susceptible to piracy.
Continue reading "Why Blockchain Won't Be Saving The Music Business (Yet)" »
CD Baby has expanded into India, the world's 15th largest recorded music market, according to the IFPI. The news arrives on the heels of recent expansion into China, Canada, Columbia, Southeast Asia, and the UK over the last 16 months.
Continue reading "CD Baby, Dash Go Expand Into India " »
Universal Music Group revenue was up an impressive 18.6% for a total of $2 billion last quarter. The jump was driven by streaming and merchandise revenue along with the releases by superstars like Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
Continue reading "UMG Revenues Up 18.6% To $2B In Q3 2019" »
FRIDAY 10.18.19
Music Business News From Around The Web
Google is set to unveil a new feature which could alter how many video searches take place. The search engine will now now take its users directly to key points within a YouTube video based on their query. As with so many changes, this could be good and bad for video creators.
Continue reading "Google To Begin Linking Searches To Key Video Moments" »
Music industry consultancy Stem has launched Stem Check, a new free service to help musicians understand the ins and outs of any record label or distribution offers. Artists can meet face-to-face with a Stem finance specialists to analyze the pros & cons of the deal.
Continue reading "Stem Offers Free Analysis Of Label, Distribution Offers" »
Australia and LA-based indie label, management, and artist services company Future Classic has launched Wilder, a joint venture record label with veteran Paradigm agent Tom Windish.
If you want to perform at an official SXSW showcase, your time is running out. The deadline to submit to showcase at SXSW Music 2020 is next Friday, October 26th.
SAG-AFTRA’s national board has reached a deal with major labels for a three-year extension for their current music videos contract.
Continue reading "SAG-AFTRA Approves 3 Year Music Video Agreement with Major Labels" »
While music distribution seems like it should be a simple, straightforward process with just a few steps, the reality is far more complex. Here we follow the meandering breadcrumb trail from when a song is written to when it actually becomes available to the public.
Continue reading "How Music Distribution Works In The Modern Entertainment Business [VIDEO]" »
'You Say' singer Lauren Daigle took top honors at the 50th Annual Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards earlier this week, taking home trophies for artist of the year, song of the year and pop/contemporary album of the year. This marks the second time the 28-year-old singer has won the Dove artist of the year award in just three years.
Continue reading "Lauren Daigle Dominates GMA Dove Awards [Full Winners List]" »
THURSDAY 10.17.19
Music Business News From Around The Web
In this interview, Neil Turkewitz sat down to chat with Kerry Muzzey, a composer whose knowledge of intellectual property and performance rights allowed him to act as a one man publisher and record label. Here they discuss the issue of online copyright infringement, how it's affecting artists, and what is being done to correct the problem
Continue reading "Kerry Muzzey, Reluctant Artist-Advocate [INTERVIEW]" »
If, as you should, you have a website showcasing your music et al, your number one priority should be increasing your site's ranking in Google search results. While there are roughly 200 factors involved in the Google search algorithm, we here look at fifteen of the most important.
Continue reading "SEO 2020: Top 15 Google Page Ranking Factors" »
The Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Songs Fund buying spree continues with the acquisition of the catalog of Grammy-winning producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ, Timbaland.
Continue reading "Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Acquires Timbaland Catalog" »
In this new edition of the Business Of Indie, indie trade association AIM issues a major report on the state of independent music distribution, rapper 2 Chainz signs an indie deal, Bubba Sparxxx partners with Symphonic for a new label and much more.
YouTube and Merchbar have partnered to bring official merchandise sales to the platform. Merchbar has a similar deal with Spotify.
Continue reading "YouTube, Merchbar Partner For Artist Merch, Vinyl Sales" »
Popular sleep and meditation app Calm and has named its first head of Music, Courtney Phillips, UMG’s former Director of Brand Partnerships. And don't for a minute that Phillips made is to bring more sleep-inducing instrumental music to the platform.
Continue reading "Meditation App Calm Names UMG Exec Head Of Music " »
WEDNESDAY 10.16.19
Music Business News From Around The Web