Month: December 2021

Categories
News

The Most Viewed Music Biz Videos of 2021

Music Biz

After a long and successful year of content creation, the Music Biz team shares their most popular videos of 2021.

There are so many things we’d like to say about 2021. The second weirdest year in recent memory presented new opportunities and fresh horrors none of us could have foreseen, but together, we found a way forward. Your support and engagement kept our team working hard when others may have quit, and we have you to thank for so much of what we accomplished in the last twelve months.

Nobody knew if Music Biz would work. Sure, some people like to talk about music, but how many people actually want to discuss the business part of the music business? The answer, at least, from what we’ve seen, is a lot of people. 

Music Biz is our attempt to create and curate tomorrow’s music business. We are passionate about sharing ideas and information for the sake of helping one another not only survive the entertainment business but thrive within it. We are forging a community of driven professionals and artists eager to discuss the nuts and bolts of this thing we are trying to do for a living.

We made many videos in 2021, and you spent over a quarter-million minutes watching along. That support means everything, and we wanted to celebrate that milestone by sharing some of our most popular videos. You’ll find the top 5 clips from recent months below. We’ll return with more great content soon.

RIP Ringback Tones

After debuting in October 2020, this Music Biz News update found new life in 2021 as the world realized ringback tones were a thing of the past. It’s almost funny to think millions paid for ringback tones in a world where most don’t answer their phones (and often keep them on silent).

Clubhouse Has A BIG Problem

After rising to popularity thanks largely to a false sense of exclusivity, Clubhouse found itself a topic of controversy due to its lack of accessibility features. The app has since been updated.

What Music Business Majors Need To Know

A “golden oldie” of our channel, this clip finds new life every spring as millions of young music fans decide whether or not college is right for them. We have several videos on this topic, so be sure to subscribe for similar content in the future.

When Will Concerts Return (January 2020 COVID Update)

Remember when concerts were basically illegal, and life was worse as a result? Let’s not do that again. Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Wear a mask. Don’t be an idiot.

What Artists Can Learn from Greta Van Fleet

Greta Van Fleet continues to inspire a new generation of rock fans. That’s no surprise to us, and it should be no surprise to you.

Again, we cannot thank you enough for your continuing support of Music Biz. We are working on exciting new ideas for 2022, and we are looking forward to sharing the next chapter of our channel with you. Until then, take care of each other. We can all get ahead, but we have to work together.

Categories
Industry News News

Surviving The 2021 Music Industry Slowdown

music industry slowdown

After another wild and unpredictable year, the music industry at large is taking a break, and you know what? You should too. You deserve it.

It’s finally happening. After 12 long months of pandemics, pipeline issues, discovery algorithms, and more social media content than anyone cares to think about, the annual music industry slow down is upon us. For the next three weeks, the best majority of the music industry will be on some form of vacation. As one industry contact put it, “Ask yourself: Is this a December issue, or is it a January email?”

Hopefully, news of the slowdown brings a feeling of relief. But we know that’s not the case. You still have things to accomplish! Other people may be taking a break, but you have something to do! Your to-do list is long, and you will finish it before the holidays. At least, that’s what you keep telling yourself.

Or maybe you still have to work. My team and I will be working through the holidays, as will many other industry professionals. There will be fewer meetings and fewer emails, of course, but the wheels of entertainment never fully come to a halt. There are always support tickets to answer, databases to update, press releases to prepare, songs to write, etc.

Whatever the case, it’s fine to feel the way you feel. The holidays are difficult for everyone, But they are a time for the rest of reflection, even if you have to work! Over the next few weeks, there will be things you cannot accomplish. There will be people you cannot reach, contact you cannot complete, and calls that go on returned. Good! Let those people rest. They’ve earned it.

Please do what you need to survive and scratch that creative edge, but I must urge you to approach the next three weeks with an increased focus on the rest. Make time to think about the things you’ve accomplished and the things you are working toward at the moment. You probably can’t believe all that you accomplished over the last 12 months. You’ve done so much, and you’ve yet to do so many things that will be incredible, no doubt, but right now, your power is limited. Take that as a sign and rest. Do that in whatever form is best for you, but walk away from work. You’ve earned it.

Categories
Industry News News

NIVA Now Offering Members Access To Health Insurance

As the need for support continues, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is expanding its member offerings to include access to health insurance.

The National Independent Venue Association announced the launch of Niva Care, a health insurance plan for the organization’s members.

The plan allows NIVA members, including venues, promoters, and festivals to provide full and part time employees, as well as 1099 contractors with access to affordable healthcare insurance along with a raft of benefits that were typically available only to employees of large businesses.

“Since Day 1 at NIVA, our mantra has been ‘First we survive, then we thrive’,” said Chris Bauman, a NIVA founding member, lead of its Insurance Committee, and president of Zenith Music Group in Chicago. “NIVA Care is a massive game changer that has the potential to improve employees’ and their families’ lives and enable our mom-and-pop small businesses to attract and keep staff during this competitive employment time — and for years to come. NIVA Care is the opposite of a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Instead it’s fully customized for our industry and diverse membership.”

NIVA Care’s portal has insurance solutions for all of NIVA’s members regardless of size:

Individual insurance solutions for members or their employees and 1099 contractors that currently do not have access to a group plan. These solutions, supported by concierge level service from licensed experts include both help in ACA plan subsidy eligibility review and application, options including dental, vision, short-term medical plans, Medicare advantage and Medicare supplement plans as well as accident, critical illness and life insurance plans.

Group health insurance solutions for any size employer that wants to attract and retain employees with a custom employee benefits plan. Solutions include traditional major medical plans, level-funded plans and unique plan designs that leverage new subsidies available to save employers and employees thousands of dollars on their medical plans.

NIVA also offers exclusive Health and Welfare plans utilizing the national BCBS network that the organization’s members can choose from.

NIVA’s new insurance offerings also include NIVA Care Employee Benefits Program, which allows employers, employees and 1099 contractors to step away from their current plans and replace them with plans that leverage Affordable Care Act subsidies as enhanced this April by the American Rescue Plan. The program allows participants to taylor benefits for each employee and contractor, with offered benefits including health insurance, student loan debt repayment, building up savings for emergency expenses, dependent care, and other practical employee advantages.

“Our entire industry suffered last year, but not idly. When a handful of NIVA members came up with the audacious idea to launch a healthcare insurance program, it seemed unsurmountable, but Chris Bauman, Michael Hierl, Grace Blake, and the entire NIVA Insurance Committee invested thousands of hours to bring us to this moment: a member benefit that is in many ways every bit as unexpected and revolutionary as #SaveOurStages was,” added NIVA Executive Director Rev. Moose.

Categories
Artist Advice Editorials Industry News News

How Any Artist Can Success In 2022 [Video]

With the industry slowing down ahead of the holidays, now is the perfect time to position yourself for success in 2022. We can help.

Everyone has a plan. If you do not think you have a plan right now, then your plan is to fail. That may sound like high school football coach gibberish, but it does carry some weight in the music business. Everyone who has ever gotten anywhere has made a plan to get there, and we are going to help you succeed in 2022 by doing just that. We’re going to make a plan.

But plans are more than just goals. Generally speaking, most people think about plans as a destination. They want to climb a mountain or release an album or go on tour, but they don’t make much of a plan to get there. Success depends on the details surrounding your project. When will you make time to do something, and how will you afford to do it? What skills do you need? Who will help you? All of these things and much more need to be answered if you want any chance of success in music.

In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell begins by taking stock of the entertainment industry. Between the massive delays with physical media, the ongoing pandemic, and wavering consumer confidence, we live in a ‘new normal’ that demands new plans. James then guides users through the planning process, including establishing a series of checks and balances to ensure your goals are reached. Check it out!

Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify Expands Artist Wrapped Offerings

Spotify’s year-end festivities continue to astound and amaze with exciting new data insights now available to artists worldwide.

It’s that time of year again. While you are wondering what you’re going to buy the people in your life for the holidays and how you will afford it, Spotify users are busy devouring their annual ‘Wrapped’ content. The long-running feature presents data about user behavior over the past twelve months through a series of colorful and easily sharable infographics. Users can learn their top artists, songs, and what genres they play most often. They also learn what song they played the most, as well as how many times it was played.

But subscribers are not the only ones who benefit from Wrapped. This week, Spotify for Artists launched its annual 2021 Artist Wrapped microsite, presenting artists with a custom experience and share card showcasing their success on Spotify over the past year. 


Artists can log in or sign up for Spotify for Artists to view their share card and microsite experience, now available in 31 languages. Sample highlights you might remember from years past include… 

  • Total hours streamed
  • Increases in followers, total listeners, streams, or playlist adds
  • Total number of top listeners
  • Total number of fans sharing the artist’s profile, albums, and songs
  • Info showing the journey of an artist’s top track: Number of streams, how it traveled around the world, the day when it had the most listeners at the same time, playlist adds, and more 

As well as some new bells and whistles, like:

  • Audio Aura, a visualization of an artist’s songs based on the moods, genre, and sounds associated with their music
  • Throwback Track that showcases an artist’s top catalogue track that is still going strong
  • All of the artist’s listed collaborators 

Since its inception in 2017, Artist Wrapped has become a moment that artists and fans alike look forward to all year and it has seen tremendous growth since its launch:

  • The number of monthly active Spotify for Artists users during the Artist Wrapped time period increased by 670% (more than 7x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Traffic to Spotify for Artists on the day of Artist Wrapped launch increased 933% (more than 10x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Visits to the Artist Wrapped microsite increased 1381% (more than 14x) between 2017 and 2020.
  • Shares to social media from the Artist Wrapped microsite have increased by 285% since 2018.

Spotify also has Wrapped Share Cards available for podcasters who share their shows through the popular platform. A quick glance at the data available to us for High Notes, our recovery podcast, found massive growth over the last 12 months. Thank you.

Categories
Industry News News

Spotify’s Future In Video Begins With ‘Discover’

A new feature currently in testing at Spotify combines the fun of watching music videos with a TikTok-like content feed, but it’s only the beginning of the company’s plans for the future.

At least three generations of people have been born since the phrase “I want my MTV” was commonplace in the cultural lexicon. Still, in spite of the channel’s changing programming, music videos continue to thrive online. People love watching video content set to music, and Spotify is currently testing a new feature the looks to bring the fun of TikTok’s For You Page to the music stream platform in the near future.

As we reported earlier this week, Spotify has confirmed it’s currently testing a new feature in its app, Discover. It presents a vertical feed of music videos that users can scroll through and optionally like or skip. For those who have access to the feature, it appears as a fourth tab in the navigation bar at the bottom of the Spotify app, between Home and Search.

The existence of the Discover feature was first spotted by Twitter user Chris Messina, who also shared photos and videos of the new offering. 

Messina told TechCrunch he found the feature in Spotify’s TestFlight build (a beta version for iOS). A new icon in the navigation toolbar immediately brings you to the video feed when tapped. You can then swipe up and down to move through the feed like you would on TikTok. In addition to tapping the heart to like songs, you also can tap the three-dot menu to bring up the standard song information sheet, he notes.

First introduced in 2019, Canvas allows artists to add looping video clips to their music. The footage appears vertically while the song plays and can be up to 8 seconds in length. Spotify has claimed in the past that songs using Canvas have a higher engagement rate.

As a first step towards a complete embrace of video on its platform, Discover seems like a smart move for Spotify. By utilizing the existing database of Canvas clips to explore engagement opportunities and encourage more artists to add even more content to the platform, Spotify is poised to develop video features built with listener interest in mind faster than any of its competitors. The long-term plan remains unclear, but the company could eventually allow full-length videos and become something akin to a modern MTV — in addition to being the global leader in music streaming.

TechCrunch asked Spotify for further information on the feature, including whether it had plans to roll this out further, whether it was available on both iOS and Android, which markets had access to the feature, and more. The company declined to share any details about the feature but did confirm that it was exploring the idea of a vertical video feed via a statement.

Exit mobile version