Author: James Shotwell

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How TikTok’s #StudioChallenge Is Revolutionizing Fan-Generated Content One Video At A Time

TikTok Tik Tok Marketing

A recent trend on TikTok allows users to showcase their favorite artist’s best song, and fans can’t get enough. 

Let me set the scene: You’re scrolling through TikTok when suddenly, a video featuring a lone human walking through a doorway as an unfamiliar song begins to play. They pass through the room, grabbing headphones or other objects, as their friends, family, or coworkers slowly circle them. As soon as the song kicks into high gear, the room goes dark but is quickly illuminated by flashing lights as the protagonist begins performing the song, backed by everyone else in the room. It’s the kind of rowdy moment that previously would’ve happened during a sleepover or late night with friends, but in the digital age, it’s called content, and people love to see it unfold.

The #StudioChallenge, which has been blowing up on the video-sharing app, is centered around people acting as if they’re about to record a song. It is usually started by someone walking into a room, dapping people up, and grabbing the necessary equipment they need to deliver their act.

What makes the #StudioChallenge unique is its format. Unlike most TikTok trends involving dances or other act-outs, this challenge does not rely on a specific song. Users can pick a song that makes them feel the most alive. The content they create is an extension of themselves and their tastes, which makes their commitment to the bit more convincing for viewers. 

Here are a few examples of the challenge in action.

For fans of Paramore:

@theharbinsisters

In the studio wit it 🎶🎤🎸🖤

♬ Decode – Paramore

For fans of Pierce The Veil:

@ctx.chrissy

My work crew >>> but he hit that😭😭 #WeStickTogether #coworkers #kingforaday

♬ King For A Day – Pierce The Veil

For fans of Rich Homie Quan:

@nurseimon

In the studio likeee, Rich Homie….Quan. #studiochallenge #nursesoftiktok #nurselife #viral #birmingham #alabama #healthcare #fyp #foryoupage

♬ Type of Way – Rich Homie Quan

No marketing rep could have developed a more perfect promotional tool than the #StudioChallenge. Labels and artists want fans to use their songs in content. This challenge presents an opportunity to do so while putting the music front and center. For every viewer, one more person is hearing what is—most likely—one of the best moments in that artist’s catalog. That’s the perfect bait to hook a new listener, and it takes virtually no effort to execute.

As TikTok continues to evolve and music marketers place greater emphasis on navigating its vast community, we will likely see more trends with room for variety emerge. The age of song-specific dances and reenactments is slowly giving way to more personalized user-generated content (UGC). 

Why artists need to pay attention

Your fans are on TikTok. Maybe not all of them, but you have a community of followers, and they are likely making content. You can sit idly by, hoping they use your music, or you can encourage them to take action. There are many ways to accomplish this, starting with competitions for the best video, but the key to your success will be engagement, not from outsiders but from you. Listeners want to know you notice them, and they want to interact with you. By engaging your TikTok audience, you encourage them to include you in future creative efforts. 

But encouragement alone is not enough.

Every artist with the bandwidth to experiment on a new social network owes it to themselves and their audience to explore TikTok. 

I’ve yet to see a rock or metal band participate in the #StudioChallenge, but it seems like an easy win. 

Picture a band using the framework of the challenge to tease a new breakdown or highlight one of their biggest hooks. They can keep things simple and follow the blueprint or use their stage production to take the whole affair to an entirely new level. Either way, people will be hooked.

Take a chance on yourself.

It’s easy to understand why people hesitated to make video content three or four years ago. But it’s 2022, and the entire planet is spending free time scrolling through looping videos made by strangers. Everyone is doing it, and you should too!

I know, I know. This sounds like one of those” “if your friends jumped off a bridge” scenarios, but it’s not.

The cultural focus has shifted from still images and written word to video. The artists making waves of any size right now are doing so—at least in some small part—with the aid of video. 

It’s no longer a question of “if” you need video content. You absolutely need it. The only question is, how creative are you?

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The Most Common Record Label Scam And How To Avoid It

Scammers are targeting independent artists with false promises of major label promotion. We can help you avoid becoming the next victim.

Every artist dreams of attracting the attention of an industry gatekeeper. Many see that event as the moment their lives change forever. “All I need is a little help,” they tell themselves, “and then my dreams will be a reality.”

Some people see dreaming as a weakness meant to be exploited. They look for ways to leverage the hopes of the aspiring for personal gain through lies and misdirection. It’s an act as old as time itself, and unfortunately, it continues in 2022.

Today’s scammers target independent musicians through social media. They seek out those looking for attention and slide into their DMs with false promises of exposure, often in exchange for money.

We’ve seen dozens of scams over the last decade, but there is one scam we see repeatedly.

Scammers first contact an artist through Instagram masquerading as management or A&R under contract with a major label. After complimenting the artist for their music and social presence, often regardless of their popularity or following, the scammer will ask if the artist is interested in working with a label.

If the artist replies yes, then the scam is on.

Now the scammer has the advantage because they know the artist wants their offer sight unseen. The next step is to ask for an email, which is then used to send a variation of the following message:

I’m [NAME GOES HERE] and I handle all business proposals and inquires for WARNER RECORDS. The A&R & Head of WR.

For more than four decades, Warner Music Group has been an industry leading force in providing a world-class  array of service designed to help artists and labels grow their careers and their businesses.Artist and Label Services is the umbrella of for WEA , the pioneering WEA distribution and marketing network – and Alternative Distribution Alliance(ADA) the groundbreaking global distribution company for independent artist and labels

We’ve checked out all your musical activities and you’ve been selected and offered a provisional promotion and nomination with Warner Music Group. We encourage your creativity and would love to invest in your potentials.

Therefore be prepared to appear for an interview at our head office

We are located in 1633 Broadway New York , NY 10019 United States. Signify If interested so, we may proceed with the necessary steps.

We upload your music with your preferred and befitting artworks,distribute and collect your sales and send your money via Cash app,zelle and any other payment method approved by the Company music board.

There is a small fee of $300 which will state that the offer was Unsolicited.

NB: An application Form will be sent as an attachment to the above mail.

Taken from an email received by an independent artist in July 2022.

Several issues arise as you’re reading the message above.

  1. There are multiple grammatical issues.
  2. The phrase “head office” isn’t a real thing.
  3. Major labels don’t pay artists through CashApp or Zelle.
  4. Why should YOU pay $300? Don’t they want your music?

The issues are even more apparent when you review the PDF attached to the email. The so-called “application form” is a clear scam. It looks like this:

Several more problems arise as you’re reading the message above.

  1. The phone number doesn’t work.
  2. Why would a label ask if you want to sign a deal?
  3. The signature doesn’t match the name.
  4. The use of “next of kin” is unusual wording. Also, why would WMG need that?
  5. “Future plans” is vague and offers no explanation.
  6. The form doesn’t tell you what you’re applying to do/accomplish.

There are at least another half dozen things wrong with the form above, but the issue should be clear at this point.

Record labels won’t ask you for money or next of kin information. They also wouldn’t consider working with someone without first meeting them or having an introductory video call. Nobody does business strictly through DMs and email without any voice communication.

When in doubt, call the phone number.

If it doesn’t work, then you have your answer.

If it does work, ask for the person who initially messaged you. If they don’t work there, run the other way.

And if all that doesn’t clear up your confusion, email me: james@haulix.com. I will help.

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This Week In Music (July 29, 2022)

From Facebook’s new revenue-sharing deal with musicians to Joni Mitchell’s return, we’ve gathered the biggest music news stories of the week.

Buckle up, everyone! The final full week of July 2022 was a whirlwind of news and activity. Maybe it’s because we’re nearing the busy fall release schedule, but free time is in short supply. The industry needs this fall to continue its successful recovery from the COVID-19 shutdown, but rising sickness rates—not to mention concerns over the MonkeyPox—have some analysts concerned. As for you and I, our only option is to keep on keeping on. At least we have one another!

We cannot ease your workload or give you more hours in the day, but we can help you stay informed. Below you’ll find the biggest stories of the week, all covered by the best outlets in tech and entertainment. Click around, learn what’s happening, and use the weekend to prepare for the end of the month.

But let’s be honest. There is no way we can hope to cover everything that happens. If you see a headline we missed that people need to know, please do not hesitate to send james@haulix.com an email. We’ll include your links in the next update.

The Biggest Music News of the week:

Meta Unveils New ‘Revenue Sharing’ Model For Music Licensing

Meta announced today that creators on Facebook can now earn money through their Facebook videos that use licensed music. The company is launching “Music Revenue Sharing” to allow video creators to include licensed music in their videos on Facebook and earn a share of in-stream ad revenue. The company says this opens up a new way for both creators and music rights holders to earn money. Although creators have been able to use licensed music in videos, they haven’t been able to monetize them until now.

With this new feature, whenever a creator uses licensed music in their videos on Facebook that are 60 seconds or longer, they can earn money on certain videos through in-stream ads. Creators will receive 20% revenue share on eligible videos, with a separate share going to rights holders and to Meta, though the company declined to share specifics.

Meta says Facebook Reels are not eligible for monetization through Music Revenue Sharing at this time. It’s possible that the company may expand Music Revenue Sharing to Reels in the future.

HarbourView Equity Acquires Country Catalog From Brad Paisley, Lady A

HarbourView Equity Partners, the global alternative asset management company founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, has acquired the recorded music rights catalog of country star Brad Paisley and the publishing catalog of multi-Platinum band Lady A.

Paisley is one of the genre’s most decorated solo artists. Over the past 20 years, Paisley’s songwriting and showmanship have won him numerous awards, including three Grammys, two American Music Awards, 14 CMA Awards and 15 ACM Awards, among others. A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2001, Paisley has written 21 of his 24 No. 1 hits, and became the first artist to achieve 10 consecutive Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 singles, amassing nearly 4 billion on-demand streams throughout his catalog.

Since their debut over a decade ago, Lady A has ushered more than 18 million album units, 34 million tracks sold, nearly five billion digital streams and 11 No. 1 hits. The trio, which consists of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, earned the biggest first week streams of their career with their No. 1 album Ocean. Known for their 9x Platinum hit “Need You Now,” which is the highest certified song by a country group, they have earned CMA Vocal Group of the Year trophies three years in a row, as well as five Grammy awards, Billboard Music Awards, and more, and were recently inducted as members of the Grand Ole Opry.

Since launching nine months ago, HarbourView has acquired over 35 catalogs to date. Paisley and Lady A are the first publicly announced catalog transactions in the country genre. Other catalogs HarbourView has acquired include Hollywood Undead, Dre & Vidal, and Luis Fonsi.

All Instagram Videos Shorter Than 15 Minutes Are Now Reels

It’s not easy being one of the world’s biggest social media platforms. You’ve got to keep tweaking the formula to stay relevant for new audiences and against new competitors, but every change risks alienating some of those who use the app. Instagram’s been alienating stills photographers for some time buy betting big on video – particularly its TikTok-inspired Reels. But the social media giant has clearly decided this is where its future lies.

It’s just announced a raft of updates for Reels, which is going to make them even more ubiquitous. Almost all video posts will now automatically be shared in the Reels format whether users like it or not. And, unless you opt out, people will be able to use any of your public posts (including still images) in their own Reels. If you’re a creative who uses Instagram to promote your work but haven’t yet adopted Reels, now might be the time to get started with our Instagram Reels tutorial. Or if you’ve decided that you’ve had enough altogether, see how to delete an Instagram account.  

Apple Music Announces Student Plan Price Increase

Apple Music has raised the subscription price of its student plan in the US, UK, and Canada, as first reported by 9to5Mac (via TechCrunch). While it’s increasing the price from $4.99 to $5.99 / month in the US and Canada, student users in the UK can expect a similar jump from £4.99 to £5.99 / month.

Apple hasn’t acknowledged the changes yet, but the new pricing information is currently available on Apple Music’s webpage. Students subscribed to Apple Music have also started seeing the price increase on their iPhones and iPads’ subscription pages. It’s unclear when exactly Apple implemented these changes, but, as 9to5Mac points out, it was likely rolled out sometime between June 21st and the 23rd — an archived Apple Music webpage shows the old £4.99 student price on the 21st.APPLE QUIETLY UPPED THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE FOR STUDENTS ACROSS SEVERAL COUNTRIES IN MAY

Apple Music’s student plan, which is reserved for those enrolled in a college or university, was previously the most affordable full-featured plan on offer. Pricing for the $9.99 / month individual and $14.99 / month family plans remain unchanged, and the same goes for the $4.99 / month voice plan. While students might look to the voice plan as a way to save an extra buck, it offers more limited access to Apple Music, as you can only control it through Siri.

The Return Of Joni Mitchell

Some of the celebrity guests at Joni Mitchell’s private hootenannies have sworn that she has been an enthusiastic participant in the living room sessions in her Santa Barbara-area home. But until now, most fans had to take these reports on faith. At the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday, an all-star Mitchell tribute concert proved to also include a surprisingly full-scale return to public singing by the star herself.

The 13-song “Joni Jam” had Mitchell getting by with a little help from guest vocalists Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Wynonna Judd, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and the organizer of the set, Brandi Carlile. But Mitchell was clearly the vocal star of the set as she took on numbers from classic originals “Both Sides Now,” “Big Yellow Taxi” and “The Circle Game” to a few of her favorite songs: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” Gershwin’s “Summertime” and “Love Potion #9.”

While seated for most of the set — as were those around her, in an ensemble that also included Lucius, Allison Russell, Blake Mills, Shooter Jennings and Phil and Tim Hanseroth — she and the others stood for moments like an extended bit of guitar playing she did on “Just Like This Train.”

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A Beginner’s Guide To BeReal Marketing For Musicians

BeReal is the hottest social media app on the planet, and musicians everywhere are rushing to catch up.

The hardest thing to find on social media is people you know. Sounds crazy, right? Most started using social media to connect with family and friends, but it is increasingly clear that such connections are no longer the primary focus of most platforms. Twitter is where people go to scream into the void. Facebook is where your parents go to share photos from last Thanksgiving in between advertisements and random posts from that local restaurant you only ever engaged with for a one-time 10% discount. Even Instagram—the onetime hub of all things personal life—is pivoting more and more to resemble TikTok, a platform that emphasizes entertainment over individual connections.

BeReal may be a solution.

What Is BeReal?

As our friends at Hypebot succinctly explain, BeReal is a photo-sharing app that prompts users to post one unfiltered photo daily.

The app sends a push notification [⚠️ Time to BeReal. ⚠️] to all users at a random time daily. Users in the same time zone get it simultaneously and have two minutes to take a picture and share it with their followers.

BeReal uses the front and back cameras of the user’s phone to chronicle the user and what they are doing simultaneously.

In addition to the two-minute window, the app has no filters, thus forcing you to—you guessed it—BeReal.

You can find BeReal on the AppStore.

Why does this app matter?

New social media platforms rarely garner global attention, so that alone warrants giving BeReal a moment of consideration. Beyond that, the app has garnered more than 30 million downloads worldwide, many of which are Gen Z users. Analysts suspect this is due to an underlying need for genuine personal connection in an increasingly fragmented and filtered world.

How can BeReal help me?

BeReal offers all users the simplest path to recurring content creation.

Users do not worry about lighting, filters, or trending sounds. The only thing that matters is capturing the present moment.

For artists, that means a once-daily opportunity to share your activity with fans. No more, no less. The two minutes you have to capture a photo is all the effort you must put into remaining active on BeReal.

Compare that to expert suggestions that people on TikTok post multiple times daily, and BeReal suddenly likes far more appealing.

Let’s talk strategy. How do I maximize the impact of my presence?

To be clear: BeReal does not have native advertising.

There are no promoted posts or explore pages packed with influencer content meant to sell false ideas of high-quality fast food or overnight weight loss.

To succeed on BeReal, you must play by the rules.

In other words, be real. Be as real as humanly possible. Share your journey, warts and all, anytime the opportunity presents itself.

Chipotle is a great example. Most people wouldn’t suspect a fast-casual chain to participate in a filter-free social media world, but the burrito company is one of the biggest brands on BeReal.

Don’t you have any tips and tricks?

Serendipity is the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

BeReal may seek to capture the mundane, but your life is not mundane! Depending on when the prompt arrives, you may be able to capture tour life, studio life, the writing process, video shoots, or any one of a hundred important but small moments in your career. Those microdoses of your life and career will help your fans feel closer to you, and that bond will strengthen your community.

The best BeReal strategy is essentially no strategy. Be yourself. Be vulnerable like you are through your craft, and people will respond.

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Why Popular Music Is Losing Its Popularity [VIDEO]

A new report from Luminate proves what analysts have been suspecting for some time: that popular music is no longer popular.

A midyear report by US market monitor Luminate—the same company behind the Billboard charts—has revealed the alarming fact that “new”/”current” music is becoming less popular in the country, and this statement can be backed up by facts and statistics, as first reported by Music Business Worldwide.

In the first half of 2022, Total Album Consumption (all streams and downloads, as well as physical album sales) of “Current” music (which means released in the 18 months before being streamed or purchased) dropped by 1.4% when compared to 2021.

With 131.3 million album sale-equivalent units reported for this year, “Current” music dropped almost 2 million units from the first half of 2021, which means that new music is not only selling less but is also being less popular in terms of streaming platforms. There was a drop of 3.7 between 2020 and 2021, which officially makes this a downward trend.

This tendency is opposed to the Total Album Consumption for “All” music in the US, which grew by 9.3% in comparison with 2021, standing at 475.4 million units sold.

Even more surprising is the news that “Catalog” music, which includes any release older than 18 months, grew by 14% in the year’s first half. 

The report also found that “Current” music’s on-demand audio streams dropped by 2.6% this year, with an even more drastic decrease of 10.4% in video streaming platforms versus a 19% increase by “Catalog” music.

In his latest update, Music Biz host James Shotwell examines the possible contributing factors to our declining interest in current music. As he touches on the inherent lucrative nature of legacy acts, he also ponders who—if anyone—will become the next generation of “timeless” musicians.

A lack of blockbuster releases is potentially contributing to the decline in current music consumption. Over twenty fewer albums from the first half of 2022 debuted on the Billboard 200 chart compared to the same period in 2021. 

The pandemic is another potential explanation. As the industry shut down, listeners turned to the artists and albums that brought them a sense of peace. So-called “comfort listening” became common while many big artists delayed their records until their teams could implement a more traditional promotional cycle. 

There’s also a mathematical explanation. There is far more catalog music and much more written, created, shared, posted, and said about those artists and their material than anything released in the last 18 months. Even Harry Styles can’t outpace Paul McCartney when it comes to press. 

But the problem we obsess over is two-fold. 

The first is a lack of clear pathways to long-term industry success in the modern era. How does a new musician starting today become the next Aerosmith or Madonna? Will we ever see another world-changing talent like Elvis? Will they emerge from a platform like TikTok? Can streaming services create ecosystems that support sustaining one’s career and nurturing it into a long-term (decade-plus) run of success? 

Until we can succinctly explain how anyone goes from unknown to arena headlining in 2022 (or 2023, etc), we as an industry have work to accomplish, which leads us to the second point:

Very few artists are afforded the support system or time needed to flourish nationally or internationally. The margins in music have become so slim that the slightest deviation from an upward trajectory can send any musician’s career into turmoil. Fans want more content than ever at a rate the traditional industry workflows were not designed to meet. When artists come alone and deliver on consumers’ expectations, they only have a short distance to grow before aging industry architecture prevents them from meaningful growth (in other words, festival appearances, world tours, radio promotion, physical distribution). A select few have found workarounds, but they are always exceptions to the rule, not the norm.

If we want people to care about new music more, we must do more to support it.

Go to your local Target tonight after work. When you get to the clothing section, scan the t-shirts to see which musicians are promoted on the shelves. Carrying rock band merchandise is still relatively new for the company, but it’s lucrative. Target stores nationwide often have a half dozen rock shirt designs for all ages and genders, if not more. But you’re unlikely to find anything resembling a current artist: no Post Malone shirts or Justin Bieber sweatpants. You won’t find anything related to Kendrick Lamar or Drake, but there will probably be at least one Wu-Tang Clan design. 

The music section in Target or any other box store is equally bleak.

In everyday life, most people encountering music branding do so through legacy acts. Most kids of rock fans know “Welcome To The Jungle” and “Enter Sandman” before anything from the catalog of Shinedown or Three Days Grace (the two bands tied for the most #1 singles in modern rock radio history). 

Music must celebrate its current successes with the same effort it does in its cornerstone acts. When that happens, maybe—and that is a big maybe—everyday people will also start to care about the new stuff.

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Industry News News

This Week In Music (July 22, 2022)

From Springsteen’s ticket prices to a lack of interest in new music, we’ve gathered the biggest music news stories of the week.

July is chugging along, the hot temperature isn’t the only thing heating up. Artists from all walks of life are experiencing a boom of interest thanks to better weather, and professionals are hard at work making the most of the moment. Consider this a reminder to go outside and touch the grass. You deserve to feel the wind in your hair while your favorite songs play at a loud volume. Don’t let the consumer have all the fun.

We cannot ease your workload or give you more hours in the day, but we can help you stay informed. Below you’ll find the biggest stories of the week, all covered by the best outlets in tech and entertainment. Click around, learn what’s happening, and use the weekend to prepare for the end of the month.

But let’s be honest. There is no way we can hope to cover everything that happens. If you see a headline we missed that people need to know, please do not hesitate to send james@haulix.com an email. We’ll include your links in the next update.

The Biggest Music News of the week:

Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing Causes Headaches For Springsteen Fans

Fans buying tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s US arena tour were shocked to find many seats halfway back in each venue selling for $4,000-5,000 and even less desirable seats priced at $1000-$2000.

These were not scalped or resale tickets, but rather primary tickets sold by Live Nation its owned ticketing company Ticketmaster and their new Platinum dynamic pricing system.

“Platinum” tickets, which can be placed by the promoter anywhere in the arena from the front section to the back rows, fluctuate in price much like an airline ticket in reaction to supply and demand.

WMG Sign On To Soundcloud’s Fan-Powered Royalty System

When SoundCloud launched its artist-friendly fan-powered royalty system last year, the model was only available for independent artists subscribed to the streamer’s paid tiers. Now, SoundCloud has inked its first major label partnership with Warner Music Group, whose artists can now earn fan-powered royalties on the platform too.

Since the early 2000s, artists and record labels alike have struggled to figure out how musicians can make a living when it’s so easy to download .mp3s online. New models like music streaming on Spotify can feel like a stop-gap, though, since payouts from these services can be paltry if you’re not Lizzo or Olivia Rodrigo.

Spotify pays artists via a pro-rata model, which means there is a large pot of money that gets divided among all artists depending on how many streams they each get. But that means that the success of superstar musicians can inadvertently take away from the payouts of up-and-coming performers.

The user-centric model, or what SoundCloud calls fan-powered royalties (FPR), is designed to level the playing field for smaller artists.

Pat Benatar Won’t Perform “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” Out of Respect To Shooting Victims

Amid the endless gun violence in the United States, Pat Benatar is taking a stand by choosing not to sing her 1980 hit, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” on her current tour.

“We’re not doing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and fans are having a heart attack and I’m like, I’m sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it,” she said in a new interview with USA Today. “I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it. [The title] is tongue in cheek, but you have to draw the line. I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t. I’m not going to go on stage and soap box – I go to my legislators – but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”

BMG Acquires Back Catalog of Jean-Michel Jarre

The torrent of catalog acquisitions continues and this time, its BMG who announced it has acquired the entire music publishing back catalogue of pioneering French electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre.

The deal includes the rights to Jarre’s classic hits such as Oxygene and Equinoxe along with Jarre’s writer’s income stream. The agreement expands upon BMG’s previous acquisition of the sound recordings for Jarre’s first three albums that came as part of their purchase of the indie label Francis Dreyfus Music in 2012.

A towering figure in the French electronic music scene, Jarre has generated 85m album sales over his career and has performed in front of some of the biggest audiences in history, including the Paris Bastille Day concert 1979 (1m people), Houston 1986 (1.3m people), Paris-La Défense 1990 (2.5m people) and Moscow 1997 (3.5m people).

“This partnership with BMG means a lot to me. Hartwig Masuch and the entire team have been part of my family for many years. Moreover, I am pleased that my publishing back catalogue is sheltered here in Europe and that my work will continue to grow in such good hands. Today is a new start allowing me to develop fresh ideas and giving me the means to explore new territories. Together we will thrive,” Jean-Michel Jarre said.

New Music Is Becoming Less Popular, Report Finds

Music Business Worldwide reports on the results of this new mid-year report from Luminate, the market monitor formerly known as MRC Data/Nielsen Music. The report looks at a metric called total album consumption, which takes into account streams, downloads, and digital and physical music sales. According to Luminate, the consumption of new music — defined as anything that came out within the last 18 months — is down 1.4%, or about two million equivalent album-sales, compared to the first six months of 2021. This is during a time when total album consumption went up 9.3%. So it’s not just the market share of new music that’s going down; it’s the actual consumption of the stuff.

By contrast, consumption of catalog music, defined as anything that’s at least 18 months old, doing great; it’s up 14% compared to last year. Thus far in 2022, catalog music accounts for 72.4% of the market, compared to 27.6% for new stuff. Even with hyped-up new releases from big stars like Drake, the Weeknd, and Kendrick Lamar, new records just aren’t making the same kind of cultural impact.

There are a couple of other factors worth considering here. For one thing, a lot of the old music that’s doing well isn’t really that old; more than a third of that catalog consumption is of music that came out between 2017 and 2019. Also, streaming offers us a chance to see what people actually listen to, rather than just what they buy; in the pre-streaming era, these data collectors couldn’t tell if you were just listening to the old records that you already owned. And old music has always been popular; the Beatles’ 1 is still the biggest-selling album of the 21st century. Still, it’s pretty striking that nostalgic consumption is completely overwhelming the hunger for anything new.

Song Of The Week: Slipknot – “The Dying Song”

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The Definitive Social Media Size Guide For Musicians (2022)

The first step to winning fans and building a community on social media is knowing what to post and where to post it. We can help.

I don’t know of any artist making a living today without social media. They may not run it themselves, but every musician must have an online presence. More often than not, most musicians need multiple profiles spread across numerous platforms requiring all types of content in various sizes and shapes.

If you want to make the most of an Instagram account, for example, you need to know the following information:

  • Profile picture size
  • Photo thumbnail sizes for Story highlights
  • Photo and video sizes/aspect ratio for posts to a user’s feed
  • Photo and video sizes/aspect ratio for Instagram stories
  • Video sizes/aspect ratio for Instagram Reels

And that’s before we even discuss effectively marketing through the platform.

Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, not to mention YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Linktree, Tumblr (it still exists), and the platforms we are no doubt forgetting, it’s practically impossible for anyone to remember every size and aspect ratio required to make high-quality posts everywhere an artist is expected to exist online. We know because we’ve tried it ourselves, and we bet you have.

We scoured the internet for the best guides to social media sizing, and to the surprise of nobody, countless examples exist. We tried to find the most straightforward, easy-to-follow options available and gather them here to live in perpetuity.

Facebook

ContentSizeAspect Ratio
Facebook Profile Picture400 x 400 px1:1
Facebook Event Cover Photo1920 x 1005 px1.91:1
Facebook Group Cover Photo1920 x 1005 px1.91:1
Facebook Business Page Cover1200 x 674 px16:9
Facebook Profile Cover Photo1125 x 633 px2.7:1
Facebook Photo Post1200 x 630 px1.91:1
Facebook Video Post1280 x 720 px16:9
Facebook Linked Image1200 x 630 px1.91:1
Facebook Stories1080 x 1920 px9:16
Facebook “Our Story” Cover1200 x 445 px2.7:1
Facebook Ad (Carousel)1080 x 1080 px1:1
Facebook Ad (Single Image)1200 x 628 px1.91:1
Facebook Catalog Image1080 x 10801:1

Instagram:

Type of Instagram PostAspect RatioInstagram Post Size
Square Photo1:11080 x 1080px
Landscape Photo1.91:11080 x 608px
Portrait Photo4:51080 x 1350px
Instagram Stories9:161080 x 1920px
Instagram Reels9:161080 x 1920px
IGTV Cover Photo1:1.55420 x 654px
Instagram Square Video1:11080x1080px
Instagram Landscape Video1.91:11080x608px
Instagram Portrait Video4:51080x1350px

Soundcloud:

GRAPHICSIZE
Profile Photo1000 × 1000 px
Album Cover800 × 800 px
Minimum Header2480 × 520 px

TikTok

TikTok video dimensions should be 1080×1920. Aspect ratio: The aspect ratio should be that of a standard smartphone screen, 9:16. 1:1 is also possible, but it won’t take up the whole screen.

Twitch

GRAPHICSIZE
Profile Photo800 × 800 px
Profile Banner1920 × 480 px
Video Player Banner1920 × 1080 px
Video Thumbnail1280 × 720 px
Cover Image380 × 1200 px
Info Panels320 × 200 px

Twitter

Finding information about Twitter’s content options proves slightly more difficult than options for Facebook and Instagram.

  • Profile Photo: 400×400
  • Header Photo: 1500×500
  • Image from a Tweet with shared link: 1200 x 628 pixels
  • Tweet sharing a single image: 1200 x 675 pixels (recommended, but most images with standard aspect ratios will not be cropped)
  • Tweet sharing two images: 700 x 800 pixels (both images)
  • Tweet sharing three images:
    • Left image: 700 x 800 pixels
    • Right images: 1200 x 686 pixels
  • Tweet sharing four images: 1200 x 600 pixels (per image)
    • Four is the maximum number of images available on one Tweet
  • Recommended aspect ratio is 16:9.
  • Can edit images if tweeting from Twitter iOS or Android app.
  • Maximum file size of 5 MB for photos, and 5 MB for animated GIFs on mobile and 15 MB on web.

YouTube

TYPESIZE
Channel Icon800 × 800 px
Channel Art2560 × 1440 px
Desktop Display2560 × 423 px
Tablet Display1855 × 423 px
Desktop and Mobile Display1546 × 423 px
Video Thumbnail1280 × 720 px

Video Guidelines

  • Recommended dimensions: 426 x 240 (240p), 640 x 360 (360p), 854 x 480 (480p), 1280 x 720 (720p), 1920 x 1080 (1080p), 2560 x 1440 (1440p) and 3840 x 2160 (2160p).
  • Aspect ratio is 16:9 (auto adds pillarboxing if 4:3).
  • Max file size is 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less.
  • Accepted video formats include: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
  • Video length max is 12 hours.

YouTube SHORTS video guidelines

  • Recommended dimensions: 240×426 (240p), 360×640 (360p), 480×854 (480p), 720×1280 (720p), 1080×1920 (1080p), 1440×2560 (1440p), and 2160×3840 (2160p),
  • Aspect ratio is 9:16.
  • Video length is 60 seconds max.
  • Accepted video formats include: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, and WebM.
  • Music from the YouTube music library is limited to 15 seconds.
  • Title character limit: 100 characters max.
Categories
Industry News News

How Sator Found A Unique Niche In Rock

Leaving your mark in music is increasingly difficult, but Sweden’s Sator has been making it look easy for nearly four decades. Today, they share their secrets with Haulix.

Sator has been making music longer than many of our readers have been alive. If that is not impressive enough, the band has done it with friendships and members (mostly) intact. Formed in 1983 under a different name, the group found its footing and changed its identity in 1987. From there, the band remained active in the studio and on the road until today.

Early in their career, the men of Sator knew they needed a hook to help gain widespread attention. The answer came in the form of a covers album, but not in the traditional sense.

Cover songs are a dime a dozen, and they share one big problem: Everyone already knows the song. Finding an element of surprise in most cover songs is impossible. You can make a pop song sound like a rock track and vice versa, but the core elements remain the same.

Sator found the answer in scraps of the artists they love. Rather than recreate well-received songs, the band wrote musicians and asked for permission to record any unreleased material the artist or group might have in their possession. To their surprise, people said yes!

That one decision—to deliver original takes on other people’s unreleased songs—gave Sator something nobody else could offer. It was enough to propel the band onto the international, which they then remained on thanks to their original songwriting.

Nearly thirty years since the release of that first covers album, the band is back with another collection of other people’s songs. We asked Sator to tell us the secret behind gaining access to this material and how they’ve managed to stay relevant for decades, and they were more than happy to respond. 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
Artist Advice Business Advice Editorials Industry News News

How TikTok Is Changing Music Release Strategies

The popularity of TikTok is leading a revolution in music release strategies that is unlike anything we’ve witnessed in decades. 

Music marketing and release strategies are at the heart of every artist’s career. How and when you release music matters as much as the content itself—sometimes more—and for the better part of twenty years, virtually every album has followed a similar promotional path:

Step One: The artist or group announces the upcoming release of a new song

Step Two: The artist or group teases that release with audio clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and anything else they can develop while sharing Haulix links with journalists and tastemakers.

Step Three: The artist or group asks fans to presave and preorder the unreleased material.

Step Four: The song finally comes out.

Step Five: The artist or group continues promoting the song’s release.

Step Six: The artist or group continues teasing the song with audio clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and anything else they can develop.

Traditional industry thinking tells us that you must promote music before its release because it’s the only way to guarantee strong first-week sales, which often determines how much support a record will receive moving forward. History teaches us that if an artist fails to deliver an impressive launch week, the likelihood their label continues to pump money and attention into their career falls drastically. 

That line of thinking is outdated.

As Bob Dylan said, “The times, they are a-changin'” because a new generation of musicians refuses to follow tradition. Between the boom of TikTok and the rise of the “give it to me now or I don’t want it” culture, artists are choosing a more direct path to release and promotion.

Step One: The artist or group releases a new song.

Step Two: Promotion.

That’s it. 

TikTok is an amazing tool for discovery, connecting users with an endless variety of content creators algorithmically-tailored to their interests. When someone hears a song snippet they enjoy, logic dictates they will head to the creator’s profile, hoping to find their music online. If the user then visits the artist’s page and FAILS to find the song they heard on TikTok, the chances they save the artist and return later are virtually non-existent. In other words, you have one chance to grab someone’s attention, and if you blow it, they [most likely] won’t return.

To avoid this problem, artists are now choosing to skip promoting new material until it’s available worldwide. The risk of losing potential fans because you went viral before the release date is too high for most to gamble, but that’s not the only reason.

The so-called “TikTok Approach” is also a cost-effective promotional solution for cash-strapped independent artists whose marketing budgets often equate to whatever they can spare after paying for living expenses. Rather than waste your money teasing a song or record people cannot yet enjoy, spend your pre-release time creating content you can share immediately following the song’s premiere. Any engagement will lead to immediate streams (AKA money).

And it’s not just independent artists shifting their thinking around releases. Everywhere you look, the time between a song or album announcement and the release date is shrinking. Even Post Malone, arguably one of the world’s biggest musicians, announced his recent 2022 album only six weeks before its initial release. The first single? A surprise release.

What about preorders?

We live in a new world where the pipeline delays of recent years have drastically changed consumer expectations. Delays between digital and physical releases are to be expected. Most fans don’t mind because they view your vinyl, CD, or cassette as memorabilia. Its primary purpose is to be a physical manifestation of their fandom, which they can hold, showcase, and enjoy. Using it for consuming music is, for better or worse, becoming secondary. 

Launch preorders on release day. Launch everything on release day. The same people who would preorder the vinyl three months before release day will still place an order because they want the product regardless. 

Making this one adjustment to your next release strategy will ultimately save time and money. More importantly, it will give anyone interested in your music instant access to it. You want as few barriers between strangers and hearing your music as possible, and in our quickly evolving world, that requires making changes as culture dictates it necessary.

Remember the phrase, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus”? The same applies to release strategies. Stop fooling around and deliver. Your fans will be thrilled to see new music, and anyone new won’t have to wait around to see if you’re as good as your teasers claim. Everybody wins.

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, Pure Noise Records, and more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.

Categories
Industry News News

This Week In Music (July 15, 2022)

From the return of Pantera to TikTok’s growing Gen-Z influence, we’re bringing you the biggest music news stories of the week.

Can you believe we are already halfway through July? Not only is the year half over, but so is the seventh month? If you’re feeling like time is flying, you’re not alone. Back-to-school advertising has already started, and dozens of musicians have started promoting fall tours. Before we know it, Christmas music will be on the radio. **Shudders**

Working in music is hard enough. Learning about what is happening in the industry shouldn’t be an uphill battle requiring four websites, two premium memberships, and repeat daily visits to feel like you know what’s happening. You work too hard for that nonsense, so we’ve taken the liberty of scouring the net to find the biggest music news stories in places where learning won’t cost you a dime.

But let’s be honest. There is no way we can hope to cover everything that happens. If you see a headline we missed that people need to know, please do not hesitate to send james@haulix.com an email. We’ll include your links in the next update.

The Biggest Music News Stories Of The Week:

Pantera To Tour In 2023

As reported by Billboard, Pantera‘s surviving members — Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown — will be hitting the road for a long-speculated reunion tour in 2023. They’ve signed with Artist Group International to book their North American dates, with Dennis Arfa and Peter Pappalardo as the responsible agents.

“We are thrilled to be working with such an iconic band and bringing their music back to the fans,” Pappalardo commented.

Black Label Society bandleader and Ozzy Osbourne sideman Zakk Wylde and Anthrax’s Charlie Benante have been revealed as the guitarist and drummer for the tour.

Spotify Buys Music Trivia Game Heardle

Heardle, a music trivia game that popped up following the massive success of Wordle, has a new owner. Spotify has announced it’s buying the game. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As The Verge notes, Heardle is Spotify’s first game acquisition.

Heardle is a straightforward game of name that tune. Players are given six attempts to guess a popular song. They hear one second of the intro at first. Heardle lets them hear a little more after each incorrect guess (they can also skip turns). There’s only one song each day for everyone to guess.

Whether or not you correctly identify the song, you can click through to hear the full track after finishing a round. That caught the attention of Spotify, which is pegging Heardle as a music discovery tool. Until now, the game has been using music hosted on Soundcloud.

“We are always looking for innovative and playful ways to enhance music discovery and help artists reach new fans,” Spotify’s global head of music Jeremy Erlich said. “Heardle has proven to be a really fun way to connect millions of fans with songs they know and love and with new songs… and a way to compete with their friends as to who has the best musical knowledge. Since its debut, the game has quickly built a loyal following, and it aligns with our plans to deepen interactivity across the Spotify ecosystem.”

David Bowie Doc ‘Moonage Daydream’ Arrives In September

Neon and Universal Pictures Content Group today announced that Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc Moonage Daydream will hit theaters globally on September 16 outside of Japan, where it unspools in March of 2023. Neon will distribute the film in the U.S., with UPCG handling international.

The first feature doc on Bowie to have been sanctioned by the artist’s estate, Moonage Daydream will screen on Imax in select territories.

Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google, according to Google’s own data

TikTok is coming for more than just its social media competitors. 

Nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers searching on TikTok and Instagram over Google Search and Maps, according to Google’s internal data first reported by TechCrunch. 

TikTok, which is the fastest-growing social media app, has exploded in popularity over the past few years — so much so that it inspired social media competitors Instagram and Snapchat to roll out copycat video features in Reels and Spotlight. 

Now, a Google executive has confirmed that TikTok’s format is changing the way young people conduct internet searches, and Google is working to keep up. 

Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that according to Google’s internal studies, “something like almost 40% of young people when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram.”

Google confirmed this statistic to Insider, saying, “we face robust competition from an array of sources, including general and specialized search engines, as well as dedicated apps.” 

Song of the week: Fellowship – “Until The Fires Die”

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