From Usher’s Tiny Desk Concert to Frank Zappa’s eye-popping catalog sale, it’s been another wild and unpredictable week for music news.
Welcome to July! 2022 is half over, and the industry is moving faster than it has in years. If you are feeling the heat, you’re not alone. Take the holiday weekend and recover. You’re going to need your strength for everything that the months ahead have in store.
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.
“We celebrate Black Music Month. This has been Black magic.” Truer words may have never been spoken behind the Tiny Desk as R&B goliath Usher caps off our month-long celebration of Black music, highlighting a catalog chock-full of hits spanning 25 years. It’s been over two years since NPR headquarters was abuzz with chatter of a legend in the building. After an early morning rehearsal for his set at the Something in the Water Festival in Washington, D.C., he made his way over to deliver an unforgettable performance.
A radio station in Vancouver, Canada played Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” for hours on end beginning on Tuesday. The 1992 track was played on loop until at least Wednesday – but it is unclear who is behind the mysterious music marathon. The radio station has since announced it was “saying goodbye.”
R. Kelly has been placed on suicide watch at the federal detention facility in New York where he is being held after he was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison on racketeering and sex trafficking charges, his lawyer said Friday.
But the disgraced R&B singer is not suicidal, attorney Jennifer Bonjean told CNN she believes, adding Kelly had been fearful of being put on suicide watch.
“The irony of putting someone on suicide watch when they’re not suicidal is it actually causes more harm,” Bonjean said.
Anyone whose ever tried to do karaoke at home without the use of a karaoke machine will tell you there isn’t a good karaoke app. The best karaoke app is actually YouTube, where saintly people have done the work of removing vocals and creating lyric videos so you can poorly belt basically any song that has ever existed. Tech companies are famously good at filling unnecessary voids in the market, and it’s shocking that Spotify didn’t fill the karaoke app void years ago, especially because the app already displays lyrics or music videos alongside songs.
UMG has acquired Frank Zappa’s recordings, publishing catalog, film archive, and the complete contents of The Vault, the storage facility that houses the late Zappa’s life’s work.
The acquisition also includes Frank Zappa’s name and likeness. UMG hasn’t disclosed the price of the deal.
As we cross the halfway point in a year filled with unpredictable twists, let’s look back at what we’ve learned by revisiting our most viewed content.
If you’re reading this—congratulations! You have survived six months of modern history’s wildest and least predictable year. Look at any corner of our industry, and you will likely find businesses in varying states of painful but necessary evolution.
Touring is back, but it has lost all uniformity. Do we still ask for vaccination cards? Do we offer shots for anyone who hasn’t gotten one? Do we care who does and doesn’t get sick?
Physical media is having a moment, but pipeline delays have ruined vinyl production for the foreseeable future. More plants are opening, but that won’t solve problems related to raw materials. CDs are also back, but good luck finding a car or Bluetooth speaker built to play them.
Several reports say streaming may be plateauing after a decade of constant growth. Other reports claim the exact opposite. Regardless, artists and DSPs are still at odds over royalties, data, and activations in a war that shows no signs of ending.
Nonetheless—We would not change our careers for anything, and we’re willing to bet you feel the same.
Making a living in music is a calling. You feel it in your bones and taste it on your lips. You get a sense when encountering a great song that no other sensation in the world can match. It’s as if your entire body is overrun with electricity, pulsing to the rhythm as your mind picks apart the melody. The pure high of music is worth chasing, and we support those who give their all to make music or make it available to others.
But people in music need help.
Our industry is evolving faster than ever, and those already overwhelmed with work are having difficulty keeping up.
That is why we created Haulix Daily. We believe that the key to a better, more inviting, and accessible industry for all is education. Those in a position to learn must also make it their mission to educate. We have to help one another, and this blog is our way of doing that.
We have created thousands of articles over the last decade, including more than a hundred this year. With 2022 now halfway over, we figured now is the perfect time to look back and celebrate our most-read articles.
Take an inside look at how Minnesota’s High School for Recording Arts Vocational Discovery program uses Haulix to teach students about the music industry.
With more tools and services promising to help musicians grow than ever, you might be surprised to learn that the best marketing approach is also one of the oldest.
Nearly two decades since their peak popularity, CDs are having a moment, but how long will it last?
Compact Discs are back (not that they ever went anywhere). According to data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), shipments of compact discs rose from 31.6 million in 2020 to 46.6 million in 2021 – a rise of 47%. Revenue also increased from $483.2 million to $584.2 million. The last time sales of CDs were on the up was in 2004.
These figures may seem small compared to CDs’ 2004 peak when nearly a billion discs shipped in the US alone. But it seems possible that compact discs may soon follow vinyl’s footsteps by having a revival moment. In 2021, 39.7 million vinyl records were sold in the US, generating nearly $1 billion, a noticeably higher return than CD revenue.
The true sales figures for compact discs are likely higher than the RIAA report estimates. Many independent artists sell a large portion of CDs to fans at live shows or through online merch stores and never report sales. Its possible tens of thousands, if not millions, of CDs are sold this way annually.
But Why?
The motivations behind our renewed cultural interest in CDs likely differ depending on whether you’re a music fan or professional.
For fans, physical music is often viewed as a souvenir. Owning a vinyl or CD is tangible proof of fandom, proving to other listeners that someone financially supports the artist(s) they love.
In the world of K-Pop, which has taken young listeners worldwide by storm in recent years, music as a keepsake is commonplace. Physical media releases in this genre often include exclusive photographs, merch items, and unique packaging. Fans view each release as a collector’s item, increasing demand and sales.
For the industry, CDs offer a cost-effect alternative to vinyl, which is experiencing a production backlog due to increasing demand and ongoing supply chain issues.
While per-unit costs drop with larger orders of both formats, the savings that CDs offer the artists and labels making them as well as the fan buying them are substantial. As Hypebot points out, at Discmakers, a limited run of 100 CDs in full-color jackets can cost around $2 each. That same run of 100 vinyl records costs $20 – $25 each.
The turnaround time for CDs is also much quicker than that of vinyl. Discmakers currently list three options for compact disc production times, with the longest taking fourteen business days. By comparison, Gold Rush Vinyl now warns customers that new orders are facing a turnaround time of eight to ten months. Several services offer shorter times for higher prices, but the fastest we’ve found is sixteen weeks.
CDs are also easier to transport than vinyl and take up less space, which is useful when touring in a van, car, or bus.
What does this mean for artists?
Artists from all walks of life should consider utilizing CDs as merchandise items. Not only are they cost-efficient and easy to make, but the options for customization are endless. Physical releases provide a unique opportunity to expand upon your record. You can help fans decipher the stories behind the songs, provide them with lyrics to sing along to, or create an engaging layout that pulls us further into your world of sound. Best of all, the low cost of creating CDs means the risk is equally low. It’s better to spend $200 on a hundred CDs you struggle to sell than $2500 on a similar amount of vinyl.
What does this mean for streaming?
Absolutely nothing. Streaming is king, and it’s highly unlikely that the resurgence of physical media in any form will dethrone it. Paid subscriptions to streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, and Amazon Music accounted for over 57% of music revenue ($8.6 billion), with ad-supported streams bringing in another $1.8 billion. CD and vinyl album sales combined accounted for less than 11% of revenue.
From the debut of Twitter Notes to Spotify’s renewed focus on community, we’ve gathered the biggest music news stories of the week.
Summer is officially here, and the temperature isn’t the only thing hitting all-time highs. 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.
Twitter is trialing a new longform format that will let you shoot well past 280 characters, meaning you may no longer have to relay your humorous anecdotes via numbered tweet threads. Called Notes, the new feature enables users to write entire articles straight onto the social media platform, and even include photos, videos, GIFs, and tweets.
“From the rise of the screenshot announcement Tweet to the newsletter boom, a new reality became clear: people were writing long elsewhere, and then coming to Twitter to share their work and for the conversation surrounding all those words,” said Twitter’s Rembert Browne in one of Twitter’s first Notes. “With Notes, the goal is to fill in that missing piece and help writers find whatever type of success they desire.”
The feature is currently being tested by a small selection of writers based in the US, Canada, the UK, and Ghana, with the trial expected to run for two months. A Notes tab is also being added to these users’ Twitter profiles, under which you’ll be able to see all their published Notes.
Aiming to provide Twitter users with more flexibility and control, Notes’ rich-text editor will enable writers to bold, italicise, and otherwise format their words. Titles are limited to 100 characters, but the body of a Note can reach up to 2,500 words before Twitter cuts you off — more than enough space to explain your passions. (Writers still have to stick to Twitter’s rules though, so no lengthy treatises inciting violence.)
Spotify is developing a new feature called Community that would allow mobile users to see what sort of music their friends are streaming in real time as well as what playlists they’ve recently updated in a dedicated place in the app. The company today offers a similar “Friend Activity” feature on the desktop but had limited users’ access to that same Friend Activity on mobile devices.
Reached for comment, Spotify confirmed the feature was in the early testing phases but declined to share more details.
The company’s roots as a social music streaming app had helped the company grow in earlier days by leveraging its Facebook integration to build out its friend graph. But, in later years, Spotify looked more toward personalization features to give it an advantage over streaming rivals. Playlists customized to the individual listener — like Spotify’s flagship Discover Weekly, for example — had been helping to attract and retain users more than seeing what friends streamed. As a result, the company’s focus on users’ personal friend networks was de-emphasized in the product.
Steve Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group for the past 11 years, will step down next year, a rep for the company confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The transition will be a gradual one, the rep emphasized, as the company seeks a suitable successor. Cooper, 75, said he has instructed the board to begin the search for his successor, and that he and the board expect the transition to take place by the end of 2023, according to an internal email that appears in full below.
Warner is the third-largest major music group, after Universal and Sony, Warner Music-owned labels include Atlantic — which is the most consistently successful major label in the business — Elektra and its flagship Warner Records, along with the third-largest music publisher, Warner Chappell Music. Its top current acts include Ed Sheeran, Lizzo, Dua Lipa and others.
Law enforcement agencies in Brazil have blocked or seized the domains of hundreds of websites and apps accused of utilising and/or distributing unlicensed music in a coordinated action as part of an on-going anti-piracy initiative called Operation 404.
226 websites and 461 apps were targeted in the action, which was supported by local music industry trade group Pro-Música Brasil and the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, and which saw Brazilian police and the country’s Ministry Of Justice liaising with cyber and IP crime experts in both the US and the UK.
The high number of apps targeted is particularly interesting, given apps that use music without licence are becoming a top piracy gripe for the music industry.
Commenting on the operation, IFPI’s Director Of Global Content Protection And Enforcement Melissa Morgia says: “As a result of the coordinated work of the Brazilian authorities, together with agencies in the US and the UK, these actions have seen the highest number of unlicensed music services disrupted as part of the Operation 404 campaign. We thank and commend all the authorities and agencies involved in carrying out these actions for their ongoing collaboration and support in protecting music creators’ content.”
Spotify published its fourth annual Culture Next Trends Report yesterday to tie in with the Lions, including the claim that 18-24 year-olds played more than 578bn minutes of music on Spotify in 2021. “16 billion more minutes than Millennials”. Other stats on Gen-Z: 68% of them like listening to and watching media from early decades; 67% use podcasts and music to cope with stress and anxiety; and 59% believe “life was better before social media”.
YouTube, meanwhile, has published its own new Culture & Trends report focusing on Gen-Z, both as YouTubers and viewers. Among its findings: 85% of Gen-Z have posted video content online; and 65% are more interested in content “that’s personally relevant to them” rather than simply “the content that lots of other people talk about… many younger users are opting out of the watercooler discourse”.
Asking fans to pre-save your music on Spotify is a popular promotional strategy, but what do these campaigns accomplish? We have the shocking answer.
Pre-save campaigns are genius in theory. With so much going on in the world, fans need a way to guarantee they hear the next release from their favorite artists. Musicians, in turn, need to know fans are seeing their content and getting excited about their next record.
But many engaged in pre-save campaigns often tell us they deliver mixed results. Fans that expect to be notified when a new release becomes available, for example, often report receiving no such message. If they do, the message usually arrives days or weeks after release.
Meanwhile, artists, who sometimes believe a successful pre-save campaign will lead to editorial playlisting and other opportunities at a DSP, are disappointed when the campaign they spent weeks promoting doesn’t immediately result in a boom of new listenership.
Commit this to memory: Spotify pre-saves are artificial tools created by third-party developers that have little-to-no direct relationship with the streaming giant or its playlist curators.
Pre-save campaigns are not native to Spotify. In other words, no function on Spotify allows people to pre-save a song or album before its release.
As our friends at Habit Music report, Spotify and other DSPs do not have access to the information gathered by third-party app developers, so the performance of your campaign does not affect whether or not your music is considered for playlists. There is a small chance that, in theory, a successful pre-save campaign could generate a large enough growth in streams to attract algorithmic playlists, but I wouldn’t recommend putting your hopes in dreams in that basket.
If pre-save campaigns don’t matter to Spotify, what value do they offer artists?
Spotify may not have access to your pre-save campaign data, but you do, and that can help you navigate fan relationships. The data you gather from your campaign will tell you who enjoys your music, wants to know about your latest news, and—depending on the service you choose—how to reach them. You can add those individuals to your mailing list, send them personalized thank you notes, offer early access to your next tour on sale, etc. From there, the possibilities for community building are virtually endless.
There are a million songs written about virtually every topic imaginable, so why should anyone care about your music?
Music is all about who you know. If you don’t know anyone, like most people when they start, you better be good at making connections and selling yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re pitching music or your talent as a professional—nobody will care unless you give them a reason to pay attention. Don’t know how? No worries. I can help.
There are countless ways to gain exposure in 2022, but most will agree that playlists are the primary way people discover new music. Be it through algorithmic selections like those curated by Spotify or the trusted taste of an influencer, placement on the right playlist can change any artist’s career overnight.
But there’s a problem. Everyone who is anyone wants to be on playlists, and that means curators are inundated with requests for inclusion. The big-name talent often has little-to-no problems getting heard, but what about regular musicians? How can up-and-coming talent stand out from the overwhelming amount of competition?
Your story is unique, but you have to know how to sell your story for tastemakers to understand that.
Each day, in offices and remote workspaces around the globe, playlist curators and industry gatekeepers sift through countless songs from artists hoping they’ll give them one of the very limited spaces available on editorial playlists. Certain tastemakers specializing in mood-themed playlists may hear upwards of one hundred or more tracks with a similar theme or story in a single day.
If you want to be the ONE song that stands out from the competition, there are two factors you have to nail:
The song needs to be GOOD. Obviously.
You need to sell the heck out of that song.
Part one is up to you. As for part two:
The only thing separating your story of wanting to leave home and every other dreamer is how you sell it to someone else.
Start by breaking your song down to the simplest description possible.
“My song is about growing up in a small town and waiting to escape.”
Great! We have a relatable perspective that millions, even billions, can easily recognize.
The only problem is—everyone has a song about wanting to leave their hometown.
If you want to attract playlist curators, tastemakers, or anyone, you need to be more specific.
Let’s start with the “why” of it all. WHY do you want to leave your hometown?
“My song is about growing up in a small town and waiting to escape because I have big dreams.”
That’s better. You’ve narrowed the target audience slightly, but you’ve also gotten closer to your true market.
Let’s add another detail, perhaps explore WHAT made us want to leave our hometown. Was it our family, the community, or something more existential? Maybe it’s all three!
“My song is about growing up in a conservative small town and how nobody, not even my family members, can relate to your ambitions of a life outside the village limits.”
The significance of your song and your perspective on life increases exponentially with each detail we add to our story. Those same details attract entertainment gatekeepers and inspire countless passive listeners to seek out more of your music.
With a little effort, our song about growing up in a small town and waiting to escape can be sold as an epic tale of wanderlust and misadventure inspired by unfortunate yet relatable circumstances.
“My song is about growing up in a conservative small town and how nobody, not even my family members, can relate to your ambitions of a life outside the village limits. It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you and exploring them. Sometimes we will fail, but that’s okay because failure is part of the journey. What’s more important, to me, is that we try in the first place.”
A few things to keep in mind as you develop your selling power:
You are already a storyteller. Your music proves that. Don’t let the lack of music cause you to lose confidence in yourself. The story you are telling is yours (or one you made up). Nobody can sell it better than you.
Storytelling is a skill you never stop developing. It will take time to build great pitches, but it’s worth the effort.
As you refine your story, always look for new angles to promote your single. Maybe the song elicits a very specific feeling or reaction from the listener. If so, there’s probably a playlist for that.
Not all stories are created equal, and the same goes for the recipient. You may need to develop multiple pitches for a single song to maximize its reach.
Playlisting is the way of the future. Taking time out of your schedule now to develop and refine your pitching skills will expedite the promotional process down the line. Best of luck, and if you have any questions, email james@haulix.com for advice.
From surprise albums by Beyonce and Drake to YouTube’s take on Spotify Wrapped, we’ve gathered all the music news you need to know.
Three weeks into June, and life has yet to disappoint. As the temperatures continue to rise and more artists hit the road with summer sunsets on their minds, something about the season feels shockingly normal. As long as you don’t look at the news or spend too much time on social media, there is plenty to love about life at the moment. We have great music, new opportunities, and another day to chase our dreams. What more could you want?
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.
Drake surprised followers Thursday with news that new music was coming and so it did.
“Honestly, Nevermind” dropped at midnight and has begun its race up the charts.
The album features Drake mostly singing instead of rapping.
“I let my humbleness turn to numbness at times letting time go by knowing I got the endurance to catch it another time,” he wrote in an editor’s note on his Apple Music artist page. “I work with every breath in my body cause it’s the work not air that makes me feel alive.”
YouTube Music has launched a new feature called seasonal recaps, a culmination of your top artists, songs, albums and playlists. “Spring Recap” will be the first recap that users can try. This acts as an expansion of its 2021 Recap experience introduced last year.
According to the company, it received positive feedback after rolling out its annual recap the previous year, wrote YouTube Product Manager Ayshaw Khan in a blog post. The recap, inspired by Spotify Wrapped, had offered users a look back at their year on the app. Now, YouTube is taking the concept further with seasonal rundowns.
“Similar to the 2021 Recap, you’ll find your personalized content in the Spring Recap landing page on the YouTube Music app along with your personalized Spring Recap playlist,” Khan wrote. “Want to tell your friends about your favorite songs of the Spring? Easily share your Spring Recap playlist and stats by simply tapping the arrow at the bottom of your stats card.”
Songclip, the world’s only patented music clip company, today announced a strategic partnership with The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade association representing all American music publishers and their songwriting partners. The partnership aims to facilitate music licensing and compliance within the global app marketplace.
During the NMPA’s Annual Meeting at New York’s Lincoln Center on June 15, 2022, NMPA President & CEO David Israelite outlined the NMPA’s app initiative to cease and desist applications who provide unlicensed music to their users and an enforcement plan of action to combat music infringement within the global app marketplace. Israelite also announced that Songclip will be a strategic partner of NMPA to facilitate licensing across the app marketplace.
Songclip works in partnership with the major labels, publishers and more than 7,500 independent licensing entities to provide a streamlined solution for licensing and integrating music “as a feature” within consumer applications. The Songclip API seamlessly integrates into any app, manages and facilitates search, catalog & compliance, licensing, royalty payments and reporting.
“We are excited to partner with Songclip in our effort to ensure applications use music legally and responsibly,” says NMPA President and CEO, David Israelite.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has announced a new album, titled Renaissance, out July 29 according to a new listing for a Renaissance CD and products on her website. Several streaming services, including TIDAL and Spotify, also announced the forthcoming Beyoncé release on social media. No further details about the new album have been released.
Rumors of a new 2022 release first started to spread online June 9 after Beyoncé removed her profile pictures across all of her social media pages, with her highly organized fanbase the Beyhive theorizing the avatars signaled new material on the horizon.
Spotify is reducing its new hiring by 25 percent as recession fears mount, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. It is unclear which parts of the business will be most affected.
Spotify is far from the only tech company to reevaluate its staffing as the stock market tumbles. Twitter and Meta each announced some degree of hiring freeze last month, and Netflix made headlines in April for its layoffs, particularly at in-house fan site Tudum.
During Spotify’s investor presentation last week, CEO Daniel Ek emphasized the company’s growth not only in subscriptions but in verticals beyond music like podcasting and, soon, audiobooks. But chief financial officer Paul Vogel did hint at the event that staffing could be affected by economic conditions.
Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got and more, but the men of RXPTRS make it looks easy. Today, they tell us the secrets to their success.
Take a moment and try to remember life in 2018. It was only four years ago, but it feels like several decades have passed since any of us lived such simple lives. There was no COVID, no average gas price over $5, and endless opportunities for young talent to make themselves known—both online and in person.
Life back then may seem easy in hindsight, but that’s not the world RXPTRS frontman Simon Roach remembers. That wasn’t long after he was nearly decapitated in an incident that caused him to rethink his approach to life. He coined the phrase Living Without Death’s Permission not long after, which has since become a mantra for the band.
“We never approach anything with a genre or an audience in mind, it has to be what we’re feeling in that moment. If it comes out punk, sick, if it sounds metal, awesome, if it doesn’t sound like anything else, even better. Nothing’s off the table,” explains Roach. “We all come from different backgrounds and have all been inspired by so many different genres, we wanted to hear a sound that mixed all those influences, so we thought, ‘let’s be that band.’ I totally get that genres help steer people, but we don’t want that stability. I feel like nothing great can come from a comfort zone.”
RXPTRS debut album is filled to the brim with seamless combinations of varying corners of rock. There are elements of rock, punk, metal, and hardcore present—often in a single song—yet it never feels overstuffed or forced. Instead, RXPTRS lead listeners on a sonic journey through tough times in search of the strength needed to persevere when all hope seems lost.
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell chats with Simon Roach about the origins of his band and the birth of their debut album. They also discuss how RXPTRS built a name for themselves while the world was in lockdown and how algorithmic playlists may have changed their lives virtually overnight. 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.
Floridian metal band Seven Kingdoms has made a career out of fan-backed releases, but that level of support didn’t happen overnight.
We live in an age where the barriers to creating high-quality content are unbelievably low. You can do more with your smartphone to build and manage a music career than a team of people could accomplish just thirty years ago, and you can do most of it without leaving your bed. The problem is figuring out how to pay for it, but if you ask Florida metal band Seven Kingdoms, they’d tell you that’s why fans matter.
Seven Kingdoms knew early on that they had a sound that people wanted to hear and, like most groups, believed a label would be the best path to widespread success. The band found a deal early on and used the added benefit of a promo team to build their reputation on a global scale. More releases followed, and the band continued to work its way through the metal hierarchy, but in the mid-2010s realized a change was needed.
Now, as we all know, every group is different, and so is every career. What works for one artist will not work for others and vice versa. That’s the nature of the business. In 2016, after spending their first decade in the label system, Seven Kingdoms chose to go independent with the first of several crowdfunded releases. The group did not know how much support fans would offer, but the results speak for themselves. More than perhaps any American heavy metal band in the scene right now, Seven Kingdoms are beholden only to themselves and their audience. The only people they have to please are those who want to hear from them, and that’s where all musicians hope to find themselves.
We knew we had to speak with them when we caught wind of Seven Kingdoms’ long streak of successful crowdfunding efforts. Music Biz host James Shotwell called the band last week, and they were happy to share the secrets to their success. 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.
From Tunecore’s unlimited release pricing model to Spotify’s new audio verticals, we’ve gathered all the music news you need to know.
Two weeks into June and the feeling of summer is everywhere you look. Bands are hitting the road, festivals are taking place in beautiful destinations, and music fans are getting the closest thing to a ‘normal’ year that they’ve experienced this decade. Professionals are busy as well. Between the onslaught of tour-related work, the ongoing release pipeline congestion, and the need to continue developing new talent, the industry is operating at near maximum capacity. If you are reading this now, it means that you have survived. You made it through the week without losing your mind or livelihood, and that’s considered a massive win in the world of entertainment.
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.
Believe-owned DIY distributor TuneCore has announced a revamp of its pricing, moving from a system where artists pay an annual fee per release to a system where they pay a set fee per year and can then release as many tracks as they like.
Although most of the DIY-level music distributors offer a similar service when it comes to what platforms they deliver content to, there is differentiation between rival companies when it comes to things like add-on services and pricing models.
Some charge less upfront but take a commission on future royalties, others charge fees and then take no commission. Some charge per release, some per year. And some bundle in add-on data and promotional services, while others charge extra for such things.
TuneCore says it is launching its new Unlimited Release service because artists increasingly want the flexibility to release more tracks more often and to test release tracks to a small number of services. The new distribution packages now available will allow artists to do that in an affordable way, it adds.
The firm’s CEO Andreea Gleeson states: “We’ve spent a year speaking directly to artists and labels about how we can make our service better for them. What emerged is: artists want to be able to test their new music for free before distributing to all services and they want to release the music they are creating instantly, regularly, and seamlessly with one annual subscription enabling unlimited music distribution”.
“TuneCore’s new programme gives self-releasing artists at any stage of their careers the freedom to choose the plan that works best for them”, she goes on, “while maintaining the high quality of service TuneCore is known for. With TuneCore Unlimited, artists pay less and earn more”.
Foo Fighters and the Hawkins family have announced two Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts. The shows commemorating the band’s late drummer are set to take place September 3 at London’s Wembley Stadium and September 27 at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. The announcement promises performances from Hawkins’ peers and idols, with the lineup to be announced at a future date.
Ahead of the concerts, Hawkins’ wife Alison released a statement for the first time since the musician’s death:
My deepest thanks and admiration go out to the global Foo Fighters community and Taylor’s fans far and wide for the outpouring of love each and every one of you have shown our beloved Taylor. Your kindness has been an invaluable comfort for my family and me during this time of unimaginable grief.
As Taylor’s wife, and on behalf of our children, I want to share how much you meant to him and how dedicated he was to “knocking your socks off” during every performance. Taylor was honored to be a part of the Foo Fighters and valued his dream role in the band every minute of his 25 years with them. We consider every band member and the extended Foo Fighters team our family.
Taylor’s endearing spirit and deep love of music will live on forever through the collaborations he so enjoyed having with other musicians and the catalog of songs he contributed to and created.
In celebration of his life, it is now up to all of us who loved him most to honor Taylor’s legacy and the music he gave us.
Thank you all again for your love and sympathy. Taylor loved all of you & we love you too.
The City of Brotherly Love will welcome Bad Bunny and Tyler, the Creator as co-headliners for the Made in America Festival which returns for its 10th year. As usual, the event will take place at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend, from September 3-4.
With a lineup curated by festival founder, Jay-Z, Made in America will include performances from hip-hop and R&B artists Lil Uzi Vert, Jazmine Sullivan, Burna Boy, Snoh Aalegra, Kodak Black and Pusha T. Fans can also expect additional performances by Lil Tjay, Tate McRae, Fuerza Regida, Toro Y Moi, Babyface Ray, Key Glock, Larry June, Rels B, Victoria Monét, Chimbala and Ryan Castro.
According to a statement from the festival, Made in America has generated over $150 million in economic impact for the city of Philadelphia since its inception in 2012. This year, Cause Village will be highlighting the efforts of groups like Black Voters Matter, HeadCount, ACCT Philly Animal Welfare, United in Community and more.
Bad Bunny’s headlining appearance follows the release of his summer blockbuster, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which saw one of the biggest debuts for an album so far in 2022. Tyler, the Creator is also set to perform in mid-June for Pharrell’s Something in the Water Festival, after achieving best rap album at the 2022 Grammys for “Call Me If You Get Lost.”
American pop artist Becky G has recently announced that she will giveaway Bitcoin worth $500000 to her fans. She has recently partnered with the Cash App and doing the giveaway. After dropping the news, all her fans went crazy. Not for the Bitcoin but for taking such an amazing initiative. This advanced method of the giveaway has stunned everyone.
This giveaway has been sponsored by the Cash App owner Block Inc. this company also owns many platforms, for example, the music streaming site Tidal.
Becky announced this news through her social media on 8th June, and by doing so she started her partnership with the company.
The pop artist has said ‘I’m thrilled to partner with Cash App for this Bitcoin giveaway.’
She has also added ‘I’m so thankful for my fans, who continuously support me through it all – it’s a priority for me to find moments where I get to give back to them and match their efforts however I can.’
According to the post, the celebrity has announced that her fans need to comment on her social media posts with $Cashtag which is the unique identifier of the Cash App. along with that they also have to put the hashtag #ESQUEMAS IN THE#ESQUEMAS in the comment section.
The artist has also said that the winner will be chosen randomly, and no order will be followed. On an average 27,500 winners will get $10 to $100 amount of Bitcoin, through the application Cash App. In more detail, she has said that 25000 people will win the prize of $10 in Bitcoin and the rest will be awarded with $100 in Bitcoin.
In its second Investor Day, streaming service Spotify updated the financial community about its potential for further growth and monetization, despite the overall economic downturn impacting the tech sector. The company spent a good portion of its presentation specifically focused on podcasts, which it said had been “largely unchanged” for years before its entry into the market, due to the limitations of RSS.
Spotify cited how unbundling podcasts from RSS technology has paved the way for Spotify to generate revenue through these popular audio programs — a sentiment that’s not universally beloved by those who support an open podcast ecosystem. Spotify has disrupted that market by bringing some podcasts in-house, where they can only be heard on its service, and competitors have followed. This has fractured the ecosystem and left consumers at a disadvantage as some shows are no longer broadly available.
“We’ve been able to replace RSS for on-platform distribution, which means that podcasts created on our platform are no longer held back by this outdated technology,” Maya Prohovnik, Spotify’s head of Talk, told investors.
The company also highlighted the growth of podcasts on its service, noting that Spotify today has over 4 million podcasts, up from 500,000 in 2019. One thousand of these are either operated or licensed as exclusives by the company. It noted, too, that its podcast creation tool Anchor has helped to contribute to this growth, saying that the app powers 75% of the podcasts on Spotify and each new show created on Anchor brings in an additional 2.5 million monthly active users to the service.
Combined with its other hosting platform, Megaphone, Spotify says that shows powered by its tools account for 45% of all podcast consumption on the platform.
