Ahead of their fifth studio album, Kingdemonium, Hammer King frontman Titan Fox reveals the secrets to heavy metal success in 2022.
Have you heard about Hammer King? They’re not the biggest band in the world, but they’re on their way. For the better part of a decade, Hammer King has been working toward global domination with an incendiary take on heavy metal that emphasizes storytelling and precision musicianship over commercial viability. Their latest record, Kingdemonium, continues this trend with an unforgettable collection of tracks that challenges the listener while still delivering on the unique promise of the band.
People have a skewed perspective of the music landscape. There may be more musicians competing for attention and sales, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there is more great music to consume. If anything, listeners have to dig deeper to find relevant music, and that requires time many aren’t willing or able to make.
Thankfully, marketing and publicity can still do wonders for the right talent. There are no guarantees in this life, but an artist or group can find a promotional partner that helps them achieve the impossible—get noticed. Hammer King has done that by partnering with Napalm Records and Freeman Promotions. By surrounding themselves with people who understand their vision, the group can focus more on their craft, knowing the other work is being handled with their best interest at heart.
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell chats with frontman Titan Fox V about the new record, evolving as a musician, and thinking globally about music with deep personal meaning. It’s an engaging and inspiring chat that lasts just under ten minutes. Enjoy!
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 Spotify’s ticket deals to WMG’s Meta agreement, we’ve gathered the need-to-know music news of the week.
We’re publishing this post on August 12, which means everyone reading it has survived the dog days of summer amid the hottest year on record. Stretching July 3-August 11 each year, the dog days are known for their unbearable heat. 2022 is certainly not short on sunny days, so we hope you’re finding ways to keep cool.
We’ve spent the last several weeks working on exciting new developments for Haulix that will be revealed in the months ahead. These changes completely rethink our business and the ways we are able to help the music community connect. You probably have a lot of questions, but that’s all we can say for now.
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.
Weezer canceled its September Broadway residency due to “low ticket sales and unbelievably high expenses,” frontman Rivers Cuomo announced.
The Los Angeles rock band had planned a six-night stand at the Broadway Theatre to celebrate its “SZNZ” project, which consists of four 2022 releases that correspond with the four seasons.
“I just learned that our Broadway shows have been cancelled (due to low ticket sales and unbelievably high expenses.) I’m very sorry to be telling you this now after we’ve already invested so much time, thought, and emotion,” Cuomo, 52, wrote on the band’s Discord server Wednesday.
Instagram appears to be missing the essence of why people even enjoy BeReal, even though Instagram is obviously riffing off of BeReal and not Frontback. BeReal is arguably more like Wordle than it is like Instagram or Frontback, despite the two-camera aspect being entertaining (which other writers have also pointed out). BeReal is more about the daily habit of sharing something with your pals than it is about the actual images.
Reportedly, Instagram adopts the Stories feature while Snapchat introduces it. Due to TikTok’s excessive popularity, Instagram switched to short-form videos. Here’s another for the list right now. Reels, Instagram’s TikTok clone, now has a function called Dual that enables simultaneous recording with both the front and rear cameras. This feature was discreetly added this week.
It has a striking visual resemblance to BeReal, the popular social app that has been around for two years and is presently ranked No. 1 on the App Store. BeReal bills itself as the anti-Instagram and was founded in France by former GoPro employees Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau.
Warner Music Group has become the latest major music company to announce a fresh licensing deal with Meta. The agreement will enable WMG and its artists to receive a portion of revenue from the use of licensed music on Facebook creators’ posts.
The deal was confirmed by Warner Music Group CEO Steve Cooper during an earnings call on Tuesday (August 9), nearly two weeks after rival Universal Music Group revealed that it had formed a similar partnership with the Facebook owner.
It appears that UMG’s deal with Meta was struck in calendar Q2; Warner’s quickly followed in early Q3.
Meta recently announced that it will start directly sharing a proportion of advertising revenue with music rights holders for certain user-generated video content on Facebook that is 60 seconds or longer.
Meta’s decision follows years of debate over how social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok pay publishers and record labels for the use of their music in videos and how these platforms protect the copyrights of licensed songs.
Spotify’s testing a new website to sell concert tickets directly to fans, as first reported by Music Ally. The site, dubbed Spotify Tickets, currently has a limited selection of upcoming US-based concerts for participating artists like Limbeck, Tokimonsta, and Annie DiRusso.
Spotify already partners with Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, and See Tickets to sell tickets through its new Live Events Feed, where you can browse nearby shows and purchase tickets through a third party. The new Spotify Tickets site, however, lets you buy tickets through Spotify itself.
As pointed out by TechCrunch, the site’s legal page states the company sells tickets “on behalf of third parties which can include venues, event promoters, fan clubs and artists as their disclosed ticketing agent.” This means that Spotify doesn’t set the prices of its tickets, and that it will also charge customers a booking fee that it will disclose during checkout.
The numbers are in. Germany’s record business generated revenues of $1 billion (€967 million) in the first six months of this year from physical music sales and streaming.
That total revenue figure of €967 million (on a retail basis) marked an increase of 5.5% compared to the same period last year for the world’s fourth largest recorded music market.
According to new figures, for H1 2022, published by German Music Industry Association (BVMI) today (August 11), Germany’s revenue haul was driven by audio streams.
Audio streaming grew 9.1% YoY in the first half of the year and now accounts for 73.3% of the recorded music market’s total revenues.
SONG OF THE WEEK: Fit For A King – “End (The Other Side)”
Ahead of their new album, Voices In The Sky, Brymir chats with Haulix about the secret to their global success.
Finding your sound takes time. For Brymir, the Finnish metal greats spent multiple records pursuing a sonic direction that didn’t fit their personal aspirations. The band believed a ‘folk’ friendly sound would help them find success, but in recent years found a much more powerful marketing tool in honest and personal storytelling.
With their latest release, Voices In The Sky, Brymir tackle the world around them and the chaos it breeds. The material touches on everything from our relationship with nature to interpersonal conflicts and the wide range of feelings they can produce.
In this Fast Five interview, Brymir frontman Viktor Storm Gullichsen chats with Music Biz host James Shotwell about his band’s ongoing evolution and how embracing change has made all the difference in their career. The pair also discuss song length, Brymir’s writing process, and what the rest of 2022 holds for these wide-eyed metal masters.
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.
With social media app BeReal gaining popularity, it’s time artists rethink their approach to engaging fans online.
What if social media was simple? No filters, no videos, and definitely no ads—just you and the people you want to see sharing content with one another. If that sounds like something you want, then BeReal is for you.
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.
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.
From the end of Spotify’s Car Thing to the impending launch of TikTok Music, we’ve gathered all the music news you need to know.
Can you believe it’s August? We are seven full months into 2022, and most haven’t had enough time to catch their breath, let alone catch up on music news. If you have been reading, it’s most likely related to your work. That’s understandable. We do the same.
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.
Spotify has unceremoniously stopped making the dash-mounted “Car Thing,” its first hardware device, the company announced this week.
The change was announced as part of Spotify’s latest earnings release for shareholders, which said that developing the Car Thing cost €31 million (approximately $32 million USD) and that its overall gross margin was “negatively impacted by our decision to stop manufacturing Car Thing.” Spotify told TechCrunch:
Based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues, we have decided to stop further production of Car Thing units. Existing devices will perform as intended. This initiative has unlocked helpful learnings, and we remain focused on the car as an important place for audio.
Announced in April last year, the short-lived device first went on sale in the United States in February for $89.99. It was designed to be an in-car dash-mounted music and podcast player to provide a more seamless and personalized listening experience, especially in the large number of cars that do not support modern in-car infotainment systems or Apple CarPlay.
Concord is expanding its interests in the Australasian market by acquiring a key independent music publisher in the region, Native Tongue.
With offices in both Australia and New Zealand, Native Tongue has its own roster of songwriters and also represents a significant network of other publishers from around the world in the Australasian market. And for more than ten years now, that has included Concord Music.
The company’s founder, Chris Gough, went into semi-retirement in 2014, with the business being managed day to day by his children Jaime and Chelsea. They will now head up what will be known as Concord Music Publishing ANZ, as Managing Director and Senior VP respectively.
Confirming the deal, Chris Gough says: “Jaime and Chelsea along with our wonderful team of people have grown the company significantly in recent years. This is the next step, providing our home-grown writers with a truly international organisation capable of maximising their potential worldwide”.
SoundCloud will be laying off approximately 20% of its global workforce citing “a significant company transformation” and the current economic and financial landscape.
“During this difficult time, we are focused on providing the support and resources to those transitioning while reinforcing our commitment to executing our mission to lead what’s next in music,” reads a statement by a rep for SoundCloud.
Earlier this year, SoundCloud began detailing changes to the company with the aim of providing increased levels of artist-focused support by incrementally upping monetization and providing additional distribution tools for artists at all levels of their careers. In this year alone, the company has teamed up with Pandora and Splice, acquired artificial intelligence company, Musiio, and also entered a joint venture with management and creative services company, Solid Foundation.
The music industry is paying tribute to powerhouse record executive Mo Ostin who died “peacefully in his sleep” on Sunday evening, according to a statement from Warner Records. He was 95 years old.
Ostin oversaw the careers of a long list of marquee talent: The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Prince among them.
Born in New York to Russian immigrants, Ostin’s early years in the business were spent at the jazz label Verve. In 1960, when Frank Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise, he hired Ostin as its administrative vice president. Reprise was eventually bought by Warner Records.
In 1970, Ostin became president of Warner Bros. Records. Under his leadership, the company was home to both mainstream pop stars like James Taylor and Fleetwood Mac to edgier artists such as Frank Zappa and The Sex Pistols.
ByteDance may be preparing for a global launch of TikTok Music service, according to trademarks filed in several countries found by TechCrunch. The China-based conglomerate has filed TikTok Music trademark in countries like the U.K., Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia and Costa Rica.
All of these trademark filings include similar text about the application’s functionality of listening to music, creating playlists, commenting on songs and participating in karaoke.
The trademark application says it would allow “users to purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics, quotes, create, recommend, share his/her playlists, lyrics, quotes, take, edit and upload photographs as the cover of playlists, comment on music, songs and albums.”
ByteDance already operates a music streaming service called Resso in India, Brazil and Indonesia, and a former ByteDance employee told us it had previously considered bringing this service to more markets under a “TikTok Music” title. Specifically, it had been considering launches in mature markets like the U.K. and Australia, the source said.
A new partnership with Ticketmaster pushes TikTok further into the musical space, and fans everywhere are reaping the rewards.
TikTok is where the vast majority of human beings go to discover music.
There is no typo in that sentence. TikTok is a global phenomenon, and in three short years, it has helped hundreds, maybe even thousands of acts elevate their careers.
Everyone is looking at TikTok for music, meaning everyone selling music wants a piece of the action.
Ticketmaster and TikTok are partnering to launch an in-app feature that lets users discover events through the popular short-form video app. With this new partnership, TikTok users can buy tickets for events they’re interested in directly through TikTok. Creators can now search for relevant Ticketmaster events and add destination links to their videos. Ticketmaster says the new feature will only be available to select creators at launch and will scale to more users over time.
Eligible creators can now select the “Add link” option after tapping and selecting the new Ticketmaster option before posting a video. Creators can search for any event on Ticketmaster and select “Add to video” to add the link. Once creators share their video, it will display the event link on the bottom-left, allowing viewers to click and purchase tickets via an in-app browser.
Many artists and personalities have already signed on to begin using the ticketing mini app including Demi Lovato, OneRepublic, Usher, the Backstreet Boys, WWE and more, Ticketmaster says.
News of Ticketmaster’s partnership with TikTok comes less than six months after a similar partnership was launched with Snapchat. It’s clear the ticketing giant is staying atop trends in consumer behavior, but the adoption rate remains to be seen.
Would you purchase concert tickets on TikTok? Email james@haulix.com and let me know!
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.
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?
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.
There are multiple grammatical issues.
The phrase “head office” isn’t a real thing.
Major labels don’t pay artists through CashApp or Zelle.
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.
The phone number doesn’t work.
Why would a label ask if you want to sign a deal?
The signature doesn’t match the name.
The use of “next of kin” is unusual wording. Also, why would WMG need that?
“Future plans” is vague and offers no explanation.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.”
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.
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.
