Sony Music Stuns Industry, Writes Off Unrecouped Balances For Heritage Catalog Artists
Sony Music is the first major label to forgive unrecouped advances for heritage artists. Let’s hope other labels follow Sony’s lead. Continue Reading
Royalties
What are Neighboring Rights and Royalties? [VIDEO]
Neighboring rights and royalties are one of the least understood aspects of the music business in the US, and unfortunately, the reason for that is mostly out of artists’ control. Continue Reading
YouTube claims it paid over $3 Billion to the Music Industry in 2019
YouTube, one of the most popular destinations for music discovery and consumption, is citing huge 2019 payouts to change the conversation around its notoriously low royalty rates. Continue Reading
Music accounts for 5% of all YouTube content — and 20% of all views
Despite being one of the lowest paying streaming platforms, artists worldwide can see their careers change overnight through YouTube. Continue Reading
How Spotify’s new Hulu bundle may hurt musicians
Following an appeal to stop mechanical royalty rates from rising, Spotify’s latest bundle threatens to take even more money away from artists. Continue Reading
Spotify doubles down on distribution by taking a stake in DistroKid
When Spotify unveiled plans to allow artists to directly upload music to their service in late September those working in the distribution market did not seem too concerned. After all, artists would still need their services if they wanted to… Continue Reading
Producer alleges major label(s) used the term ‘mixtape’ to pay them less
What is a mixtape? Merriam-Webster will tell you a mixtape is a compilation of songs recorded from various sources, but hip-hop fans know that is only one definition. Mixtapes are also a way for up and coming artists to showcase… Continue Reading
Stickup Kid speak out against streaming songs on YouTube
It’s hard to imagine going more than a day or two online without relying on YouTube for something. Maybe you need details on a big story, or maybe you want to see the latest trailer for the long-awaited adaptation of… Continue Reading
Apple Changes Royalty Plan Following Taylor Swift’s Open Letter: Will Pay Labels During Free Trial
Whether you’re an artists working in pop, country, rock, rap, hip-hop, black metal, doom, grindcore, folk instrumentalism, post-modern opera, or some obscure combination of everything in between, everyone in music owes Taylor Swift a bit of thanks for speaking up… Continue Reading
The Impact Of Streaming Music Services On The Livelihood Of Indie Artists
Hello and welcome to the final Advice column of the week. We did not set out to run a series of in-depth editorials over the last few days, but sometimes content develops in ways you never expected. For this particular… Continue Reading