After years of legal battles, the global music industry found success in the war against piracy after forcing stream-ripping site Convert2MP3 to shutter operations.
The war against music piracy rages on in 2019. Despite significant growth for the streaming marketplace, millions of people continue to pirate music as a means of accessing materials for free. Torrents and file-sharing sites such as Mediafire have lost their appeal to pirates in recent years, but they have been replaced by stream-ripping services that allow consumers to steal audio from video clips and convert them into MP3 files. These sites, which often cost nothing to use, are a scourge on the entertainment business.
In 2016, the RIAA, IFPI, and BPI filed legal action against YouTube-MP3, the largest stream ripping site at the time. This case eventually resulted in a settlement in which the site agreed to shut down voluntarily.
Since that time, the music industry and the many groups around the world working to ensure its continued growth, have set their sights on a number of additional websites promoting free stream-ripping services. That included Convert2MP3, which was sued in Germany with backing from the music groups IFPI and BVMI.
Convert2MP3 has been considered one of the most popular stream-ripping destinations online. The site has previously seen tens of millions of people use its service monthly, and that popularity made it a prime target in the music industry’s war against piracy.
The court proceeding surrounding Convert2MP3 has rarely been in the headlines, but that changed earlier this week when Music group IFPI announced that in a combined effort with the German industry group BVMI, it has reached a settlement with the stream-ripping site. The settlement requires the site to shut down immediately and hand over its domain name to IFPI.
The settlement also requires the unnamed person or persons behind Convert2MP3 to pay financial compensation. The amount owed has not been made public.
IFPI’s Chief Executive Frances Moore is pleased with the outcome and hopes that it will motivate other stream-rippers to follow suit.
“Stream ripping is a threat to the entire music ecosystem. Sites such as Convert2MP3 show complete disregard for the rights of artists and record companies and take money away from those creating and investing in music.
“The successful outcome of this case sends a clear signal to other stream ripping sites that they should stop their copyright infringing activities or face legal action,” Moore adds.
Not everyone agrees that these type of sites are by definition copyright-infringing. In a letter to the US Trade Representative, digital rights group EFF previously stressed that there are plenty of legal use cases as well.
“[M]any audio extractions qualify as non-infringing fair uses under copyright. Providing a service that is capable of extracting audio tracks for these lawful purposes is itself lawful, even if some users infringe,” EFF wrote.
EFF has a point. There are instances where stream-ripping does not infringe on a copyright, but those cases are few and far between. The vast majority of stream-ripping use does infringe on others’ intellectual property. Is the risk of losing millions to illegal piracy worth making services like that previously offered by Convert2MP3 free to the public?
Perhaps a better solution would be a third-party service that reviews stream-ripping requests. If not that, maybe consumers wishing to rip audio from videos should pay a fee to do so, thus ensuring any parties owed money have the means to collect.
Stream-ripping is far from being extinguished, and the war on piracy is not likely to end anytime soon. The battle for artists to be compensated for their work has raged for decades, but hopefully, the end of Convert2MP3 pushes a few more pirates toward a legitimate music consumption.
Despite being one of the lowest paying streaming platforms, artists worldwide can see their careers change overnight through YouTube.
The study by Pex showcases categories on YouTube that are dominant drivers of growth and engagement for the platform. The study examined the performance of publicly available videos on YouTube for a period ending December 31, 2018. The results reveal that YouTube has over 5.2 billion videos, 1 billion hours of content, and 29 trillion views.
To put that figure into perspective, it would take 41,666,667 days of nonstop watching to view everything that was available on YouTube when the study was completed. Even more content is available now.
According to the data Pex shared, YouTube saw around 621 hours of content uploaded every minute in 2018, or roughly 10 hours of content every second. That’s even higher than the 500-hour estimate shared by CEO Susan Wojcicki earlier this year. Unsurprisingly, the length of these videos has increased each year since the restriction lifted.
Youtube videos are getting longer, and ads are largely to blame.
The reason for the change of the average video length is likely the result of YouTube’s advertising deal with creators. YouTube shares a portion of the revenue for ads shown during the video with that clip’s creator, but the service limits how many ads can be displayed based on the length of the accompanying video. Longer videos, therefore, equal more ads, which means more money for creators (even if their viewers are frustrated).
Gaming is the fastest-growing category on YouTube thanks to the popularity of services such as Twitch, but music still has the lead.
The average length of a music video on YouTube is 6.8 minutes, with an average of 2,411 views per minute and 16,397 views per video. That’s compared to the gaming category’s average of 24.7 minutes per video with only 121 views per minute and 2,987 views per video.
Music is the category with the shortest videos, but it generates the most views per average video. The music category received 20% of all total views on YouTube last year — but makes up only 5% of YouTube’s content. Music and Entertainment are the two YouTube categories that deliver the highest returns, but YouTube doesn’t want you to know that because both entertainment and music videos often require the company to pay royalties. YouTube does not want to share revenue anymore than it needs to, which is likely why the streaming giant has been investing heavily into original content.
The less YouTube needs major labels and movie studios, the better, at least for YouTube.
The music business is changing fast, and so is YouTube Music.
Spotify and Apple Music are large platforms that enable well over 100 million people to stream music every month, but their subscriber numbers pale in comparison to the number of people that visit YouTube for music videos and song streams. According to a corporate blog post from this past May, the company claims that over 1 billion people use the service to be part of music culture and discover new music. That’s roughly 14% of the total world population!
That explains why YouTube launched an app catered explicitly to music fans earlier this year. YouTube Music is billed as “a completely reimagined app and desktop product with official albums, playlists, singles and more.” Subscribers pay $10 a month to access ad-free videos, songs, albums, and playlists, as well as recommendations based on their taste. Users can also access their favorite content offline, which mirrors the offline streaming tools made available on major music streaming platforms.
Now, YouTube Music is separating itself from the competition by changing the way people search for material. A recent update to the platform allows subscribers to search using emojis, a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion, as well as song lyrics.
The photo below shows the new update in action. By using the baby emoji and the number one emoji, users can now discover Brittany Spears’ timeless single “Hit Me Baby (One More Time).” Check it out:
Not sure about the title of the song you’re looking for, but know the word “bee” appears in it somewhere? Emoji search can help you there as well:
Looking for “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” from Disney’s Frozen? Input the ‘snowman’ emoji and search away!
If you’ve got the line from a song stuck in your head but can’t think for the life of you who it’s by or what it is called, with YouTube Music search you can type in the lyrics and if they have the lyrics in their database (they do for most songs) – BOOM! The song will magically appear.
With all the recent developments from Spotify and its competition, YouTube will likely continue to roll out more updates of their own in the coming months. Follow Haulix on Facebook and Twitter for more news, advice, and guidance concerning music marketing in the digital age.
The only thing worse than not being able to listen to music all the time is having to stop the music you’re currently enjoying to find the next song you’ll play. Streaming services have traditionally solved this solved this problem by anchoring the music player to the bottom of the application or mobile app, but video platforms are another story. On most platforms, to move from one video to the next users must accept a playlist determined by algorithms or leave the clip they’re watching in search of whatever will follow. That action creates gaps in the listening experience, and in the case of views, the decision to leave a clip can mean the difference between whether or not your enjoyment of the track counts toward the total view count.
Google, who owns YouTube, found a solution to these gaps earlier this year when it introduced a ‘mini-player’ to the YouTube Android app. The update created a picture-in-picture experience that allows those with a YouTube Premium subscription to continue watching their favorite videos while simultaneously searching for other content on the app. Now, that same functionality is being made available to desktop users.
Hover over the video player to see a new “mini player” button, which allows you to continue watching your video while you browse YouTube.
The video appears in the bottom right-hand section of the screen and cannot be moved around, but users are free to browse YouTube while watching the video. The mini-player also comes with controls when you hover over the miniaturized player. Users can click an ‘X’ on the player to close it.
Studies have shown that YouTube is one of the main reasons many music consumers refuse to pay for services such as Spotify and Apple Music. A report released in April of this year revealed that 55% of people claim to discover new music through YouTube or similar video platforms. The same report noted that 85% of YouTube users claim their primary reason for engaging with the platform was music consumption.
With the release of their mini-player, YouTube is actively working to increase video views for all creators. More views are good for everyone, and this tool will (hopefully) aide in discovery by giving people fewer reasons to click off something they might not initially enjoy.
We have more tips for navigating the world of YouTube in our archives. We also have additional content on the subject coming soon. Follow Haulix on Twitter and Facebook to ensure you never miss any valuable advice.
YouTube exists for one purpose and it does that one thing very well. YouTube is where you go to upload and share videos with the world. It’s a simple idea that has brought together a global community of creative people in a way that wasn’t even possible two decades back, but the time has come for the world’s largest video community to think about the future and how they will empower their creators to keep the views counts rising for many years to come.
This week, YouTube announced the beta launch of a “Community” tab, which is intended to make it easier for content creators to engage with their audience. It’s not about video as much as it is building a better relationship with your viewers through a variety of updates. Creators can now use text, images and animated GIFs to engage fans between uploads.
Commenting about the launch in their official blog announcement, YouTube wrote:
“This is a first step and, with creator and fan feedback, we look forward to rolling out new features and functions as well as including more creators in the months ahead.
As creators, your ideas and feedback shape our platform, inspire new features, and help us decide what to prioritize. It’s you who ultimately build YouTube and as the new Community product shows, together, we make YouTube better for everyone.”
You can view a video detailing the launch and how it will impact at least one YouTube channel below:
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 your favorite comic book, or maybe, if you’re like the vast majority of young people in America today, you need YouTube to enjoy your favorite music. While streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are boasting subscriber numbers in the tens of millions, YouTube is welcoming several times that many people each and every day to the content hosted on their servers. Video is bigger than ever, and all signs point to its importance in culture only continuing to grow in the years ahead.
Knowing this, you may be wondering why more artists don’t ask fans to stream their music on YouTube as opposed to subscription based streaming services, and the answer is simple: There is very little, if any, money in YouTube. Unless an artists runs their own account and is the only YouTube users posting material from their albums on the service it is unlikely any real income can be generated from the world’s largest video platform. Between competing streams, which are often posted by devout fans hoping to make new fans through recommended videos and easy access to material, and the incredibly low payouts for advertising through the platform, YouTube has made it virtually impossible for people to see substantial returns for sharing their art. Some may argue the availability of material on the platform makes it possible to recruit new fans, who in turn will support the artist down the line, but it is virtually impossible to predict how many people can be converted or when, if ever, they may financially back the artist who entertains them.
For the most part, artists around the globe accept YouTube as a way to reach more listeners, but not as a way to make money. For some, this is enough, but those still struggling to make their art a career feel differently. Here’s an open letter from the band Stickup Kid to their fans regarding the availability of their material on YouTube that was posted earlier this week:
Straight up, YouTube is making it exponentially harder for musicians to survive. There is a huge gap between how much revenue is earned by musicians uploading music to YouTube, and how much of that actually goes to the musicians.
So if you are wondering why it seems like a lot of bands are breaking up, think about it. Your average band is dropping around $10-20k, and most likely more, to record an album (not to mention time, blood, sweat, tears) only for people to stream it for free on YouTube, which is dominating subscription services like Spotify and Apple music.
I just want to remind you guys that every time you listen to a song that makes you feel some type of way, there was an artist who sat there in his/her lonesome and practiced the fuck out of that song, then did take after take after take to get it right. Not to mention all the other expensive and time consuming processes.
What motivation is there for someone to want to join a band if the deck is stacked against them from the start?
Until the music industry and the internet get it right, WE the listeners have to be the ones conscious about this. Please support your favorite artists by purchasing FROM THEM!
heart emoticon SK
What more needs to be said? Keep all this in mind before you stream another song via YouTube.
Whether or not you’re a believer yet, video is quickly becoming one of the most successful tools in marketing music. It doesn’t matter if you’re sharing a video or a song stream playing against a static image, the popularity of video platforms like YouTube has ushered in an era where demand for music video content is higher than ever, and if you’re smart you’re doing everything you can to meet that demand with original, engaging content. This post isn’t about what you post as much as how you maintain the channel you’ve created, and we owe thanks to former spotlight guest Bobby Owsinski for its creation.
YouTube Channels are where your online video content lives, but it’s more than just a place to store your uploads. Fans can and will interact with this channel as if it were any other social network, and because of this you need to make sure you’re doing everything possible to maximize how that engagement positively impacts your brand. Use this check list to ensure you have covered all your bases:
Branded Channel Art
The channel art is the banner at the top of the page where you can display a customized graphic. YouTube suggests this graphic be 2560 x1440 pixels so that it works on all types of televisions, tablets, smartphones and computers, but what YouTube will show on most computer browsers is 1546 x 423. This is known as the “safe area” and is where you should place any critical graphics information since anything outside that area might not show up on a device with a smaller screen. The graphic can be up to 2MB and in either a JPG or PNG format. The Channel Art upload section is accessed by clicking on the pen icon on the top right of graphics box. You can access a template for the channel art, as well as a design tutorial, by clicking on “How to create channel art” at the bottom of the upload pop up box.
Channel Description
You access your channel description from the About tab underneath your channel name. After the About box pops up, select the pen icon on the upper right to edit. From here you can enter or edit the description. Be sure to include all the information about your channel in the description, such as what to expect from the video content as well as who’s involved (like the members of a band).
Website link
The website and social medial links are accessed in the same manner as above; through the pen icon on the top right of the box. Here you can add links to websites, blogs and social networks. The first weblink you entered will appear on the lower right side above your channel art, as will the social network icons. The others will appear in the About box.
Social Media Links
Make sure that you connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to your YouTube channel, as well as any other networks you may have.
Channel Icon (picture)
The avatar is either a picture of you, your band, or product that appears on the upper left of your channel page. The avatar can be up to 800 x 800 (you’re able to crop it) and 1MB in size, although the smaller the file size the better, since it will load faster. The picture is stored with your Google+ account, and you can also access any pictures stored there to use as your avatar.
Featured Video or Trailer
Another thing that you can do is feature a particular video or trailer at the top of the page when someone who is unsubscribed visits your channel. Simply select the pen icon on the top right of the box, select a video, then hit save. You can see what both subscribers and non-subscribers see by toggling Unsubscribed trailer and Subscriber view next to the edit icon.
Playlists
YouTube allows you to create multiple playlists, which can have a great influence in how your fans consume your content. If you have a fair number of videos, you might want to create different playlists for different parts of your fan base, since each may have a different desire of what to watch. While your superfans will want to see everything you upload, your casual fans may be more selective. You can select the order and layout of these playlists, or create a new one, by selecting the edit icon on the top right of the playlist box.“
It’s easy enough to have a YouTube channel without using many of the above features, but it will be so much more powerful if you do as it connects with the rest of your online presence.
We owe a bit of thanks to our friends at Substream for this piece of content.
YouTube comedian Jarrod Alonge has been at the top of our most requested blog guest list for the better part of the last year. He’s not a writer or a musician, at least not in the classical sense, but his parodies of current alternative music culture are some of the best video material available online today. You may have never seen it before, but chances are someone you know has, especially if they’re between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four.
Recently, Alonge’s announced plans to release an album titled Beating A Dead Horse that will filled with the parody songs he has written under various aliases. Many of the songs have obviously already been shared with the public, but there are a few new tracks as well, which Alonge has slowly been sharing to build excitement for the record’s release. His latest, “Hey Jarrod, What’s That Song Again?” skewers the entire metalcore world in just under five minutes. You can hear the song, which takes aim at similarities in the material by bands like A Day To Remember, Emarosa, Sleeping With Sirens, Underoath, For Today, Blessthefall, and more, above.
Hello and welcome to a new week of music industry advice and insight on the official blog of Haulix. We are thrilled to have you joining us, even if it’s not on the day this particular post goes live. We strive to keep this blog active and up-to-date, but we need your help in order to know what content should be planned for the months ahead. If you have any questions about developing as a writer/blogger in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
After writing about music for five years there are only a few things I would say I know to be absolutely true about the industry. The first is that everyone who makes it has given everything that they have to pursue whatever ambition lead them to consider the music industry as a career. The second, and perhaps most often emphasized, is that almost no one working in music ever has free time. The movers and shakers of this business rarely rest, and having an opportunity to share your latest creation with these influential people is something hundreds, if not thousands of artists strive for every day, but only a few ever manage to accomplish. There is only a finite amount of time any one person can dedicate to music discovery, after all, and the demand for that person’s attention during that time is always extremely high.
When presented with the challenge of figuring out what information can be relayed about any one artist or work to convince bloggers or other industry professionals to consider something new, most artist fall back on the once tried and true formula of sharing whatever digital accomplishment that have accumulated in recent years. Whether it’s the hundreds of ‘Likes’ a recent interview garnered for a small blog, the fact they have 30,000 followers on Twitter, or the news that their video has garnered over 250,000 plays on YouTube, artists LOVE to tell industry professionals about their supposed buzz online. What they rarely consider, however, is just what – if anything – these numbers actually mean in the business world. Do 30,000 Twitter followers means more or less than the fact an artist can generate a lot of plays on YouTube? Likewise, does ten thousand streams for your latest song on Soundcloud mean more or less than the fact someone at Noisey or Pitchfork said your album was good?
Numbers and reputable press quotes may grab the attention of younger professionals, but industry lifers know that no amount of digital attention can match an artist who has a proven ability to draw on the road. Follows, Likes, streams, and all related digital numerations might make artists and the people who back them feel good inside, and there is not a doubt in my mind that large social media numbers helps certain people feel more confident about themselves, but your career will go nowhere unless artists can convert those meaningless numbers to actual, paying consumers of their art. It is possible to make money off streaming numbers, yes, but artists who reach success on a national level (or beyond) need more than YouTube plays to create a sustainable career. They need ticket sales and merch sales, coupled with whatever music they are actually able to sell.
If we all wake up tomorrow in a world without the internet the music industry will not die, and that is something artists should keep in mind when creating press kits. You and the music you create are more than internet hype, or at least you should be if you have any intention of making a career in this industry, and you need to learn to present yourself to others without relying on the crutch of digital popularity to do so. Every writer I know, and by writer I mean everyone who does more when posting online about music than copy/paste press releases, lives for the day when they stumble across the next big band. They all want to hear that one great song no one else with influence has heard, and then work with the creator of said song to share their art with the world. What none of them want, or at least no one that I have spoken to, is to speak with last week’s viral sensation. People don’t write about bands with strong digital numbers unless they have other, real world accomplishments as well. 50,000 Twitter followers only matter if you can guarantee your next tour of 300 capacity venues will sell out every night. If you’re unable to do that, you’re either unaware of how analytics work or you do not actually have a large following of dedicated fans. Either way, the industry will eventually catch on and they will not have any further interest in working with you.
There is no reason to exclude your digital accomplishments from your press kit, but they should not be the first details shared about your art with the world. Press and industry professionals need to know who you are, where you come from, what type of road experience you have, and what you are trying to accomplish with your music. Are you out to have a good time, or are you trying to write a song that will change the world? These things matter, and they are a hell of a lot more interesting than reading through a bunch of numbers associated with networks that will be irrelevant five or ten years from now.
If you want to stand out from the increasingly cluttered world of underground music, do yourself a favor and embrace what already makes you unique. Leverage who you are and what it is you are creating in order to gain the attention of those in a position to help further your professional efforts. Digital support will follow, and by the time your numbers are high enough to warrant sharing with others you will already have a wealth of actual professional accomplishments to share.
This has probably been mentioned at least three times in the past on this blog, but YouTube is already the number one source for music discovery amongst young listeners. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth, and if you want your career to go anywhere in 2014 you better lay claim to as many of those hours as you possibly can. Viral videos will certainly make a splash, but the likelihood of your next clip landing on the front page of Reddit is about one in a million, if not more. The smart play, at least for those who are willing to make time to create content properly, is to develop a video strategy they can maintain for the foreseeable future. We can help.
If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The majority of December 2013 was dedicated to sharing tips on how to optimize your presence on YouTube (here’s part 1, part 2, and part 3). Those articles were intended to give you everything needed to have a modest presence on the world’s largest video streaming platform, but in order to grow your audience and raise the chances your content will be seen by someone in a position to help move your career forward you will need a plan that includes regular video updates featuring a variety of content. What that content entails will need to be discussed between you and the other members of your group, but thanks to authors Lucy Blair and Caroline Bottomley of Radar Music Videos we were able to find the following list of basic types of video content uploaded by musicians, which we have :
Official music videos / release videos
Audio uploads of music with a static visual (aka ‘art videos’)
Live performances
Lyric videos
Behind the scenes (which could be anything from a ‘day in the life of’ to a tour video diary or the making of your latest music video)
Covers
Breaking news announcements (e.g. a new album/single/tour, or a big milestone)
Tutorials
Interviews including fan led
Video press kits promoting your latest album/single/tour
Playlists
Fan-generated videos
Competitions
Google+ Hangouts on Air
Live-streaming (archivable streaming may be necessary across different timezones)
Episodic events
It is important to note these are all suggestions, and by no means should any artist/group feel obligated to attempt everything at once. Content strategy is a lot like learning a new skill, and by that I mean everyone works at their own pace. You have to decide what you are not only able to create, but what you are able to create to the best of your abilities on a regular basis.
Once you have discussed and settled on the type of content you feel you’re best able to create, do your best to draft a release plan for your video efforts and, more importantly, stick to it. If you want to do a weekly performance/cover series, make sure you know what you’re going to perform and when it’s going to be live online. Create content as far in advance as you need to in order to ensure you do not miss a premiere. Consistency is next to quality in terms of importance, and in the world of video there are no two elements that matter more.
That is, aside from talent, perhaps, but even that is easy to fake in 2014.
Developing and sticking to a video content strategy not only helps you develop your presence on YouTube, but it also gives your audience something to look forward to every week. People discover and forget more bands and songs every month than you ever want to realize, but with the release of consistent, quality content you can further the likelihood of your efforts standing out from the herd of unsigned artists currently clamoring for attention.
On the press side of things, having a well-functioning and scheduled video content plan can offer you a variety of exclusive opportunities with blogs. If you know you are going to have a video tour blog uploaded every week on your upcoming tour, then you have a weekly exclusive to offer writers to entice them to feature your band. Same goes for covers/performance series and fan Q&A. Too many young bands struggle with marketing because they do not plan things far enough in advance to allow for proper promotion. Do not be one of those bands.
Additional points to consider….
How far out should I plan?
Good question, person we invented to transition in the middle of this article. Most artists and labels approach album releases and the promotion for them in multi-month cycles. Depending on the type of content you want to create, the same efforts should be made for planning video updates. If you want to start a new series, don’t launch it tomorrow, but rather make a plan to launch at a point in the near future that allows you to properly build anticipation amongst your fans. There is no need to rush, and doing so will only result in poor content with little-to-no engagement.
How frequently should I post content?
Again, this is a case-by-case basis. Deciding the proper amount of time to wait between video uploads will depend heavily on the types of content you plan to release. Most should know there is no real need for daily video updates, but once or twice a week certainly would not be overkill. Unless you have nothing to say or share, of course, in which case there is no reason to upload content at all. The only thing worse than a lack of content is an abundance of useless content no one wants to share or enjoy.
How do I know if the quality of my content is good enough to share?
Before you post a video update, music video, or any type of media for that matter, ask yourself this: Would I want to share this content if I were to discover it online? If the answer is no, or even maybe, then you may want to hold off on posting until something better can be created. Never release something you do not feel represents you or your band in the best way possible.
Does this really matter? What are the consequences of not posting video content?
There are those who choose to leave the video work to signed musicians and do perfectly fine without engaging the internet via YouTube. Those cases are few and far between, of course, but you are always more than welcome to lead your career in whatever direction you see fit. There are no direct consequences, per say, but you are limiting the likelihood of your music being exposed to curious music fans online.
The fact of the matter is that most artists today will do anything if they feel it will help them reach new listeners while further engaging their current fan base, and those who eventually ‘make it’ are the ones smart enough to manage their various channels of communication well. YouTube and sites like it offer a unique platform for reaching listeners that is audio and text cannot match, but it only works if you do your part and create content worth enjoying. Make a plan, stick to it, and work every day to better the skills needed to create the content your followers enjoy the most. Success will follow.
