Apple Music is live and streaming, and for independent musicians who want in on the service, CD Baby is the go-to source to make music available on the platform. In addition to being an Apple approved aggregator, the editors at CD Baby’s The DIY Musician blog have embarked on a series of posts covering Apple Music. Read more.
Based on these facts, it would seem unwise for most artists – independent or otherwise – to follow Swift’s lead and dismiss offering some or all of their music in an intelligent and well-thought out way through select streaming services. Studies show worldwide paid subscribers on the leading streaming services and the growth in streaming earnings are up. Clearly, streaming has become a substantial part of the revenue pie and appears poised to continue steady growth. Read more.
According to information posted on Statista.com, Americans are most likely to discover new music via terrestrial radio. That’s right, AM/FM radio accounts for 35 percent of music discovery with another 21 percent polled saying recommendations from friends and family are their source for new music. Internet and streaming services pale in comparison. Read more.
If you give someone your disc at a show all they should have to do while driving home is remember they have it and with one hand on the wheel slide the disc out from it’s case and pop it into their CD player (you don’t want to cause them an accident do you?). The same goes for the journalists getting your disc in the mail. They see five discs on their desk. four are shrink wrapped and one is not. Which disc do you think they’re going to start with? Read more.
Can we call it a trend? In March we posted that overall album sales were up in 2011, and now we’ve received news from our comrades at CD Baby that physical CD sales for their independent artists are up from this time last year. Read more.
Music sales are up. That was the big news at the beginning of the year, and it’s an encouraging sign that maybe things have leveled off in the music industry. Sorting through the numbers, there are some interesting things to note, and other curiosities to get you thinking. Total albums sold in 2011: 330.6 million. That’s up 1.3% from 326.2 million in 2010, and it’s the first increase since 2004, which is the big reason why this is welcome news. Read more.
The united state of independent music is thriving big time, and we have the numbers to back it up. CD Baby put together this infographic to highlight some of the key figures from 2011. Highlights include nearly $42 million paid out to musicians, close to 4 million songs distributed, and over 61,000 new albums and almost 30,000 new singles added in 2011. Check out the infographic for more details.