Music trends in 2018: hip hop, music streaming, and live concerts
As the music industry continues to evolve, I’ve identified three music trends to keep an eye on in 2018 that are helping to reshape popular music. Read More.
streaming music
How to grow a SoundCloud fan base: Tips for emerging artists
SoundCloud is a fantastic tool for promoting your music, but success doesn’t happen overnight. Use these three steps to grow your SoundCloud fan base and build on your successes. Read More.
How to get the most out of SoundCloud
Thousands of new songs are uploaded and shared on SoundCloud every day. Here are tips to help you get the most out of the platform. Read More.
How does Soundcloud promotion help your band?
Soundcloud is special because its features allow it to create a very intimate sense of partnership with your listener. Everyone knows you need to create a personal bond with your fans, and Soundcloud isn’t really a streaming service at all – it’s more of a music-centric social network. Read more.
Music streaming 2016, Part 2: the complex revenue equation
A big part of the revenue blurriness in music streaming is because many record deals were made before the advent of music streaming, using a model of selling a physical product. It’s time to tackle the job of drafting contracts to account for the fact that there are no manufacturing costs with streaming or download sales. Read more.
Music streaming 2016, Part 1: the current streaming landscape
2015 was marked by a number of high-profile artists continuing to speak out against the music streaming business model while excluding their music from providers like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and many more. Mainstream artists have challenged whether streaming can ever be profitable for artists. Read more.
Music News: Adele breaks sales’ record, Willie Nelson gets Gershwin Award, Shrapnel records catalog acquired by The Orchard
Whatever you think of Adele’s decision to follow the likes of Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke and sidestep streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, she’s proven again that she has the star power and “four quadrant” appeal to change the trajectory of album sales for the industry this year. Read more.
A guide to Apple Music for the independent musician
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.
Music metadata: Gracenote and its expanding data empire
Music metadata is the information embedded in a digital audio file that is used to identify the content of the song, including the song title, band or artist’s name, the name of the album on which the song appears and which number track it is, the genre of music, and year the song was released. Read more.
Music streaming: friend or foe to the independent musician?
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.
Optimize your digital music sales on iTunes
As an indie, your plan should be to seek out social and digital distribution platforms that will cater best to you and your audience, but there is one platform that still dominates as the go-to for mass music purchasing. This platform is iTunes. As of 2013, iTunes accounted for 66% of all digital music sales. Read more.
Money and music sales – a quick tour of current web stories
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.