Music Ally Focus

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow.  Spotify has evolved from a pure music-streaming service to an 'audio-first' platform including podcasts and live audio. Perhaps major labels are going down a similar evolutionary path. Sony Music is the latest to beef up its podcasting activities. It has acquired UK-based radio, podcasts and TV producer Somethin' Else for an undisclosed amount, as part of an expansion of its global podcasts division. Joe and Stu delve into what's behind this purchase - and if it means major labels are creeping away from the music business. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

There are now more ways than ever for an artist to connect with audiences, and to make money doing it – exactly the kind of complex task that many artists look to a manager to help them with. So how do forward-thinking managers help artists connect with their audience, strike innovative deals, and make money in new ways? Joe Sparrow talks to three young managers who are all navigating this new landscape to find out what they have learned:  • Sarah, Muise Management – who works with Shygirl, LYZZA, Butch, Lou Hayter & Delilah Holliday.   • "T" Oyelola, Black Grape Global - who works with YolandDa Brown, Genevieve Dawson, Annastasia Baker.   • Ben Price - Harbourside Music Management - works with Viktoria Modesta , Lachi and Lucy May Walker.   Sarah, T and Ben are all members of Music Managers Forum's Accelerator Programme - an initiative they set up in 2019 with support from YouTube Music, Arts Council England and Creative Scotland, helping upcoming managers to become sustainable businesses.    We’ve been speaking about the “third pillar” of income for artists for a while now: a substantial stream of income that sits alongside the traditional duo of live performance and recorded income, and is composed of a unique mix of income streams for every artist. For instance: an artist could make money from Twitch streams, a “super-fanclub” on Patreon, a closely-aligned and long-term brand partnership, or a podcast. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Roblox is a buzzy platform with a huge user base making games, spaces and virtual experiences. As part of that process they can upload custom audio, which could be music - and now the US National Music Publishers Association is suing Roblox for $200m in damages for “Roblox’s unabashed exploitation of music without proper licences”. Joe and Stu discuss what this means for User Generated Content platforms like Roblox others in a similar situation – like Twitch. ...And here's Aneta Florczyk rolling 6 frying pans into a cylinder with her bare hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mME2J1E_P20 Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. This week, YouTube announced that it has paid out more than $4bn to the music industry in the last 12 months, according to its head of music Lyor Cohen. Joe 'n' Stu ask what this means for streaming services, artists, and labels: is it as simple as "more money in is better?" And what might other streaming platforms like Spotify do in response? Oh, and here's the link to Budimir Šobat’s world record of the longest time for the breath being held voluntarily. 52 Gaj Ka Daman – a regional song that became a billion-stream YouTube mega-hit. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Joe 'n' Stu talk about understanding what NFTs *really* mean for the music industry and how they should be part of long-term thinking; what the music industry can learn from sports marketing; and how artists are making more money from memberships on livestreaming platforms than they are from touring. It's a recap of a few of the most impactful things they learned from Music Ally's Sandbox Summit Global conference, which happened in late May 2021. Here are the links mentioned in the show: The world's fastest motorised toilet: guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-toilet What can the music industry learn from sports and other sectors? musically.com/2021/05/26/what-can-the-music-industry-learn-from-sports-and-other-sectors NFTs and music: ‘Proof of fandom, status, utility and engagement’ musically.com/2021/05/27/nfts-and-music-proof-of-fandom-status-utility-and-engagement How can memberships and tips economies work for musicians?: musically.com/2021/05/28/how-can-memberships-and-tips-economies-work-for-musicians Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Distributor Believe said that it is "contemplating" raising around €500m (around $608.5m) from its mooted IPO... the prospectus isn't yet public, but Believe has published some of the figures that will be key to its appeal to investors: In 2020, Believe generated €728m (886m) from 'digital music sales' and in the first quarter of 2021, the company made another €124m, up by 26% year-on-year. Joe and Stu analyse who might (alternatively) buy Believe outright, what this IPO might mean for artists, and if it changes the power balance between distributors and labels. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Games firm Roblox is firmly on the music industry map now, and Roblox published its Q1 results, revealing that it generated $387m of revenues in the first three months of this year, up 140% compared to Q1 2020. It also has 43.3m daily active users, and music is increasingly a part of the Roblox experience - so Joe and Stu analyse what this might mean for the music biz, and how artists could use it to make cool new experiences for fans. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Will Page, the former chief economist at Spotify and PRS for Music, has published a new study of 'Twitch's Rockonomics' which contains data unearthed by Page – particularly the case studies of artists Laura Shigihara, Aeseaes, Sereda, Matt Heafy, mxmtoon and RAC – will be useful for any musician mulling whether to use Twitch. Joe and Stu talk about its insight into how Twitch's economy works and if it could be valuable for musicians, artists, performers and rightsholders. PLUS: Page talked to Music Ally about his findings, explaining that it was an attempt to help Twitch "understand the economics of their own business model", as well as to give artists and the wider music industry an insight into the platform. You can read the interview here: https://musically.com/2021/04/29/twitch-rockonomics-will-page-mxmtoon-rac/ And read his study here: https://www.twitchrockonomics.com Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Apple has just announced its new show-level podcast subscriptions. Spotify also plans to announce its own similar offering, having invested heavily in podcasting in the last few years. So what does it mean for musicians and songwriters? Could show-level podcast subscriptions mean musician podcasters start creating their own paywalls with exclusive content – possibly including paywalled music too? Should artists create non-music audio that listeners will play for? Could you even release music as "a podcast" and make more money? Stu 'n' Joe dig in... Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

We were thrilled to talk to techno legend Richie Hawtin and Endel CEO Oleg Stavitsky – two people at the cutting edge of where Music and AI intersects. Hawtin, the pioneering musician, DJ and technologist partnered with Endel, the Berlin-based platform that creates adaptive, real-time personalised sounds and music using AI on a brand new project, "Deeper Focus", which automatically creates music based on Hawtin's work. We chatted to  Richie and Oleg about their new project, and their thoughts on how music, musicians, and AI can work together - and what it means for the music industry, and for musicians afraid that AI will replace them. Music Ally readers can get an exclusive free month of Endel: https://code.endel.io/?code=musically Sign up for Music Ally's free weekly music industry newsletter, The Knowledge: https://MusicAlly.lnk.to/knowledgeID The Endel X Plastikman "Deeper Focus" collaboration: https://deeper.endel.io   Follow us on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb/ For more knowledge: http://learn.musically.com Music Ally is a Knowledge Company: http://musically.com