Category: Music News

After years of being in the music industry you learn a few things. Things that only time or another seasoned musician could teach you. Think Bono. Think Yoda. I was involved in the music industry for 20 years and experienced the industry feelings of success, defeat, deceit and drama.  The highlights of touring, the after show parties, and the meet and greets. The low lights of constant jet lag, band arguments and “not quite” making the charts that week.
Over the last fifteen years there has been enormous change to the industry’s systems and methods. I sat down with multi grammy award winning  Dan Haseltine to uncover some lead singer secrets.

Ahhhhh the rise of Americana music. “Americana” has been on the up and up over the last 20 years and is a genre that is often hard to actually define. It’s usually described as music where folk meets blues meets blue-grass meets rock and roll, along with an electric keyboard if you’re so inclined. People think of Mumford and Sons (who obviously were not born Americana), The Lumineers, The Civil Wars and The Band Perry. It’s been a few years since we had a major Americana band that broke through the mold and actually “made it”. So, what’s next for the Americana clan?

One of the most creative artistic projects arising from Nashville these days is the synthesis of graphic comics and music under the originative eye of Vian Izak. Graphically and musically he cherry picks cultural influences  ranging from Chinese propaganda to manga to early Egyptian motifs. 

What does it mean now that, all of a sudden, music is officially literary? 

The royalties paid by music streaming services have been under scrutiny this past month as major artists have called for better compensation. Taylor Swift, Aloe Blacc and Jimmy Buffett have all made public statements claiming that the current rates are unfair for the music creators.

Audiophiles rejoice! Americans and Brits can now stream over 25 million records in CD-quality format through the streaming service Tidal, which launched this week. The new music subscription service costs $20 per month. It features a similar user interface to Spotify and has already proven itself in a handful of European countries.

Millennials have a tendency to do things differently, and music consumption is no exception to that. They outspend most other groups and are much more connected on social networks to share what they like. Here are five key take-aways from Nielsen’s report on the 18-35 year olds that are changing the way music is marketed.

Last week was historically bad for the music industry. Weekly album sales figures dropped to their lowest point since Nielsen Soundscan began been keeping record in 1991. It was also the first week on record that sales of albums dropped below 4 million units. While multiple factors are blamed for the record lows, streaming is the undeniable catalyst.

The Recording Industry Association of America released its mid-year report recently, describing the trends of the music industry. While digital revenue sales have dropped, vinyl sales have spiked. Here are five key takeaways from the report as summarized by Billboard.

The music industry is changing so fast these days that anyone who claims to know what it will be like in 5 years might seem crazy. However, when an entertainment lawyer for digital music entrepreneurs has some thoughts on the future of the business, it’s worth at least hearing. Here’s the takeaway from Steve Gordon’s recent guest post on Billboard.