TuneApp’s Post

With the new Spotify rule, only one track out of all my tracks will qualify to get revenue. Here are all the tracks above 500 plays in a year. Will people get bots to make sure their tracks are above 1k? It seems like Spotify is encouraging more musicians to use bots to workaround their silly rule. However, I won't be doing that. I prefer to focus on developing listeners on other platforms that support Dolby Atmos. #music #musicbusiness #spotify

Everything about this statement is deceptive and sadly indicative of the music industry. First, the terminology: Did Spotify "pay out" artists or did these artists - content creators - receive (very little) compensation for making the content that generated Spotify’s revenue FOR them? Second, the NFL analogy: What this seemingly logical analogy is missing is that NO artist - of any size - is making a "living" off of Spotify streaming revenue. And definitely not on the same paycheck level of an NFL player, even the largest names. Thirdly, saying that half of the payouts went to independent artists is statistically deceptive. While the independent category may receive half, the number of artists in that category are astronomically more than the major artist category. So that "half of $9 billion" is diluted down to the point of equating to absolutely nothing. Lastly, the other separate issue not mentioned is even great independent artists have an incredibly difficult time beating the favoritism given by Spotify's algorithm and company structure to major artists, so their chances of reaching that other side are slim to none. And no, very often not merit based. The streaming industry needs to do better. It is flailing and on the verge of extinction.

Pretty important message here. As rightly pointed out, the music industry is very competitive. Not everyone will be able to live off making music full time. However, I believe there are opportunities to increase the earning potential of artists. Closer artist-fan relationships and the growth of direct-to-consumer music sales are interesting trends to watch. #Music #Career #Business

20 million tracks will pass Spotify's new monetization policy! This one graph from the most recent Luminate report tells the world a huge amount about the music industry and how it operates. #music #musicstreaming #musicbusiness #indie #streams #business #tech #spotify

Are the layoffs at the majors good for artists? The current wave of layoffs is evidence of a changing landscape in the record industry. This line from Atlantic Records CEO Julie Greenwald in her note to staff about recent layoffs caught my eye "𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪-𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 – 𝘰𝘶𝘳 ‘𝘚𝘞𝘈𝘛 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴’". She's describing everyone in the team at Kartel Music Group and most independent artists and managers. Are the majors investing more money in “the music” as Universal Music Group Robert Kyncl suggests in defending their “𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴” OR making overtures about increasing EBITDA above 20%? Reducing headcount generally doesn’t equal better service for artists. Recent cuts at Spotify and Bandcamp arguably haven’t resulted in better service but those companies have brought seismic positive change to the industry akin perhaps only to 𝗘𝗹𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗸’s impact on the space and automotive industries! Thanks Daniel Ek for the $4.5b indie pay out news https://lnkd.in/eYtwaCq9 The emergence of alternatives to major labels provides artists with options. The traditional allure of major labels, with their deep pockets and resources, is being challenged by the rise of independent service providers. Sony’s acquisition of The Orchard, Essential and AWAL did not feel like a win for independent artists. The appeal of independence lies in the opportunity to bootstrap – to hire passionate, ambidextrous multitaskers who are directly accountable to the artist on flexible and equitable terms of business. The benefit of working in the independent sector has always been to wear many hats and gain exposure to every part of the shop floor. Major record companies will have a diminishing role in an era that will be defined less by their market share and more by the growing strength and size of the independent artist sector. These looks like areas the independent Artist Industry is best placed to tackle: • growing emphasis on “fandom” • levelling off of streaming growth • less (major label) investment in music Since I left Virgin Records/EMI in 2003 and started Kartel Music Group we have been working toward a more equitable independent artist industry where artists can earn more of the revenue they generate.  2024 is an exciting time to be an independent artist.  Right? -- #independentartist #universalmusicgroup #fandom #musicbusiness

Curious about what AI is going to do to the music industry? This video from Daniel Ek (Spotify's CEO) will give you some hints. Like professional sports or the olympics (my favorite analogy), many participate but very few get to the level where it becomes their career or even their livelihood. Hundreds of millions play soccer, only one hundred thousand make money doing it. AI will help artists create even more attempts than the 15M+ per year we have now (this is roughly the amount of new songs uploaded to Spotify annually). This will create more amateur artists, and give more opportunity to the creative voices that don't currently have a shot due to lack of access to equipment or knowledge of production software. AI will not affect "the game" of music on its own. Anything AI makes without an artist component will become as interesting as those AI profile photos we all made last year and never talked about again. It will not sell concert tickets, it won't make hits that generate millions in streaming revenue because you need marketing dollars and artist brand equity to make that happen (yes, I understand random bedroom songs go viral on TikTok here and there, but that is an edge case and most of those get scooped up by the majors in the hopes of turning that moment into a career for an artist). What it will do is make the barrier to try even lower. It will make learning how to play a lot easier. It will make turning a vocal performance into a finished song easier (cough cough Tuney is building this cough cough) And more importantly, it will make "technical production skills" less of a barrier. Because the good artists aren't the ones who are the most proficient at Ableton (although it helps), the best artists are ones whose art has something unique to say and strikes a chord with millions of other people living through a similar experience at that moment in time.

Spotify's Re-Bundling! How did Spotify break the long run cycle of Labels making all the money? What was their strategy in the music ecosystem to emerge as a value adder rather than a mere aggregator? #spotify #spotifyplaylist #spotifywrapped #spotifypremium #music #business #finance #businessstrategy #financialeducation #businessgrowth

BIG NEWS from Spotify with how they payout. Check out my video going over all the changes. Thanks to Music Business Worldwide (MBW) for breaking this news. I’m excited to finally see some of these changes from Spotify Full article: https://lnkd.in/gmBFrgiu #musicindustry #musicbusiness #spotify

What's the difference? Spotify #Wrapped is a celebration of our music preferences where we WILLINGLY share our stats. It's a voluntary, positive experience that gives us a sense of control over shared information...a genius way to mute our privacy concerns. Track away, Spotify. 🎧 #data #analytics #personalization #music

Spotify’s business model is making it lose money year after year, summing up over billions by 2023 since inception. Spotify licenses most of the music it streams from three companies: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, called “The Big Three”. Clubbed, The Big Three holds 70% share of the music industry, building a sort of monopoly over the music industry. The difference between having or not having The Big Three’s music catalog is a life-or-death situation for Spotify. #BusinessModel #Strategy #Innovation #RevenueModel #Monetization #SustainableBusiness #ScalingUp #Profitability #BusinessPlanning #CostStructure