How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Algorithm (And You Can Too)Conrad Withey, founder and CEO of Instrumental, on why today's new music business excites his company... and his 9 things NOT to do as a modern label
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How The Cure showed what’s right – and wrong – about ticketing [Bill Werde]The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith began his crusade to protect fans even before tickets for the band’s new tour went on sale. His concerns about high Ticketmaster fees evolved into. Continue reading
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As US eyes TikTok ban another ByteDance owned app hits #1 in App StoreSeemingly unphased by a potential ban in the US, TikTok owner ByteDance is successfully promoting another of its owned apps, Lemon8, to new heights. Currently, the #1 Lifestyle app download. Continue reading
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Believe acquires TuneCore music publishing partner Sentric, plots expansionBelieve has announced its acquisition of Sentric. The independent music publishing tech platform provides services for publishers, labels, and distribution companies, including Believe-owned Tunecore. Setnric is valued at $51 million.. Continue reading
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Music fandom’s problem is TV’s opportunity Music fandom is approaching a crisis point. The good news is that because of streaming, more people are listening to more music than ever and more artists are releasing music than at any time in the past. But, while doing so, streaming has turned music into a ubiquitous commodity – a passive soundtrack to our daily routines. The biggest price paid for convenience has been the steady erosion of fandom. With music transformed into a raging torrent of new songs that live for a few minutes in a user’s playlist before giving way to the ‘up next’, music has become a song economy. In this song economy, the artist is a second-class citizen, forever feeding the streaming algorithm with new music in an effort not to be swept away.

Music fandom is fragmenting. Super fans are still present, but there are fewer of them. Most have become passive music consumers, acclimatised through a decade of streaming to background listening and desensitized to the deprioritising of fandom. Even half of music aficionados (those who spend the most time and money on music) are now listening to music in the background while doing other things. It is an inevitable trajectory for a model that offers so few ways for listeners to lean in and connect with an artist’s story. To some extent, this gaping hole in music fandom has been filled by TikTok, allowing the rise of new internet-centric scenes and a place for music fandom to thrive again.

However, with TikTok being used by less than a third of the UK population (and two thirds of those being under 35 years old), most consumers still face a fandom blackhole. It was not always this way. There used to be many more places where even the most casual of music fans could learn about new artists and connect with their story. Traditional platforms such as radio and TV used to play a crucial role in this, but radio listening continues to fall and music showcases have become few and far between. Yet, TV (and video streaming) may represent the missing piece in the fandom puzzle.

The promise of streaming was to democratise listening and do away with the human gatekeepers in favour of the algorithm. As streaming nears its peak, the veneer is beginning to wear off. This is so much so that 54% of consumers want music chosen by humans, not algorithms, while 38% of music streamers say they struggle to find music they like on streaming services. If they are struggling to find new music they like,  they are also struggling to find and connect with new artists. When the half-life of a song is the swipe of a finger, the distance between an artist and their potential fans is greater than it ever was. Artists and their labels are finding it harder than ever to even start an artist’s career, let alone sustain it. Instead, artists are stuck in a perpetual struggle to keep their head (just) above water long enough to breath, playing an energy sapping game in the hope that a few streams happen. Consumption is abundant, fandom is not.

The endless hustle of the song economy has forced labels into pursuing short-term marketing tactics aimed at creating hits, pulling them away from their true heartland: long-term artist brand building. Artist branding requires expertise in the first principles of marketing – creativity and integrated marketing communications – joined-up campaigns that build an artist’s ‘brand equity’ and set them up for longevity. Instead, everybody finds themselves stuck in the hamster wheel of chasing the latest trend. It is no surprise so many artists have expressed relief that they arrived on the music scene before the dominance of social media.

The heart of problem Is that streaming is about consumption, not artist-fan engagement. While Spotify’s recent vertical feed launch is a step in the right direction, it is just one (as of yet unproven) move by one music streaming service. Artist storytelling must happen elsewhere. TikTok may be the industry’s go-to, but its role is far from perfect. 64% of TikTok users rarely know what the music is in a video they are watching and just 19% go elsewhere to listen to music they discover on the app.

The problem is not even TikTok. It is the fact that TikTok’s young audience skew means that it is not even part of the equation for most consumers. While the 16% of TikTok users that discover music from viral trends (equating just to 6% of all consumers) is small, 37% of consumers say they discover new music through TV shows (which includes streaming TV shows). It is not all about scale, it is about reaching different parts of the population: twice as many over 35s discover music through TV shows than discover music on TikTok.

Sync has become a massively important part of the modern music business and the power connection that music can deliver in a TV show is loud and clear. Imagine how much more impactful TV could be if there were more showcases where audiences could meaningfully engage in artists’ stories, not just at the breakneck 15 seconds of fame pace of social media.

TV / video is one of the few places genuine cultural moments can still occur. Why does everyone talk about The Last of Us? Because TV and video streaming are some of the few media assets left that can create watercooler moments – times when people can come together and be part of something bigger. TV and video formats enable people to see beyond the song, to share in the story of the artist, and build a depth of fandom so rare in the streaming era. They can help develop artists into more than playlist-fodder. Artists that have a voice, a story to tell, and a fanbase, that are greater than three minutes of a streaming consumer’s day or 15 seconds of a social media user’s day.

If TV sync can have such an impact on music discovery, think about the impact of TV showcases. There is power in seeing artists perform their songs while conveying their musical skills, talent as performers, and having their personality and passion shown on their sleeve. With showcases becoming fewer and further between, audiences are craving what they have been missing. It is no coincidence that Eurovision is enjoying a renaissance. Consider the 2021 winners Maneskin. The rock bands’ success follows a long list of TV showcases and award shows supercharging artist careers, from The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, through Adele at the 2015 Brits, to X Factor launching the career of One Direction (without whom of course we would not have Grammy award winning Harry Styles).

Indeed, X Factor is a key illustration of how TV showcase formats can build fame and fandom while encouraging audiences to become invested in artists’ success by making them part of the story. It is a model that social platforms since tried to adopt for audiences to feel that they understand the artist and their journey, rather than swiping past a vacuous post about what someone happens to be doing that particular day. Showcase formats show artists at both their most creative and most vulnerable. It is that vulnerability that allows audiences in, building the foundations for a relationship where fans feel like they are part of the story. Something that is near impossible to build at scale anywhere else.

Streaming is an amazing consumer proposition, and it will continue to evolve and get better at doing what it does, but its reason for existence is consumption. TikTok and Instagram do a good job of driving virality, but they exist for engagement. Streaming builds audiences and social builds followings. Sustainability has never been a bigger issue for artists and their labels. There is no single-shot cure for the mass of inter-connected challenges, but creating more places where artists can tell their stories at their pace is a central part of what must come next. Until social and streaming get better at it, TV and video streaming are the fandom opportunity waiting to be tapped.

Recent Classical Highlights for March 2023Each month here we try to point you to new releases that cover new music -- such as orchestral works by Missy Mazzoli -- or rarely heard or re-discovered music -- like the guitar works of Justin Holland, but there are always the warhorses of classical repertoire that deserve a little love also. Revered conductor Riccardo Chailly (pictured) chose some well-known choruses from Verdi's operas.

Kakao officially SM Entertainment’s largest shareholder with 39.9% stake, as HYBE holds onto 8.8%News culminates months-long corporate battle against SM rival HYBE to take control of the K-Pop agency
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Sub Pop Signs WaterbabyStockholm-based artist waterbaby has signed to Sub Pop worldwide and is sharing her first single “Airforce blue,” and its charming, firework-laden video, which introduces her hypnotic and evocative approach to music. “Airforce blue,” is available today worldwide on all DSPs. “Airforce blue” is a swirling autotuned hymnal that distills the dizzying multitudes and nuances of crushing on someone. The song was created by waterbaby, Marcus White, and Anton Fernandez in Stockholm, Sweden. The video, also directed by her main collaborator White, underpins this unknowable evocative feeling, placing waterbaby amidst the backdrop of New Year’s Eve fireworks in Stockholm.The FADERcalls the track “An unguarded DIY R&B moment coming out of the Swedish capital (see March 29th news post).” More on waterbaby:Artists have always had a knack for understanding the strange psychological sorcery that comes with crushing on someone. waterbaby - intimately knows the tiny nuances between love – which is to say, the bond between two people – and the one-sided, up-and-down feelings of infatuation: the plaintive longing, the shifty wanting and the not-wanting, and all the luxuriously intrusive thoughts that come with them. If you’re at all familiar with the patterns of this (il)logic, you’ll find a welcome home in the world of waterbaby’s rhapsodic, technopastoral crush songs. waterbaby’s auto-tunelets work like this: there’s the confessional of sisterly, guitar-assisted warmth infused with humane, sticky lyrics that surface in your head like bubbles floating to the top of an aquarium. waterbaby, along with executive producer and collaborator Marcus White, creates a mystic sort of blend – the songs feel spell-like, but they honor the feelings of what it’s like to love, or at least to want to feel loved. The chief love in waterbaby’s life has always been music, of course. It’s infused in her blood: her great-grandad was a jazz pianist; her uncle worked in clubs and arranged concerts, and that Stockholmian syndrome of preternaturally knowing how to craft the perfect song – it’s a part of her that’s palpable in everything she writes or touches. It could be because she’s got a choir-school upbringing that’s done something to her voice – made it familiar with Pythagorean melodies and spare, delicate ideas that sound simple at first but really get into the spiritual in their own way. “My parents hated my music,” she laughs, talking about her private love of the megastars of R&B that she’d sainted as paragons of sounds and feelings that accessed the full range of emotions she was getting familiar with. Those emotions range from sad to empathetic, from hopeful to cocky, from doleful to ecstatic. “Airforce blue,” her first single, with tones as liquidly bright as a fish whipping through the ocean, gives form to the feel of the latter sort of pain. “I still miss you” goes the chorus over and over again, if that’s any help. Crushes and longing seem to map her life over with meaning and joy. 

waterbaby“Airforce blue”

Isabel Garvey appointed Chief Operating Officer at Warner Music UKGarvey was most recently MD of  London's legendary Abbey Road Studios
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4% of all music releases come from the Big 3 companiesJust 4% of the 100,00 tracks uploaded to Spotify daily come via the three biggest music conglomerates – UMG. Sony and WMG – according to entertainment analytics firm Luminate. That. Continue reading
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Email Marketing 101: 15 common mistakes most musicians are makingEmail marketing is still proving to be a crucial part of promoting music, so it’s important that you get it right. If it hasn’t worked out for you, here are. Continue reading
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US Government has offered no valid reasons for a TikTok ban [Op-Ed)Adam Schwartz and David Greene of Techdirt share their views on the US government’s ongoing attempt to ban the popular social media app TikTok. Op-Ed by Adam Schwartz and David Greene from Tech Dirt. Continue reading
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Wise Music Signs Co-Publishing Agreement With Shankar EstateWise Music Group, a leading international music publisher, has signed a co-publishing agreement with the estate of the Indian sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. The publisher also acquires Ravi Shankar’s archives containing a wealth of unreleased recordings and unpublished compositions, along with the record label, East Meets West Music.

In his long creative life Shankar was a prolific composer writing traditional ragas, chamber works, concertos, symphonic scores, and film soundtracks. Included are 600 titles from Shankar’s Anourag Music Publishing, notably his famed scores for film director Satyajit Ray’s “Apu trilogy” and his landmark, Grammy-winning, 1967 collaboration with classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

The archives contain representations of numerous artists including Ravi’s daughters Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones, as well as George Harrison, Herbie Hancock, Philip Glass, Zubin Mehta, Sting, Ray Charles, and Phil Collins, as well as legendary Indian collaborators Ali Akbar Khan and Alla Rakha.

The holdings comprise hand-engraved scores and handwritten compositions; more than 1,500 audio recordings; 2,100 video recordings; 600 films; over 5,000 photographs; 20 historically significant instruments custom-made for Shankar stage wardrobe, correspondence, posters, clippings, and awards.

Anoushka Shankar, who oversees Ravi Shankar’s musical holdings with her mother Sukanya, says of the new arrangement, “We’ve been in the Wise family for a while, and we have decided to deepen and formalize that relationship and work directly with Wise as our publisher. It’s a step into a more developed and direct relationship”.

Anoushka Shankar, a 9-time Grammy nominated artist, composer and sitar master, recently signed an exclusive publishing deal with Chester Music, part of Wise Music Group.

She notes that the agreement presents an exciting chance to further develop an already glittering legacy: “The archives that we have are very extensive, so the amount of material that is unreleased is staggering. There’s a wealth of material to look at and develop in many ways. It was very important to have my father’s music in good hands with people with a vision and the ability to see that vision through, to keep his music alive and to keep sharing it. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to trust that Wise will do beautiful things with it.”

Tomas Wise, Wise Music Group CEO, says “I would like to thank Sukanya and Anoushka for entrusting us with Ravi Shankar’s unique musical legacy to ensure it will be protected and promoted worldwide in the future,” said. “I am delighted that Wise Music Group, a family business, will now represent the music of two generations of the Shankar family.”

About Us

Wise Music Group maintains a global network of standalone offices including London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Copenhagen, Bergamo, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and Berlin.

Wise Music Group owns or controls nearly half a million copyrights. The group represents nearly 100 of today’s most successful living composers and songwriters working in classical music, opera, ballet, pop, film, television, and advertising. Represented composers include Volker Bertelmann (this year’s Oscar winner for Best Original Score), Philip Glass, John Adams, John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Andre Previn, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, The Zombies, 10CC, Debbie Gibson and Eddie Money.

Through its classical subsidiary, G. Schirmer, Inc., it is home to multiple Oscar, Grammy and Pulitzer-prize winning composers. Wise Music Group is one of the largest independent publishers of contemporary classical composers such as Ludovico Einaudi, Ólafur Arnalds, Mizzy Mazzoli, Matthew Aucoin and Hania Rani, in addition to publishing historic 20th Century composers including Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, Gian Carlo Menotti, Florence Price, Joan Tower, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich.  

Shankar Photo by: Henry DiltzThis year Wise Music Group is celebrating its 50th anniversary. wisemusic.com

‘Bad Bunny and Rosalia are just the tip of a very large artistic iceberg. The creative force of Latin Music is unstoppable.’In this feature, we speak to Nando Luaces, CEO of Madrid-based distributor and Latin Music specialist Altafonte
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Primary Wave buys artist royalties of Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer and founding member, Bob BurnsCompany says 'multi-million dollar deal' encompasses all recordings from the band’s first two albums
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