South Korea’s Kakao buys 9.05% stake in K-Pop giant SM Entertainment worth $172.8mCapital raised through the deal will fund new multi-label system, SM 3.0
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The pandemic revealed an alternative path forward for women in musicBy almost every measure, the marginalization and harassment that women in the music industry experience is not improving, but the pandemic revealed a different path forward for artists and other. Continue reading
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Gimme Radio builds fan communities, creates revenue thru engagementTyler Lenane, the CEO and Co-Founder of Gimme Radio, joins Michael Brandvold on the Music Biz Weekly podcast to talk about Gimme Radio and how they are changing online radio. Continue reading
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A musician’s guide to building an electronic press kit (EPK)Whether you’re an original act emailing promoters to book shows, or a function band wanting to get onto the books of a new entertainment agent, the advice is clear. If. Continue reading
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Will #AI write the lyrics for tomorrow's hits (with ChatGPT-like apps)?
#Music #future #MusicIndustry #MBW #ChatGPT

Milk & Honey and Reservoir’s Award Season party draws top artists, songwriters, and executives in Los AngelesGrammy Week in Los Angeles is always jam-packed with many of the world’s most influential music creators, executives, and entrepreneurs. That truism was certainly on display at an ‘Award Season’ party thrown by talent management company Milk & Honey alongside Reservoir and others in L.A last Thursday (February 2). The packed party took over West … Continued
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Goldman Sachs leads new $110m investment in live entertainment tech company FeverNews of the investment comes a year after closing a previous funding round of $227 million
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Alan Parsons Project: Limited Edition Box Set to be Released Feb. 24First released in November 1980, “The Turn Of A Friendly Card” was the fifth album by The Alan Parsons Project, the brainchild of composer, musician and manager Eric Woolfson and celebrated producer and engineer Alan Parsons.

Inspired by the period in which both Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons had resided in Monte Carlo, this legendary album was recorded in Paris. The album sessions featured the contribution of musicians such as Ian Bairnson (guitars), David Paton (bass), Stuart Elliott (drums) with Eric Woolfson playing keyboards and providing lead vocals, along with Elmer Gantry, Chris Rainbow and Lenny Zakatek. “The Turn Of A Friendly Card” would become one of the biggest selling albums for The Alan Parsons Project, attaining gold status in many European countries and the USA. The album featured such classic compositions as “Games People Play,” “Time,” “The Gold Bug” and “The Turn Of A Friendly” suite which dominated the album’s second side.

This new deluxe edition comprises 3CDs and a Blu-Ray disc (Region Free) with an additional 42 tracks drawn from Eric Woolfson’s song-writing diaries, studio session out-takes and a stunning new 5.1 surround sound mix by Alan Parsons and a high resolution remastered original stereo mix, along with the promotional videos of “Games People Play,” “The Gold Bug” and “The Turn Of A Friendly Card” plus a promotional television advertisement. This stunning set also features a lavish illustrated book with a new essay with photos, memorabilia and features recollections from Alan Parsons and Sally Woolfson. It also includes a reproduction poster.

The Alan Parsons Project “The Turn Of A Friendly Card” 3CD/Blu Ray Limited Edition Box Set Released February 24, 2023

**LIMITED EDITION POSTCARDS AVAILABLE WITH PRE-ORDERS WHILE STOCKS LAST!**

• A DELUXE LIMITED EDITION BOXED SET OF THE CLASSIC ALBUM BY THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT.

• THREE CDs AND ONE BLU-RAY DISC (REGION FREE), REMASTERED AND REMIXED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS.

• FEATURING AN ADDITIONAL 42 BONUS TRACKS DRAWN FROM ERIC WOOLFSON’S SONGWRITING DIARIES, STUDIO SESSION OUT-TAKES AND A STUNNING NEW 5.1 SURROUND SOUND FROM THE ORIGINAL MULTI-TRACK MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS AND FOUR PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS.

• INCLUDES A LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK WITH NEW ESSAY AND A REPLICA POSTER.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE

THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD’ REMASTERED

1 MAY BE A PRICE TO PAY

2 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

3 TIME

4 I DON’T WANNA GO HOME

5 THE GOLD BUG

6 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (PART ONE)

7 SNAKE EYES

8 THE ACE OF SWORDS

9 NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

10 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (PART TWO)

BONUS TRACKS

11 MAY BE A PRICE TO PAY (INTRO DEMO)

12 NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE (BASIC BACKING TRACK)

13 NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE (CHRIS RAINBOW OVERDUB VOCAL COMPILATION)

14 TIME (EARLY STUDIO ATTEMPT)

15 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (ROUGH MIX)

16 THE GOLD BUG (DEMO)

DISC TWO

ERIC WOOLFSON’S SONGWRITING DIARIES

1 MAY BE A PRICE TO PAY

2 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

3 TIME

4 I DON’T WANNA GO HOME

5 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD

6 SNAKE EYES

7 NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

8 TOFC / SNAKE EYES / I DON’T WANNA GO HOME

9 LA LA LA LAH

10 NEXT YEAR

11 SOMEONE ELSE

12 TAKING IT ALL AWAY

13 TO THOSE OF YOU OUT THERE

DISC THREE

RECORDING SESSIONS BONUS TRACKS

1 MAY BE A PRICE TO PAY (EARLY VERSION – ERIC GUIDE VOCAL AND UNUSED GUITAR SOLO)

2 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (EARLY VERSION – ERIC GUIDE VOCAL)

3 TIME (ORCHESTRA AND CHRIS RAINBOW BACKING VOCALS)

4 THE GOLD BUG (EARLY REFERENCE VERSION)

5 THE GOLD BUG (CHRIS RAINBOW BACKING VOCALS)

6 THE GOLD BUG (CLAVINET WITH NO DELAY)

7 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD – Part One (EARLY BACKING TRACK)

8 SNAKE EYES (EARLY VERSION – ERIC GUIDE VOCAL)

9 THE ACE OF SWORDS (EARLY VERSION WITH SYNTH ORCHESTRATION)

10 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD – Part Two (ERIC GUIDE VOCAL AND EXTENDED GUITAR SOLO)

SINGLE EDITS

11 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (SINGLE EDIT)

12 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (SINGLE EDIT)

13 SNAKE EYES (SINGLE EDIT)

DISC FOUR – BLU RAY

5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX (2019) AND HIGH- RESOLUTION ORIGINAL STEREO MIX BY ALAN PARSONS

1 MAY BE A PRICE TO PAY

2 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

3 TIME

4 I DON’T WANNA GO HOME

5 THE GOLD BUG

6 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (PART ONE)

7 SNAKE EYES

8 THE ACE OF SWORDS

9 NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

10 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (PART TWO)

VISUAL CONTENT

1 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (ALBUM AD)

2 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (PROMOTIONAL VIDEO)

3 THE GOLD BUG (PROMOTIONAL VIDEO)

4 THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (PROMOTIONAL VIDEO)

To pre-order: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-alan-parsons-project-the-turn-of-a-friendly-card-3cd-blu-ray-limited-edition-box-set/

This year’s Spotify Grammy Bumps range from 75% to 5800%This year’s Grammy performers and winners are experiencing a real bump in streaming activity in the hours after the ceremony concluded. After Bad Bunny kicked off the evening with a. Continue reading
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How Spotify got to 205 million paid subscribers: timeline and statsSpotify recently became the first music streaming service to surpass 200 million paid subscribers. As the streamers is quick to point out, that’s led to $30 billion paid to rightsholders. Continue reading
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Do you need a Music Manager, and how do you find one in 2023?A key member of a professional musician’s team is their music manager. But do independent artists need a manager, and how exactly do you go about finding this person in. Continue reading
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Everyone hurts – the problem with ‘fixing’ streamingApple’s Q4 2022 revenue fall was further illustration that the global economic environment is affecting everyone. During such times, companies look for ways to avoid the worst of the impacts, partially through ‘efficiencies’ but also through growth, by exploring new income streams and improving deal terms. The music industry is no exception. With global streaming revenues slowing – despite a strong performance from Spotify– there is growing pressure on music rightsholders to identify new growth drivers. This is especially the case for major labels, who have new institutional investors who have become acclimatised to rapid growth. All of which leads to streaming royalties taking centre stage. But the problem is that everyone in the streaming ecosystem has problems with the model. So, can any fix make everyone happy? [TL;DR, no]

To heavily oversimplify, streaming has three main constituents:

Creators (songwriters, artists, etc.)

Rightsholders (labels, publishers, distributors, CMOs, etc.)

Streaming services 

At the start of 2023, all three have issues with streaming:

Songwriters continue to push for higher royalties while long and mid-tail artists cannot make streaming economics add up

Publishers continue to lobby for higher rates while UMG is now advocating for a new royalty system

Spotify just reported a net loss of nearly half a billion dollars for 2022

Then add in all the perennials: too much music being released; no artist longevity; the commodification of music; listening fragmentation; the decline of superstars etc.

We have a streaming market in which none of the stakeholder groups feel entirely content with the current market and all would like a larger share of the revenues to flow to them. Because they all extract value from the same revenue pot, the arithmetic is simple: one stakeholder’s gain is another’s loss.

None of this is an argument for, or against, the relative merits of the case of any of the three main interest groups. But it does mean that any change to the system will leave someone unhappy. This is the impossible equation that must be balanced.

What further complicates matters is that market benefits to different stakeholders can be perceived as negatives to others. For example:

Streaming helped democratise the means of production and distribution. Long-tail and mid-tail artists benefit, and superstars lose their share

Streaming helped make music the soundtrack of daily routines. Suppliers of mood music benefit, traditional artists, and labels lose listening share

Streaming helped level the playing field, making it easier for smaller labels to compete. Larger labels faced stronger competition

The debate around new royalty regimes has been around for some time, but momentum is picking up. When the CEO of the world’s biggest record label weighs in, then you know that change is going to come. But as the above illustrates, what might make a major label happy, has the potential be detrimental to other stakeholders. There is no ‘make everyone happy’ fix.

Here are two pragmatic alternatives:

Lean forward premium 

One of the cleanest fixes would be to create a two-tier royalty system based on the nature of the plays:

Lean forward plays (higher royalty): when a consumer plays from their own collection or seeks out a song to play it

Lean back plays (lower royalty): when a consumer listens to music in an algorithmic ‘radio’ channel or listens to curated playlists

As with all streaming ‘fixes’, the approach would not be without problems. Mood-based music would certainly find itself generally collecting a smaller share of royalties, but also, many of streaming’s hits (including those from majors) rely on driving larger numbers of streams in curated playlists and ‘stations’ – which in turn help fire up the algorithms and power songs to further success.

Penny per stream

Another approach would be a fixed stream rate, which would effectively mean metered streaming. For example, if every stream generated $0.01, a subscriber would be able to listen until their subscription fee was used up, with the ability to top up to listen further or upgrade to a higher capacity tier. This would certainly help drive increased ARPU (something all parties want) but could deter some subscribers as it would mean an end to the all-you-can-eat (AYCE) proposition. But maybe it is time for that. Music is not a scalable resource in the way that, say, mobile data is. Everyone’s song is someone’s creation. Also, there would need to be a solution for free streams.

Don’t forget the listener, ever

Of course, there is a massive missing detail in all of this, the missing stakeholder in the streaming economy: the listener. Crucially though, for all the problems creators and rightsholders face, consumers are not complaining en masse. They are content with a proposition that not only represents exceptional value for money but that also evolves to meet their tastes and behaviours. 

Streaming’s problems are supply side issues, not demand-side. All industry stakeholders should be careful about pushing solutions that could favour the supply side without proper consideration of the demand side. The history of business is littered with the corpses of companies that did not properly consider the needs of their customers.

Streaming was built for yesterday’s music business

The saying goes that in a good compromise, no one is truly happy. So, there is an argument that streaming is already the balance of compromise. Against this though, streaming was built for an industry that is very different than today, so it is only logical that the model needs honing to catch up, and many of streaming’s second-order consequences cannot be undone. On the demand side, music consumption has become commodified, transformed from a largely artist-centric fan experience (radio excepted) into an audio soundtrack to everyday life. On the supply side, there are simply more people than seats at the table.

Any significant ‘fix’ is going to come at one, or more, stakeholder’s expense. And even then, increased royalties will only go so far. For example, an independent label artist might expect to earn around $2,000 from a million streams (after distribution and label deductions). Members of a four-piece band would thus take home $250 each. Even doubling the standard royalty rate (which could not happen without breaking the entire model) would still only mean $500 each, which is not going to turn streaming into a living wage for most mid-tail artists, let alone the long-tail. So, ‘fixes’ will only go so far. Perhaps it is time to double down on building new things on top of and around streaming, and nurture those that already exist (Bandcamp, etc.). 

Absolutely continue to focus on improving streaming economics but do so alongside building a new industry infrastructure that is built to meet the needs of today’s creators and business rather than those of the noughties. In short, grow the pie rather than simply look at how to re-slice it.

Pixies' Joey Santiago Talks Tour, Recording With Steve Albini, Alt-Rock's Early '90s ExplosionIn May, Pixies will launch "leg one" of their 2023 North American tour in support of their eighth studio album overall, Doggerel. Guitarist Joey Santiago spoke with AllMusic about the band's history and future plans.

‘Songs are the engine of the music industry and sometimes people can lose sight of that’Amy Allen discusses writing some of the biggest pop hits of recent times, the joy of collaborating and making Grammy history
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Last week in music industry commentaryCommentators in the thick of the industry last week shared their opinions and thoughts on the future of the Copyright Royalty Board, new support for the TikTok ban, and more…. Continue reading
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