The MLC Strengthens its Outreach and Education, Member Services and OperationsAs the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) approaches the end of its fourth full year of operations, it remains committed to seeking – and acting upon – Member feedback. Since beginning full operations, The MLC has consistently sought feedback from its Members to enhance its tools, resources and operations. This feedback has continuously validated The MLC's focus on conducting extensive outreach and education activities aimed at reaching as many prospective members as possible, providing best-in-class support services to its Members, and strengthening internal operations to ensure they are both effective and efficient. To further support its activities in these key areas identified by Member feedback, The MLC has elevated five existing leaders whose work focuses on these activities. This will allow The MLC to amplify its efforts to engage and educate more new Members, enhance the support services it provides to those Members, and continue to improve its internal operations for the benefit of its Members and its other stakeholders.

As the statutory mechanical licensing collective established under the Music Modernization Act (MMA), The MLC is responsible for administering the blanket compulsory mechanical license available to eligible digital service providers (DSPs) in the United States. Since the first royalty distribution in April 2021, The MLC has enrolled over 45,000 Members and completed every one of its 41 monthly royalty distributions on time or early. As a result, The MLC has achieved total royalties distributed of over $2 billion.

Both the MMA and the guidance issued by the U.S. Copyright Office require The MLC to undertake extensive efforts to conduct outreach and educational activities aimed at reaching the full cross-section of the rightsholder community. Since beginning full operations, The MLC has conducted extensive outreach and educational activities that have allowed The MLC to reach rightsholders wherever in the world they are located, while also strengthening partnerships and industry relations. Ellen Truley has led these efforts since before The MLC first began full operations, enabling The MLC to reach hundreds of thousands of stakeholders in the U.S. and around the world and to enroll over 45,000 Members to date. To further these efforts, Ellen has been elevated to Chief Marketing and External Affairs Officer. In this role, Ellen will continue to lead The MLC’s effort to develop and execute its overall marketing strategy and oversee the organization’s advertising, marketing and communications efforts, while also coordinating its educational activities, songwriter relations, industry partnerships, government relations, and other external affairs.

As The MLC continues to expand its membership across the U.S. and around the world, the organization remains steadfast in its commitment to continuously enhance and improve the service and support it provides to its Members. At the heart of The MLC’s service functions lies its industry leading Support Team, which was created and has since been managed by Lindsey Major. To further enhance The MLC’s member services, Lindsey has been elevated to Chief Member Experience Officer. In her role, Lindsey is responsible for designing, implementing and coordinating the delivery of world-class experiences to The MLC's growing membership. This includes coordinating the development and enhancement of The MLC’s growing suite of tools that enable Members to register works, claim their shares of previously registered works, submit proposed matches of their works to unmatched usage, and more.

The MLC has undertaken extensive efforts to accurately match sound recordings to the corresponding musical works, in order to fulfill its mission of striving to ensure that rightsholders receive all of their mechanical royalties from services operating under the blanket compulsory license. As a result, The MLC has achieved current match rates of roughly 90% for all royalties processed. Andrew Mitchell has led The MLC’s matching efforts from the start. As part of a larger plan to bolster The MLC’s matching capabilities, Andrew has been elevated to Chief Analytics and Automation Officer. Andrew will continue to oversee matching – including The MLC’s internal Matching Team and The MLC’s recently announced Supplemental Matching Vendor Network – while also designing, developing and implementing new strategies for harnessing the MLC’s data, leading the MLC’s fraud prevention efforts, and developing new ways to automate The MLC’s internal business processes.

Since completing its first royalty distribution in April of 2021, The MLC has completed every single monthly royalty distribution on-time or early, which has allowed The MLC to achieve total royalties distributed of over $2 billion. Joya Carmichael has led The MLC’s efforts to create, document and manage the end-to-end royalty distribution process starting with the very first monthly royalty distribution. Building upon this track record of success, Joya has been elevated to Chief Administrative Officer. Joya will continue to lead the team that coordinates and manages The MLC’s end-to-end royalty distribution process, while expanding her remit to manage other key internal processes and lead various process documentation and process improvement initiatives for the company.

Since being initially designated by the U.S. Copyright Office 2019, The MLC has met every operational milestone set by Congress and successfully fulfilled the statutory mandates outlined in the MMA. Rick Marshall has been instrumental in ensuring The MLC’s compliance with its statutory and regulatory obligations since joining the organization in 2021, while also managing The MLC’s interactions with DSPs and the blanket compulsory licensing process. Earlier this summer, Rick was elevated to General Counsel. In this new role, Rick will now lead The MLC’s in-house legal team and coordinate all of the organization’s legal matters, including its interactions with the U.S. Copyright Office, the conduct of The MLC’s important enforcement obligations under the MMA, the management of any pending litigations, and the provision of legal advice and guidance to the rest of The MLC’s team.

Strengthening its operations in these key areas reaffirm The MLC’s commitment to support its growing membership, drive innovation and transform rights administration in the music industry.

For more information about The MLC, visit www.themlc.com.The post The MLC Strengthens its Outreach and Education, Member Services and Operations first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

HYBE buys 51% stake in mystery company for $25mHYBE recently spent USD $25 million to acquire a 51% stake in an unknown company.
Source

Trio of ex-BMG bigwigs launch new indie label in Germany… with a human heartMax Giesinger named as debut signing for new label launched by Dominique Casimir, Maximilian Kolb and Justus Haerder
Source

Music Trigger Cities: Supercharging Music MarketingWhere music is discovered matters. Focus on music trigger cities can supercharge music marketing, according to a study from Chartmetric.
The post Music Trigger Cities: Supercharging Music Marketing appeared first on Hypebot.

MLC promotes 5 as distributions surpass $2B, Federal review beginsThe Music Licensing Collective (MLC) has announced five executive promotions designed to strengthen outreach, education, member services and operations and support continued growth.
The post MLC promotes 5 as distributions surpass $2B, Federal review begins appeared first on Hypebot.

Pressing Your First Vinyl Record: A Step-by-Step GuideBefore pressing your first vinyl, make sure you’ve covered these five crucial steps to avoid costly mistakes. From mastering audio to choosing the right pressing plant, this guide has everything you need to know for a flawless vinyl release.
The post Pressing Your First Vinyl Record: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Hypebot.

As Live Nation stares down antitrust suit, here’s what CEO Michael Rapino says is the real ‘secret sauce’ for Ticketmaster’s successRapino says Ticketmaster's success stems simply from having built a better product.
Source

UMG India launches Vedam Records, a wellness music label alongside Grammy Award winner Ricky KejVedam is embarking on a "transformative journey" to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of wellness music
Source

CARMEN AND CARNIVAL WITH DUDAMEL at the Hollywood BowlAfter a three-month absence, Gustavo Dudamel, longtime musical director of the LA Philharmonic, made a triumphant return to the Hollywood Bowl in late August to launch the orchestra’s final two weeks of the season with six different programs.

So potentially popular that it merited two nights (September 3 and 5) on the schedule, Carmen and Carnival with Dudamel made for a wonderfully alliterative marketing title but a very unusual and offbeat tonal pairing. From casual conversations between patrons, the audience responses and the fact that some folks left at intermission (after the glorious Carnival left town), it seemed that many in the audience were fans of either Camille Saint-Saens’s classic, often whimsical parade of animal inspired pieces OR the dramatic Bizet opera.

Fortunately, I felt like I was perhaps one of the minority who embraced both for different reasons. I enjoy the boisterous prelude to Carmen and the sly vocal expression “Habanera” because these pieces were soundtrack music to one of my favorite all-time films, The Bad News Bears.

Photo credit: Shannon Cottrell

I love Carnival of the Animals not only because Saint-Saens so artfully captured the personalities of each member of the animal kingdom, but because one of his pieces, “The Swan” is. IMHO, one of classical music’s most beautiful and transcendent compositions, all at once capturing the bird’s majestic, divinely sculpted beauty and its graceful glide through water. This piece was the highlight of the Carnival, with cellist Robert deMaine’s elegant, lyrical and richly emotional cello melody gliding on the angelic wings of Karen Lechner’s soft hypnotic piano.

Under Dudamel’s ever nuanced and intuitive guidance, the LA Phil created a dramatic, flourish-filled instrumental equivalent of a brisk 25-minute trip to the zoo or a wild animal park. Along the way, we met lions (“Royal March of the Lion”), “Hens and Roosters” (with pecking simulated by playful string accents), “Wild Donkeys” (featuring fast piano flurries), “Tortoises” (slow and measured chording, naturally), “Elephants” (with percussive, stomping piano and a low toned cello quarter), graceful, hopping “Kangaroos,” and “The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods.” The cuckoo piece and “Aviary” simulated the sounds of their subjects with quickly fluttering flutes. Amidst the whimsy were caressing moments of immersion in the elegant fluidity of the “Aquarium” segment and, as mentioned, the dreamy, ballet-like beauty of the suite’s showstopper, “Swan.”

The narrative elements introducing some of the individual pieces of Carnival of the Animals between its 2019 performance at the Bowl and this one was pretty much night and day. While the earlier one featured Emmy winning actor Sean Hayes hamming it up and adding lighthearted humor to the show, Dudamel found a magnificent way to replace that shtick with a much more reverent and appropriately childlike approach. Sounding a bit like Linus in the classic Peanuts TV specials, the conductor’s 13-year-old son Martin provided the charming voice narration to a series of animated videos for many of the animals, creating a colorful and thoughtful feast for the eyes and ears even before each piece was performed.   The post CARMEN AND CARNIVAL WITH DUDAMEL at the Hollywood Bowl first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

It’s Daniel Ek’s World and Musicians Just Live In ItStreaming accounted for 84% of the revenue that U.S. labels and artists receive from recorded music. Total revenue from U.S. recorded music was $8.67 billion based on RIAA stats for the first half of 2024.
The post It’s Daniel Ek’s World and Musicians Just Live In It appeared first on Hypebot.

Band Shirt Day 2024 is coming. Sign up now!Band Shirt Day 2024 is next Friday, September 20. Every musician with merch should sign up now to participate. Band Shirt Day is a single day global fundraising initiative where. Continue reading
The post Band Shirt Day 2024 is coming. Sign up now! appeared first on Hypebot.

5 easy ways to improve your Singer/Songwriter Performance SkillsTransform your show performance skills with these five easy tips that most singer/songwriters overlook. Larry Butler unlocks the secrets to captivating any audience and making every performances unforgettable.
The post 5 easy ways to improve your Singer/Songwriter Performance Skills appeared first on Hypebot.

Producer Fabio Aguilar Signs Publishing Deal With Position MusicPresident and CEO Tyler Bacon announced that Fabio Aguilar has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Position Music in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer Keanu Beats. On September 5, Aguilar won a BMI Hip-Hop Award for his songwriting on “HOTEL LOBBY (Unc & Phew)” by Quavo and Takeoff, which he also co-produced.

Aguilar is a 22-year-old producer, loop specialist, beatmaker, and multi-instrumentalist. In late 2018, Aguilar sent his beats and loops to Keanu Beats through Instagram and the two quickly began collaborating. Since then, Aguilar has had cuts with Lil Baby, Jack Harlow, NLE Choppa, Roddy Ricch, Denzel Curry, Logic, and more - collectively garnering over 1.3 billion streams.

“Working with Position Music felt natural because they truly get the vision. I’m confident that with their support, I’ll continue to grow and explore new creative avenues,” says Aguilar.

"Position Music’s vision and approach align perfectly with what I see in Fabio,” says Keanu Beats. “He’s an exceptional producer with a unique ability to cross genres effortlessly. I’m confident that with Mike [Torres], Delmar [Powell], and Mark [Chipello]’s support, we’ll elevate his career to new heights and continue to create groundbreaking music together."

Aguilar joins a Position music publishing roster that includes Tinashe, Cannons, Audien, Jack LaFrantz, ¿Téo?, Austin Powerz, Brandyn Burnette, Dru “Falconry” DeCaro, Evalyn, John “Feldy” Feldman, Judah & the Lion, Alex “A-Bomb” Fernandez, KANNER, No Love For The Middle Child, Erik Ron, Yonatan Watts, and more.

"Fabio Aguilar is an exceptionally talented producer who has so much maturity and skill at such a young age. At just 22, he’s already had songs with a range of artists like Quavo, Jack Harlow, Kid LAROI, X Ambassadors, and many more. This is just the beginning for Fabio and he’s off to a nuclear start!” says Mike Torres, A&R at Position Music.

positionmusic.com

The post Producer Fabio Aguilar Signs Publishing Deal With Position Music first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Who owns K-pop giant HYBE?HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk remains the largest shareholder, but Scooter Braun and BTS own a significant chunk as well
Source

Concord Label Group merges Fantasy Records with Concord Records; combined brand led by Co-Presidents Margi Cheske and Mark WilliamsCheske and Williams are based in Los Angeles and report to Concord Label Group Chief Executive Tom Becci
Source