Up Close and Personal: When the algorithm goes too far [MIDiA’s Tatiana Cirisano]Tatiana Cirisano of MIDiA Research dives into how the borderline mind-reading technology of social media is affecting the music industry. What happens when the algorithm gets a little too close. Continue reading
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The risks and rewards of cover songsPerforming and releasing cover songs can be a great way to excite fans and even reach a new fanbase, however there are some important things you should know before doing. Continue reading
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Rick Ross and Maybach Music Group strike partnership with Larry Jackson’s $1bn-backed gammaAlso joining gamma is Breyon Prescott, including his Chameleon Entertainment label and catalog
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Charta Launches to Simplify Music ContractsNew company Charta has launched with the intention of revolutionizing how modern music contracts are drafted and executed. Before an artist or their label releases a song, every collaborator on that song has to sign a "clearance" agreement assigning their rights in the master sound recording to the artist. This covers producers, featured artists, audio engineers, session musicians and backing vocalists. In an era where over 100,000 new songs are being released on DSPs daily and collaboration is increasingly at the core of music creation, entertainment lawyers have been tasked with drafting and executing an insurmountable amount of clearance agreements necessitated by that collaboration. The result is that artists are often kept waiting for their lawyers to draft these agreements in order to finalize music for release. Once drafted, artists and their lawyers are kept waiting for months for their collaborators and their representation to review documents and return redlines, a process that often takes multiple rounds of revisions to reach an agreement mutually agreeable to both parties. With each passing year, the volume of music being released and the degree to which artists are collaborating with one another continues to grow rapidly while the number of entertainment lawyers does not, creating an ever-growing backlog of these agreements to execute without a solution in sight. Zachary Bohlender saw this problem firsthand as an entertainment lawyer and recognized that the problem was not only going to worsen with time, but that he and his peers were spending a disproportionate amount of their time executing relatively simple legal documents on behalf of their clients, inhibiting their ability to devote time to more skilled, strategic work. With no solution in sight, Bohlender took it upon himself to address the issue, leaving his post at the firm at which he was working to co-found Charta with his friend Arash Rashidi, an engineer with deep experience in AI.Charta's mission in the music industry is simple: to automate the process of getting clearance agreements done so artists can release music faster. Charta achieves this by building custom solutions for lawyers, labels and managers that fit their particular workflow and needs. Utilizing Charta’s intuitive interface, one can draft a clearance agreement and share that document with their collaborator or their representation in minutes or even negotiate all the terms of a clearance agreement on platform and subsequently sign the final document after it’s generated. Charta’s patent-pending process doesn’t rely on one-size-fits-all templates, and it can accommodate in excess of 800 unique scenarios for a producer agreement alone.. The result is a streamlined process that expedites the timeline on which artists can finalize these types of agreements in order to be able to release music with less delay and, in turn, alleviate their lawyers of the most onerous work placed on them. Charta’s solution to the ever-growing backlog of agreements to be executed in the music industry addresses a key pain point that ultimately aids all major stakeholders involved in the release of new music, from artists to labels, managers and lawyers alike.The benefits of alleviating this well-documented, ever-growing problem within the music industry is manyfold. Speaking to the implications of what Charta can do for artists and their lawyers, Bohlender shares:“There’s no single bigger pain point in the industry than clearance agreements. The backlog is immense and it prevents artists from releasing music, labels from achieving revenue, managers from focusing on creative and strategic guidance, and lawyers providing high value services. Gone are the days where every commercial artist is signed to a record deal and releases an album every couple years with a handful of collaborators. Charta is the missing link the music industry needs to come into the 21st century.”Other music industry veterans see the clear benefit, too. Tim Smith, CEO and founder of Blood Company shares: “I’ve known Zach for many years; beast of an attorney and amazing human. His many years of experience at leading firms in corporate / VC law and also entertainment law have positioned him uniquely to create this ingenious platform.”Charta launches with key industry support already under its belt. Its early adopters already include the record label APG, superproducer Kenny Beats, Colture and other international music companies already utilizing the platform. Ty Baisden, founder of Colture, sees the benefits of Charta as well:"Charta will be a turnkey solution for start-up producers, artists and writers who can't afford to pay for the expensive cost of having a lawyer review everything. It will help them be smarter business owners."The company also counts key members of the music industry as investors and advisors, including Che Pope, Matt Colon, Aloe Blacc, Boys Noize and Milana Lewis of Stem, whose own company's focus of affording artists more autonomy and transparency in their careers dovetails with Charta. Speaking to why she invested in Charta, Lewis shares:“Charta has built a platform that seamlessly translates between three languages — plain English, legalese and code. Applying those capabilities to the music industry is an incredibly powerful tool towards building a better future where artists can be paid more expediently and accurately, a vision that is shared with my companies Stem and Tone.”With Charta's launch, artists have the ability to take control of a process that has increasingly proven to be a major pain point in the music industry at large and alleviate entertainment lawyers of the most tedious part of their jobs. While Charta’s focus at the outset is clearance agreements, the company’s ability to expand to all varieties of agreements in the future has massive implications for streamlining the process of releasing music for the industry at large.For more information about Charta head to getcharta.com.

L-R: Zachary Bohlender and Arash Rashidi

PPL to sponsor A&R Awards category celebrating behind-the-scenes linchpinsFast-growing collection society supports award for 'the glue of the A&R department'
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Songtradr acquires Bandcamp from Fortnite maker Epic GamesNews arrives a year and a half after Epic Games acquired Bandcamp
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Is BMI Selling or Are They Selling Out Songwriters? [Bill Werde]or BMI: Another Reason Why the Industry Needs Transparency from PROs.  or Why Songwriters Need to Stop Worrying and Love A Union.  By Bille Werde A version of this essay. Continue reading
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What are the most popular Social Media apps in 2023?Meta’s Threads signed up 100 million users in days, then struggled to keep them, and X, the app formerly known as Twitter, is a mess. These are just the latest. Continue reading
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2000s Emo Music is making a comebackBetween nostalgic veteran listeners and newfound Gen Z fans, 2000s emo bands like My Chemical Romance and the Used are making a comeback. by Karen Fischer of Chartmetric Blog It’s. Continue reading
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Latin music generated $627m in US recorded music revenues in H1 2023 – up 14.8% YoYLatin music’s share of overall US recorded music revenues reached 7.5% in the first half of 2023, according to RIAA's Mid-Year 2023 Latin Music Report
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[PIAS] boss Kenny Gates on Deezer x Universal’s ‘artist-centric’ model: ‘For labels who invest every year, relentlessly, in new talent, this has to be good news.’ Thought the debate had died down? Think again...
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Matt Ross-Spang Opens Southern Groove Studios in Memphis, TNGrammy Award-winning producer and engineer Matt Ross-Spang has opened Southern Grooves Studio at Crosstown Concourse in Memphis, TN. Reverb recently featured the studio in their "Show Us Your Space" series, praising, "In the middle of the 20th century, the wonderful mix of soul, country, blues, R&B, and rock 'n' roll that shot out of Memphis studios like Sun and Stax electrified the world. Producer, engineer, and studio owner Matt Ross-Spang—who probably knows as much about this Memphis Sound as anyone still living can know—is giving it new life in the 21st century."

Ross-Spang has worked at the most iconic studios in Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Nashville — Sun, Sam Phillips, Fame, RCA — producing, engineering, and mixing music by artists like Elvis Presley, Lou Reed, Al Green, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Lori McKenna, Margo Price, S.G. Goodman, Drive-By Truckers, Mountain Goats, Cut Worms, Iron & Wine, and more. He has won two Grammy Awards, for engineering Isbell’s 2015 album Something More Than Free and again for its follow-up, 2017’s The Nashville Sound. Out this year alone, he produced Peter One's Come Back To Me, Lucero's Should've Learned by Now, St. Paul & the Broken Bones' Angels In Science Fiction, Blind Boys of Alabama's Echoes of the South, and Old Crow Medicine Show's Jubilee, in addition to engineering Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit's Weathervanes and mixing Morgan Wade's Psychopath.

On designing his new studio, Ross-Spang offers, "When I decided to build this studio I wanted to combine the spirit behind some of my favorite historical studios and my love of mid-century modern design. The studio follows the tried and true method of avoiding parallel surfaces, even utilizing an undulated ceiling - a preference of Sam Phillips. Like many of the great early 60s studios, I went with a tile floor for a livelier sound. The acoustic treatment (wood and burlap) is similar to what you’d find in Studios in the 70s, especially in Memphis and Muscle Shoals. We designed the studio around Crosstown's distinctive structural columns. They are 3 feet thick and at 17 feet intervals. The columns add unique acoustic and visual properties to the room.   I live in a time capsule Mid-century Modern home built in 1957. I used some of its wood paneling and ceiling beams as inspiration in my studio for the live room and iso booth. The furniture was hand-picked to match the studio’s aesthetic. I wanted a custom chair rail around the live room and had it sized for microphones, drinks, and even guitar pedals to add stylish shelving and comfort to the room without clutter. Most importantly the studio, although brand new, feels like it’s been around for decades."

Of the studio's custom equipment, he adds, "As the studio was taking shape I realized that I needed to synchronize the equipment and functionalities seamlessly with the studio's aesthetic. As a student of music history, I’ve always loved how classic studios like Abbey Road and Decca would custom-build their equipment and needs. You can look back at old studio photos and know exactly what studio it was by just pictures of the acoustic treatment or even the gobos. This is somewhat lost in modern studios and I wanted to bring it back. Ken Capton and I designed brand-new gobos from the ground up. They are stackable with removable panels (a lively hard side or a “dead” treated side). The Top half of the gobo is even designed to be the same height as the chair rail in the live room for us with amplifiers. We even designed custom casters for the Hammond B3 to be portable and visually appealing. Greg Pace and I designed my favorite piece: a modern Cue System to fit my studio's needs and looks. The boxes were hand-built and painted pistachio green. They feature our own 2 channel design and are all analog. They are screwed into some sleek space-age end tables. Each table was modified with the connectors and cabling!"

In celebration of adding the final touches to Southern Grooves, Ross-Spang is hosting a private Grand Opening Shindig for industry and press at the studio tomorrow, September 28, starting at 5:30pm CT. Attending press can RSVP HERE. Can't make it? Find more photos of the space and equipment HERE.

NIVA calls out Live Nation for its ‘calculated attempt’ to divert artists from independent venues[UPDATED] NIVA (National Association of Independent Venues) is pushing back against Live Nation’s announcement that its clubs will give $1,500 in cash gas and travel stipends to each headliner and support. Continue reading
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The truth behind why you aren’t getting more streams [Randall Foster]Just because your music isn’t getting attention does not mean it doesn’t deserve it. This post from Symphonic’s Chief Creative Officer covers what needs to improve your music streams. By.. Continue reading
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Worthless NFTS, Growing a Fanbase & more: Hypebot’s Bruce Houghton joins the Music Biz Weekly PodcastI’m always honored and excited when invited to be on an episode of the long-running Music Biz Weekly Podcast, so when Micahel asked if I’d join again (Jay was at. Continue reading
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