SILVERSTEIN'S LP IS OLD ENOUGH TO VAPE

Silverstein’s Sophomore LP is officially old enough to vape. So why not celebrate with a vinyl re-release? Everyone else seems to be waiting 20 years, but our Canadian post-hardcore stars say TO HELL WITH THAT, 18 YEARS IT IS!

As always, I won’t be providing a review of the music on this release (which is stellar btw), but instead the physical vinyl I received.

I’ve always respected Silverstein’s attention to sonic quality. When you see them live, the dudes are ALWAYS the tightest performers on the bill. It’s obvious they rehearse the hardest and invest in in-ear monitor technology to ensure the only sounds we hear are what we’re supposed to. So I was a bit surprised by the quality of this vinyl received. Like Shane says, “I wasn't asking for the world” … just a decent mix. There’s nothing terribly wrong with my black vinyl: it’s flat, it’s weighted well, but there’s just a lot of added noise/distortion throughout. It’s possible there isn’t much one can do for these 18-year-old albums that were recorded with iTunes and ear buds in mind, but I would have loved to have heard a re-mix / re-master to support this album’s beefy chugs. Ending Side A with “Discovering the Waterfront” instead of “Defend You” would have also leveled up this re-press tremendously. The title-track has a musical build-up reminiscent of classic rock ballads, where ‘70s-’80s producers would place such tracks at the end of each side. 

My cut sounds and plays like a $26 new release, but if you’ve been meaning to round out your Silverstein collection, this re-press is a good opportunity to do so. There are five unique variants up for pre-order at https://found.ee/silverstein-waterfront, including classic black vinyl, Brown (via Urban Outfitters), Green (via Revolver), Green/Brown marble (via Craft Recordings), and Blue marble (via the band’s official store). I’m not going to lie, that blue marble would really bring out my eyes.

For a review on… The record that came out… afterrrrr this one (Arrivals & Departures), but

they re-released… last year…. click here

From Hipgnosis’ catalogs sale proposal to DistroKid’s Bandzoogle acquisition… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpFive of the biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days
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How do Spotify and streaming royalty payments work now?A controversial shift to ‘artist-centric’ streaming payments gained traction last week with the launch by Deezer of “double-boost” payments to select UMG artists, and indie powerhouse Believe blasted the plan. Continue reading
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Everyone has ideas, but do you have a plan to make them a reality?Everyone has ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but they are nothing more than dreams unless you have a strategy to execute them. Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert discuss. Continue reading
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How some musicians are using video to boost merch salesA few smart and creative artists are selling exponentially more merch using innovative marketing strategies driven by tech from Single and Shopify. Read, watch, learn, and get ready to earn.. Continue reading
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Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties aloneUMG and Deezer’s artist-centric royalty proposal got the amount of attention both parties probably wanted, if not necessarily the type of attention they were after. However, the intent was to kick start an industry debate, and that objective was clearly achieved. Yet, while the discussion has understandably focused on royalties (as, after all, it is a royalty system), these are more symptom than cause. Streaming royalties are not adding up because streaming is not adding up. Fixing royalties is only part of the solution.

In the early days of streaming, DSPs provided platforms for listening to music. Over time they have become places for consuming audio. As streaming mainstreamed, its role as successor to retail became subsumed by its role as music radio’s replacement. Passive playlists, lean-back listening, functional music and ‘noise’ are a series of inevitable second-order consequences, as streaming chases the needs of consumers, following the behavioural data. All in stark contrast to when radio programmers and digital store managers chose what consumers got. In those days, it was a case of the public wants what the public gets, now the public gets what the public wants. The problem is that what the public wants creates a system that neither creators nor rightsholders want. Consumers have, at least in part, chosen this path.

Perhaps, as Steve Jobs was fond of saying, “it’s not the customer’s job to know what they want” or as Henry Ford (may or may not have) said “if I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse”. But whether you believe consumer choice should shape product strategy or not, consumer-led innovation is the defining characteristic of today’s digital world. This means that any innovation that looks to push against prevailing behaviour risks can alienate the very customer base that the system depends upon. So how do we square the proverbial circle?

Solutions must understand the audience’s needs

Many years ago, my former employer, Forrester Research, devised the fantastic POST framework for defining product strategy:

People: First, understand your customers and their needs

Objectives: Next, identify what you want to achieveStrategy: Then, shape your strategy

Technology: Finally, decide what technology fits the bill

Too often, this framework is done in reverse. Just think of the endless succession of ‘new tech’ start-ups that try to superimpose ill-fitting use cases onto their products. Technology desperately searching for a use case is one of the main reasons new tech, like the metaverse, VR and NFTs, follow the boom-bust-rebuild arc of the hype cycle. The risk with trying to superimpose new royalty structures on today’s streaming world (whether that be user centric, fan centric, artist centric, or whatever else) is that they look to solve supply-side needs (i.e., those of creators and rightsholders) first and demand-side (i.e., consumer) issues either last or not at all. Art may fuel the streaming machine, but consumers drive it (even if that means they benefit from self-driving much of the time).

At its heart, the streaming economy is shaped by diverse and often competing needs. Any successful system with diverse stakeholder needs operates by striking a pragmatic balance of meeting those needs. But a truly good compromise means that neither party is truly happy. This is the challenge that streaming faces today.

A brutal assessment of streaming would be that no one is happy. Every stakeholder, except perhaps, the consumer, has beef with how streaming operates. All of which means that any fixes (at least those that will succeed) will need to deliver some form of benefit to all stakeholders, big and small. And that means tackling the underlying behavioural dynamics of streaming, from which today’s royalty issues come.

Streaming has two main problems

A common refrain is that there is simply too much music. But the issue is dealing with quantity, rather than quantity itself being the problem. No one complains that there are too many search results on Google. The reasons quantity is seen as streaming’s problem are twofold:

With so many releases, it is hard to cut through

In a zero sum royalty system, more (content) means less (royalties) per stakeholder

Factors like ‘noise’, functional music, and generative AI are not problems in themselves, they are problems because they accentuate both of these issues.

Introducing the algorithm multiplier

Adopting a two-tier royalty system will not solve either problem in itself. The long tail will still be there. Listening will still be fragmented. Royalties are a supply-side issue, not a demand-side one. And it is the demand side that is causing the ‘problem’ by spending time listening to an ever more diverse volume of music. If you want to change behaviour, you need to pull the behaviour levers, not the remuneration levers. One way this could be done is by implementing an algorithm multiplier that applies a higher weight to successful artists. Thus ensuring success breeds success. But (and this part is crucial), this algorithm multiplier should be geared for all tiers of success. So, just as a superstar artist’s hit would get amplified, so would a

Recording Academy P&E Wing Posts 4 Sessions Spotlighting Sony 360 Reality AudioAs a continuation of its "Inside the Mix" online series, the Recording Academy® Producers & Engineers Wing® has posted four sessions spotlighting Sony 360 Reality Audio. The episodes, streamed live for P&E Wing members, featured Sony experts who guided viewers through different aspects of the 360 RA format. Each webinar was introduced by Maureen Droney, Vice President of the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, and moderated by Michael Romanowski (four-time GRAMMY® Award-winner, including one for Best Immersive Audio Album). The entire series is now archived and available in a playlist here.

The first session, titled "Sony 360 Reality Audio: Formats, Playback, and Studio Requirements," featured Sony's Gus Skinas and Hiro Komuro joining Romanowski for an overview of the technology, background and history behind Sony 360 RA, including format description and reasoning, consumer playback options, and studio requirements.

Second was "Sony 360 Reality Audio: WalkMix Deep Dive, Deliverables & QC," with Skinas, Sony's Bryce Jones and Attila Fodor, who delved into WalkMix Creator, a tool that enables creators to easily produce music in a spherical immersive sound field using the 360 RA format. They also covered deliverables and QC for 360 RA projects.

The third session was "Sony 360 Reality Audio: Deliverables Deep Dive." For this discussion, Skinas, along with Sony's Mike Catandella and Steven Dewey, offered a detailed breakdown of deliverables and related topics to consider when working in the 360 RA format.

The fourth and final session, "Sony 360 Reality Audio: 360 Virtual Mixing Environment," featured Sony's Koyuru Okimoto, Toru Nakagawa and Hiro Komuro breaking down the details and capabilities of the Sony 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (360VME), a technology that uses proprietary measurement technology to accurately reproduce, with headphones, the acoustic field of an immersive audio studio consisting of multiple speakers. After just one measurement in the studio, the optimal environment for immersive audio production can be taken anywhere with headphones and 360VME software.

Maureen Droney remarks, "As part of the P&E Wing's ongoing commitment to providing our industry with the most needed information, we are pleased to present these sessions recorded with experts from Sony. Immersive audio is not merely 'the future' – it is now. These sessions were highly informative, and they offered cutting-edge information directly from the experts that helped develop these tools at Sony. We thank our guests for sharing their expertise, and for guiding viewers through the 360 RA format and how it is used in the world of immersive audio, and we look forward to providing further educational programming for creators as technology continues to evolve.”

A previous "Inside the Mix" sub-series focused on Dolby's Atmos® format. That series is available in a playlist at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIMiwsDFHA97NjjngN3nsNXr5fFWAj-tk.

Denis Ladegaillerie on AI, streaming royalty models, Believe’s game plan… and moreThe Believe founder and CEO joins MBW's Tim Ingham on the latest Music Business Worldwide podcast
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Head of trade body representing UK songwriters switches to run US trade body representing Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora (who not so long ago were fighting to cut songwriters’ pay)Davies is filling in the role left by Garrett Levin, who stepped down as DiMA’s top executive after relocating to Geneva, Switzerland
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Spotify adds paid Showcase banners and free Songwriter promo toolsSpotify For Artists has added Showcase, a paid Home screen marketing banner, as well as new free marketing tools for songwriters. Why more ads? An analysis by MBW offered a. Continue reading
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What do music publicists and PR campaigns cost? It depends…You may not know too much about publicity if you’re an indie artist. Luckily, this quick guide takes you through three differently priced tiers based on where you are in. Continue reading
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Everything we know and don’t know about AI in Music [Mark Mulligan, MIDiA]This post from Mark Mullihgan of top consultancy MIDiA may help calm any nervous moments you’re having about AI in music and the music industry as well as help you. Continue reading
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Flock Audio Announces Upgrade to PATCH APP DX Bridge Flock Audio, innovative manufacturers of the PATCH series of digitally controlled, all-analog patchbays, has announced another game changing upgrade to their intuitive hardware management software – PATCH APP DX Bridge. DX Bridge enables PATCH APP DX to be run as a plugin with every available DAW, allowing for seamless recall and storage of any PATCH presets in a session. DX Bridge is available as a free update for all PATCH APP DX subscribers and perpetual license holders and is compatible with all major DAW plugin formats including .AAX, .VST, and .AU. For more information and to download the update, please click here. 

Streamlined workflows with your favorite analog outboard gearPATCH APP DX’s - DX Bridge is easy to integrate into any recording session. Once installed, DX Bridge can be inserted as a plugin into any track in a DAW project and will provide instant access to all stored PATCH routings. These routings will also be instantly recalled any time the session is loaded up, making for a seamless recording experience, every time. Alongside PATCH APP DX’s enhanced feature set which includes intuitive and efficient color customization options, lightning fast analog routing recalls, Total Hardware Management for storing & viewing recall notes of analog hardware settings and tracking setups, and Apple iOS & iOS iPad support, DX Bridge is an invaluable tool for the recording studio that makes recalls more efficient than ever before within the PATCH Series eco-system.

“At Flock Audio we are constantly working towards new ways of making hardware management more intuitive, and as such we’re incredibly pleased to announce PATCH APP DX’s latest addition DX Bridge,” said Flock Audio Founder and CEO Darren Nakonechny. “DX Bridge is a simple and straightforward tool for your DAW that allows for easy management of all PATCH presets in a session, making it the perfect addition to the PATCH series ecosystem and a valuable tool for streamlining and enhancing your analog workflow within your recording, mixing, and mastering sessions.”

PATCH APP DX Features: 

·    Color Customization Options across the entire application 

·    6 Quick Strip Recall Options 

·    iOS & iOS iPad Compatibility/Support 

·    Total Hardware Management (For Analog Hardware Recall Notes + Tracking Setups) 

·    DX Bridge Plugin – Compatibility for Inside DAW Session Recalls 

·    + More

For more information about PATCH APP DX Bridge and to download, please visit: http://www.flockaudio.com/downloads

JKBX goes live, featuring listings to reserve shares in royalties from hits by Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and more superstarsSong royalties trading platform JKBX is officially live
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DistroKid acquires website hosting and e-commerce company BandzoogleBandzoogle offers various e-commerce tools allowing musicians to market and sell products directly to their fanbases
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