From Taylor Swift’s $100m in concert film presales to Deezer’s latest artist-centric agreement… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days...
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Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ concert film has already surpassed $100m in global ticket presalesFilm will start playing in the confirmed 8,500 theatres across 100 countries around the world on October 13
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PAUSE THAT PLAYLIST: Today is College Radio Day!Today, October 6th marks the 13th annual World College Radio Day, and hundreds of college radio stations worldwide are celebrating this unique medium. Even – or perhaps especially – in. Continue reading
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Spotify Audiobooks: Another brick in the audio wall [Mark Mulligan, MIDiA]There will soon be more to listen to on Spotify, with the addition of 15 hours of free audiobook hours for all premium subscribers. However, the move has multiple implications. Continue reading
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Superproducer Rick Rubin says, ‘I know nothing about music’I chose this week’s Hypebot Flashback Friday post because I’ve finally gotten around to reading superproducer Rick Rubin’s wonderful book “The Creative Act: A Way Of Being.” As part of. Continue reading
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Croshal Entertainment Group Celebrates 20th AnniversaryCroshal Entertainment Group (CEG), a leading music consulting, marketing, artist management and label services firm, continues to thrive thanks to a leadership vision that incorporates flexibility and an insightful understanding of the markets it services, as well as solid business fundamentals emphasizing client service and support with the ability to embrace change.

This philosophy has been the cornerstone of the Croshal Entertainment Group for the past 20 years, and the company continues to experience exponential growth despite constant technological and business upheavals in the music industry. Led by President/CEO Fred Croshal (former executive at Sony Music and General Manager at the Maverick Recording Company), CEG has a proven track record in serving its clients, consistently earning them numerous GRAMMY® wins and nominations and setting Billboard chart records, all the while providing unparalleled label services for a wide range of clientele in various genres of the music industry. 

The formation of Croshal Entertainment Group in 2003 was both timely and prescient, as all manner of artists, from independent up-and-comers to major-label stars, have explored alternative distribution models in the new millennium. CEG was formed to provide an infrastructure and alternative way for artists to release their music competitively. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary beginning in October of 2023, CEG continues to be at the forefront of this trend and is proud to have provided services that include establishing independent record labels and coordinating the marketing of releases from major artists like Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Herb Alpert, Collective Soul, The Immediate Family, Gnarls Barkley, Jason Mraz, CSN (Crosby, Stills and Nash), TLC, Smokey Robinson, Tommy Lee, AJ McLean, Sinead O’Connor, Seth MacFarlane, New Found Glory, The Doobie Brothers, and more. CEG is currently working on the development of Bella Rios and Trinity Bliss, who will both have new music out in 2024.

For more information, visit www.croshalgroup.com.

Songtradr says it will ‘work towards a fair and equitable outcome’ for Bandcamp workforce, following layoffs at Bandcamp made by former owner Epic GamesOne of the biggest music industry stories of the year arrived last week with the news that Songtradr is to acquire Bandcamp from Epic Games. The announcement arrived a year and a half after Epic (the maker of the hit video game Fortnite, and Unreal Engine) itself acquired Bandcamp – an online music store and direct-to-fan … Continued
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DistroKid’s Bandzoogle buyout, Songtradr’s Bandcamp acquisition point to the power of D2C commerce (and a potential future battle for ‘superfans’)Why two deals announced in the last month are connected
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Songtradr, Epic Games respond to Bandcamp Union concerns [UPDATED]UPDATE: Epic Games has joined Songtradr in responding to a letter from the Bandcamp United union expressing employee concerns after it was announced earlier this week that Epic Games had. Continue reading
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As layoffs begin, Bandcamp union launches petition demanding Songtradr recognitionUPDATE: Workers at Bandcamp are in limbo after Epic Games sold the indie music marketplace to Songtradr, and their recently recognized Bandcamp United Union is looking for answers. Workers voted. Continue reading
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Imagine Dragons, Bandsintown partner for free livestream concert to support fight against pediatric cancerImagine Dragon’s Tyler Robinson Foundation has partnered with Bandsintown for the third year in a row for a free livestream concert this Friday to raise awareness and support for families. Continue reading
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Oana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer at Warner Music Group, to exit companyRuxandra confirmed her decision to leave in a note to WMG staff today
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Celestion Debuts Shades of Greenback Digital IR CollectionCelestion, the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of guitar loudspeakers, well-known as the “Voice of Rock & Roll” behind many of the world’s most memorable guitar performances, is pleased to introduce the digitally downloadable Celestion Greenback Impulse Response Collection, bringing together a collection of seven of the most popular Celestion 12-inch Greenback-style speaker tones favoured by rock legends, available for download at CelestionPlus.This collection brings together the G12M and G12H as well the speakers that have since been inspired by these tonal icons. Fans of classic rock and all things Greenback will be in sonic heaven. Featuring the G12M, G12H Anniversary, Heritage Series G12M, Heritage Series G12H (55), G12-35XC, G12-50GL Lynchback and G12 EVH in all cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

The Shades of Greenback Collection features the speakers which helped to create the tones of legends, including:

The G12M Greenback – The LegendThe G12M Greenback is the modern incarnation of the speaker that helped define rock tone; played by legends like Clapton, Page and Beck. Expect a broad mid-range attack and a restrained top-end with added grit and aggression.The G12H Anniversary – The Heavy RockerRecreate the classic sounds of the 1960’s and 1970’s hard rock era with the G12 Anniversary. With no quarter given, the anniversary delivers serious swagger with its aggressive low-end, articulate treble and searing midrange.The Heritage Series G12M – Timeless ToneAs materials and manufacturing techniques changed over time, so tones did too. The Heritage Series was the result of Celestion’s quest to build our iconic speakers as close to their 1960s specification as possible. The Heritage G12M delivers a little more openness and room to breathe than the Modern G12M.Heritage Series G12H (55) – The Bass ConeThis G12H Heritage Series speaker features a 55Hz (low resonance) cone. Originally intended for bass guitar, it was quickly adopted by guitar players too, who loved its more pronounced low-end thump. Legend has it that Hendrix played this Greenback in his live rig.The G12-35XC – The Sonic LegacyA key part of the Greenback legend is the Pulsonic® cone. Sadly, they are no more, but for our 90th birthday we tried to replicate the sound of an early 70s Pulsonic Greenback, just to see if we could. The result is the G12-35XC speaker.The G12-50GL Lynchback – Mr. NastyA few years ago, George Lynch came to us and requested we build him his perfect speaker. The G12-50GL is it. Beautiful, saturated vintage rhythm tones together with a modern lead sound that befits a legendary Shredmaster.The G12 EVH – The Ultimate Brown SoundLast but certainly not least is the EVH signature speaker. Eddie Van Halen tried several Greenback variations and he chose this one. As Ed himself put it, “Since day one, the 20-watt Greenback has been a big part of my sound.”Each of these in the Shades of Greenback IR collection include five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).The new Shades of Greenback Impulse Responses are available individually or as a complete set, representing a significant savings over purchasing the individual IRs. And if you already own any of the speaker responses included in the collection, you’ll also receive an additional discount to complete your Greenback collection!The new Shades of Greenback Collection joins the massive collection of Celestion Impulse Responses available for demo and download at CelestionPlus.

Amanda Rae Kopp promoted to Chief Product Officer at JKBXExec worked at Warner Music Group prior to JKBX
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Spotify’s audiobooks move is another brick in the audio wallStreaming has come a long way since its days as a pure music service for super fans. Spotify’s announcement that it is making 15 monthly audiobook hours available to premium subscribers is simply the latest step in a journey that has seen streaming become the 21st century’s take on radio. This has been achieved with the steady addition of non-music content (podcasts and audiobooks especially) and a growing emphasis on programmatic lean back consumption. As with all change, when it sits in an extended period of transformation, its immediate impact is often under-recognised. Audiobooks are the completely natural and logical progression for Spotify (and other DSPs), but they are also another waymarker in the journey away from being a pure play music service.

The pandemic was a catalyst for audiobook consumption. Audiobooks had been around for a long time already, with Audible leading the charge, but it was the sudden increase in non-allocated time that people found themselves with that triggered a coming of age for the format. Listening surged, including of podcasts, but as normal life slowly returned, audiobook consumption dipped again, though to a higher point than pre-pandemic levels. 

In many respects, Audible never really managed to push the format out of its niche foundations, with weekly active user (WAU) penetration still stuck at around 10% (Q1 23). DSPs though, represent the opportunity to mainstream the proposition – something that Deezer identified many years ago by becoming the first DSP to integrate audiobooks. Deezer was, however, probably a little too early, launching audiobooks when streaming was still almost entirely about music and still very lean-forward. Now, streaming is the soundtrack to our everyday lives. It is about filling the silence (or blocking out the noise) more than active listening. In this use case, spoken word audio is just as good a fit as music. In fact, it can often be a better fit. For example, getting lost in the narrative of an audiobook can make a daily commute fly by a lot quicker than simply listening to a playlist, in large part because it commands your attention.

Spot the important shift there? Audiobooks can turn passive listening into active listening in a way that music cannot so easily do. Music carved out hours for streaming by being passive, and now audiobooks and podcasts can colonise those hours with active consumption. The more active usage becomes, the more engaged a user is and the less likely they are to churn. Music did the hard yards; audio reaps the rewards.

Music rightsholders have long been concerned about audio eating into listening hours, less because of the cannibalisation of hours and more so because of the risk of DSPs using that as a basis for negotiating down the share of the subscription fee that gets paid to them. 15 hours of audiobooks may not sound like a lot but it represents close to 40% of the monthly music listening hours of the average subscriber. There is a good chance that there will be strong uptake, not least because over half of audiobook WAUs are also Spotify WAUs (which will probably give Audible pause for thought).

Of course, from Spotify’s perspective at least, the benefit of reducing music rightsholder fees simply to replace them with book publisher fees would be self-defeating. That is unless Spotify can secure the latter for less. But there is another crucial variable at play: original content. Back in 2020, when Spotify was hiring its head of audiobooks, the job description included the following: “Develop, pitch and oversee production of high-quality content”.  Just as with podcasts, audiobooks represent an opportunity for Spotify to develop original content and improve its margins.