UnitedMasters & Musixmatch launch Lyric Competition, showcase AI video creationIndie music marketing and distribution platform UnitedMasters and lyrics aggregator Musixmatch have partnered for a lyric contest that showcases the latter’s new AI-powered lyric video creation tools. UnitedMasters artists will. Continue reading
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Why independent musicians need a music publisherAs an independent artist, having a music publisher can make a major difference to your music career. If you are looking to increase your music revenue or want to have. Continue reading
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Mainstream is the new nicheFive years ago, we made the call that ‘niche is the new mainstream’. Today, this dynamic is so fundamental to music and culture that we are firmly in the stage of second order consequences. Superstars are getting smaller, the long tail is getting longer, and rightsholders are bringing in earnings thresholds to keep that growing long tail at bay. But it was a blog post by my colleague Tatiana – “Did Charli XCX go mainstream, or did the mainstream just go niche?” – that got me thinking whether, now five years in, the mainstreaming of niche has reached a tipping point.

The dynamics of Charli XCX’s career (e.g., 25,000 RSVPs in one hour for a 1,000-cap Boiler Room gig) feel very much like those of Taylor Swift. Of course, the sheer scale of the Swift fandom machine is the big difference – or is it? Is mainstream about actual numbers or reach, or perhaps both? In fact, it is best measured in three key ways:

Absolute scale: how big are the numbers?

Relative scale: how big are the numbers compared to others?

Active reach: what share of the total audience does an artist have?

Let’s use Taylor Swift, as today’s biggest mainstream music artist, to test each.

Absolute scale

There is no getting away from the fact that everything “big” has got smaller. Michael Jackson, arguably the equivalent of Taylor Swift for the peak-CD era, shifted half a billion units worldwide, when units actually meant units. By comparison, Taylor Swift has fewer than 200 million ‘album equivalent sales’ – which of course means this figure is increasingly made up of streams being converted into ‘sales’. Given that so much of streaming behaviour today is radio-like, we would really need to add an estimate of total individual radio listens to Jackson, which would result in a figure that would comfortably end up in the tens of billions in ‘equivalent sales’.Yes, Jackson’s career happened in a different era, when fewer artists were competing and linear broadcast platforms dominated. But that is the entire point of fragmenting fandom.

Relative scale

It is abundantly clear that Taylor Swift has more streams and ticket sales than pretty much everyone else. She is the biggest artist on the planet right now. She has mainstream awareness, but does that make her actual listenership mainstream? 

She certainly has more mainstream cultural clout than her peers, managing to become part of the mainstream media narrative – look no further than the Financial Times running pieces on ‘Swiftonomics’. This is thanks, in large part, to the fact she first built her fandom pre-fragmentation, when music was still much more a part of mainstream culture. It is an advantage enjoyed by other artists, such as Beyoncé, that came up pre-streaming’s peak, and therefore pre-fragmentation. But an FT subscriber reading a Swiftonomics story does not necessarily make them a listener (I’ll hazard a guess that particular conversion rate is not one to sing about). Having mainstream media reach is not the same as being a mainstream artist in terms of listenership, even though the two things did largely go hand-in-hand once upon a time.So, simply being bigger than the rest does not inherently equate to being mainstream. In the same way that the fastest kid at school could leave her classmates for dust but not even qualify for national heats, let alone compete with the fastest runners in the world.

Reach

Active reach is where the picture really comes into focus. The best-selling albums in US history (when sales were sales) were the Eagles ‘Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975’, with 38 million sales, and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, with 34 million. Based on the respective populations of the year of release of those albums, the Eagles was bought by 17.4% of the US population, while Michael Jackson was bought by 15.9%. 

Taylor Swift’s best-selling US album was ‘1989’ (6.5 million) while ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ sold 2.9 million. As a share of the total US population, they represent 2.0% and 0.7%. 

Taylor Swift’s biggest selling release has 12 times less reach than the Eagles, while her latest release had less than 1% reach.NOTE: with modern ‘sales’ figures including streams, Swift’s total audience may have been bigger (as many different people’s streams could add up to one sale). But equally, it could be lower, as one person’s streams could add up to multiple units.

Of course, judging Swift’s reach only by album sales – an aging format, and an essentially extinct one for much of her listener base – is unfair. Yet interestingly, the c1% figure doesn’t just apply to Swift’s album sales. The record-breaking ‘Eras’ tour sold 4.5 million US tickets, which is just over 1% of the US population (and Swifties being Swifties, there was probably a decent number who saw the show more than once, meaning that percentage is likely a bit smaller). Meanwhile, Swift’s 26.1 billion Spotify streams in 2023 made her the most streamed artist of the year, yet that was just 1.4% of all global Spotify streams. Now, 1.4% of global streams for one artist is a massive achievement But in the analogue era so many more people would have listened to the biggest artist of the day because radio was the main consumption format, and on radio everyone listens to the same song, whether they like it or not.

None of this is a critique of Taylor Swift, but instead a reflection of the modern music world which she is part of. She is clearly a hugely successful artist at the top of her game. But the game is not the same as it once was. It is not that Taylor Swift is not huge — she is. But she is not mainstream, because mainstream itself is now niche. Charli XCX shows how successful you can be when you understand the power of niche. Niche does not inherently mean small, and its potential is huge. The simple, hard truth is that now everything is niche, even mainstream.

Robert Kyncl turns up heat on PRO metadata matching, and other things we learned from his NMPA keynote in New YorkWarner boss was grilled by NMPA chief, David Israelite, at New York event this week
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US music publishing revenue jumped 10.7% to $6.2bn in 2023… outstripping recorded music’s growth in percentage termsThe NMPA is focusing its energy on a battle against Spotify over royalty payments
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It's Here! NUGEN Audio Releases NUtility ToolkitNUGEN Audio unveils its new NUtility Toolkit, which comprises its SigMod, AB Assist, Jotter and Aligner plug-ins. Ideal for entry-level and professional audio professionals alike, NUtility Toolkit fills gaps in DAW functionality and speeds up tedious admin tasks in order for audio engineers to focus on the more creative aspects of their job. 

“Introducing these utility plug-ins to your workflow will be a gamechanger,” says Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe, Product Specialist, NUGEN Audio. “It’s like finally buying a food processor when you’ve been using a pestle and mortar for the past decade. Do you have any idea how much more often I make pesto these days?”    

SigMod enables the user to create custom signal architecture to enhance the functionality of both the DAW and third-party plug-ins. The plug-in also offers easy access to functionality that is often either missing or difficult to access in certain DAWs, including but not limited to, a phase flip and a mid/side encoder and decoder. 

AB Assist 2 receives and compares up to four audio sources — different takes, plug-in options, mix revisions or versions of a master, with support for all surround channel counts. The blind test function randomly labels the streams as W, X, Y and Z for a completely unbiased assessment of the audio options. Additionally, an auto-level match function allows the user to match short-term loudness (LUFS) of sources, while a mono-check feature compares mono fold-downs and the smooth tool creates fades between sources.

Aligner is an automatic phase and polarity alignment tool designed for convenience and speed. With the automatic linking functionality, users can connect multiple instances of the plug-in to phase-correct all channels via one single user interface. The plug-in also includes manual phase adjustment for fine-tuning especially challenging audio.

Jotter provides easy sharing of timestamped notes and comments between the plug-in and the free standalone Jotter app. The latter allows clients and collaborators who may not own the plug-in (or do not use a DAW) to share their important feedback, and for audio engineers to view this feedback locked to the correct position on the project timeline. 

NUGEN’s NUtility Toolkit is available in AAX, VST3, AU and AudioSuite formats in 64-bit for both Mac and Windows OS. The bundle will be available for $99, which is a savings of $107 versus purchasing each of the individual tools. Each plug-in can still be purchased individually, and current users of any of these tools can upgrade to the bundle at a reduced rate.The post It's Here! NUGEN Audio Releases NUtility Toolkit first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Group music listening improves with Stationhead upgrade, Rythm relaunchNumerous startups and several of the streaming services are working on improving the group music listening experience. This week, a pioneer in group listening relaunched on Dischord, and an innovator unveiled a major new feature that identifies and rewards superfans.....
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Music Publishers FTC complaint escalates battle, Spotify respondsThe National Music Publishers Association has ramped up its battle against Spotify on several fronts, including a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission alleging the streamer converted Premium users into a bundled subscription that includes audiobooks without providing an option to remain on a music-only tier....
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Secretly scores at Libera Awards and on Billboard Indie Power Players listIt was a big week for Indie music juggernaut Secretly, which scored big at A2IM's Libera Awards and on the Billboard 2024 Indie Power Players list....
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Music Publishers file complaint with US Federal Trade Commission against Spotify over audiobook bundleNMPA has also referred the matter to the state attorneys general in Tennessee, New York, California, Colorado, Georgia, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC, North Carolina and Oregon
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Thomas Coesfeld talks BMG’s ‘unique offering’ and having ‘the financial power of a major’ at Music Investor Conference in New YorkBMG CEO participated in a keynote fireside chat at the Second Annual Music Investor Conference hosted by NMPA boss David Israelite
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YouTube Music to Honor Cash Money Records MenYouTube Music announced its second Leaders and Legends gala, celebrating hip-hop’s top executives, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives who have impacted the music industry in an immeasurable way. Coinciding with Black Music Month, this year’s event will honor southern hip hop icons Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams, founders of Cash Money Records. The event is invitation only. 

Hailing from New Orleans, Ronald and Bryan played a pivotal role in popularizing Southern rap music in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Cash Money Records’ unique sound, characterized by bounce beats and catchy lyrics, helped shift the focus of the hip-hop industry from the coasts to the South.  The label has been home to some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Mannie Fresh, and Juvenile. These artists have not only achieved immense commercial success but also pushed creative boundaries within the genre.

“The story of Cash Money Records is one for the history books,” said Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube. “Leaders and Legends recognizes entrepreneurship and leadership in black music and culture, attributes Birdman and Slim embody to their core. They defied the odds, raising up some of rap and hip hop’s most iconic figures to superstardom and shattering sales records while doing it. We are humbled to honor the success and look forward to celebrating the music that continues to shape the label’s incredible legacy.”

Leaders and Legends is YouTube’s way of celebrating entrepreneurial achievements and groundbreaking founders in black music and culture. The inaugural event in 2020  was held in Atlanta honoring LaFace Records and the entrepreneurship of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid. "We at YouTube are committed to pushing the culture forward, so leading the charge to celebrate Cash Money’s impact via Birdman and Slim’s leadership is an honor” said Tuma Basa, YouTube’s Director of Black Music and Culture. "As a platform with a global reach and influence, it is our responsibility to acknowledge and elevate the stories of black trailblazers in the industry and remind the world of the immeasurable impact black music has on the culture globally, and that's what Leaders and Legends is all about.”

The Leaders and Legends gala will be held in Los Angeles on June 27. The program will feature a star-studded lineup of performances, culminating with Lyor Cohen presenting Birdman and Slim with the 2024 Leaders and Legends Award. The post YouTube Music to Honor Cash Money Records Men first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Spotify, YouTube partner Merchbar accused of stiffing artists and fansSan Francisco-based online music merchandise marketplace Merchbar has been accused of failing to pay for or ship hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise.....
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Spotify names 30 Songs of Summer 2024 contendersSpotify has released its annual list of predictions for the Songs Of Summer 2024. featuring the top 30 contenders they think could take the crown.  From “Not Like Us” by. Continue reading
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Four platforms where Algorithms don’t come between Musicians and FansTired of building an audience on social media only to have 2% of your followers ever see a post? Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert explore four music platforms that don’t play the algorithm game.....
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