Industry news
High5: In other news #4
Looking at the last week in music, musicians are advised to keep their finances in order, and, for a change... someone thinks the internet has done wonders for the industry. Game and app developers now have easier access to popular music, red flags are raised wrt Amazon's new streaming service, and we look at the transformation of artist development infrastructure.
Focus on your finances
If you're a hobbyist musician, you can ignore this one... If music is a career to you, you've probably realised by now that you're a business owner. As a business owner one of the most important aspects of keeping afloat is looking after your finances. That means, among other things; saving, budgeting, working with spreadsheets and bootstrapping, says Dave Kusek in "Five finance tips for indie musicians".
Steve Albini (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Hooray for the internet
Many in music decry the effects the internet has had on the industry; Big Black's Steve Albini, on the other hand, thinks it is the best thing to happen to music since punk. Why? Because we're now able to share music globally, and for free. He's also glad to see the collapse of what he calls the "publishing racket" - and we can't say he's alone on that one... Read "Music legend Steve Albini says the internet is the best thing to happen to music since punk" to find out what else the rocker thinks of the paradigm shift in the music industry.
Cutting out the middle man
Game and app developers now have an easier more accessible means to major label music licensing - say hello to SongLily. The new technology cuts out the middle man, stems piracy, and cuts down on the length and cost of licensing transactions. To find out more, read "Two new breakthroughs aim at easy music publishing solutions".
Music publishers beware
Music publishers are warned in Rachel Bailey's "Seller beware: How Amazon's new streaming service plans to screw music publishing". One of the red flags it raises is that Amazon’s contract allows them to change their royalty rates at any time. The other is that the terms of their contract state that music publishers may only terminate their agreement with Amazon if they also remove their works from all other streaming services...
Transforming artist development
Many functions, previously allocated to record labels, have now been taken out of corporate hands - a prominent function being artist development. As Steve Rennie, president of REN Management and host of Renman Music & Business, explains, the infrastructure of artist development is now in the hands of online startups with a genuine appreciation for music and an urge to get involved. In "Artist development: Musicians are now in control" Rennie also lists a few good sites and tools on which he's keeping an eye.
