Below are music-related news bites that aren’t at my Disposable Underground blog. Enjoy!
In the age of Spotify there’s different recommendations for promoting the release of new music. AmplifyYou has some tips on Spotify releases, some of which make sense for releases on other platforms or in other areas as well.
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the album from the Wu-Tang Clan that only exists as one copy, used to be owned by pharma-bro Martin Shkreli, but the U.S. government sold it in July to cover his debts he owed the U.S. Sonia Rao has the details at the Washington Post.
Image: Wu-Tang Clan.
The “artist direct segment” where independent creators reach their global audience directly is growing, according to the Music Industry Blog, but the average income of each artist is $234 a year. And the “amateur enthusiast class,” or the non-professional artist that just plays locally, can use the same tools as the pros and be on the same platforms, but only 0.05 percent of them will make it into the big leagues. The blog suggests that increasing streaming royalties isn’t the solution, but helping artists earn on other platforms like Soundbetter, Splice, Bandcamp, Twitch, Artlist, Driift, Fan Circles, and Fanaply can be. (I’ve only heard of two of these.)
“What Your Music Taste Reveals About You” is a story from Jon Hawkins at The Ascent. More rational people focused on explaining the world prefer “intense music with complex sounds” and are more interested in structure and layers of music, psychologists say. Metalheads are more at ease with themselves while rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing.
The American Music Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress in June, aims to address the issue of AM and FM radio not paying royalties to performers or copyright owners (they do already pay songwriters). Jem Aswad has the story in Variety.
Photo: Michael Gaida/Pixabay
“In 2021, How Do We Define an ‘Indie’ Publisher?” is a column (for subscribers) at Billboard by Michael Eames which provides the technical definition from the music industry.
Rest In Peace
Biz Markie was a “pioneering rapper, producer, and beatboxer” and member of the Juice Crew who died in July. He released five albums over a 35-year career and had a platinum hit with “Just a Friend.” Daniel Kreps and Jason Newman wrote about him in Rolling Stone.
Alan Lewis coined the term “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” with Geoff Barton. Lewis also created Kerrang! Magazine, was the former editor of Sounds, and took over NME, among other accomplishments. He died in June. Phil Alexander has the story at Kerrang!
That’s all for now. See you next time!
