Music Ally Focus

Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow talk over the shock news that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that Sony Music’s $430m acquisition of distributor AWAL from Kobalt “raises competition concerns”, and gave the major label a five-day deadline to respond. If those responses do not satisfy the regulator, it will launch a deeper ‘phase two’ investigation of the deal. Stu and Joe discuss why this has happened, what the responses of various connected parties were – and if this, combined with the UK's recent parliamentary inquiry into music streaming, means that major labels are facing an unprecedented period of probing and pressure. (For more context, we analysed this story in depth here.) 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow talk over the possibilities (and accidentally insult both golfers and jazz fans) in Apple's purchase of Primephonic, the classical music streaming service, which they promise will be reborn as a better experience, with more features. Classical music has proved famously tricky for the big streaming services to get right, thanks to the specific challenges around metadata and catalogue navigation, but in other ways it’s been very simple: peaceful piano instrumentals, for example, are a staple of the DSPs’ mood playlists, and they fall under the banner of ‘classical’ as much as the famous symphonies do. [NOTE: we added music to another version of this episode, but it will only appear on certain platforms, hence this music-free version, which is otherwise identical. It was "Blue In Green" by Miles Davis, FYI.] 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo LINKS: For more context on what Apple is buying, you can read our article, based on a roundtable hosted by Primephonic to discuss trends around classical and streaming. You can also watch the recent classical-focused episode from the BPI and Music Ally’s Music & Tech Springboard Programme, which saw classical labels talking about the trends they see. Here's LA Beast eating an advent calendar very fast. -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybizTwitter: https://twitter.com/musicallyFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Rebecca Versteegh, Head of Music Partnerships at the “Gen-Z Marketing Agency” Creed Media is our special guest this week. Creed has only been around for three years but has become well known for its success at TikTok marketing and works with all three major labels. While TikTok success is highly sought after by many marketers, it’s the next step that holds interest for a lot of them: translating that attention across to streaming platforms in the forms of plays, follows and fandom elsewhere in the music industry ecosystem. So how do you do it? Joe Sparrow talks to Rebecca to find out...  👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Tim Westergren was the former founder and CEO of Pandora, and helped build the current digital music landscape. He left the company in 2017, frustrated by “the music industrial complex vortex”, and last year launched a new startup called Sessions –  a live-streaming platform for emerging and established artists. He says Sessions does something unique: it spends its own money to bring in viewers for performing artists, and gives artists a direct connection, and all the data, on their fans. Tim talks to Music Ally editor Joe Sparrow about how he hopes the music industry can work differently, and how the business model of the big streaming platforms, he believes, is not the right path for artists. He also discusses Spotify's controversial Discovery Mode – where artists receive a lower per-stream rate in exchange for exposure. 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Spotify has published its financial results for the second quarter of 2021: it now has 365 million monthly active users (MAUs) including 165 million premium subscribers, and added nine million users and seven million subscribers during Q2. The results also contained some interesting info about Greenroom, its Clubhouse-style app, showed slow growth in the "Rest of World" areas – and revealed an operating profit of €12m in Q2. Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow rummage around in the announcement and pull out the vital facts. 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Hashtag challenges and dance contests are vital to TikTok and rival apps and services are adopting them too. YouTube Shorts is no different, and as the service continues its rapid global rollout, it has snagged a partnership with K-Pop giants BTS. They have launched the ‘first ever worldwide dance challenge’ on YouTube Shorts based around their new track ‘Permission to Dance’. Joe and Stu discuss what this means for short-form video, and whether people will simply do the dance on TikTok instead. 👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

👋 Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. Music Ally has reported extensively on the hearings at the UK parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) inquiry into the economics of music streaming – which has now published its report. And it’s fair to say major labels will be wincing the most as they read its recommendations – which include: Introducing broadcast-style equitable remuneration (ER) for streaming income An investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog the CMA into major labels’ market power and business practices Legislation giving artists a “right to recapture” their recordings rights after 20 years Calling for songs (and thus songwriters and publishers) to get a bigger share of streaming royalties Joe and Stu poured a very large mug of coffee, read the whole 120+page report, and then pull out the most important parts – and discuss what will happen next. Here’s the full written analysis of the report too: https://musically.com/2021/07/15/labels-under-fire-uk-streaming-inquiry-report/ -------- Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Muhammad Rashid (Pakistan) crushing 49 watermelons with his head in 1 min: https://www.facebook.com/GuinnessWorldRecords/videos/489784921508299/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. British politician Kevin Brennan wrote a guest article for UK newspaper the Independent which offers a few hints on the outcome of the UK Parliamentary Inquiry into artists' streaming income. The British music industry will now be preparing for a big lobbying battle around applying equitable remuneration (ER) to streaming, although this is not a big surprise given the issue’s prominence in the hearings of the UK’s music streaming economics inquiry.  Joe and Stu try to figure out the most likely outcome; wonder if labels should be worried - or if they have an other card to play. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Que Jianyu solving three Rubik's cubes whilst juggling them in 5 mins 2.43 sec: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6AsllXpKBU Music Ally appears on The Daily Show! https://mobile.twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1405867638199394317 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow.  Spotify has evolved from a pure music-streaming service to an 'audio-first' platform including podcasts and live audio. Perhaps major labels are going down a similar evolutionary path. Sony Music is the latest to beef up its podcasting activities. It has acquired UK-based radio, podcasts and TV producer Somethin' Else for an undisclosed amount, as part of an expansion of its global podcasts division. Joe and Stu delve into what's behind this purchase - and if it means major labels are creeping away from the music business. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb

There are now more ways than ever for an artist to connect with audiences, and to make money doing it – exactly the kind of complex task that many artists look to a manager to help them with. So how do forward-thinking managers help artists connect with their audience, strike innovative deals, and make money in new ways? Joe Sparrow talks to three young managers who are all navigating this new landscape to find out what they have learned:  • Sarah, Muise Management – who works with Shygirl, LYZZA, Butch, Lou Hayter & Delilah Holliday.   • "T" Oyelola, Black Grape Global - who works with YolandDa Brown, Genevieve Dawson, Annastasia Baker.   • Ben Price - Harbourside Music Management - works with Viktoria Modesta , Lachi and Lucy May Walker.   Sarah, T and Ben are all members of Music Managers Forum's Accelerator Programme - an initiative they set up in 2019 with support from YouTube Music, Arts Council England and Creative Scotland, helping upcoming managers to become sustainable businesses.    We’ve been speaking about the “third pillar” of income for artists for a while now: a substantial stream of income that sits alongside the traditional duo of live performance and recorded income, and is composed of a unique mix of income streams for every artist. For instance: an artist could make money from Twitch streams, a “super-fanclub” on Patreon, a closely-aligned and long-term brand partnership, or a podcast. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb