Spotify for Artists: just one touchpoint used by The Music Fund to assess upfront cash offers. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on live touring, artists are having a particularly difficult time making ends meet. But that’s sparking more innovation from non-touring areas, with players like The Music Fund focusing on ways […]
As part of a proposed settlement with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) & SAG-AFTRA, certain session musicians and background vocalists will receive a total of nearly $46 million in owed, previously unpaid royalties. Each year, AFM & SAG-AFTRA collects and distributes millions of dollars in royalties to session musicians and background vocalists via the […]
Kobalt Music Publishing experienced a major revenue uptick during the 2019 fiscal year, but the earnings boost was accompanied by substantial losses. According to a just-released earnings report for Kobalt’s 2019 fiscal year, which ended on June 30th, revenue increased by 64 percent from the 2018 fiscal year, to approximately $543.44 million. Additionally, Kobalt’s gross […]
French royalty collection society SACEM has established a $6.6 million relief fund to support its members throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. SACEM’s board of directors met on Thursday, March 26th, to create the fund and a strategy for helping composers, songwriters, and music publishers. The $6.62 million in aid will be distributed on the basis […]
photo: Atik Sulianami Back in 2015, WARM founder & CEO Jesper Skibsby managed Few Wolves, a two-piece Danish act. Under Skibsby’s direction, Few Wolves signed a contract with a major record label and released two singles: “Smile” and “Never Know,” both of which, admittedly, didn’t live up to commercial expectations. In the wake of this […]
Proprietary music-fingerprinting and rights negotiation platform Pex has acquired Dubset, a licensing platform for DJ mixes, live performances, and other, similar original content. Dubset has focused on enabling DJ sets, remixes, and other spontaneous musical concoctions to be recognized by Spotify and other streaming services. The startup fingerprints—and secures royalties for —approximately 45 million works […]
photo: Annie Spratt SOCAN members — including songwriters, composers, producers, publishers, and other composition rights owners — received an average of $67 (Canadian dollars) for domestic digital royalties in 2019, according to the organization. SOCAN, a performance rights organization (PRO) that represents more than 135,000 Canadian songwriters, composers, and publishers, collected over $400 million (CAD) […]
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki YouTube has the lowest per-stream payouts in the streaming music business — a dubious distinction for years. But platform CEO Susan Wojcicki says it all adds up. Why Wojcicki dropped the big news on a Friday before a three-day weekend is anyone’s guess. But in a blog post uploaded this afternoon, […]
UK recorded music licensing company PPL has revealed that its 2019 international royalty collections crossed $111 million (£86.7 million), a 22 percent uptick from 2018’s figure, and an all-time high for the organization. In securing international royalties, PPL strikes deals with collective management organizations (CMOs) and facilitates artist and performer payments. The PPL says that […]
How do indie artists and smaller producers get access to YouTube Content ID and Facebook Rights Manager? Artists signed to Merlin-affiliated labels have a shot at claiming and monetizing, if their labels are able to staff up and do the work. And major label-affiliated artists and publishers are obviously well-positioned. But the smaller, independent rights […]