Author: trichordist

trichordist

2010 A Brief History Of Spotify, “How Much Do Artists Make?” @SXSW #SXSW (Shill By Shill West)

For those of you at SXSW… here’s a little trip back in the time machine…

The Trichordist

SXSW Rewind… Back in 2010 during Daniel Ek’s Keynote Speech an audience member who identified themselves as an  independent musician asked how much activity it would take on Spotify to earn just one US Dollar. The 27 year old wunderkind and CEO of the company was stumped for an answer… Five years later we have a pretty good idea why.

2010… #SXSW Rewind…

Live Blog: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Says Music Service Now Has 320,000 Paid Subscribers | TechCrunch

Q: How many plays equals one dollar?
A: Depends on the type on contract with the publisher/record labels. We share the rev we bring in. You can’t really equate to ‘per play’ we look at all our ad rev. Creates a bucket. For instance how do you account for a purchase of a song. There is no easy answer to your question. Over time our ad revs are growing, number of…

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by trichordist

After Skipping Spotify, The 1975 Scores a Number 1 Album | DMN

“After avoiding Spotify entirely and focusing the release on iTunes and a variety of physical formats, the band achieved a number one album in several countries.  According to Billboard and its counting partner Nielsen Music, The 1975’s just-released album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, sold 98,000 units in the US alone, a chart-topping tally.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/03/08/despite-skipping-spotify-the-1975-gets-a-us-number-one/

 

Three Simple Steps To Fix The Record Business in 2016… Windows, Windows, Windows… (2015)

 

How to Fix Music Streaming in One Word, “Windows”… two more “Pay Gates”… (2014) 

 

Why Spotify is not Netflix (But Maybe It Should Be) (2013)

by trichordist

Artists Rights Watch – A Newsletter 02.22.16

Across all disciplines of the arts, we all share the common enemy of Internet Advertising Funded Piracy and the efforts of internet based businesses to erode or eliminate the protections granted to individuals, artists and creators in copyright.

Block an Ad Save an Artist? Google Still Supporting Ad Funded Piracy Time to Fight Back | Trichordist
https://thetrichordist.com/2016/02/19/block-an-ad-save-an-artist-google-still-supporting-ad-funded-piracy-time-to-fight-back/
* Is this what an artist/creator uprising will look like?

EFF Launches New TPP Infographic | Illusion Of More
http://illusionofmore.com/eff-tpp-infographic/

Questioning Googles Extraordinary Influence over U.S. Government Decisions | Precursor
http://www.precursorblog.com/?q=content/questioning-google%E2%80%99s-extraordinary-influence-over-us-government-decisions

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Grammy President Attacks Streaming Services for Threatening viable Careers | DMN

Grammy President Attacks Streaming Services for Threatening ‘Viable Careers’


* Music’s biggest night, addresses music’s second biggest problem…

Will Streaming Music Kill Songwriting? | New Yorker Magazine
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/will-streaming-music-kill-songwriting
* Story features SONA member Michelle Lewis.
The truth behind songwriter royalties: billions of streams pay less than minimum wage | Auddly

The truth behind songwriter royalties: billions of streams pay less than minimum wage


* Songwriters today, composers tomorrow…

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Cox Communications Liable for Willful Contributory Copyright Infringement | Lexology
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b86d58a3-a7a0-4c42-9154-56c2e18ef23a

Hollywood’s piracy problem  | The Conversation
http://theconversation.com/hollywoods-piracy-problem-53786

Village Roadshow launches legal action to block piracy-related website in Australia – ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-18/village-roadshow-launches-legal-action-to-block-piracy-website/7176688

Film companies and Foxtel move to block access to piracy websites  | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/19/film-companies-and-foxtel-move-to-block-access-to-piracy-websites

Dotcom extradition appeal set for August | NBR
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/dotcom-extradition-appeal-set-august-hm-184528

Ruth Vitale – Without copyright…we cannot be creative and innovative. | Vox Indie

Ruth Vitale – Without copyright…we cannot be creative and innovative.

11 MEGASTAR MUSICIANS WHO STILL REFUSE TO STREAM THEIR MUSIC | THRILLIST
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/taylor-swift-spotify-11-musicians-who-wont-stream-their-music

Kanye West album ‘pirated 500,000 times’ already – BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35587381
* Exclusive, what? This is called market failure.

Sony Entertainment Chief Predicts Music Will Move to Phased Release | Re/code
http://recode.net/2016/02/18/sony-entertainment-chief-sees-music-moving-to-phased-release-like-movies/

The Future of Sony Music Is Hollywood-Style Windowing | DMN

Unlimited Free Music Is About to End, Sony CEO Says

The Reality of Touring Revenue From Someone Who Has Done It For 32 Years |The Trichordist
https://thetrichordist.com/2016/02/16/the-reality-of-touring-revenue-from-someone-who-has-done-it-for-32-years/

Vevo CEO : Ad-Supported Is Not Sustainable In the Long | DMN

Vevo CEO: “Ad-Supported Is Not Sustainable In the Long Run”

SO SPOTIFY DOESN¹T KNOW WHO TO PAY? HERE¹S THE SIMPLE SOLUTION | Auddly

So Spotify doesn’t know who to pay? Here’s the simple solution

Spotify¹s Reply To @DavidCLowery: When the going gets tough, the tough getfancy | MTP
https://musictechpolicy.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/spotifys-reply-to-lowery-when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-fancy/

Pandora ‘meeting with potential buyers’ ahead of possible sale – MBW

Pandora ‘meeting with potential buyers’ ahead of possible sale

SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses | FactMag
http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/11/soundcloud-financial-report-44m-losses/

by trichordist

YouTube’s DMCA decision and the campaign to morph victims into villains | Vox Indie

YouTube will pay copyright court costs for a few users–not because it’s right–but to protect Google’s bottom line

According to a story in today’s NY Times, the folks at YouTube are ready to pony up cash to support some of its users “fair use” claims in court.

“YouTube said on Thursday that it would pick up the legal costs of a handful of video creators that the company thinks are the targets of unfair takedown demands. It said the creators it chose legally use third-party content under “fair use” provisions carved out for commentary, criticism, news and parody.”

You’ve probably read a lot about “fair use” lately.  It’s the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s mantra and if the folks there had their way, pretty much everything and anything would be considered “fair use.”  Fair use an important legal doctrine and when applied properly (criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research) is not an infringement of copyright.  However, these days, too often is used as a disingenuous defense for copyright theft.

READ THE FULL STORY AT VOX INDIE:
http://voxindie.org/youtube-covers-legal-costs-for-some-users/

by trichordist

Aurous has nothing to do with SOPA | The Illusion of More

In fact, when the lawsuit was first announced, The Trichordist rather humorously (though not at all facetiously) announced an “office betting pool” as to how soon the Electronic Frontier Foundation would file an amicus brief on behalf of Aurous. And while no serious IP attorney may reasonably defend Aurous against the infringement claims, that hasn’t stopped the EFF from repeating the latest mantra of Internet industry defenders: That [insert plaintiff here] is behaving as though SOPA became law. Although the EFF has not filed an amicus brief or anything so official on behalf of Aurous, here’s the tweet they sent out, as Ellen Seidler reports on Vox Indie:

Once again, @RIAA asks a court to order the entire world to block & filter an app they don’t like. https://t.co/Qwg138pFPB#SOPApower

While, all this SOPA chatter may be pretty good spin—and a great way to belabor the narrative that rights holders are just insidious, draconian, evildoers hating on freedom—the references to SOPA are entirely specious. I mean not even close.

Bottom Line: Aurous is a Domestic Business

SOPA/PIPA were exclusively written to target foreign-based piracy sites that are beyond the reach of U.S. jurisdiction for criminal proceedings, with the objective of starving these sites of both U.S. traffic and U.S. revenue.

READ THE FULL POST AT THE ILLUSION OF MORE:
http://illusionofmore.com/aurous-nothing-to-do-with-sopa/

by trichordist

The problem is the music-streaming companies | The Hill – Paul Williams

Songwriters have a number of allies in the ongoing fight to update our nation’s horribly outdated music licensing laws. But after reading the recent post by CALInnovate’s Mike Montgomery (“Songwriters are fighting the wrong fight,” 10/5/15), it’s clear that he is not one of them. On what grounds can Montgomery, who represents technology industry interests, claim that he speaks on behalf of songwriters?

As a songwriter elected to represent the interests of ASCAP’s more than 550,000 music creator members, I find Montgomery’s arguments absurd and grossly misleading.

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE HILL:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/256247-the-problem-is-the-music-streaming-companies

by trichordist

Transparency Starts Upstream for Streaming Royalties | HuffPo – Chris Castle

We’ve often noted that if the economics at the top of the waterfall are near zero dollars (in microcents) then what trickles down will not get any better…

We’ve seen stories recently about various successes for artists in negotiations with major labels about “transparency” in the payment of the artist’s share of streaming royalties received by record companies. This is great news of course, but the new buzz word “transparency” should be understood in context. There is nothing the digital services would like more than to deflect the ire of artists and songwriters who are enraged about minuscule royalties away from the services and onto record companies or music publishers.

Creators need to be alert that they are not being duped into a false deflection because even in the best case, record companies can only pay on the royalties they receive from services.

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE HUFFINGTON POST:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-castle/transparency-starts-upstr_b_8238934.html

by trichordist

Jimmy Iovine says, “YouTube is 40% of music business volume and 4% of music business revenue. That’s a problem!” ‪#‎vfsummit‬

‘Freemium’ music streaming

“This whole thing about freemium, it’s a shell game. These companies are building an audience on the back of the artist, and it really bugs me.”

On YouTube and music

“Here’s a little statistic … they are 40% of consumption of music and 4% of the revenue. That’s a problem! … They know that doesn’t work. But do they care? I have no idea.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE LA TIMES:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-jimmy-iovine-20151007-story.html

by trichordist

Bloomberg Reports “The Fake Traffic Schemes That Are Rotting The Internet”

Uh oh… Is internet advertising just a house of cards?

Late that year he and a half-dozen or so colleagues gathered in a New York conference room for a presentation on the performance of the online ads. They were stunned. Digital’s return on investment was around 2 to 1, a $2 increase in revenue for every $1 of ad spending, compared with at least 6 to 1 for TV. The most startling finding: Only 20 percent of the campaign’s “ad impressions”—ads that appear on a computer or smartphone screen—were even seen by actual people.

“The room basically stopped,” Amram recalls. The team was concerned about their jobs; someone asked, “Can they do that? Is it legal?” But mostly it was disbelief and outrage. “It was like we’d been throwing our money to the mob,” Amram says. “As an advertiser we were paying for eyeballs and thought that we were buying views. But in the digital world, you’re just paying for the ad to be served, and there’s no guarantee who will see it, or whether a human will see it at all.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT BLOOMBERG:
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-click-fraud/

by trichordist

DMCA: Denying Monetary Compensation Always | MuseWire

Who Benefits from the DMCA?
The ISPs (Internet Service Providers) who are facilitating all this trafficking of stolen material are completely off the hook because of the safe harbor provision. Imagine a company that helped people tap into the water system of your town. On the surface, they are simply selling plumbing and faucets. “Hey, we’re not making money from stealing water,” they might say, “we’re making money on sink fixtures; we can’t help it if the water people run through those fixtures is stolen.”

Yet that is essentially what Title II of the DMCA allows to occur, but with intellectual property instead of water. And by letting corporations profit from services that promote the stealing of copyrights, we send a powerful message to everyone: theft is acceptable if you can get a law passed that exempts you from prosecution.

So screwed up is Title II of the DMCA that even a corporate tool like Kravets owns up to the problem. He writes that the safe harbor provision “…provides ISPs, hosting companies and interactive services near blanket immunity for the intellectual property violations of their users.” In other words, pilfering from the pockets of songwriters and their children is just fine.

READ THE FULL STORY AT MUSEWIRE:
http://musewire.com/dmca-denying-monetary-compensation-always-2992/

by trichordist