That’s according to an academic study just released by Northwestern University School of Law, which found that a vast majority of artists are not motivated by copyright protections, and frequently not benefiting from them.  Instead, the slim prospect of widescale popularity, fame, and recognition may be far stronger lures. Even among those working in the real […]

SOUNDEXCHANGE has reported a new record with total year-end royalty payments reaching approximately $462 million (up 58% from the prior year). The fourth quarter 2012 distribution also increased with more than 22,000 payments totaling approximately $134.9 million, a nearly 10% increase from its Q3 2012 distribution of $122.5 million. The royalties are paid by Internet […]

Last week the Nielsen Company and Billboard released their annual year-end report on music sales. And for industry watchers, it was seven pages of pure statistical deliciousness. The boldface highlights have already been trumpeted. As measured by Nielsen SoundScan, overall music sales reached an another all-time high, with unit sales increasing 3.1% over last year. […]

The good people over at Rap Rehab took the time out to chop it up with Zach Quillen, indie star Macklemore’s manager. They talk 4 things you can learn for their rise. All you indie artists should be paying close attention. 1. Apply the 80/20 rule to your social media strategy. Rather than create a profile on […]

The American Association For Independent Music has put together a small chart comparing market ownership. As you can see, its another big win for indie record labels. These two charts respectively show the slow, but steady growth of indie labels from 2011 to 2012. Indie labels are beginning to control more and more of the market. My guess is […]

Falling sales of MP3 players, impacted by feature-filled smartphones, could turn out to be one of the music industry’s biggest opportunities in years. It should come as no surprise that market research company Mintel announced this week that MP3 player sales in the UK had fallen 22% from 2011 and will be cut in half by 2017. […]