Beyonce’s Band Leader: What It Takes to Be a Pro
The Digital Music News Podcast
Release Date: 09/08/2018
Spotify Is Riddled With Fake Streams — Or Is It?
The Digital Music News Podcast
After a string of 'fake stream' scandals involving mega-stars like French Montana and G-Eazy, a serious question percolated within the music industry: how real are Spotify's stream counts? Vice went underground and found a shadowy network of 'underground stream farms' that fabricate play counts, raising serious questions about Spotify's numbers. Michael K. Williams, who led Vice's investigation, declared that the "entire industry has been compromised." But how corrupted are streaming numbers at Spotify -- or Apple Music, Amazon Music, or YouTube? We asked a company that has developed a...
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I Will Build You a Streaming Music Service In 4 Weeks or Less
The Digital Music News Podcast
What's the future of streaming music platforms? While giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music only getting bigger, there's an enormous opportunity to build smaller, niche streaming platforms for brands, sports leagues and other customized clients. In this episode, we sit down with Con Raso, MD/cofounder of Tuned Global, and Svein Arne Sørgård, CEO of ACX Music to understand what's happening in this realm.
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You Will Make More Money as a Musician — If You Listen to This Podcast
The Digital Music News Podcast
Emily White is one of the foremost experts in the music industry and an authority on how musicians can maximize the earnings from their music. She's worked at the largest companies in the business, managed top indie artists, and teaches music business ins-and-outs at New York University. She's also the author of the book, How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams.
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Meet Lady A, the Black Singer Whose Name Got Taken by Lady Antebellum
The Digital Music News Podcast
When it comes to trainwrecks, this one takes the cake. Just a few weeks ago, the ultra-successful country-pop trio Lady Antebellum decided to change their name, citing newfound sensitivity towards racist overtones. But Lady Antebellum's new name, Lady A, was already taken by Seattle-based black blues singer Anita White, who's been using the moniker since the late 1980s. Lady A met with the newly-named Lady A and things seemed to be ironed out. But White says that was far from the reality'.
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Meet the Guys Taking Vinyl Mastering Out of the Stone Age
The Digital Music News Podcast
Despite a vinyl record comeback that started nearly 15 years ago, the companies manufacturing vinyl are still scrambling to get back on the field. Old, laborious processes are being revived, but many of the format's experts are no longer around. And younger mastering engineers have little idea how to master content for vinyl records. But what if mastering engineers could master for vinyl, without actually having to constantly test their tweaks on vinyl platters?
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Spotify Probably Owes You More Money — Here's How to Get It
The Digital Music News Podcast
Jeff Price is one of the music industry's foremost experts on music copyright and artist royalties. He's also a huge critic of Spotify and the recently-passed Music Modernization Act (MMA). One reason is that there's actually another streaming royalty that is owed to most artists and songwriters... they just don't know about it. He blames that fact on corrupt legislators and music companies. So how do you find out about this missing royalty, and more importantly, get paid on it?
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Meet the Artist Who Is Literally Saving His Fans' Lives
The Digital Music News Podcast
Lucidious is an independent rapper with more than 100 million Spotify streams and a steady income. He's also helping his fans deal with serious issues of depression and suicide.
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How to Game the Billboard Charts (And Why You Shouldn't)
The Digital Music News Podcast
What does it really take to get to the top of the Billboard charts?
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How to Protect Yourself From the Copyright Trolls
The Digital Music News Podcast
"Certainly, we're in the era of copyright trolling," music industry attorney James Sammataro flatly states in this edition of the Digital Music News Podcast.
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Stop Chasing Playlists and Start Building a Music Career
The Digital Music News Podcast
Lucidious was a talented musician with a growing fanbase and a well-paying day job. But he also couldn't get onto a Spotify playlist to save his life.
info_outline"There are no rules for success," says Bibi McGill, leader of Beyonce’s band, Suga Mama. But these principles just might change your musical career.
This is the person that Beyonce trusts to manage, direct, and coordinate her backing band on tour. The band is called Suga Mama, and it’s part of a massive roadshow that plays the biggest arenas in front of tens of thousands of people every night.
But that’s just one gig for Bibi McGill. And it all started with a phone call to play guitar for Pink back in the early 2000s. She had to write the guitar parts for multiple songs on a plane ride to New York — in coach class.
Then she went straight to the studio from the airport and crushed it.
These days, she’s focusing on her professional yoga career. In fact, we caught up with her right after an intensive yoga session at Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Corona, CA. We asked Bibi how she became one of the top guitarists in the world today, not to mention a professional yogi and Beyonce’s collaborator.
Here’s what she told us.