Latin America Has 640 Million People. Why Are Fewer Than 5% of Them Paying for Streaming?
The Digital Music News Podcast
Release Date: 11/25/2018
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...
info_outline
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.
info_outline
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.
info_outline
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'.
info_outline
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?
info_outline
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?
info_outline
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.
info_outline
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?
info_outline
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.
info_outline
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_outlineThe number of streaming music subscribers is soaring: according to one report from Futuresource, more than 235 million will be paying for a streaming music service by the end of 2018. But most of those gains are happening in North America and Western Europe, while regions like Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East are seriously lagging behind.
Welcome to the next frontier for the music industry. And everyone wants a potential piece of the 'rest of the world,' including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Deezer.
According to Oscar Castellano, CEO of Americas for Deezer, our guest in this edition of the Digital Music News Podcast, fewer than 4-5 percent of Latin Americans are paying for a streaming music service. But why is that, and what's the strategy for unleashing the power of a music-obsessed population of nearly 650 million people? According to Castellano, there are a lot of tricky problems with this market, but also a lot of interesting ideas for solving them.