musicbizwithfemi

[musicbizwithfemi]

[musicbizwithfemi]

Mega Points International /Music2Deal Nigeria Presents New WhatsApp based Music Business Seminars “MusicIsBusiness” WhatsAppinar series.

Mega Points International is Africa’s first Independent A&R/Promotion company and Music2deal Worldwide is a music business networking community for the music industry, headed by Nigerian born international music business consultant/ social media strategist Femi Lawal who is popularly known and fondly refers to by many as Femi Megapoints.

He is best known for his talks on business side of music, content & monetization & in view of this he is partnering is many music service businesses and industry executives to bring digital based educative music business entrepreneurship sessions, an initiative he tagged #MusicIsBusinessWithFEMI with the aim of empowering as many interested independent artists and new record label owners with different innovative ways of making money with music in the new music industry where everything is going digital.

Launching his new initiative #MusicIsBusinessWithFEMI, he will be hosting series of music business based theme WhatsAppinars (WhatsApp based digital seminars).

The WhatsAppinars will features different industry thought leaders & music industry executives with discussion on money making opportunities in the music industry & innovative music marketing strategies like the regular Music Business Entrepreneurship Sessions -MBES from his company.

You can check out the White Paper of the Maiden edition of MBES on Africa Music Law-

http://www.africamusiclaw.com/white-paper-on-the-inaugural-music-business-entrepreneurship-sessions

To sign up for the WhatsAppinars & get more info about music as business making money with music.

Call +234-909-561-6869, Add on WhatsApp +234-703-161-1402

[musicbizwithfemi]

Your Music Deserved To Earn From Over $1 Billion Music Royalties Revenue Distributed by BMI.

Broadcast Music Inc. showed an even bigger increase in distributions to songwriters and publishers, paying out $1.023 billion, a 9.9 percent increase over the $931 million the organization paid out in the prior year. Lots of African smart musicians earn over $60 million from the distribution with Nigerian born artists topping the list, both established stars and informed fast rising independent artists.

“No matter how much the industry continues to evolve, BMI remains the leader in supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and maximizing their royalties across all platforms,“ BMI president/CEO Mike O’Neill said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have been able to achieve these record distributions, but we still believe our affiliates deserve more. We thank them for entrusting their music to us and will continue to work hard on their behalf to secure the full and fair value of their creative work.”

Within BMI’s revenues, domestic receipts grew 6.63 percent to $836 million, up from $784 million in the prior year, while foreign receipts grew 6.5 percent to $294 million, up from $276 million. But last year foreign revenue had declined from the year before, so the $294 million from fiscal 2017 puts BMI slightly ahead of the $292 million the organization collected in its fiscal year 2015.

In both this year and last, BMI cited unfavorable currency exchange rates due to the strength of the dollar and noted that in fiscal 2017, BMG would have seen an additional $10 million in international revenue if not for that factor.

Breaking out revenue by source, media revenue – which includes television, cable and radio – totaled $524 million, a 6.5 percent increase over the $492 million in collections in fiscal 2016; while general revenue – which includes background music in stores, hotels, airlines and bars and clubs – totaled $149 million, up 6.43 percent from the $140 million collected in the prior fiscal year. BMI said it licensed an additional 13,000 businesses last year, which is on top of the 15,000 businesses it added in fiscal 2016.

Meanwhile, the growth of new media revenue – such as that from digital services like Pandora and Spotify – slowed, though it was still up 7.24 percent to $163 million from $152 million in fiscal 2016. When that $152 million is compared to how much revenue those services paid BMI in the prior fiscal year, the new media category had enjoyed explosive growth of nearly 51 percent over the nearly $101 million collected in fiscal 2015.

One of the factors at play here, impacting both the growth in BMI’s distribution total and the slower increase in its new media revenue growth, has been the introduction of direct deals between publishers and digital services, like the one reached between the majors and Pandora.

Last year, BMI distributed about $30 million from direct deals to its songwriters, but that $30 million isn’t counted as part of its total revenue, only towards its distribution. 

“While the administration of direct digital deals is relatively new, we’re seeing the benefits across the board,” O'Neill said. “BMI generates new business, our publishers benefit from our distribution expertise and our affiliates continue to receive their royalties from a trusted source. It’s a smart solution for everyone involved.”

However, the commission that BMI receives for distributing payouts to songwriters from direct deals is likely counted as revenue. For instance, if BMI received a 10 percent commission on that $30 million, that means $3 million would be counted toward revenue.

So due to direct deals, BMI collected $30 million less in revenue. If that amount is added to its new media revenue of $152 million, it would have totaled $182 million, or a 20 percent increase.

Another way the direct deals impact BMI’s numbers comes in figuring out its overhead. While, typically, distributions can be deducted from revenue to derive BMI’s expenses and, thus, its administrative fee, due to the direct deals this year that math doesn’t produce an accurate representation of that expense. Consequently, BMI says its administrative fee remains at about 12 percent, which is what it was in fiscal 2016.

BMI said it processed nearly 1.4 trillion performances this year, 40 percent more than the 1 billion announced last year. Of that total, 1.35 billion, or 96.4 percent, were digital performances, which the organization said highlights its ability “to manage big data and convert it to actionable information.”

While BMI is doing well with great figures and distribution, here in Nigeria COSON has collected over N500 Million which was claimed distributed among members.

Many Nigerian based musicians are not yet members and have little knowledge about music publishing, royalties and how much money they are losing.

Note this point; For every time you release a song someone is out there making money from your music.

Want to learn more about how you too can start earning from your music and living your dream as a musicians?

Add me up on WhatsApp +234-703-161-1402 or call me via +234-909-561-6869 to talk music business about promoting your music right, making money from your music as a musicprenuer.

Share with friends in music…

Femi Lawal is a music business consultant, social media strategist, an A&R executive. MD Music2Deal Nigeria(www.music2deal.com), co-founder Mega Points International(Africa’s 1st Independent A&R/Promotion Company), founder of MBES- Music Business Entrepreneurship Sessions.

Follow him on Twitter via @saintphemmy

First written by ED CHRISTMAN and edited by me.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Music Industry Media Presents "Music Placement Africa" a Music2Deal.com Special.

A music library deals shopping opportunities-

Mega Points International(Africa's First Independent A&R/Promotion Company), a Co-founded company of Femi Lawal, MD Music2Deal Nigeria(www.music2deal.com) Nigerian born international music business consultant, who doubles as an A&R executive, music supervisor and a social media strategist set to fulfill the company's vision of making over 50,000 thousands of Africa's independent musicians music business entrepreneurs by 2020.

Femi Lawal is best known for his music business and content monetization talk. With several money making music business articles to his credit. The company's music business seminar MBES-Music Business Entrepreneurship Session has been a source of inspiration to many Nigerian successful music business entrepreneurs, who are today earning a living as musicians from different music business opportunities.

Music business right now is beyond just recording a song and promoting the song alone. There is more to the business side of music and understanding the basic functional business move beside the popular known source of income in the music industry which is sales of songs through downloads,caller tunes and shows which is not an easy tasks for upcoming independent musicians.

Music Placement Africa is an independent A&R music pitching service which we are relaunching as an A&R, Music supervisor and a Music Library Company's service package.

If you have great songs, getting placements and deals with it is easy for you now as a subscriber of the Music Placement service and a premium member on our Music business networking community hub Music2Deal Nigeria- www.music2deal.com.

Record labels, Music publishers,Music Supervisors,A&R Executives,Radio Content/Program Directors and Distributors etc want to signs deals with artists who are professional musicians with great materials and bankable brands but they are caught up in the line and working through long days of comparing hundreds of talented people one after the other and facing other business. It is a breath of fresh air for them skipping the long processes of listening and reviewing your materials; getting someone to do the review and listening for them. That's where we come in. With our industry connections and top major industry executives who are premium users and members on our music business hub- www.music2deal.com.

From collection of submissions, listening and reviewing the submission then shopping the songs for deals and business opportunities and working out the licensing and deals negotiations, we make it easy for independent artists with great songs in getting music deals they deserved as premium members on Music2Deal Africa and subscribers of our MUSIC PLACEMENT AFRICA.

We’ve got a lot of opportunities for Songwriters,Unsigned Musicians and Producers. We are currently taking submission of songs from artists,labels and music producers for business shopping and placements .For more details and information on 'MUSIC PLACEMENT AFRICA' deals opportunities call 090-Femi-Megapoints, +234-909-561-6869. Whatsapp: 07031611402. Email: femi.lawal@music2deal.com CC saintphemmy@yahoo.com with 'MUSIC PLACEMENT AFRICA' as subject.

Be on the look out for www.musicisbusinesswithfemi.com for future music deals and submission opportunities. Follow @saintphemmy on Twitter and Remember to sign up at www.music2deal.com and be active to connect with more music business opportunities direct.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Music looks like it’s growing again, so music services company Kobalt has raised another $75 million

Hearst is leading this round.

Kobalt CEO Willard Ahdritz

After nearly two decades of decline, the music industry looks like it is coming back, powered by streaming services like Spotify.

Here is a vote of financial confidence from people who don’t make or own music: Kobalt, a company that helps artists and other music owners track the money their songs generate, has raised $75 million in a round led by Hearst.

Kobalt had previously raised $125 million from a group of investors that include Google; CEO Willard Ahdritz says all of the money from this round is going into the company and not a secondary sale.

Kobalt’s pitch is that the worldwide explosion of digital services is generating lots of money for musicians and music owners, but that the money is hard to track down. Kobalt says it can make that easier. Kobalt also competes directly with conventional big music publishers and, to a smaller extent, with big music labels.

This one doesn’t seem like an obvious match for Hearst, which is best known as a magazine and newspaper publisher that also has lucrative stakes in cable TV, via investments in ESPN and A&E Networks.

But Hearst exec Neeraj Khemlani argues that Kobalt is similar to other investments Hearst has made recently in information companies that specialize in the hospital, auto and finance industries. Like Kobalt, all of those bets are on business-to-business companies that help Hearst diversify its portfolio.

By: PETER KAFKA

[musicbizwithfemi]

Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney Among 180 Artists Signing Petition For Digital Copyright Reform

For the last three months, the music industry has been fighting – or at least negotiating in public – with YouTube.

Now, artists are adding their voices.

In an ad that will run Tuesday through Thursday in the Washington DC magazines Politico, The Hill, and Roll Call, 180 performers and songwriters are calling for reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which regulates copyright online. A range of big names from every genre signed the ad – from Taylor Swift to Sir Paul McCartney, Vince Gill to Vince Staples, Carole King to the Kings of Leon – as did 19 organizations and companies, including the major labels.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, gives services like YouTube “safe harbor” from copyright infringement liability for the actions of their users, as long as they respond to takedown notices from rightsholders. In practice, labels and publishers say, this gives YouTube a negotiating advantage. The big labels and publishers have long had deals with the video service, but they have often said that the DMCA gives it leverage that services like Spotify don’t have. In March, the RIAA called this the “value grab.” Manager Irving Azoff, who organized the ad, has made DMCA reform a priority, speaking about the issue in February, when he accepted The Recording Academy President’s Merit Award at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy Awards gala, and two weeks ago at the National Music Publishers Association annual meeting.

Artists are usually reluctant to get involved in copyright policy debates, but several signed an April 1 petition on the same topic. Like the petition many artists signed in 2012 against the Internet Radio Fairness act, which would have lowered online radio royalties, this represents a rare case in which most of the music business agrees on something.

The major labels are now negotiating new deals with YouTube – Universal Music Group’s contract has already expired, although the companies continue to do business on an ongoing basis. At the same time, the U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a study of the DMCA safe harbors as the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee is reviewing copyright law. This had made the DMCA an urgent issue for labels and publishers, which believe that YouTube’s free service makes it harder to convince music consumers to sign up for subscription services like Apple Music and Spotify. As performers and songwriters become more willing to speak out about copyright issues, the famously contentious music business seems to have found an issue it can unite around.

The DMCA, this week’s ad says, “has allowed major tech companies to grow and generate huge profits by creating ease of use for consumers to carry almost every recorded song in history in their pocket via a smartphone, while songwriters’ and artists’ earnings continue to diminish.” It suggests that the DMCA wasn’t intended to protect the kind of companies that benefit from it now – a subject that’s been debated by lawyers and policymakers as well – and asks for “sensible reform that balances the interests of creators with the interests of the companies who exploit music for their financial enrichment.”

YouTube has said it gets no advantage from the DMCA, since its Content ID system gives labels a way to remove or monetize their music, and 99.5 percent of music claims involve it as opposed to manual DMCA requests. This implies that Content ID is very effective, but it’s hard to know for sure, since no one measures how much music the system doesn’t identify. YouTube also points out that it has paid more than $3 billion to the music business, and that much of this revenue is generated by casual music fans who might not subscribe to other services anyway.

However, some online-based artists have been speaking out on behalf of YouTube. After Azoff wrote an open letter to YouTube last month, the video creator Hank Green, who runs the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers, responded with a letter than made the case that the service is good for the music business. On June 15, Green announced that he and other creators were forming The Internet Creators Guild to advocate for professional online creators. The guild will apparently not pressure online platforms for better terms, but it will “unify the voice of online creators to create change.” One wonders whether this unified voice could be raised to oppose those of music rightsholders, since Google, which owns YouTube, has sometimes argued that copyright enforcement suppresses online creativity.

Two other artists have been especially critical of YouTube. Trent Reznor, no stranger to technology given his role at Apple Music, told Billboard on June 13 that YouTube was “built on the backs of free, stolen content.” Nikki Sixx’ band Sixx:A.M. also wrote a detailed open letter to YouTube, appealing to Larry Page, chief executive of Google’s parent company Alphabet, to better compensate musicians. Last week, YouTube responded, in a statement to Music Business Worldwide that said “the voices of the artists are being heard.”

Now, it seems, those voices are speaking louder.

Source:Billboard

[musicbizwithfemi]

UNIVERSAL SIGNS MAJOR LICENSING DEAL WITH TENCENT IN CHINA

Universal Music Group (UMG) has made a giant move in China.

Music from the world’s biggest record company will now be distributed via Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) in the region via its streaming platforms QQ Music, KuGou and Kuwo.

In addition, Tencent will exclusively sub-license UMG’s content to third-party music service providers in the region.

(As we’ve previously noted, this would be a little like Spotify or Apple Music striking deals that allowed them to license major label music to its competitors in other parts of the world.)

Furthermore, UMG and TME will work together to design, build and develop Abbey Road Studios China, a ‘state-of-the-art recording and mastering facility’ linked to UMG’s iconic recording studio in London.

Despite recent rumors that Tencent was keen to acquire a minority stake in UMG, the new agreement does not involve any equity exchange.

Abbey Road aside, the deal is similar to those previously struck by Tencent with Warner and Sony – and means Tencent now controls the recorded music repertoire of all three majors in its home market.

Universal previously licensed services directly in China.

UMG and Tencent say they will work together to find new ways to develop artists, expand business models and reinforce a robust copyright protection environment in China.

Tencent provides over 17m songs to 600m monthly active users in China, and boasts more than 15m paying subscribers across its services.

“WITH MORE THAN 80 YEARS OF HISTORY IN CHINA, UMG HAS BEEN ENGAGED IN THE UNIQUE EVOLUTION OF THE COUNTRY’S MUSIC BUSINESS AND I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH TENCENT TO BRING EXCITING NEW ARTISTS AND SERVICES TO MUSIC FANS ACROSS CHINA.”

SIR LUCIAN GRAINGE, UMG

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, said, “We’re looking forward to working with Tencent as we develop local Chinese artists and repertoire, as well as global stars, in this dynamic and expanding music market.

“With more than 80 years of history in China, UMG has been engaged in the unique evolution of the country’s music business and I’m looking forward to working with Tencent to bring exciting new artists and services to music fans across China.

“Given recent developments in technology and the commercial environment there, now is the right time for an innovative strategic partnership with a leading Chinese company like Tencent that can meaningfully accelerate the development of the country’s entire music ecosystem and, in turn, inspire growth in creative and commercial opportunities for all artists.”

According to the latest IFPI stats, China’s recorded music market generated $202.2m in 2016, up 20.3% on the prior year.

The world’s 12th biggest recorded music territory, a whopping 96% of its revenues last year were digital.

Martin Lau, President of Tencent, said, “We are honoured to be UMG’s master distribution and licensing partner in China. With extensive user reach and deep industry knowledge, TME is the partner of choice for the music industry to engage with music lovers. Our partnership with the world’s leading music labels will further demonstrate our commitment to cultivating a vibrant ecosystem that benefits music lovers, artists and songwriters.”

Michael Nash, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy at UMG, commented, “The digital opportunity in China’s music market is truly extraordinary, with over half a billion people enabled with smart phones. Our expansive new partnership with Tencent will enable UMG to fully address this opportunity, especially with the growing success of QQ Music, KuGou and Kuwo.

“Chinese consumers are clearly embracing licensed services, fueling an expansion of China’s music economy, increasing the importance of this market internationally and accelerating the development of Chinese artists for the enrichment of China’s culture and the enjoyment of audiences globally.”

“THE DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA’S MUSIC MARKET IS TRULY EXTRAORDINARY, WITH OVER HALF A BILLION PEOPLE ENABLED WITH SMART PHONES. OUR EXPANSIVE NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH TENCENT WILL ENABLE UMG TO FULLY ADDRESS THIS OPPORTUNITY, ESPECIALLY WITH THE GROWING SUCCESS OF QQ MUSIC, KUGOU AND KUWO.”

MICHAEL NASH, UMG

Cussion Pang, CEO of TME, said, “Leveraging UMG’s resources and our distribution capabilities, we can provide a rich and personalized experience to hundreds of millions of music lovers in China. This strategic agreement will further strengthen our efforts in copyright protection and shift the industry towards the paid subscription model.

“In addition, with the establishment of Abbey Road Studios China, we will work together with UMG to help local artists produce top-quality recordings for distribution in China and across the world. ”

Lang Lang, the star recently signed to UMG’s Deutsche Grammophon, commented, “I’m thrilled that UMG and Tencent are working together to create more ways for Chinese audiences to access music.

“There are so many incredibly talented musicians and songwriters working in China today and this new partnership will provide greater exposure for Chinese musical culture and heritage here and around the world. In particular, I am excited about the creation of Abbey Road Studios China, a true investment in the next generation of great Chinese artists.”- Source: Music Business Worldwide

[musicbizwithfemi]

Samsung makes Google Play Music default mobile music player

Samsung has probably launched, bought, bought in and dropped more digital music services than any other brand. So it’s presumably no surprise to anyone that it’s done a brand new deal to make Google Play Music available to its mobile phone users.

“Google Play Music will be the default music player and music service on new Samsung phones and tablets globally”, the web giant announced last week. “We’re also collaborating with Samsung to create special features in Google Play Music just for Samsung customers”.

One such special feature is an expanded digital locker service for Samsung users. If you’ve just got yourself a new Samsung phone, you can upload 100,000 songs for free to listen back to online at your leisure. You’re all still uploading your music to digital lockers, yes?

Google Play Music will also work with Samsung’s voice assistant, Bixby. So you’ll just have to shout “Bixby, turn this fucking shit off and put something better on” at your phone and all will be well. Possibly. You probably shouldn’t have uploaded 100,000 tracks to the cloud in the first place, given that you had so much fucking shit in there.

Anyway, Google is “THRILLED to bring this special version of Google Play Music to Samsung customers anywhere”. I hope you’re also excited.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Steve Masur, Attorney (Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha etc.) Endorsed MUSIC2DEAL.COM

Music2Deal.com allows me to leverage my network internationally and drives crucial connections between disparate aspects of the industry with an end result of better opportunities for my clients to do what they love: making and sharing music.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Mariah Carey launches Butterfly MC Records

Mariah Carey has been given her own label as an imprint of Sony’s Epic Records. She will release a new studio album through the imprint, Butterfly MC Records, later this year.

“To continue working with Mariah Carey at Epic has been another rewarding chapter of my career”, says Epic CEO LA Reid. “Mariah’s incomparable talents as a singer, with her vocal range that is nothing short of legendary, are matched by her brilliance as a songwriter, producer, and performer par excellence. Mariah’s chart records have established her enduring place in music history, a position that is cherished and supported by her loyal fans worldwide. I look forward to building upon all of Mariah’s success for years to come”.

Carey adds: “I am putting my heart and soul into making more new music. I am so THRILLED for this next chapter and to continue working with, and for, everyone that I love”.

As well as all that, Carey will be taking up residency in Las Vegas in July, and supporting Lionel Richie on tour later this summer. Busy busy.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Here's Why 2016 Is Set to Be Music Industry's Best Year Since 2009

For those willing to equate “total album consumption units” with good old-fashioned sales, at 411 million units in the first three quarters of 2016, the U.S. music industry appears set to enjoy its most robust year since 2009. By that metric, which combines sales with track- and streaming-equivalent units (with 10 track sales or 1,500 streams equaling one album, respectively), the industry is almost at 2013’s total of 415.4 million albums and is on track to pass 2009’s 489.8 million albums (both include TEA).

The third quarter’s total is 5.3 percent higher than the 390.1 million units counted at the same time in 2015 -- and the RIAA’s midyear report found that on a dollar basis, the industry was up 8.1 percent over 2015 to $3.43 billion. Dividing the album-plus-TEA pie by distribution ownership, Universal Music Group remains on top but drops four percentage points to 34.7 percent from the same period in 2015, while Sony Music jumps to 28.4 percent from 27.2, and Warner rises to 21.7 percent from 19.3.

The top albums so far this year are Drake’s Views, with 3.57 million in total consumption (which includes sales, stream equivalent albums and track equivalent albums) this year, followed by Adele's 25 with 2.1 million and Beyonce’s Lemonade in third, with 2.01 million in total consumption.

In digital song sales, Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” stands at No. 1, with 2.16 million downloads, edging out Flo Rida’s “My House" and its 2.14 million downloads.

Desiigner’s “Panda” was the most on-demand streamed song so far this year with 674.4 million streams, overtaking the half-year leader, Rihanna’s “Work,” featuring Drake, which now has 641.2 million streams.

A version of this article first appeared in the Oct. 15 issue of Billboard.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Universal's Top Lawyer on Streaming, Splitting With Frank Ocean & Exclusive Releases

As general counsel for the world’s largest music company, a key skill thatJeffrey Harleston relies upon is adaptability.

"The one thing I know for sure is that whatever I’ve planned that day, I’m going to get hit by something different," says the 55-year-old Boston native. "The ­business is changing just that fast."

Harleston has been in the trenches for much of that evolution. Most recently, Harleston helped Universal Music Group hammer out a licensing deal with SoundCloud that allows the label to decide whether its music appears on the service’s free or paid subscription tier.

Harleston, who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law school, joined UMG some 23 years ago as senior vp business and legal affairs for MCA Records, ­working with a ­roster that included Mary J. Blige, New Edition and Common. Previously, he was ­associate independent counsel ­during the ­investigation and prosecution of the Iran-Contra ­scandal and worked as a ­litigation associate with the firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. (He was also GM of UMG’s Geffen Records for several years.) A year ago this month, his purview for UMG expanded from North America to the company’s ­worldwide ­operations; he simultaneously joined UMG’s 10-­member executive ­management board, helmed by UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge. Harleston oversees a team of more than 26 lawyers dealing with ­litigation, ­transactions, ­digital, ­government ­relations and other legal specialties.​

Harleston worked on both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns: “He’s what humanity looks like in a business suit."

With all of that on his plate, what ­business matters keep Harleston awake at night? The married father of four says, "Nothing bothers me more than when I feel there’s a situation that’s not fair, whether to the company or the artist."

As general counsel, what type of legal matters rise to your level?

Typically, it’s the magnitude of the ­problem in terms of a significant ­litigation or deal impacting the corporation, whether it be the dollar amount that’s at risk in a litigation or the stature of an artist ­relative to the rest of our repertoire -- those are the natural ones. But there are certain relationships that I will always be involved with: anything having to do with Uptown Records, a relationship that goes back to my MCA days, and anything that has to do with the James Brown ­catalog -- that’s a relationship I ­manage on a ­personal and professional level. Also ­anything that has to do with the Bob Marley estate.

UMG acts such as Drake and Kanye West have released music ­exclusively through Apple and Tidal. Doesn’t that create problems between the artists and their labels?

I don’t think artists’ relationships with ­platforms are necessarily mutually ­exclusive to their label relationships. In any of those situations you’re ­referencing, the label has been very involved. Using Drake as an example, his ­activities with Apple are really in concert with Universal. The three of us worked together very closely on releases like his new film [the Apple exclusive Please Forgive Me]. I was up late at night dealing with last-minute clearances. The most important thing is that the artist and the label maintain the freedom and flexibility to determine how they want the music presented to the public.

Photos of former MCA artist Mos Def — “one of the most talented artists and interesting people I’ve ever met” — and of Harleston with Snoop Dogg (lower left) and with his wife, Maria (right).

That brings up Frank Ocean’s new releases, which were said to have resulted in an edict that UMG was banning streaming exclusives. Was that a result of Ocean’s project?

Well, first, Frank is an incredibly talented artist, and I certainly wish him well. We don’t really talk about internal policies, but we’re always experimenting and adjusting our practices with one goal in mind: to provide artists with the ideal environment to develop creatively and commercially. If something doesn’t meet that goal, we change our practices.

But don’t you think there’s a new world order, in terms of the way some artists now view the role of a label versus, say, that of Apple Music?

I wouldn’t read so much into what I read in a few publications, including Billboard, about certain platforms doing things with artists. I don’t see a ­fundamental change in the relationship between labels, either major or independent, with their artists.

Is the SoundCloud negotiation ­helping ongoing discussions with the streaming services?

The SoundCloud negotiation was difficult but also one of the most rewarding. In SoundCloud, we have a partner that was willing to really work with the labels in trying to structure something different. There are multiple tiers of availability in terms of content: a free ad-supported tier and a paid subscription tier. But our deal allows us to have total discretion as to whether our music appears on the free tier or paid tier -- something that some other services have not yet come around to accepting.

How close is a meeting of the minds with other digital platforms?

The most significant thing that has ­happened in the last 12 months is the [increased] involvement of artists in the compensation debate. The level of acts’ understanding of how the ­services work has grown immensely, and as artists ­continue to be more involved, we move closer every day to a model of ­compensation that’s very equitable.

From left: a baseball invite to a 2014 party at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club, a one-off promotional candle for Snoop's 2006 The Blue Carpet Treatment album, and a bobblehead of Magic Johnson, who had an imprint through Universal.

You're one of the few black senior executives working in the industry. How heavy is that responsibility?

It’s a frustrating situation, to say the least. I continue to be disappointed at the paucity of senior black executives in the music business, especially given what it was like when I came into the business with six majors around. There were senior black executives then who went out of their way to make sure black executives who came in had the support, ­mentorship and opportunity to succeed if they applied themselves. You don’t see that at a lot of companies today now that we’re down to three majors and some independents. This is a business that holds tremendous opportunities for everybody. I feel it’s part of my job and my duty to do everything I can to increase those ­numbers. When you can count the number of black senior ­executives on one hand, it makes you pause and think.

What keeps you excited about the music industry?

No industry has been disrupted as greatly and as severely as music was by technological innovation. What I’ve seen our business go through over the last 15 years is really coming to terms with a business model that didn’t fit consumers’ needs and desires, or the availability of new and innovative ways of delivering music. We fought through that and have come around to adjusting, evaluating and investing -- I can’t emphasize enough the word investing -- in new business models that have created the world we’re in now, where we’re starting to see growth numbers in terms of revenues. We’ve known for several years that consumption was very high. What we didn’t know for many years is that revenues were going to increase. It’s a very interesting time.

Golf is one of your guilty pleasures. Who’s the fiercest opponent you have gone up against in the music business?

I won’t say it was fierce, but I recently had a really good round of golf with David Dorn from Apple.

Who won?

Well, David came out on top. (Laughs.) But I had to [let him win] -- he works at Apple.

This article was originally published in the Oct. 15 issue of Billboard. An earlier version of this story erroneously attributed a Jay Z-Samsung deal to Harleston.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Amazon Working To Deliver More Streams Than Apple?

The music streaming wars may soon ramp up with the entry of a well-funded Amazon music streaming service. Last week, a German coder found that there were hints about the service in their Music mobile app for the Fire TV. The service will be named Amazon Music Unlimited. But will users respond? How much weight will the online shopping giant put behind their music service? We’ve seen hints about offering Amazon Prime users a discounted monthly price. 

They’ll also receive unlimited song uploads to their Cloud. It seems Amazon is ready for a fight.

In an interview with Larry Blanc, Martin Goldschmidt said that Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. Goldschmidt is the CEO of Cooking Vinyl Group, a global music powerhouse. The subject came up when Blanc spoke first about how sustainable the freemium model could actually be. According to Blanc, Spotify is currently out of contract with all three major music companies.

Goldschmidt responded to Blanc’s statement by saying that Spotify has had a good year so far. There’s also a potential IPO in the works due to come out soon. The big two in the streaming music service is Apple and Spotify. According to Schmidt, Apple has been building strongly. Yet, despite not having an official music streaming service, Amazon is making a big play. The reason they could make a strong impact in the music service is because of their well-established user base. Schmidt said,

“In the U.S. market, even though they haven’t launched a proper streaming service yet, Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. When they launch their new service they have this incredible customer base that they can market to in the same way that Apple does. That could be a very big play. And a lot of those customers don’t pay for music. You are talking about 80% or 90% of Amazon customers don’t pay, and they are going to try to monetize that.”

There’s still no official confirmation from the company about their music streaming service. However, if and when Amazon Music Unlimited is released, the company looks to stand on sure footing.

Courtesy: Daniel Adrian Sanchez

[musicbizwithfemi]

Spotify and Apple Music get unofficial mixes, the best part of SoundCloud

SoundCloud’s big differentiator is its offering of unofficial, user-uploaded content that the major labels don’t release and that isn’t on Spotify or Apple Music. Or at least they weren’t. The first unofficial single-track remixes just went live on Spotify and Apple Music thanks to their partnerships with music rights management service Dubset.

Apple struck a deal with Dubset in March, and Spotify did in May, BPMSupreme reported. But the remixes are finally beginning to stream today, starting with this DJ Jazzy Jeff remix of Anderson .Paak.

We’ve reached out to Spotify and Apple for comment. [Update: Spotify confirms that short-form mixes are now available. This is apparently just a small part of its integration with Dubset. It says the bigger part is when long-form mixed content becomes available, but there’s no definite timing on that.]

Still missing are the multi-song mixsets DJs often share from their gigs. But Dubset is also equipped to distribute royalties from those and its deals permit them. Dubset CEO Stephen White tells me “Mixes are coming next!”

Dubset works by scanning an entire mix and matching every part of the track to its Mixbank of snippets of official songs based on Gracenote’s audio fingerprinting database. Dubset matches the samples in a mix to these snippets, then distributes royalties for the play evenly to the original rights holders. In this case, Anderson .Paak’s rights holders would get paid because his music is the basis of Jazzy Jeff’s remix.

White says 700 million people a month listen to mixed content, making it a big opportunity. But record labels have historically fought against unofficial mixes because they considered them piracy since they weren’t getting paid. Dubset gives them a fair share, so they’ll permit remixes and mix sets to stream on the major platforms. Royalty revenue from the platform is shared with rights holders while Dubset gets a cut.

“Content owners have been very supportive. The publishing and label deals we have under license provides a large catalog to work with,” White tells me. This “allows some of the content that until now has only been on YouTube and SoundCloud to come to these great paid services where content owners will get paid!”

The fact that unofficial content is now going live on Spotify and Apple Music could reduce the acquisition potential for SoundCloud, which the Financial Times says is in late-stage negotiations to be bought by Spotify. TechCrunch’s sources confirm the two have recently been talking about M&A. But if Spotify can get the best of SoundCloud’s content without coughing up a ton of money for a broken company that’s been struggling for years…

Without the legal grey area of music as a differentiator, Spotify and Apple Music will end up competing on product features like Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist and Apple’s Beats 1 live radio station, as well as on exclusives and early access to big releases from top artists.

The real winners here, though, are the artists and listeners. Original rights owners will get paid, remix producers and mixset DJs can share their creativity without being pirates and listeners can hear the music they want no matter how it got made.

Credit: Josh Constine (@joshconstine)

[musicbizwithfemi]

ICMP Pushes For Songwriter Headline Rate Increase

With the United States Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) in the process of defining the mechanical rates paid by digital services and other non-recorded music entities, ICMP, the International Confederation of Music Publishers has called on the CRB to increase the headline rate for songwriters. ICMP is however disappointed to see various so-called "interested parties" trying to influence the rate setting process for interactive streams and locker services. And we have reason to believe that this is being done to lower the royalty rates for songwriters and music publishers. We therefore fully support our U.S. member, the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) in its quest to have Sony Music Entertainment (SME) immediately withdraw from the rate setting procedure. SME is currently participating in all proceedings, including those for digital services. However, as the company does not have a direct interest in the setting of mechanical rates for digital services, and is neither a licensor nor a licensee, it should not seek to influence the process. "Let us never forget that music publishers and record labels are in the business of ensuring fair remuneration for content creators in order to build a robust digital economy," said ICMP Director General Coco Carmona. "SME seems to be doing the exact opposite and this is wrong." "Songwriters are up against more obstacles than ever to make a living, and having a major label like SME fight on the side of digital music companies to try to further reduce what little income they receive from on-demand streaming is shocking," added NMPA President and CEO David Israelite. The other major labels, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, reached a settlement agreement with NMPA as to rates and terms for physical configurations, downloads and ringtones in the CRB proceedings. The settlement has also received the support of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). None of these groups have sought to participate in the rate setting process for interactive streams and locker services.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Indie Spoonful Offers Music Reviews

BWH Media announces the launch of Indie Spoonful. The eZine focuses to Indie Music Reviews, Interviews and News. Indie Spoonful is actively seeking artists and bands who have original material for review. Indie Spoonful provides in-depth, well-written, quality reviews for selected artists. To read some recent reviews, visit our website at indie-spoonful.com According to Google Analytics, the site is already getting 400 hits a day from all over the world with fans from the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, Germany and France. Indie Spoonful accepts artists of all genres. We also work with managers, promoters, and labels. Music Reviews increase an artist's visibility and credibility. As Indie Spoonful is selective, the eZine maintains a high level of quality. If you are interested, please follow the Artist Submission guidelines at www.indie-spoonful.com.

[musicbizwithfemi]

Top 3 Trends Impacting Global Digital Music Content Market Through 2020

Technavio's latest report on the global digital music content market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

Ujjwal Doshi, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on media and entertainment services sector, says, "The global digital music content market is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 9% during the forecast period. The growing popularity of the digital music content has encouraged artists to provide their singles and albums through the digital streaming platforms as there is a drop in sales of CDs and vinyl records ever since these platforms have evolved." The top three emerging trends driving the global digital music content market according to Technavio media & entertainment research analysts are: * Globalization of music streaming services * Replacement of digital music records * Rise in demand for wearable music devices Globalization of music streaming services

Music streaming services are becoming a global service with developments in technology infrastructure and freedom to access music from almost anywhere in the world. Key vendors, primarily in the US, Japan, and Sweden are investing heavily in research and directing their efforts to acquire a larger share of the market through technological advances. The growth aspects of music streaming services are positive as a number of emerging countries are also entering the market. Therefore, increasing globalization of the music streaming services during the forecast period will contribute to the generation of revenues in the global digital music content market. Replacement of digital music records

The digital music content market is witnessing a gradual replacement of digital music records and CDs by a number of other options such as portable storage devices like iPods, multimedia players, and cloud-storage services. Peoples' preference for listening to music has shifted from digital records and music systems to cloud-based music that allows users to store, stream, download, and share the content. Cloud computing is being rapidly adopted by firms because it provides legal access to online music, even from remote servers, irrespective of the device used. Services like iTunes Match have become a market reality and have increased the popularity of music downloads. "Companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Google are dependent on the cloud for various features including storage, which acts as a remote locker for downloaded tracks. Such developments are expected to help content companies generate higher revenues from the digital music business," says Ujjwal. Rise in demand for wearable music devices Wearable technology is an emerging trend in the global music streaming market. Smartphone manufacturers are investing heavily in wearable devices to give users an overall experience. For instance, the Apple Watch, along with displaying time, helps users track health, access maps, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, music, and sync with their iPhone. Another example is Rusty's wired series, which is a hoody with earphones that double as the elastic strings of the hood. It reduces the hassle of wearing headphones while listening to music. It is expected that in the coming years, digital music content developers and vendors will focus on developing applications and interfaces which are compatible with wearable devices to enable direct access to music.