#hookblast

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The Hookblast Podcast - Episode 31

We make music discovery fast, fun, and catchy because we only play the hooks, (you know, the catchy parts) of the songs we feature. For the full version of some of the songs, visit our Spotify playlist here: bit.ly/HookBlast-S3

This week we feature Passengers by Tribe, Storms by Merlot Embargo, Ordinary Day by Susan Odella, Always on my Mind by KeyeJeye, Falling Star by Ken Roberts, and The Vision by Trevor Copacia

The Hookblast Podcast features songs that are gaining traction among the over 1200 music industry professionals including A&R executives, music supervisors, producers, managers, playlist curators, and radio station program directors that make up the professional community on Music Xray, the online platform that uses a combination of music analysis software, machine learning, and the crowd-sourcing of industry professionals themselves to identify high potential songs and talent.

The Hookblast Podcast – Episode 31 was originally published on Hookblast

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The Hookblast Podcast - 30 Second Trailer

Discover catchy new songs each week with this ten-minute podcast. Host Mike McCready only plays the hooks (you know, the catchy part) of the featured songs and then points you to where you can find the songs to add to your own playlists at your favorite streaming service, YouTube, or wherever you consume music.

Mike’s 25-year career in the music industry has largely been dedicated to improving how the industry identifies high potential songs and talent. He was behind Hit Song Science in the early 2000’s and now, as co-founder and CEO of Music Xray he continues to harness new technologies to create more opportunities for artists and to help the industry find the needles in the haystack.

His work in the field has been featured in all the major newspapers and magazines, and was the focus of one of the most popular Harvard Business School case studies of all time, Polyphonic: Mixing Math & Music by Anita Elberse et. al. He has been featured in documentaries by NatGeo, BBC, and Discovery Channel.

The Hookblast Podcast – 30 Second Trailer was originally published on The Hookblast Podcast & Playlists

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The Hookblast Podcast - Episode 30

This week we feature Right back Where You Are by Louise D’Arcy, Whisper by Josh Fuller Band, It’s All On You by Jason Hausman, Who I’m Thinking Of by Burris, Just Passing Through by Chris Heider, and Get a Little by Ace Adams. For the full version of some of the songs, visit our Spotify playlist here: bit.ly/HookBlast-S3

We make music discovery fast, fun, and catchy because we only play the hooks, (you know, the catchy parts) of the songs we feature.

The Hookblast Podcast features songs that are gaining traction among the over 1200 music industry professionals including A&R executives, music supervisors, producers, managers, playlist curators, and radio station program directors that make up the professional community on Music Xray, the online platform that uses a combination of music analysis software, machine learning, and the crowd-sourcing of industry professionals themselves to identify high potential songs and talent.

The Hookblast Podcast – Episode 30 was originally published on Hookblast

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Big question: Could Google buy Universal Music Group?

It would have been the most talked-about story to hit the music business in decades.

“We had discussions with [Google] in the selling of the Michael Jackson interest to Sony/ATV,” revealed heavy-hitting US lawyer Joel Katz at annual music biz conference Midem in the summer of 2016. “It would have been a very interesting proposition, [Google] having a major interest in a major publishing company like that… then negotiating with the record companies and saying: Hey, we don’t have to license you!”

Today, the music industry is focused on the sale of another 50% stake: that of Universal Music Group, owned by French media empire Vivendi. The Paris-based multi-national is in the process of selling up to half of UMG, which owns the world’s biggest recorded music catalog, and the world’s second largest publishing company. Once again, Google’s name is being mentioned as a potential acquirer – alongside the likes of Tencent, Alibaba, Liberty Media, Apple and Verizon. read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

Big question: Could Google buy Universal Music Group? was originally published on Hookblast

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Back in 2015, when Katy Perry appeared on the cover of Forbes after earning $135 million in a single year, she knew she’d secured her place in the pop star firmament—and wouldn’t ever have to worry about fading into oblivion. “I don’t feel like my career is a ticking time bomb,” she said. “I don’t feel like I’ll always have to be feeding the meter of show business. I got my spot, yo.”

Three years later, Perry has proved herself right: She’s the highest-paid woman in music, pulling in $83 million pretax during our scoring period. One of the hardest-working names on the list, Perry played 80 dates of her Witness: The Tour in Forbes‘ June-to-June timeframe, grossing over $1 million per night. She also managed to find time to serve as a judge on ABC’s American Idol reboot, reportedly earning north of $20 million for her troubles. read more at forbes.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  The World’s Highest-Paid Women In Music 2018 was originally published on Hookblast

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Taylor Swift leaves lifelong label to sign with Universal Music Group

Taylor Swift has announced that she is leaving her lifelong record label, Big Machine Label Group (BMLG), to sign with Republic Records and Universal Music Group (UMG). The financial terms of the deal have not been made public.

As part of her new contract, Swift, 28, asked that “any sale of [UMG’s] Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable”. She said that the label had agreed to this, “at what they believe will be much better terms than paid out previously by other major labels”.

Swift highlighted this as “a sign that we are headed towards positive change for creators – a goal I’m never going to stop trying to help achieve, in whatever ways I can”. read more at theguardian.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Taylor Swift leaves lifelong label to sign with Universal Music Group was originally published on Hookblast

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Pandora Premium can now be streamed through Amazon Echo devices

Pandora can now be streamed through all of Amazon’s smart devices, including Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show.

The music streaming company published a blog post today (November 19) announcing the news, ‘just in time for the holidays’.

Pandora is also available on Echo Amazon rivals – Facebook’s Portal and Portal+  smart devices, which were released in October with Pandora as a launch partner. read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

Pandora Premium can now be streamed through Amazon Echo devices was originally published on Hookblast

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Warner Music Buying Uproxx Is a Look at Our Monolithic Future

Recently, Warner Music Group, parent to Warner Bros. Records, Atlantic Records, and ticketing platform Songkick, announced it had purchased millennial entertainment and lifestyle media brand Uproxx, parent to flagship Uproxx.com, film and TV site HitFlix, and sports site Dime. (Alas, the powers that be were not interested in acquiring BroBible.com.) The announcement was crammed with buzzwords: “Daily content and programming.” “Authenticity and transparency.” “Pioneering personalities and credible brands.” “Creative and entrepreneurial environment.” read more at spin.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Warner Music Buying Uproxx Is a Look at Our Monolithic Future was originally published on Hookblast

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Fake artists still dominate Spotify 'chill' playlists. Now Universal is fighting back... with Apple Music.

To refresh your memory: last summer, MBW extensively reported on reams of artists on Spotify who weren’t quite what they seemed.

They were, in a very obvious sense, fake – pseudonyms created by songwriters and performers who, for some reason, didn’t wish to be identified on Spotify’s platform.

Draw your own conclusions from what we discovered:

Things haven’t gotten any better for the major labels: judging by ChartMetric stats analysed by MBW, over 90% of the tracks on Ambient Chill today (August 2) are under the names of fake artists.

ChartMetric data suggests that only one major label – Universal Music Group – has a presence on the playlist, with just two tracks out of 71, equivalent to a 2.8% share. read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Fake artists still dominate Spotify ‘chill’ playlists. Now Universal is fighting back… with Apple Music. was originally published on Hookblast

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City National Bank buys artist payments platform Exactuals

City National Bank has acquired LA-based Exactuals, which provides software solutions designed to handle complex payments in the entertainment industry.

Exactuals’ payment system, PaymentHub, allows studios, unions, guilds, payroll companies, music publishers, record labels, distributors and marketplaces to provide direct deposit payments, tax document management and online reporting to rights-holders, performers, managers, service providers and independent contractors worldwide.

According to the company, this automated system reduces or eliminates the need for costly paper checks and reporting. read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  City National Bank buys artist payments platform Exactuals was originally published on Hookblast

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'I find acts that play to nobody... and I convince people to book them.'

Tom Windish’s main mantra in life seems to be: don’t take no for an answer.

It’s not a bad rule for a talent agent who specialises in breaking artists whose appeal might not be immediately obvious, either through ultra-poppy hooks or off the chart social numbers.

It’s certainly the right attitude for someone who has launched and steered the live trajectories of artists from Low to Lorde, Alt-J, The xx, Diplo and beyond. read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  ‘I find acts that play to nobody… and I convince people to book them.’ was originally published on Hookblast

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Drake’s In My Feelings music video thanks the internet for blowing the song up

Before social media, the music industry would take an album, pick some singles, and promote what they thought the hits should be. Those vetted songs would then likely be what you’d hear on radio stations and at the club. In 2018, it doesn’t work like that at all: the song of the summer is collectively decided by the fans, meaning that, nowadays, any unassuming tune can take over the airwaves if the internet likes it enough.

In response, Drake acknowledged that Shiggy got him a number one record late last month. For a while, that seemed to be that. read more at theverge.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Drake’s In My Feelings music video thanks the internet for blowing the song up was originally published on Hookblast

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DIY Music: How Musicians Did It For Themselves

The notion of DIY music stretches back to 19th-century flutes made from bird bone, through punk anarchy and the digital revolution.

From cave tunes to thrash punk, cotton-field blues to the early days of hip-hop, the urge to make music, using whatever is at hand, is a constant in human behaviour. Percussion instruments created from stones, sticks, rocks and logs – cut in different shapes and designs to change the quality and pitch of sound – were being made more than 165,000 years ago. And if you look around today, you’ll find DIY music everywhere. read more at udiscovermusic.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  DIY Music: How Musicians Did It For Themselves was originally published on Hookblast

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Sony Completes Acquisition of Michael Jackson Estate's Share of EMI Music Publishing

In announcing its financial results, the Sony Corp. revealed that it had acquired Michael Jackson’s estate share of EMI Music Publishing, paying it a total of $287.5 million.

That was apparently the first step in completing its pending acquisition of EMI Music Publishing from a consortium of investors, which still has to be vetted by governmental regulatory agencies before the deal can proceed. Sony is still in the process of filing the paper work for the proposed acquisition, according to sources, so the process of scrutinizing the deals impact on potential anti-trust issues has yet to begin, they say.

As it is, Sony has agreed to pay $2.3 billion to acquire EMI, as well as assume EMI’s debt of $1.359 billion. With Sony and Jackson’s share valued at $1.091 billion that gives EMI Music Publishing a valuation of $4.75 billion. read more at billboard.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Sony Completes Acquisition of Michael Jackson Estate’s Share of EMI Music Publishing was originally published on Hookblast

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Easier streaming services put dent in illegal downloading

Music piracy is falling out of favour as streaming services become more widespread, new figures show.

One in 10 people in the UK use illegal downloads, down from 18% in 2013, according to YouGov’s Music Report. The trend looks set to continue – with 22% of those who get their music illegitimately saying they do not expect to be doing so in five years.

“It is now easier to stream music than to pirate it,” said one survey participant. read more at bbc.com

Follow @HookBlast on Twitter for the best curated music industry news feed on the web.

See vetted & verified music industry opportunities for bands, songwriters, & musicians.

  Easier streaming services put dent in illegal downloading was originally published on Hookblast