Veteran music business writer Stuart Dredge interviews David Lowery in an insightful journey through the more subtle aspects of David’s role in solving the music publishing problem in America. It gave him a chance to bring out nuances in the Spotify class action: [Lowery] adds that a number of songwriters and independent publishers are keen […]

Originally posted on Music Tech Solutions:
The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify has raised $1 billion in convertible debt with this telling analysis: Music-streaming site Spotify AB has raised $1 billion in convertible debt from investors, a deal that extends the money-losing company’s runway but comes with some strict guarantees, people familiar with the…

MTP readers will recall that Google’s AdSense was one of the early supporters of Megavideo, the largest distributor of stolen goods online (and perhaps in human history).  How do we know this?  It’s in the U.S. government’s case against Megavideo and may explain why Kim Dot Com does not seem to want for funds when […]

ANTHONY BOURDAIN …See, it’s not old fish. It’s a whole new thing! And no one knows they’re eating three day old halibut…. From The Big Short, Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, based on the book by Michael Lewis Ben Sisario is the most insightful music business journalist at a mainstream media organization (see […]

I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more Well, he puts his cigar Out in your face just for kicks His bedroom window It is made out of bricks The National Guard stands around his door Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa […]

Google spokesperson Barack Obama…no sorry, the President of the United States… announced Google’s triumph of crony capitalism in Time: “One of the things that we’ll be announcing here is that Google has a deal to start setting up more WiFi and broadband access on the island,” Obama told ABC anchor David Muir. I don’t want […]

We’re often told that EDM producers and DJs are doing well in the “new boss” economy because they embrace digital distribution especially streaming, sample rather than hire live musicians, use hard drive recording rather than studios, and so on.  How many times have you heard how healthy “DJ culture” because “every night 500,000 people go out […]

Originally posted on Music Tech Solutions:
I had the good fortune to participate in a SXSW panel about the mechanics of YouTube revenues.  If I say so myself, it was a wonderful panel with some deep expertise (“Stop Complaining and Start Monetizing“).  There was a real interest in the audience about the mechanics of the…

Originally posted on Music Tech Solutions:
We’ve all seen “brand integration” videos on YouTube promoted or produced by multichannel networks such as Maker, Machnima and others.  I’ve been convinced that if these videos were on television, they would violate the “sponsorship identification” or payola rules that require disclosure of consideration paid or exchanged for placement. …