Archive
Below are links to previous newsletters dating back to 2017.
2023
Why Musicians Never Joined Twitch, November 22nd
Patreon’s Struggle with Subscriptions, November 8th
The Money Behind the Deals: The Raine Group, October 18th
The Money Behind the Deals: Eldridge Industries, October 4th
The Playlist Myth (Part 2), September 20th
The Playlist Myth (Part 1), September 6th
The Payment Model Debate Isn’t Over, August 23rd
Governments Ready Music Streaming Policies, August 9th
Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Music Catalogs Sales in 2023, June 21st
Does the Music Industry Still Want NFTs?, June 7th
There is Too Much Music Out There (Part 2), May 17th
There Is Too Much Music Out There (Part 1), May 3rd
Social Media Doesn’t Want Music, April 19th
The Developing “Crisis” of Music Streaming, April 5th
2023 in Review: Tencent Music, Kakao Entertainment, Anghami, and Gaana, March 22nd
2023 in Review: Deezer, Pandora, SiriusXM, and Tidal, March 8th
2023 in Review: Spotify, February 22nd
2023 in Review: YouTube, February 8th
2023 in Review: Apple Music, January 25th
2023 in Review: Amazon Music, January 11th
2022
TikTok Cannot Afford the Music Industry, December 14th
A Case Against Music Distribution, November 30th
Recession Looms Over the Music Industry (Part 2), November 16th
Recession Looms Over the Music Industry (Part 1), November 2nd
How Digital Piracy Shaped Modern Music (Part 2), October 19th
How Digital Piracy Shaped Modern Music (Part 1), October 5th
Why Major Labels and Spotify Love Fake Artists, September 21st
The Record Industry's Fake Fight Against Streaming Fraud, September 7th
Does the Copyright Royalty Board Now Care About Musicians?, August 17th
What’s Going on with All Those Music SPACs?, July 27th
Is the Music Catalog Sales Boom Over?, July 13th
Music’s Future is Here: It’s Called Streaming (Part 2), June 22nd
Music’s Future is Here: It’s Called Streaming (Part 1), June 8th
The Unheard Battle Over Social Media Licensing, May 18th
Spotify’s Stock Hit Bottom. What’s Next?, May 4th
The Music Industry Exits Russia, April 20th
A Long Year for Chinese Music Streaming, April 6th
The Record Industry Needs You to Love NFTs (Part 2), March 23rd
The Record Industry Needs You to Love NFTs (Part 1), March 9th
What's Lost if Sony Buys AWAL, February 23rd
A History of Universal Music Group: How the Rich Get Richer, February 9th
A History of Sony Music: The Legacy Label, January 26th
A History of Warner Music Group: The Model Record Label, January 12th
2021
BTS, UMG, and Recorded Music’s Bright Future, December 15th
You Don’t Need to Own Your Favorite Artist’s Catalog, December 1st
A Solution to YouTube’s “Value Gap”, November 17th
There is No "Creator Economy", November 3rd
Does Anyone Want a Virtual Concert?, October 20th
Tidal and the Evolving World of Musician Financing, October 6th
The Record Industry Invests in the Metaverse (Part 2), September 22nd
The Record Industry Invests in the Metaverse (Part 1), September 8th
The Money Behind K-Pop, August 25th
The UK Parliamentary Proposes a Record Industry “Reset”, August 4th
Penny Fractions Refreshed, July 14th
Record Labels Cannot Stop Winning in 2021, July 10th
Spotify's Great Podcast Bet, June 9th
Meet The Board That Controls How Spotify Pays Artists, May 19th
UK Musicians Propose a New Record Industry, May 5th
Musicians Deserve a Better Music Modernization Act, April 21st
Who Wins in the Post-Pandemic Record Industry?, April 7th
Please Consider Local Music, March 17th
The Rise of the Digital Music Distributor, March 3rd
Is There Independent Music in 2021?, February 17th
Will the United Kingdom Reshape the Record Industry?, February 3rd
Why Record Labels Love Social Media, January 20th
The Music Industry Adjusts to the Coronavirus, January 13th
2020
A View of Record Industry from 10,000ft, December 16th
How Streaming Saved, but Flattened the Record Industry, December 9th
What’s After #TheShowMustBePaused, December 2nd
How Is the Record Industry Surviving the Coronavirus?, November 18th
Is There a Streaming Peak?, November 11th
Do We Need to Regulate YouTube?, November 4th
Did Streaming Actually Hurt Working Musicians?, October 21st
The Financialized Song: The Rise of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, October 14th
Live Music's Long Coronavirus Pause, October 7th
Liberty Media’s Slow Music Industry Takeover, September 23rd
Apple Music: The Record Industry’s Steadiest Ship, September 16th
The Record Industry’s Facebook Plan, September 9th
Spotify is an Audio Company (If It Wants), August 26th
When iTunes Ruled the Music Industry, August 19th
An Update on User-Centric Streaming, August 12th
Who Benefits from a Pivot to Live Streaming?, July 29th
Tencent is Ready to Own the Record Industry, July 22nd
Do Musicians Want a Tip Jar?, July 15th
TikTok: Another Story About Advertising, June 24th
Why Did We Pause the Show?, June 17th
The Newsletter Must Be Paused, June 10th
When Wall Street Entered Music Publishing, May 27th
Musicians Fight for a Future Through Coronavirus, May 20th
How Private Equity Drained the Record Industry, May 13th
Streaming Saved the Record Biz, Not Artists, April 29th
The Year Without Concerts, April 22nd
Can Music Streaming Survive Coronavirus?, April 15th
The Coronavirus Destroyed the Music Industry, March 18th
A Tale of Two Music Co-ops, March 11th
The Record Industry Can’t Fit in a Smart Speaker, March 4th
Where Is the Social Side of Music Streaming?, February 19th
Two Simple Questions for Spotify in 2020, February 12th
Triller: Don’t Believe the (Fledgling) Hype, February 5th
A Musician and Their Patreon, January 22nd
Listen to Taylor Swift’s Music Business Advice, January 15th
How TikTok and Resso Became More of the Same, January 8th
2019
The Myth of Music Streaming Competition, December 18th
How Musicians Fought, and Won, Against Big Business, December 11th
A Correct History of Music Streaming, December 4th
Spotify’s Perfectly Calculated ‘Wrapped’ Campaigns, November 20th
Spotify’s Revolutionary Plan to Support One Million Artists, November 13th
A.I. Isn’t Going to Replace Your Favorite Band, November 6th
Does Your Data Mean Anything? Maybe Notsomuch., October 30th
Billie Eilish: The Exception That Proves the Rule, October 23rd
A Brief Report on Music Industry Reports, October 16th
The Persistent Lie About Music Piracy, October 9th
The False Promise of User-Centric Streaming, October 2nd
A Brief Argument Against Copyright, September 25th
No, You Shouldn’t Care about Audiomack, September 18th
‘Selling The Pig’, EMI Records One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, September 11th
Are All Streaming Platforms The Same? A Deezer Story., August 28th
How Do You Stop Piracy? Sue Your Fans, Obviously., August 21th
Why Not Fake Your YouTube Views?, August 14th
The Music Streaming Exclusive Is Back, Get Hyped!, August 7th
The Unfilled Promise of Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’, July 31st
'Rockonomics': Music’s Deep Inequality Problem, July 24th
The Rap Producer in the Streaming Era, July 17th
Spotify Gives Up on Distribution, No Big Surprise, July 10th
The Day the Radio Died, June 26th
There is No Career in Memes (Sorry Lil Nas X), June 19th
Why Rap's Reign Over Streaming Will End, June 12th
Billboard’s Endless Struggle With Streaming, June 5th
The Limits of Music Subscriptions, May 29th
Spotify Wants to Control Audio, Good Luck!, May 22nd
Amazon, the Future Owner of the Music Industry, May 15th
MySpace Died, Why Didn’t Anyone Care?, May 8th
Pandora’s Endless War Against Royalties, May 1st
The Joy of Reading 'Ways of Hearing', April 24th
A Half-Step Towards a Better Music Ecosystem, April 17th
Spotify’s Business Is Breaking Before Our Eyes, April 10th
Is Apple Music the Best Streaming Service for Artists?, April 3rd
The Record Industry vs. YouTube: The Early Years, March 20th
Instagram is Still the Future of Music Streaming, March 13th
Why You Must Read ‘Spotify Teardown’, March 6th
Is There Gold at the End of the TikTok Rainbow?, February 27th
User-Centric Streaming and Other Radical Streaming Proposals, February 20th
The Future of Music Isn’t In Fortnite, February 13th
There is No "Good" Way to Stream Music, February 6th
Should Musicians be Podcasters?, January 30th
The Ghosts of Music Streaming's Past, January 23rd
Always Question the Company Narrative, January 16th
Apple Music's Slow March to Relevancy, January 9th
Bandcamp, Spotify and the Narrative of Helping Musicians, January 2nd
2018
2018 in Review, December 19th
"thank u, next" Is the New Model of Pop Music, December 12th
Why Spotify Will Struggle in India, December 5th
Deezer and Spotify Race to Dubai, November 28th
Numbers Lied Today, Number Will Lie Tomorrow, November 21st
Start Using Amazon Music Before Its Too Late, November 14th
The Nonsense of Spotify's Monthly Listeners Metric, November 7th
Always Read the Contract, Always Read the Fine Print, October 31st
A Closing Note, October 26th
The Oddities of YouTube's Content ID System, October 24th
Spotify's Steps Towards Distribution, October 19th
The Diverging Futures of Pandora & Spotify, October 17th
Does Anyone Still Pirate Music? Yes, Yes, Yes., October 12th
Western Music Streaming Needs a Refresh, Now, October 10th
SiriusXM and Pandora's Deep Advertising Future, October 5th
Apple Music Doesn't Care About Playlists, October 3rd
Spotify Won't Kill Your Job, Part 802, September 26th
A Dive Into the Spotify and YouTube Music App Experience, September 19th
An Interesting Case of YouTube Content ID, September 14th
30,000,000 Million Free Users Can't Be Wrong, September 12th
A Newsletter is Born, September 7th
A Penny Fractions Announcement, September 5th
Phone Bill, Music Bill. Same Thing?, August 29th
Music's Future is a Cell Phone Contract, August 22nd
Scouring Emerging Rap With Google Trends, August 15th
Mild Rumors and Medium Speculation, August 8th
Why is India Caught Between Spotify and Major Labels?, August 1st
Do Playlists Dream of Fake Artists?, July 25th
Billboard Changed The Charts Again, Does It Matter?, July 18th
Apple Owes Drake a Bigger Check, July 11th
Summer Recommendations Edition, July 4th
Nobody These Days is Looking for Content, Content Comes to Them, June 27th
Tidal Waves Come Crashing Down, June 20th
Everyone Is Spotify, Boring Is Everyone, June 13th
Does YouTube Understand Music Yet? Probably Not., June 6th
Rap Beef, Bandcamp, and "Exclusive" Content, May 30th
Does Jay-Z Even Use Tidal?, May 23rd
Spotify: Judge, Jury, and Gatekeeper, May 16th
Why Wouldn't You Sell Spotify Stocks, May 9th
Alexa Play Some Bops, May 2nd
Listen to Your Fans, Not the Platform, April 25th
The Post-Playlist Music Industry, April 18th
24 / 7 YouTube Channels Are Music's Future...Well Sort Of, April 11th
Programming Shift, April 4th
Let's Talk About Spotify, March 28th
Rumors and Speculation, March 21st,
Why, Why, Why are Playlists so Boring, March 14
Why Not Give Twitch a Chance, March 7th
Ad-Rates, Algorithms, and YouTube's Future in Music, Feb 28th
How Many Streams Equals A Music Sheet?, Feb 21st
How to Lose a #1 Song in 24 Hours, Feb 14
Billboard Fights the Algorithm, Feb 7th
Music Streaming's Pivot to Video, Jan 31st
Google, What are the Latest Trends?, Jan 24th
Indie Rock, Major Labels, & Big Streaming, Jan 17th
The Gap Between Fans and the Platform, Jan 10th
Why Do Rappers Love Apple Music, Jan 3rd
2017
Streaming Platforms Need to be Different, Dec 20th
Streaming Toward 2018, Dec 13th
Viral Breakdown: "Gummo", Dec 6th
How Much for a Repost, Nov 29th
Holiday Links Edition, Nov 22th
Media on Media on Media, Nov 15th
The B is for Billions, Nov 8th
Allow Me to Introduce Myself, Nov 6th