Samsung Spills The Milk With Its New Streaming Service

Just what the world needs, another streaming service. Samsung recently announced that it launched a free online streaming music service that's only available in the US and on its Galaxy phones. The service is called Milk Music, and offers over 200 curated streaming channels free of charge to Samsung customers.

Milk Music is certainly a curious name (although it does bring the widely known “Got Milk?” campaign by the American Dairy Association to mind), but you have to wonder why Samsung would even dream of entering a space with such low margins and high competition. Okay, I can think of some.

First of all, Samsung didn’t have to build the infrastructure for the service, relying instead on Slacker Radio to provide the backbone. This is actually a good strategic move for both parties in that it moves Slacker closer to its major competitor Pandora while Samsung gets Milk users to stay within the controlled Galaxy environment, at least at first. Being powered by Slacker also takes Samsung off the hook for any expensive licensing deals with the labels. That much makes sense.

But that’s where it also gets curious. One of the things about non-interactive radio-style streaming services is that you’re not supposed to be able to skip a song, rewind it, or choose what you want. Milk Music is somewhat of a hybrid in that you get six skips per hour, can choose to “Never Play” a particular song, and can listen to a previously played song from a list of the last 500 aired. This obviously straddles the line between interactive and non-interactive, with each paying a different royalty rate. Are we seeing yet another streaming category emerging? Read more on Forbes.

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Questions To Ask When Choosing A Music Distributor

The easiest way to submit your music to a digital distribution service like iTunes or Spotify is to use what’s known as an aggregator. An aggregation service submits your songs or album to multiple services all over the world, and also collects the royalty for downloads or streams. 

There are more than 40 digital aggregators doing business around the world, but they all fall into two basic categories; they take a percentage of sales or you pay a fee. Examples of services that take a percentage are CD Baby, Louder, Mondotunes and Bandcamp. Services that charge on a per album or song basis include Tunecore and Reverbnation. Some services, like Distrokid, just require a yearly fee for unlimited submissions.

Some questions to ask when comparing services include:

• Do they report to Neilsen Soundscan?
• Do you maintain your rights over your music and publishing?
• How often they provide a sales report?
• How often do they pay?
• What other services do they offer?
• Is there a setup fee for each release?
• Do they supply ISRC codes or barcodes?
• Will you continue to receive royalties if you stop paying the monthly or yearly fee?
• How many outlets do they distribute to?
• Is there a take down fee to remove your songs or album for the service?
• Can they arrange iTunes pre-order sales?
• Are there any additional charges that aren't obvious?

There are a lot of options between aggregators and there is no clear choice between them all. For more information, there are plenty of comparison sites online, but be sure that the service that you choose best suites you needs without any unforeseen surprises.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Too Many Hashtags = Less Engagement

Hashtags have become an almost universal way of presenting a marketing keyword that people can search for. One of the problems though, is that if you use too many, your engagement actually goes down.

I pointed out in the Social Media Promotion for Musicians book that more than 2 hashtags can drop your engagement by over 20%, and now this infographic by Statista.com offers some additional proof - only in this case they found it dropped 30%!

Keep in mind that this applies to Twitter only. Hashtags in any number have proved to be ineffective on Facebook.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

6 Reasons Why Live Concert Streaming Hasn't Taken Off

A few years ago, the technology and bandwidth seemed to have advanced to the point where live concert video streaming from venues large and small would be inevitable. That hasn't happened and there are a number of reasons, as outlined by a recent Billboard article:

1. Production costs. It costs a lot more to produce a live video stream than a live concert recording.

2. Union fees. Ask anyone who's ever dealt with a major venue and they'll tell you about the union fees that are introduced the moment a camera appears.

3. The bandwidth isn't there yet. Surprisingly, you can't always get the upload bandwidth needed to support a live stream, and many times when you can it's way too expensive.

4. Promoters are afraid. They think that it will prevent people from attending the show.

5. It's the same show. Most acts have a show that's pretty much the same every night. There's very little reason for someone to purchase a live stream more than once. Plus, it may prevent a fan from actually attended the show when it comes to town since they've already seen it.

6. Ownership. For small venues, the issue of licensing fees and ownership of the product become a huge issue. Who owns the product? Who pays the publishing? Can cover songs be cleared in a timely fashion?

Live concert streaming looked like it might become a major new income stream a few years ago, but as with many technologies, just because it's possible doesn't necessarily mean there's a business there.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

10 Things Never To Say On Stage

How you conduct your business on stage can be the difference whether you're perceived as an amateur or as a pro. Performers without a lot of experience tend to use a number of phrases when things go bad on stage that just make things worse. The also rely of some very worn-out cliches are that are better left unsaid.

Here's a list of 10 things to never say on stage by Ari Herstand that recently appeared on Digital Music News. I'm just going to repeat the phrases; you can follow the link for the more complete explanations.

1. "We're having technical difficulties."

2. "I forgot the lyrics."

3. "I want to thank my girlfriend."

4. "I'm sorry."

5. "Your city sucks."

6. "This song is about my Granda who died of cancer. Love you Nana."

7. "I'm broke."

8. "You guys suck."

9. "Any requests?"

10. "How does it sound?"

Here's the best advice:

• Don't acknowledge mistakes
• Don't insult your audience
• Don't insult your band, crew or soundman
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your audience
• Don't look lost on stage

Performing is a muscle and it takes exercising just like anything else. The more you do it, the better you get. If you follow the advice and stay away from the above cliches, you'll be way ahead of the game.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.