Google Lays The Groundwork For Its YouTube Music Key Launch

When Google announced last November that it was rolling out a new YouTube subscription service in 2015, the major questions were when and how much. It now looks like we're getting closer to having at least one of those questions answered if yesterday's email to YouTube content creators is any indication.

While the email doesn't specifically mention the awaited Music Key service, it does lay the groundwork for it, asking its content partners to agree to a new terms-of-use contract that specifically mentions an ad-free subscription version of YouTube.

According to the email:

"We’re excited to build on this momentum by taking another big step in favor of choice: offering fans an ads-free version of YouTube for a monthly fee. By creating a new paid offering, we’ll generate a new source of revenue that will supplement your fast growing advertising revenue."

When the new terms are accessed via the Partner Creator Studio Dashboard, the most significant paragraph is one regarding the split of subscription revenue. Read more on Forbes.

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Apple's New Streaming Service May Have A Rough Start In Europe

Regulators in the European Union may throw a roadblock into Apple's upcoming launch of its new streaming music service.

Reports from both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have sited multiple sources that say that the computer giant is increasingly under examination in Europe in its dealing with record labels. As a result, EU regulators have sent questionnaires to major labels and other streaming services regarding their dealings with Apple.

The supposition is that the tech giant hasn't been entirely truthful with the record labels in the past and regulators want to get to the reality of the situation before the new streaming service is launched. The streaming network is expected to be part of iTunes and is based upon the infrastructure of Beats Music, which Apple purchased last year.

There have been reports that Apple has been pushing the labels hard for a new deal that would enable the company to lower the monthly subscription rate for the upcoming service from the industry standard $9.95 per month to $7.95.

While $4.95 is thought to be the pricing sweet spot, major label licensing deals have made that price point impossible except for limited feature tiers or introductory pricing. Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

At Least For Now The Album Makes A Comeback

The album has taken quite a beating for the last few years, as more and more music consumers gravitate to single songs instead. Last year's total album sales, which counts CD, digital and vinyl formats, dropped 11.2% from the previous year, according to the RIAA. Even digital albums weren't immune, dropping 9.4% as well.

The good news is that at least for one quarter, the album's decline has seen an abrupt turnaround, with digital albums up 2.8%, and overall sales down just 1.8% in quarter 1 of 2015, according to Nielsen Music.

Why the change? Many have pointed to Drake's digital-only album release, If You're Reading This It's Too Late, as a possible impetus for the album sales uptick.

Other's think that the increase can be partially attributed to vinyl's continued resurrection, with sales up yet another 52% over the first quarter of last year at 2.77 million units. The problem with that theory is that the format's impact on total album sales is still minor at less than 5% of sales. See more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Will Vessel Video Service Make The Same Mistake As Tidal?

Even though many in music hate to acknowledge it, YouTube really runs the music business these days. Multiple studies have found that most discovery of new music online is the result of YouTube, and that the percentage of use increases as the age demographic gets younger.

For that reason, YouTube is a big target for new and existing music services alike. Every entrepreneur wants a piece of those total eyeballs. The problem is that many focus on the wrong part of the equation in an effort to get a competitive edge.

Vessel is a new video network started by two former Hulu executives and backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos to the reported tune of $75 million. The service hopes to lure users away from YouTube (especially millennials) by giving its subscribers exclusive access to videos not found anywhere else online for a window of up to 72 hours in return for a monthly fee of $3.

The company seems to be basing its success on a strategy of attracting high quality creators by offering them a better deal than they're currently getting anywhere else. This includes 60% of the subscription fee and up to 70% of the advertising revenue for a video that's released on Vessel before another service.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this means that the revenue could go as high as $50 per 1,000 views, a figure that soars past the $6 per 1,000 paid by Vevo and $2 per 1,000 paid by YouTube.

The generous terms has lead to partnerships with Warner Music Group, A&E Networks and YouTube multichannel networks Machinma and Tastemade, according to a New York Times article. Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

The Lowly CD Still A Big Part Of The Music Business

All of the music industry news for the last year or so has been directed at oncoming music streaming steamroller and the downfall of the music download, but what's interesting is that our good old physical CD still remains a huge part of the music business. The latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music industry's trade group, shows the 2014 sales of the bright and shiny disc at $1.85 billion, or about 27% of the total U.S. recorded music revenue.

There's no denying that CDs are on the way out, with unit sales falling another 16% in 2014 from the previous year. It's true that it's just a matter of time before the format goes the way of the vinyl record (although there's been a recent resurgence), the 8 track tape and the cassette. What's interesting is that the 144.1 million CDs officially reported as sold by the RIAA in 2014 doesn't represent the real total by a long shot.

The CD sales listed in the annual revenue statistics revolve around sales reported via Nielsen Soundscan, the retail system that registers the sale at the point of purchase by scanning the barcode.

While that's most likely the majority of CD sales sold at retailers and online giants like Amazon, it isn't all of them though. CDs sold by artists and bands at their gigs or on their websites aren't counted. Neither are CDs sold at worship events. And of course, bootleg CDs aren't in those totals either. In fact, there's a huge underground economy still based on the CD that just doesn't register on the RIAA's radar.

That said, the CD business is falling and when it finally hits the ground, it won't be able to get back up. In 2014, streaming revenue from services like Spotify and Pandora overtook CD sales for the first time, ringing up $1.87 billion in revenue. Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Big Data Picks This Year's YouTube Music Awards Honorees

We seem to be awash in awards shows these days, and most of them feel like they're packaged especially for TV viewing rather than to honor the nominees (as evidenced by the recent iHeartRadio awards). In fact, many times the winners and performers are picked by anonymous "voters" who just happen to select the acts that are the most popular at the moment and also have the largest potential viewer attraction.

The YouTube Music Awards may be another me-too award, but at least it's selecting its winners in a more modern way - by letting the data do the talking.

The awards event will recognize the site's 50 biggest artists based on the views, subscribers and engagement over the last 6 months on Youtube, which is a pretty good general indicator of popularity.

Among the 50 honorees include artists that you'd probably expect like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, One Direction, Ariana Grande, Beyonce, Hozier, Ed Sheeran, and Brad Paisley, but there's also some off-the-radar choices as well like Pentatonix and Lindsey Stirling, artists that are a product almost exclusively of YouTube.

That said, the 50 award honorees represent the cream of the music crop on the service, collectively garnering over 47 billion views (yes, that's with a "b") so far.

One thing that's going to be a lot different about this year's awards is that it won't consist of what we've come to know as a "show." Even though last year's awards show was anything but traditional in that it was largely one big improvisation (although it was eventually viewed more than 54 million times), this year the network has decided to forgo any vestige of the standard fare we've come to expect from such an event.

Instead, on March 23rd YouTube will receive a one day music makeover, complete with a number of exclusive videos produced by Vice Media. In the meantime, YouTube also has launched a channel just for the awards.

As with the previous YouTube Music Awards, the event is sponsored by Kia.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Jay-Z's Relaunched Tidal To Benefit The Artists That Need It Least

Okay, let me get this straight. Jay-Z’s newly relaunched Tidal streaming music service is supposed to be special because it’s owned by the artists, right? If that’s the only benefit, then it won’t last very long, since the artists with the most to gain are the just the ones that don’t need any more help to begin with. 

During the big rollout last night, there were numerous mentions of the ownership that the first group of artists have in Tidal (reported to be 3% of the company), but let’s look at what that means in terms of benefits to most recording artists and the people who seem to be forgotten in all of this - the potential users of the service.

First of all, the early “investors” in Tidal is a who’s who of A-list music stars like Madonna, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Coldplay, Calvin Harris, Nikki Manaj, Rihanna and Jason Aldean, among others. There’s also supposed to be a second round of ownership available soon to other artists as well.

Here’s the $56 million (the amount payed by Jay-Z to acquire Aspiro, which ownsTidal) question. How does that benefit the potential end users of the service in any way? Do these artists really believe that most people will pay $20 a month for high-resolution audio content that they won’t already pay $10 for? Why would they even buy into the new standard-def $10 per month tier if they can get the songs they want on a free streaming tier of another service or on Youtube? Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

4 Excellent Rules To Stay Out Of Trouble With Your Fans On Facebook

If you're an artist or band and you're on Facebook, you want to make that audience grow and keep them engaged. The problem is that there are right and wrong ways to do this. Choose the wrong way and you either look like a schmuck or even worse, anger your fanbase.

Here are 4 excellent rules to follow on Facebook that will keep you out of trouble with those fans. They're simple and easy, all you have to do is follow them.

1. Don't Like your own post. This just looks bad and doesn't serve any real purpose. It won't help your Like count and it just feels like you're patting yourself on the back for how smart you are. You're not like that, so don't do it.

2. Don't post or tag photos of fans, crew or venue employees without their permission. You might think that the people will be flattered, and that may be true for most, but there's always someone that's there discretely and wants to keep it that way. Just ask permission first. Want to be even safer? Get written permission with a short release form.

3. Don't tag people or pages that aren't relevant to you. This one personally steams me the most. I just hate it when someone tags me in a photo that I wasn't involved with in an effort to get me to check it out. It's just bad form, doesn't accomplish the task, and angers your followers, so don't do it.

4. Don't ask for Likes, Comments, or Share. This one is sort of borderline in that there's an acceptable way and an unacceptable way to do it.
First of all, it's against Facebook's terms to ask for a Like, although people do it all the time. A better way to do this, and also keeps it within FB's terms of use, is through through a Facebook promotions company like Woobox. This allows you to set up contests or giveaways that hopefully will result in more Likes or Shares.
You pay for it, but it's a much more elegant and legal way to accomplish the same thing. As for Comments, the best way to get more is to ask more questions. Works every time.

Follow these rules and you'll not only stay out of trouble with your fans and followers, but look a whole lot more professional in doing so as well.

You can find more social media tips and tricks from my Social Media Promotion for Musicians book.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

People Are Listening To Pandora Less

A recent study has found that people are listening to Pandora less, which is not good news for the beleaguered streaming service. The NuVoodoo Ratings Prospect Study found that there are multiple reasons for people listening less. They are:

• There are more listening choices
• Pandora become too predictable over time
• It's boring
• They can't skip enough songs
• Too many songs I don't like
• The commercials are annoying
• They miss hosts
• There's no local information available

The last two points are interesting because it's been found that the people who like Pandora the most are the ones that are regular broadcast radio listeners as well.

There are those that like Pandora more than broadcast radio though, mostly because:

• The music is better than broadcast radio
• A wider range of music is available
• There are no hosts or DJs interrupting
• Fewer commercials than broadcast radio

Probably the biggest thing to hurt Pandora is the fact that there's just a lot more competition than there was before. The service still has the largest user base of any of the streaming services at over 70 million, but it looks like it's growth has leveled off recently. As a result, Pandora has to fight more than ever to keep the listeners it has.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

7 Tips For A Great Facebook Video

Facebook is really pushing video these days, wanting it to be a major part of the platform and maybe even compete with YouTube before too long. Here are 7 quick tips  from Jackie Cohen at AllFacebook on how to optimize your videos just for Facebook. I've adapted them a bit more for artists and bands.

1. Limit the video footage to 5 minutes or less (way less). The shorter the video, the more plays you'll get. A long video can scare off people who might ordinarily check it out.

2. Create a good thumbnail image for your video. A good thumbnail is like a good cover of a book. It helps get an impulse "buy."

3. Create a catchy or unique title. Just like with a book or magazine article, the title can sell the product. Of course, this is just the same on YouTube.

4. Check out the keywords for similar videos. For example, if your song has a drum solo, you might want to check out what keywords other videos other songs with drum solos use as well.

5. Allow people to share your work. This sounds like a no-brainer, but many artists actually limit the sharing of their video. Let them embed your video on their blog and website if they want. That's how you go viral.

6. Encourage people to rate and review your video. Don't directly ask for a Like, since that's against Facebook's terms of service, but you can ask for comments or a rating.

7. Upload to other video sharing sites. Use OneLoad to post your video on all relevant video sites. It's the quickest and easiest way to do it, and you'd be surprised the number of people who might find it that wouldn't otherwise.

Keep the above tips in mind the next time you post a video on Facebook. They don't take much time but can make a big difference in the number of views that your video ultimately receives.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

4 General Social Media Rules

If we were to look at the various social networks available, we'd find that each is unique enough that the technique for using it is different.

That said, there are a 4 general rules that work across virtually all social networks.

Rule #1. Space your posts out during the day. Regardless of the social network, people hate it when one poster dominates their feed, even for a few minutes. The one exception to that might be during a breaking news event, but even then its best to leave a bit of time for others to be able to post as well.

Rule #2. Respond to comments as quickly as you can. This isn't always possible, but commenters expect and appreciate a timely response.

Rule #3. Understand proper hashtag use. Limit your hashtags to 2 at most. More than that not only make your post difficult to read but is has been found to be ineffective as well.

Rule #4. Entertain and inform your audience first. It's important to promote and market to your audience, but doing it too often turns followers off and will just lead to fan attrition. A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule where you're never promoting more than 20% of the time (and even that can be too much).

These are very simple rules to follow, but sometimes the simple ones can be the most important. Social media is essential to your marketing strategy so be sure to use it to your best advantage.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

A Look At The American Listening Audience

Edison Research and Triton Digital recently released their annual Infinite Dial survey on American media consumption.

As usual uncovered some very interesting data about the audience that hopefully listens to your music. Here are 7 takeaways.

1. 71% of all Americans now have a cell phone, up 10 points from last year. More and more, people consume their media on this platform. 

2. Embattled Pandora is still the leader in music streaming with 54% of online radio listeners. The runners-up are pretty distant, with iHeartRadio at 11%, Spotify at 10% and iTunes Radio at 8%. 

3. Facebook is the most used social network at 65% of those who regularly use social media. 

4. Facebook is even big in the age group that's seeing the most attrition - ages 12 to 24. 43% in that group still use Facebook, handily beating Instagram at 18%, Snapchat at 15%, and Twitter at 8%. 

5. 63% of Americans use YouTube to watch music videos and listen to music. 

6. That number increases to a whopping 90% ages 12 to 24 years old. 

7. 44% of all Americans listen to music online in some form every week.

Media consumption has changed drastically in the last 5 years and continues to change right before our very eyes. One of the keys to your online promotion strategy is knowing your audience, and the above data helps to understand just who the audience for your music is and how they like to consume it.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.