5 Legal Requirements Every Email Newsletter Must Have

You may not know it, but there are a number of things that are legally required in every email newsletter that you send out. While most email services automatically address these, it's still important to know what they are and why they're enforced in the first place.

Here are the 5 legal requirements that every email newsletter must have, which have been excerpted from my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book

"While it may seem that it’s entirely up to you about what’s contained in your email, be aware that every mass email blast that you send now requires several things by law. These are:

1. Easy opt-out: You have to provide an easy way for subscribers to unsubscribe if they want. Once a subscriber opts out, you then have 10 days to stop sending them messages (although most expect it to happen immediately), and the unsubscribe option needs to be available for at least 30 days after the e-mail is sent. Most ESPs will automatically remove the address to a “do not send” list if the subscriber chooses to unsubscribe.

2. Identify your topic: The subject line of your e-mails has to clearly and accurately identify the content of the e-mail. Any misleading or bogus subject lines are construed as spam.

3. Return address: You have to include a legitimate return email address, as well as a valid postal address. Some ESPs even make you include a phone number. If you don’t want people to know your home info (I don’t want to broadcast it myself), open up a PO box, and get a Google Voice number if a phone number is required.

4. No email address harvesting: You can’t collect addresses from chat rooms, discussion forums, or blog comments. Once again, people must opt-in and give you permission to send something to them.

5. You can’t offer a reward for forwarding: You can invite subscribers to “forward this newsletter to a friend,” but you can’t entice them to do so with offers of money, coupons, discounts, awards, or additional entries in a giveaway. 

Remember that spam is a serious business. It’s not only bad form, but you could be held legally liable as well."

You can read more from Social Media Promotion For Musicians and my other books on the excerpt section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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A Radio Format That Cuts Songs In Half

Here's a trend that's either great or horrible, depending upon how you look at it. A few years ago a new radio format appeared with the main purpose of fitting more songs per hour onto the playlist.

How's that done? By editing the songs so they're about 1/2 to 2/3rds their normal release length.

The format is called Quickhitz and its slogan is "twice the music in half the time." It promises to play 24 song per hour as a result.

Some examples include:

Lorde, “Team,” 1:52 (vs. 3:32) 

Clean Bandit, “Never Be,” 2:23 (vs. 3:45) 

Magic!, “Don’t Kill The Magic,” 2:13 (vs. 3:39) 

Iggy Azalea, “Fancy,” 2:07 (vs. 3:16)

JRDN, “Can’t Choose,” 2:20 (vs. 3:57) 

Sam Smith, “Stay With Me,” 2:02 (vs. 2:53)

Marianas Trench, “Pop Music 101,” 2:11 (vs. 4:07)

Zedd. “Clarity,” 2:00 (vs. 3:56)

The format hasn't exactly caught on, and where it's been implemented there's been substantial backlash, although mostly from artists on the playlist and not the public.

If you're an artist you can look at this format two ways - If there are more slots on the playlist, there's more chance for new music to find a place, or, "You're messing with my art by editing it."

As for the latter, that might not be a great argument since radio has had specially edited songs for 50 years to fit in the format.

So while you may not hear Quickhitz on one of your local radio tomorrow, the next time you do hear a station that seems to be playing more songs than normal, you know what you're listening to.

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China Now Fighting Online Music Piracy

China has always been a tantalizing music market for Western artists, songwriters, labels and publishers alike. On one hand you look at the huge population, some of which craves Western music. On the other you look at the fact that there's probably nowhere else where piracy is so rampant and overlooked.

That may all change soon as the Chinese government has finally taken steps to crack down on piracy and encourage licensed content.

China's National Copyright Administration ordered 2.2 million songs removed from online platforms last week in an effort to bolster China's legitimate music business.

That's because some of China's largest companies like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are all now in the music streaming business, and of course, want to make money at it.

There are more than 100 pirate music sites currently in China, but if the larger companies increase the number of legitimately licensed tracks that are offered via a free tier, many of pirates would most likely not be able to compete.

The long term game here is that only the largest companies with licensed content will be able to offer free music along with other services (Tencent offers mobile phone service, for instance).

We're not sure exactly what the appetite for Western music beyond the major hits is in China yet, but it looks like soon we're going to be able to measure it via real licensed content.

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SoundExchange Becomes A Major Source Of Online Revenue

When non-profit SoundExchange first started in 2000 its royalty payouts were so small that they were only rounding errors on most copyright owner and artists income statements. Today that's all changed as the service recently announced that it sent out $1 billion in royalty payments last year alone.

This is quite an achievement since it took SoundExchange 10 years to reach the first billion in payouts but two years for the second. In fact, last year the royalties paid by the organization accounted for about 16% of the American music industry's total income.

So where does the money come from? SoundExchange collects money only from digital radio, with the bulk of it coming from SiriusXM and Pandora. As a result, the organization has now become one of the major PROs along with ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.

After deducting about 4.6% to cover its operating expenses, the organization sends 50% to the copyright holder (usually the record label), 45% to the featured artist and performers, and 5% to a special fund for session musicians and backup singers.

What's significant here is that artists actually get paid for radio airplay, unlike terrestrial radio where only the publisher and songwriter get paid.

If you're an indie musician and you're getting airplay on digital radio, there may be some money waiting for you in escrow. Sign up at SoundExchange today.

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Label Exec Shan Dan Horan On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

I met Shan Dan Horan a few years ago on a conference panel that we were both on and I was immediately impressed how much he felt the pulse of the current music scene.

At that point he was head of new media (meaning all the online activities) for the Century Media label, and today Shan Dan's the VP of operations for the big indie label Artery Recordings.

On the podcast we talk all about artist promotion online, the trends he sees as well as the mistakes that artists make and some of the things they can do to really raise their profiles.

On the intro I discuss how Amazon Prime Music is becoming a big streaming source while staying under the radar, and the demise of New York City's famous Music Row.

Remember that you can find the podcast at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or either on iTunes or Stitcher.

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Apple Music Up To 11 Million Users

The initial figures are in and after about a month, the number of Apple Music subscribers is up to 11 million, according to Apple.

While this may seem like a prodigious start to the service, that figure may be moot since all users are still within the 90 day trial period. The number that actually sign up for service after the trial ends will determine its success.

That said, industry insiders predict that the service will end up with around 20 million paying customers by the end of the year by virtue of the fact that iTunes already has 850 million accounts, complete with credit cards, and many of these are fans that automatically sign on to the latest offerings from the company.

Another reason is that Apple makes the service difficult to miss, as it's registration is front and center upon an operating system update if you've not already subscribed.

Apple Music's $15 a month Family Plan may be its greatest feature however, and while no official figures have been given, it's been reported that around 2 million have already signed up. The Family Plan provides separate accounts for up to 6 family members under the same $15 per month fee.

All that being said, Spotify continues to roll along with 75 million users, 20 million of which subscribe to the $9.95 per month premium tier.

Can Apple Music get people to change from Spotify or any of the other services? Industry pundits say that's difficult, as once a user has made a choice of services they're not likely to try another. Apple Music offers features the like Beats 1 global radio station that other services don't have though, so the logic of the past doesn't necessarily apply going forward.

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Muzooka - The One Stop Submission Engine

It's always been difficult to get new music in front of industry professionals and maybe that's the way it should be in order to keep the quality bar high. That being said, most managers, agents, producers, label execs and producers are daily faced with a heap of email and physical press releases, CDs, videos, links, bios, and anything else trying to get their attention by up and coming artists.

Muzooka, a startup submission engine aiming to make the discovery process easier for both artists and industry pros, wants to change all that.

The beauty is that artists upload their music to the intended pro's account, and then highlight any 10 second clip that they feel will garner attention. The music pro can then sift through numerous submissions quickly without having to go outside to YouTube or Soundcloud, or even listen to a CD.

The platform is gaining some traction with a wide variety of industry pros, such as Epic Records A&R EVP Sha Money, producers Rodney Jerkins and Tony Maserati, and venues like The Basement in Nashville. Radio is also on board with Nashville radio station Lightning 100, and long-time music editor and KCRW radio host Chris Douridas.

The best part of Muzooka is that it's free for both artists and industry pros, unlike other services like Reverbnation and Sonic Bids that offer similar features.

This can definitely be a very cool and helpful service if it catches on industry wide.

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A Look At Facebook's Big Video Problems

At over 4 billion video views a day, Facebook now claims that more people watch videos on the platform than on YouTube.

That figure may be deceiving however, as it's come to light that the social network has a much less stringent method of valuing a view than YouTube does.

For instance, Facebook counts almost anything as a view, regardless of how long a person watches, or even if they watch with the sound off.

YouTube doesn't count a view as a "view" until around the 30 second mark, or a sufficient amount of time has past to signal real engagement.

As you can imagine, this has lead both creators and advertisers to look at Facebook video views as far less valuable than on YouTube.

Another major problem for the network is that it has no way of monetizing a video, so a content creator with millions of views won't earn a penny. Even worse, there's no Content ID-like system akin to YouTube where you can monitor if anyone else is using your copyrighted material.

The one thing Facebook Video does have going for it is that it currently favors videos over all other content, and therefore pushes it out to 100% of your following, as compared to posts, which currently are seen by 2 to 3% if you don't pay to promote it.

Facebook is too large and too smart to let these problems stand for long, so look for either workarounds or true fixes soon. In the meantime, don't take the view count too seriously.

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Here's Where To Put Your Social Media Promotion Energy

I'm frequently asked the question of which social networks to concentrate on, and the answer is a moving target. Social networks tend to trend and wane, and we're see that right now with two of them.

Take a look at the following infographic by WebpageFX. It shows that Twitter is stagnant at best while Snapchat is quickly on the rise, as is Instagram. Of course, Facebook is still the 800 gorilla of social media but you have to pay for most of your exposure these days.

If I were just starting fresh with my social media promotion, Snapchat would be high on the list of networks to concentrate on, followed closely by Instagram.

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What The Launch Of Amazon Acoustics Could Mean

While Apple, Spotify and Google/YouTube get all the hype when it comes to streaming music these days, Amazon Prime is keeping a surprisingly low profile. Everyone who's an Amazon Prime user also gets Prime Music as an added benefit, which is frequently overlooked.

While it seems that the online retail giant isn't all that interested in the streaming music business, there are signs that it's not ignoring it either.

For instance, it just introduced the Amazon Acoustics collection as an exclusive feature for its Prime members. There are 30 recordings available from artists like Joshua Radin, Surfer Blood, Jessie Baylin and Tokyo Police Club that are available via the Amazon Music app on iOS and Android devices, Amazon's connected Echo speaker, or online at the Prime Music website.

The company also recently released the Grammy-nominated Transparent soundtrack album as well as it's own Christmas album featuring artists like Liz Phair, The Flaming Lips, and Yoko Ono.

Plus it's new Amazon Studios arm just beat out Netflix to put together a show with the Top Gear team to the tune of $250 million.

So watch out for Amazon Prime. It's overlooked by many, but it has some muscle to change the dynamics of the streaming music business if it ever chooses to do so.

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Film And Television Composer Rich Walters On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

On this episode of my Inner Circle podcast, I'm pleased to have television and film composer Rich Walters as my guest.

Rich has been nominated for 2 Emmys and and 2 Canadian Screen awards, and his most recent credits include the Sci-Fi Network show Olympus, and the feature film Chappie (with Hans Zimmer).

He'll tell us what it's like to be a composer on major projects yet live outside of Los Angeles, as well as what a music editor does, a job that many not in the post business find completely mysterious.

In the intro I'll take a look at how music sales are up all over the world, the new Soundcloud subscription service, Rode's purchase of Aphex and Guitar Center being sued by the National Labor Relations Board.

Remember that you can find the podcast at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or either on iTunes or Stitcher.

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Smartphones And Concerts Are Tied At The Hip

If you’re like me you’re probably wondering why everyone is looking down at their phones during a concert instead of at the action on stage, but it’s something that’s becoming more the norm and will probably be increasing in the future. And that, it turns out, is going to be a good thing for artists, bands and brands everywhere.

According to an article in Billboard by Donnie Dinch, Ticketfly (the online ticket source where Donnie is General Manager of Consumer) tasked Harris Interactive to conduct a poll asking how people used their phones during a concert or event. What they discovered is beyond interesting.

First of all, 31% of Millennials (18 to 34 year olds) use their phones for half the concert or longer, while only 15% say they never touch it while there. That’s a lot of time to be looking at a small display while the main event is happening in real life, so what are they doing exactly?

It turns out that most of those phones are being used for recording the show, but not so much as a historical document as stoking the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) fires of their friends. This applies to 40% of the females (as compared to 24% of males), who also share their posts on social media 59% of the time.

All interesting, and maybe a little sad, but the fact of the matter is that there’s a large number of attendees glued to their phone, yet hardly anyone is actively taken advantage of it.

This could come soon thanks to the new Bluetooth beacon technology that companies like Apple and Marriott are employing which automatically send push notifications to smartphones in the vicinity, providing the users with product information, flash sales or deals. With a few well-placed beacons around a venue, there could be an opportunity to sell some merch in a fast and easy way. Read more on Forbes.

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