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IMSTA Blog

IMSTA 2024 Songwriting Competition Winner.

Party Department - “Drunk Not in Love” feat. Hayden Ryan

December 09, 2024.

We would like to congratulate Max Pilchner (left) and Jonny Bojin (right), known as Party Department, for winning the IMSTA 2024 Songwriting Competition Finals. Their song “Drunk Not in Love” feat. Hayden Ryan is a true banger with so many checkboxes ticked. Starting from the top with the perfect modern intro, and then BAM—you're in, hooked, and keen for the ride. Dance floor-worthy and viral streaming-ready, this track had most of the judges nodding their heads. Best of all, the tiny details and perfect build made it so compelling that you instantly wanted to hit repeat once it finished. Job well done. Party Department was formed as a result of their love of collaboration with like-minded artists who bring different flavors to the pot. It would be the sole mission of this institution to bring balance back to the dance floor.




Press Releases – Dos and Don’ts

President of Wall Street Communications | Kitty Higinbotham

March 14, 2024.

Whether you’re promoting a new project or single, celebrating an artist signing with a label, or announcing an upcoming tour, a press release is a great way to spread the word. Offering all the information relevant for your target audience, a press release can be an indispensable tool for gaining recognition, boosting credibility, and making connections with the right people. Here are a few quick dos and don’ts when crafting a press release.

Find a Strong Hook
Your press release should be based on a compelling and timely topic. As you start out, think to yourself, “Why should the reader care?” Are you highlighting a collaboration that fans will find exciting? Is your tour bringing a unique sound to new places? Build your copy around this story.

Format and Structure
Start with the who, what, when, where, and why of the news release, and summarize it in a headline that’s both informative and engaging. It should be concise, clear, and interesting enough that a reader will want to keep reading. A safe bet in terms of formatting is to capitalize major words, but lowercase conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, yet, or), articles, and prepositions.

Focused on your “hook,” your first paragraph should provide a concise overview of the news. When you move on to the body, you can add a quote — your chance to add subjective comments from a key player in the story — and then elaborate in subsequent paragraphs by including further details about the announcement, ideally from most to least important. Conclude by providing your contact information for anyone seeking further detail.

Avoid Common Mistakes
As tempting as it may be, don’t use first (I) or second person (you) voice as you write. Rather, stick to third person, just as a newspaper journalist would. Make it easy for an editor to copy your content and publish it with minimal changes. To that end, reserve all caps for acronyms or proper nouns. Leave out lengthy sections providing background, or shorten to the essentials. Avoid repetition; mix up your word choice, but don’t get flowery with your writing. And finally, don’t forget to provide access to images, which help to boost coverage and reader interest. Include relevant URLs, as well, for readers seeking even more detail.

A well-crafted press release can help you establish valuable relationships with media outlets and journalists. Use this powerful tool right, and it will help you to gain visibility and reach a wider audience.

https://www.wallstcom.com/




Nicolaas Deiker Joins the IMSTA Board

Avid’s Vice President of Global Channel Sales & Programs | Paul Fattahi

December 13, 2023.

It is with great pleasure that we extend a warm welcome to Nicolaas Deiker, who joins us as the newest member of the IMSTA Board of Directors. As Avid’s Vice President of Global Channel Sales & Programs, Nicolaas brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our esteemed board. With a personal passion for music and audio, Nicolaas has built a career dedicated to bringing new media technologies to creative people working in music, post, film, broadcast and live sound.

Approaching 25 years with Avid, Nicolaas has participated in helping the company and its resellers keep pace with ongoing industry transformation to ensure that flagship brands like Pro Tools, Sibelius, VENUE and many others are advancing the creative workflows and accomplishments of celebrated professionals and aspiring artists alike.

His subject matter expertise derives from progressive experience spanning roles in customer success, product management and sales, culminating today with a focus on subscription delivery of media technologies and digital enablement of the company’s strategy partners, customers and distribution channels. In his free time, “Nico” exercises his creative ambitions as an electronic music producer and studio gear collector, photographer and enthusiastic mixologist.

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Nicolaas as we look forward to working together to advance the goals and objectives of the music software community.




Welcoming Clyde Sendke

Managing Director of Steinberg Joins the IMSTA Board of Directors | Paul Fattahi

December 5, 2023.

We are happy to announce the newest addition to the IMSTA Board of Directors, Clyde Sendke. With a wealth of experience and a proven track record in the music software industry, Clyde brings invaluable insights and strategic vision to our board. Being at Steinberg for over twenty years now, Clyde knows the business very well, having worked in different departments and hence obtaining a profound understanding of oversight.

Starting out in a temporary position in the late ’90s, Clyde soon became a full-time member at the Hamburg-based music software development company, heading the technical support service team from 2000 until 2007. The next big step in his career saw him transition to the product planning department of which he became the director in 2009. During his tenure at product planning, Steinberg’s product portfolio grew steadily, reaching a new level of international awareness. After the company restructured in 2018, Clyde took on responsibility to run the entire Markets Group, consisting of three key business units, MI, Scoring and Pro Audio.

In April 2023, Clyde was then appointed new managing director of Steinberg and has successfully taken on this new challenge, bringing great expertise to the table that also includes a fresh injection of enthusiasm and passion for the business. Please join us in welcoming Clyde as we look forward to achieving new milestones together.




The Piracy Theory

Understanding the Three Groups of Music Software Consumers | Paul Fattahi

November 22, 2023.

In its efforts to educate music software users about the negative effects of software piracy, the International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA), has classified music software users into 3 categories: A Group, B Group, and C Group. The A Group buys all their software products. The B Group buys some software legally but also uses unauthorized software from time to time. The C Group consistently opts for illegal versions and refuses to use legitimate copies.

IMSTA's perspective is to applaud the ethical practices of the A Group, provide education to the B Group, and disregard the C Group. There are enforcement organizations that can deal with the C Group – not IMSTA. In this article, we explore the characteristics of each group and delve into IMSTA's stance on how to engage with each category.

The A Group comprises conscientious consumers who choose to purchase all their software products legally. These individuals contribute to the thriving ecosystem of music software by supporting developers and ensuring the sustainability of the industry. IMSTA applauds the A Group for their commitment to ethical practices, considering them vital contributors to the continued evolution of music software technology.

Sitting at the intersection of legality and unauthorized use, the B Group represents those who buy some software legally while resorting to illegal versions for others. IMSTA recognizes the importance of educating this group, raising awareness about the implications of software piracy and encouraging a transition towards always buying the software they use.

Beyond the economic and practical aspects, music software piracy raises ethical and legal concerns. Engaging in piracy violates copyright laws and undermines the principles of fairness, equity, and respect for intellectual property. As users, it is essential to understand and respect the value of creative work and the laws that protect them – hence supporting the developers who bring music software to life.

The C Group consists of individuals who exclusively utilize illegal copies of software, showing no inclination towards using legal versions. While these users present a challenge to the industry due to their reluctance to comply with legal standards, IMSTA choses a realistic approach – ignoring the C Group. Instead of investing resources in trying to convert this group, IMSTA focuses on celebrating the positive contributions of the A Group and educating the B Group to promote a culture of legality.




A Melody of Consequences

The Hidden Costs of Music Software Piracy | Paul Fattahi

July 5, 2023.

Music software piracy is the unauthorized distribution and use of copyrighted music software. In an era dominated by technology, the appeal of obtaining music software without paying for it remains strong for some. However, it is essential to understand the detrimental effects of music software piracy on creators, the industry, and the overall creative ecosystem.

Music software piracy directly affects the livelihoods of software developers, as these individuals invest significant time, resources, and expertise into crafting innovative software tools that empower artists and musicians. Engaging in software piracy results in lost revenues for developers, which discourages further innovation and growth in the music software industry.

Piracy also undermines the fundamental principle of intellectual property rights. Software developers, just like the artists that use their products, have the right to control how their creations are distributed and used. Piracy promotes an environment where creativity and innovation are undervalued. Music creators are also producing intellectual property and should be respectful of the intellectual property belonging to others.

Pirated music software comes without any technical support and may also contain malicious code or viruses, posing security risks to users' computers and compromising their personal information. Moreover, software updates, bug fixes, and customer support are critical components of the legitimate software experience. By resorting to piracy, users miss out on these essential benefits.

Beyond the economic and practical aspects, music software piracy raises ethical and legal concerns. Engaging in piracy violates copyright laws and undermines the principles of fairness, equity, and respect for intellectual property. As users, it is essential to understand and respect the value of creative work and the laws that protect them – hence supporting the developers who bring music software to life.

In conclusion, music software piracy undermines creativity and hampers revenue, growth, and innovation. Pirated software lack support, pose security risks, and violate copyright laws. Music software users must value and support the creative work of developers. By doing so, we contribute to a sustainable and vibrant music software industry. Do the right thing—buy the software you use.




Stay Relevant to Your Fanbase

Be Obsessed with Doing, Not the Done! | Clint Ward | Audience Management

March 21, 2023.

After deeply observing the evolution of today's music industry, I created an adage that simply says: authenticity is your brand and being prolific in the business. For me, there is so much truth packed into that aphorism. The one trait in common with most successful music artists making art money or even mainstream money is “prolificness”. There is nothing new about this. Art history is littered with examples. Van Gogh, Shakespeare, and the Beatles were relentless in being prolific. One could say it's a tried and true habit of dedicated artists. So why bring it up? Why state the obvious?

I believe the music industry has evolved and the opportunities have changed. For instance, the one-hit-wonder is no longer worth as much as it once was. In the days of selling singles, it could make someone rich, and we call it a one-hit-wonder because most times it was the pinnacle of that artist's output. It was the one time their creativity exploded and then they faded into obscurity, usually milking that moment for all its worth. A one-hit-wonder today would equal millions of streams but unless there was some depth of catalog or follow-up releases of new music, those millions of streams across a relatively short period would never match the revenues generated by selling the single in the past. A one-hit-wonder in today's streaming world is a fantastic launching pad or accelerator but if there is nothing else, fans will move on quickly.

The opportunities have shifted, and they now reward freedom of expression. Anyone with the desire to create, can make music at a high level in their bedroom and release it to the world with zero barriers. The amount of music available today is almost endless. The mainstream is still king of the hill in releasing commercially promising music. They will continue to develop artists, hire the best writers, producers, mix and mastering engineers. There are reasons they're making a lot of money. Yet, even mainstream artist knows they need to be prolific in this age. When you move down to the new Middle Class of the music industry, being prolific is everything. First, you have zero barriers to reaching fans but once you find them, you must keep them. One single or EP/LP will not sustain engagement with a fanbase. Without the power of the mainstream, you need to fight to stay current and relevant to your fans. Being prolific is now the business.

New music is hard to write so remember, being prolific is not just composing original music. It also includes re-purposing and re-using your existing catalog. It can mean covers, social content and creative videos. As long as it's an expression of your art, prolific can mean a great many things. At the core is original new music but successful artists in this era have found many ways to diversify their expressions to maximize engagement.

Freedom has inspired authenticity. For young listeners, there is a boundless amount of musical choices, and I've observed young ears are attracted to original and innovative music. When we look back at the great artists in history, it's obvious the path to authenticity is in creative repetition. Thankfully for those that consume new art, creators will create, writers will write and every day a new story wants to be told, even when there isn't enough money to go around. Yet, against the odds, many artists do find enough fans to sustain them. It might be art money instead of rock star money, but thousands have hundreds of thousands of fans that sustain them. So what do they do to keep a sticky fanbase?

The common thread is they’re all obsessed with the doing and not the done. Every day, I encounter an emerging or novice artist that has something done. They have a released song and it's getting streams. They become obsessed with this completed piece of art. There is nothing wrong with this but it's apparent their energy is hyper-focused on the past. All of the successful artists I have observed are more obsessed with creating or what I call the doing. It's the creative process in the future that drives them. It's the passionate need to tell a new story. To be enthralled by the magic of inspiration and a desire to express. All these prolific artists know they must pay homage once the expression is complete. After the new music is released, they go on tour to promote the new art. They also know that showing respect and working hard promoting the done, will attract new fans to their catalog. Many of them use this time to inspire their next expression and almost all of them talk about getting back to the creative process. I call this the Coachella Cycle simply because many artists write in the winter months and then start their tours in the spring. Coachella is the launching pad for the festival season. Most emerging artists work on a one-year cycle but as their following grows this can shift to a two-year cycle.

So, if you're a novice music creator or emerging artist ask yourself this, are you obsessed with the doing or more with the done? If you dwell too much on what you have completed in the past, it will put your future in jeopardy. A playwright once said to me "it's not what you do that counts it's what you finish. Finish often." Being prolific is the business and if you want to stay relevant to your fanbase, be obsessed with doing, not the done!




The Growing Middle Class of the Music Industry

Eight Billion Dollars in Art Money | Clint Ward | Audience Management

March 08, 2023.

I am a glass-half-full kinda guy. Much of my rosy view of the music industry comes from the 'consumer' side of the Value Gap. For those that don't know, the Value Gap is a well-known industry term depicting the consumer getting the lion's share of the value in the streaming era. $120 a year for all the music in the world. Really? With the other side of the Value Gap in mind, let's get some realities on the table about the current music industry. With sixty thousand new tracks added daily to music DSPs, and up to 100 million songs in Apple Music, there is simply not enough royalty money to go around. Even though 2022 will be another historical high in music recording revenues, it's never been harder to get heard, let alone make a living as a musical artist.

There, I said it. It's brutal out there.

Yet, sixty thousand new songs are uploaded to the music DSPs every day! You can attribute this to the low cost of creating, recording and mastering original music and the proliferation of Music Aggregators such as CD Baby or Tune Core. There are zero barriers to releasing music. No label is required. With all of this in mind, there is now ultimate freedom to release whatever music you can imagine. Thankfully for all of us, creators just need to create. The question then becomes is anyone making money? For the vast majority of artists, there is a small expectation of making much money. Also, most music creators are incidental in their expression and sporadic in their releases. They are not full-time artists. Still, there are thousands of what I call Active Artists. For this group, a better question might be, what is the expectation of money? In my observations, most Active Artists have this belief that being successful in the industry is when you're making Rock Star Money. In my opinion, this is a holdover from the boom years of selling units and it's an unrealistic expectation in the streaming era.

We know the big three labels own 70% of the music recording revenues. This is where Rock Star Money is still made. This Mainstream is the pinnacle of the music world. Think of it as a giant iceberg. In the 1960/70/80s, most of the iceberg was visible above the water line. In today's business, the Mainstream is still visible but it's now the very tip of the iceberg. Most of the new music being released is largely hidden, below the visibility line. This category has a couple of names but the one that is rising in prominence is Artist Owned. This is the fastest-growing category in the Music Recording Industry and where the remaining thirty percent of the revenues reside. In 2021 this was upwards of eight billion dollars made by a collection of Medium to Small Labels, Indy Labels, DIY, pure INDY and Artist Owned music. This is the new Middle Class in the Music Recording Industry. It's artistically significant, is not part of the Main Stream, and it’s where Art Money is made.

Perhaps we need to change how we measure success in the music industry. Rock Star Money is rare, but Art Money is attainable for thousands. There have never been more avenues and opportunities to make Art Money. Thousands of artists are part of the Music Middle Class. Just look at any Coachella poster on any given year. The majority of the small font artists are part of this Middle Class. Look to your city's small and medium size live venues. This is where they come to play. I believe success in the new streaming era is any artist finding their engagement formula to sustain a living. To me, the Middle Class is where the majority of innovation is happening. It's the free zone, the brave place, and the crazy place. If you dig into the richness of the music found Off the Mainstream, you soon realize, it's a good place to be.




Hacking Music Paralysis

Music Paralysis (Part 4 - Conclusion) | Clint Ward | Audience Management

February 22, 2023.

There are many articles you can google to explain why we have Music Paralysis. The simplest answer is that we're hardwired to have it. Between the ages of ten and twenty-five, our brains experience rapid neurological development. Hearing music during that time releases a super shot of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other chemicals that make us feel good. There is another theory called the 'reminiscence bump' where memories are deepest as we 'emerge to become a stable and enduring version' of ourselves. There is also the 'mere exposure effect,' where hearing something over and over burns in the memory. We listened to a lot of music when we were young, and this fed our nostalgia for later years. All of these reasons merge into the same conclusion. Music Paralysis is real and it's a pretty natural thing. This is why I never object to it and why I like to call it 'Nostalgia Lock' or another term I just learned 'Neural Nostalgia'. These are more positive and can potentially unlock your new music listening potential.

After understanding the reasons, here comes my big question. All the articles, surveys and studies are using music as the subject of the condition.

So why is it that we don't have Movie Paralysis? Art Paralysis? Or TV Paralysis?

Yes, all of these other art mediums will trigger 'Neural Nostalgia' but we're not as locked as we are with music. For example, much of our society, in a wide range of age groups, still line up for new movies, TV shows and Netflix mini series. Almost everyone is open to new visual art. This is why Music Paralysis really got me thinking. Why do we get deeply locked with the 'music' we grew up on?

As we evolved as a species, we become cooperative. Many millennia ago, we learned that ganging together increased our survival odds. The development of language became a natural evolution. Working as a cohesive unit with complex language put humanity on the top of the food chain pretty quick. This was the beginning of using Oral History. We created stories and then passed them down to increase our survival odds. Oral History/Tradition is interactive, performative, and dynamic. Sound like music?

Here is a WIKI excerpt: "Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or poetry. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system."

Written Tradition is still ancient but until the printing press, it was not the most common way we told stories. Recorded visual media like movies and TV shows really just happened yesterday when we zoom out the historical optics.

I am postulating that it's because we lived with Oral Tradition for so long as a sentient species, that Music Paralysis exists more uniquely than other visual mediums. Consider this, what would be the perfect age range needed to really learn the secrets of survival and retain hard won tribal knowledge? I would say between the ages of ten to twenty-five years old. This is the rough decade in which what we hear must get ingrained to never be forgotten and increases the odds of survival. It's a Darwinian detail that has served humanity is countless ways. Oral History through story telling could be seen as the ultimate spark in humans developing an artistic mind. Then, as we become tribal elders, these needed and deeply engrained stories had to be passed to our children. This is why 'Music Paralysis' is more than just 'Neural Nostalgia'. We are nostalgic on many things from our youth, but sound and the fundamental human tradition of passing our knowledge down orally, has manifested itself in the music we love and remember.

I hope you have enjoyed this short series on Music Paralysis or what I prefer to call Nostalgia Lock. If you engage with music art in any form, then job done. I still have deep nostalgia for the music I soaked up during my formative years and had mild Nostalgia Lock for most of my life. Over six years ago I embraced the crazy value of using a music subscription, and in frustration thought the 'mainstream' would serve me the same music experience as it did when I was young. Sources such as radio in all its forms, mainstream promotion, video, and now playlists. I was completely Nostalgia Locked and aggravated by the lean back and wait mode. The passive element of playlists had promise but everything changed when I stopped waiting for new music and started hunting for it. As I often drone on about, I 'fell off the mainstream' and became a lean-in listener. There are sixty thousand tracks uploaded each day to the streaming DSP's. What are the odds all of it is terrible? For six years I have never stopped finding interesting musical artists and in doing so, it has shattered my Music Paralysis and made me 18 years old all over again. I truly believe we now live in the second golden age of recorded music.




Hacking Music Paralysis

Music Paralysis (Part 3) | Clint Ward | Audience Management

February 15, 2023.

You're a hard-working artist and have released some singles, a couple EP's and now your debut LP. You have a following and have started to play IRL (in real life). Your music is original but derivative of your influences. Most of your fans have found you organically and that has sustained your emerging efforts. Now you want to grow your fanbase and expand your audience. Below I will list some of the most common tactics I have observed that artists use to hack the psychology of Music Paralysis and ignite their appeal across a wider range of age groups. If you are a music lover and have finally realized you have Music Paralysis, I will also offer a quick list of habits that may allow you to slay that dragon.

These 'Hacks' are in no specific order, are made from basic observations, and they're common.

The classic 'artists' playlist. I often see well-known and unknown artists create a playlist of music they like or was influential to them. This is a simple way to draw a wider range of fans into your creative world. If any of the artists you featured trigger a nostalgic feeling, that potential fan will be inclined to play the passive playlist. It's expected you add your own tracks to the playlist. When potential fans hear your music adjacent to something familiar, they will generally hear your music with young ears. You have related your music to their nostalgia and this hacks the psychology of Music Paralysis.

Covers and more covers. This tactic has exploded over the past decade. Paid music subscriptions have started to accelerate within older age groups. We all have smart phones, so it's hard to ignore the benefits plus the simplicity of audio over Bluetooth or WIFI. It's also no mystery these "older fans" aren't looking for new Music. They are spinning their existing collections. Basically, the same music they have in CD or Vinyl. Covers are the perfect low energy way for an emerging artist to amp up their accessibility.  First, there are thousands of fantastic songs from the past. No need to write a new song (which is hard to do). Also, compulsory licensing makes it easy. Just inform the publisher and check the correct boxes for royalties if you plan to make hard copies. If you are just streaming the cover then all the aggregator services like TuneCore and CD Baby know what is needed for all the royalty splits to get taken care of.  If the cover goes viral, then the original song will also rise with that tide. Hence the composing artist or rights holder will generally welcome and approve whatever permissions that are needed. Covering a classic song is just good business, especially if you are at the ground floor and want to widen your appeal. Notable artists for me that do this are Larkin Poe and emerging superstar Lizzy McAlpine. I could go deeper on this one but suffice it to say, doing a cover is a good content generator and expands your appeal. Especially if that cover has a stylistic dotted line to your music and your authentic voice can re-interpret the original song. Covers are a primary tactic to hack Music Paralysis.

What music inspired you? If your art is derivative at all, don't hide the influences. There is frequent opportunity to write 'about' segments or to tell people who you are. Every-time you honestly list a past genre or artist that was influential, it creates a nostalgia tickle. If the new potential fan is familiar with these influences, it will open their ears and hack their music paralysis. Be honest, never lie.  Listing these influences also mutes the derivative haters.

Lyric Videos are easy and they work. I am not a fan of throw away music videos. Making a music videos is almost required but it's not easy to make good videos. I see too many 'throw away videos' that are just visual fluff unrelated to the songs narrative. There are many exceptional videos that do augment the narrative of the song. I love these videos, but they are hard to do, a bit rare, and usually very expensive to produce.  Lyric videos are super easy in comparison. Words trigger universal feelings, no nostalgia needed. If you are going to bang off some required visual media, Lyric Videos are great at hacking MP. Summarily, it should be obvious, always publish your lyrics with your songs. Words are extremely universal so use them. They are a great way to hack Music Paralysis.

Performing live IRL (in real life) and creating good Live Session videos. When a potential fan can see you play your music in real-time, it really shatters their Music Paralysis. Adding a visual connection to the moment, makes it difficult for the 'old ears' to take hold. There is nothing more honest than sharing your music in person. If you plan to have an on-demand version of this, then release some live performance videos. These are tricky, because a simple videotaping of a live set, usually doesn't look good and often doesn't sound good. In my observations, the best way to create an effective live video is in a cool tracking studio with at least two to three good cameras. You have control of the lights, you can easily stage the room, and the recording will be excellent. In fact, I would only release these versions as videos. When a new fan see's this type of visual media, it dissolves their Nostalgia Lock. Some of the best videos that come to mind are: The Black Pumas - Colors (Official Live Session), Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (Live Session) with that six minute and twenty five second Pink Floyd intro and Noga Erez's End of the Road [Live] - Kids Against The Machine Vol. 4.

Slaying the Dragon of Music Paralysis. You love music but still gravitate to music you discovered when you were younger. You've admitted you have Music Paralysis or Nostalgia Lock. First option, who cares. The music you grew up with is vast, fantastic and can sustain you. There is no need to change. There is nothing wrong with this option. Option two, you want to change this. Here is a quick list of simple truisms and habits you can try. As I like to say, the Play Button is FREE - Don't fear the music!

Tithe the Ten. Meaning, pay for a monthly music subscription. Consider this, $120 a year for all the music in the world. That's why they call it the Value Gap. The value for the user is insane. The second reason is for the artists. The bigger the royalty pool gets, the sooner the power shifts to the creators. Nothing exists without them and until things change this $10 a month means more than $0 a month. Also, if you start exploring and become a fan of new emerging artists, there will be many other ways to support them. If you have never heard of them, you can never support them. Tithe the Ten.

Learn to graze music and save interesting tracks for later. There are tons of passive tools to find music in all of the DSP's (Digital Service Providers) like Spotify or Apple Music. There are also people like me that actually sift through the releases and then curate the finds. Treat your DSP like radio from the old days. Have a single custom playlist to save anything interesting. It's an easy habit to build. Grazing music for me is passively listening to anything while I drive, cook, work, walk, ski, workout or play. Whenever I hear something I find remotely interesting, I save it. Grazing is the opposite of deep listening.

Don't rely on the Mainstream. Their releases are being pushed to you already. Don't ignore the Mainstream just don't rely on it to be the authority it once was.  Key reality check, the majority of interesting new music is coming from 'off the mainstream' and it's almost limitless. The freedom of creation is so expansive, its exploding musical innovation. Yes there is a derivative component but in a word who cares. It's all derivative in the end.

Commit to some deep listening every once in a while. I will review my big playlist in graze mode and one song or artist will always trigger me to know and hear more. I usually find one or two of these focus artists a week and then take time to dig deeper. I will usually start with a top to bottom listen of their latest EP/LP and then maybe go back catalog. I will also google the artist. I miss liner notes on CD's but google can be fun. Deep listening can be in the car, with headphones, or in the best listening space in my home.  I do this instead of watching TV. I have recognized that unfamiliar many times means innovation.

Last not least - The Play Button is FREE but Skip Often. If you are north of a certain age, you will remember going to the actual record store to get a specific CD but also bought two more CD's just on gut instinct. You then play those 'spec' CD's over and over, even if you don't like the music, simply because you invested your money. You DO NOT need to do this anymore. The Play Button is FREE - so if the music really does nothing for you, skip it. There is more music out there than you will ever hear so catch what you can and skip often. The Play Button is FREE - Don't fear the music!

I thought I was going to finish this week, but I have one more fun entry for next week. This is my supposition on why Music Paralysis exists.




Can you overcome Music Paralysis?

Music Paralysis (Part 2) | Clint Ward | Audience Management

February 07, 2023.

Last week, we delved into a phenomenon called Music Paralysis or by a new term, Nostalgia Lock. The question we should ask, should we care?

If you are a music creator and practice the credo "authenticity is your brand", then maybe not. Most creatives learn that not everyone will like their art. You also understand there is a predetermined age sweet spot for new fans and through your own analytics, you might actually know the age range of your fans. On the other hand, learning the details about Music Paralysis could help you better decipher fan reaction to your music. Haters can really put artists off balance and make them chase ghosts. Also understanding what could be going on in the listeners mind can help you sharpen your writing and productions. Then, there is a long list of tactics to actually hack Music Paralysis and make it work for you.

If you are a music listener, learning you may have Music Paralysis or Nostalgia Lock, can be the first step in naming it, claiming it and then changing it. Just be honest and keep your feedback subjective. Say "I typically enjoy the music I grew up on and have a hard time getting into new music." Sometimes, these realizations can make you remember how it felt discovering music when you were 21 all over again.

Old Ears and Young Ears

I spent a lot of time observing different people react to hearing new music. I also compared how I explored music when I was younger and how I am now. From these observations I came up with two terms. Again, I should consider changing the names as they hold negatives when I am just trying to be clinical and descriptive.

Young Ears - tend to notice musical elements that they “like” far before those they dislike. They are open to the unfamiliar and new is exciting for them. It might be something as simple as a hooky beat, a lyric, or a melodic element. Young ears get tickled by something that sustains their interest. It may happen, that after listening to the new music, the total expression lacks enough to cement lasting engagement. There might have been interesting elements, but not for the music to be sticky. This is super true in today's streaming world. Tiny intro's, chorus first, and slick productions are some of the changes we are seeing. There are many tactics to combat the 'skip' button. Generally speaking, young ears notice what they like first and what they don't like second.

Old Ears - are usually very experienced, have a deep catalog of saved music but when they listen to new music, they tend to hear what they “dislike” first. It may be an unfamiliar style or juxtaposition of a genre they loved. The unfamiliar simply annoys them enough to shut down their engagement response. Once that dissonance is triggered, it's very hard for that individual to get past it. There is a famous story of when Stravinsky's "The Right of Spring" was first performed in Paris, riots broke out in the audience. The totally unfamiliar compositional style had people throwing fruit at the orchestra. A month later, it was the talk of the town and had a long run of sold out performances. Old ears tend to hear what they dislike, long before they notice what they might like.

My own habits are interesting. As a music creator and industry veteran, I have learned to have open ears. Also, when I hear or see art, I have a driving first question. What was the artist’s intent? This has allowed me to stay objective, and at the very least give the artist the respect I believe they deserve. I might not like Country Music per-se, but my first listen is always to discover what the intent was and did they achieve the expression. I always appreciate the effort. Also, if something new truly annoys me, it sends up a red flag for mandatory deeper listening. I have learned through practice that often times, annoying can mean innovation, just like “The Rite of Spring” story. It's a good trigger for me.

Music Paralysis is a very general term. As with all generalities, there are exceptions. Here are a short few. The Music Connoisseurs are those that thirst for all the music they can experience. There is no age limit. You know them well as they attend the festivals, live sets, and have a wide pallet of interest. They also have a variety of habits to consume music. They embraced the subscription era and totally take advantage of the Value Gap. They understand the difference between grazing music while they drive, work or listening to background music, and are intimate with the ritual of deep listening. They might stay within a genre or decade laneway, but they all have what I call "young ears" and do not have Nostalgia Lock

Music Creators, by their nature, cannot have Music Paralysis. At times, it may appear some do have it and they will actually tell you that they don’t listen to new or even old music. My take on this is what I call "ear energy." We only have a finite amount listening bandwidth. Talk to a mix engineer at the end of the mix or a songwriter at the end of writing session. I have observed when an artist is creating, or a producer is arranging, or mix engineer mixing, they must preserve as much "ear energy" as possible for the artistic task at hand. Listening to other music can quickly deplete “ear energy,” so it is avoided at times.

Music Creators and Musicians on the other hand, are expert deep listeners. Almost every artist or accomplished musician I know understand the value of "do your listening!" This is where they deeply involve themselves with another artist’s work. They also prioritize intent and then revel in the execution. In fact, I have found that most artistically inclined people are less likely to have Music Paralysis. It’s also why sometime an artist will be confused when fans only understand the outer layers of their art. Not everyone is adept at deep listening or understanding.

If you are a music creator, knowing some of the habits your potential audience will have might help you deepen the tiny details of your creations. Or it will help you understand the 'haters' that raise their hand. It’s a cliche with art that "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" but there are some psychological factors at play.

If you are a music listener, knowing you might have built in tendencies that create Nostalgia Lock can help you be more open and evolve new skills. There is nothing wrong with loving the music you are familiar with. Yet, there may be some joy in "just released" music that is equal to the old nostalgia you love so much. Just hit the play button with your "young ears".

Next week I am going to explore a list of what I call “Music Paralysis Hacks.” How you can make your music catalog more accessible to a wider range of age demographics by playing on people’s tendency to have Nostalgia Lock. Nothing is new but understanding how the tactics work can be helpful.




What is Music Paralysis?

Why Music Makers Need to Understand it | Clint Ward | Audience Management

January 31, 2023.

French streaming service DEEZER conducted a survey in 2018 that found that the average person stops being open to discovering new music at around 30 years old. The term used to describe this is "Music Paralysis”. There were many reasons offered in the survey ranging from not enough time, to being overwhelmed by the infinite choices. However, most just admitted to playing the same music and genres they discovered when they were younger. The survey also found that people tend to peak in their enthusiasm for hearing new music at around 25, but there is a wide range of peaks based on geographic location and whether they are a male or female. Most of the respondents felt they were stuck in a musical rut or that they had very little interest listening to music outside their collected artists and genres. Yet, almost half of the respondents wished they could change their habits. They just never did.

Wow! When I discovered the term Music Paralysis, I was already a prolific new music hunter and soon to be curator. I knew I didn't have Music Paralysis. In fact, I really disliked the term and summarily rejected it as click bait hyperbole. Then a few years later, while slowly growing a group I created called The New Music Collective, where we curate new music on a weekly basis, I can assure you from direct observation, that Music Paralysis is real. I am also going to say it's not a bad thing. It's just the way we're wired. Having Music Paralysis does not mean you no longer like music. Quite the contrary, most people are still very enthusiastic about listening to music, but just the music they already know. It seems familiar music triggers nostalgia that then releases dopamine, serotonin and other feel-good things that happen in the brain. Familiar feels good, especially as we get older. There is nothing wrong with this. If you are listening to any music. Fantastic.

So why is this important especially if you are a Music Creator?

In 2016, armed with a music subscription and access to basically all the music in the world, I fell off the mainstream's "billboard 100 push" and started hunting music freely. What I discovered was amazing, massive, infinite and overflowing in authenticity. I called this "off the mainstream." I am not saying the mainstream is not valuable. It's run by the "Big Three" labels and they're very good at what they do. What I'm saying is the "mainstream" no longer owns all the good music. Once upon a time you needed a big label to reach the market, but no longer. The freedom to create is immense and affordable. With aggregators like Tune Core or CD Baby, there is zero barrier to release music. If you choose to hunt new music, It's a virtual music paradise out there. If you create music, knowing this could help and inspire you.

Yet, as I shared this treasure trove of new music with anyone and everyone, what did I discover? For the most part, no one cared. No one was interested. Even though the "play" button is free, only a few would take a risk and hit play. The excuses where all the same as the DEEZER article listed. Now, I am not 21, so obviously my circle of friends was older. Most of my peers had Music Paralysis. Most of them were music lovers, just not for new music. In fact, it seemed that when I offered new music, it would trigger them playing old music. Job done.

However, I was fascinated with all of this and came up with some new terms such as "young ears" and "old ears." I also discovered the exceptions to the age rules of Music Paralysis. It then became apparent that it was also effecting emerging artists trying to grow a fan base. I also got into some heated discussions about the vagaries of new music being derivative. Finding out that many of my peers became insulted when a new artist would create music in the spirit of a past genre or style. All of these discoveries and discussions are linked back to that DEEZER survey and the real thing called "Music Paralysis."

In the coming articles, I am going to delve a bit deeper into my observations. I would like to share the conclusions and even offer a strange explanation why it exists. For instance, I find it interesting we do not have Movie Paralysis. I also want to find a new name for it. One of the ways I temper the discussion about this, is acknowledging "nostalgia" is a feel good thing. So, I am toying with calling it "Nostalgia Lock" or something like that. Feedback welcome.

So, next week I will delve a bit deeper into to this strange reality called Music Paralysis or maybe just Nostalgia Lock and how as a music creator knowing about it can help you or as music lover, discover ways you can change your habits.




The Streaming Pie - Know the Audience!

Clint Ward | Audience Management

January 19, 2023.

For today's Artist, music streaming is the combination of radio, record store, and promotion - all under one roof. It's also massive. Spotify is known to upload up to sixty thousand tracks a day! Yet, Spotify is only one piece of the total streaming pie! This article will look into the largest collection of potential fans the music industry has ever seen. See the pie, know the audience.

Spotify seems to be the focus of discussion amongst music creators. The spotlight of these talks usually leans to the negative. Spotify does not pay enough. It's impossible to get heard. You have to get on a playlist. Their executives make too much money and a host of other concerns that get in the way of making a living creating music. To be fair, there are very valid points in these detractions. Many of them worthy of deeper focus to unify artists in reforming music royalty law. Yet nothing changes the reality that finding, engaging and retaining fans is the name of the game in these modern times, and music streaming is where most of the music fans engage with music.

To put it simply - music streaming is still growing while both physical and download sales have continued to plummet. In the RIAA 2022 Mid-Year report, streaming represents 84% of all Recorded Music revenues in the USA; while physical sales are down to 10%; digital downloads are down to 3%; and Sync is 2%. Funny enough, if you talk to a music creator trying to find a fanbase, they will most likely talk specifically about Spotify even though it's only a portion of the potential fanbase. Spotify is 30.5% of the total streaming pie, Apple Music is 13.7%, China's Tencent Music is 13.4%, Amazon Music is 13.3%, and YouTube is 8.9%. The other streaming services represent the remaining 20%. This is why using "Link Trees" to your catalog is so important.

How big is the total pie?

The total number of paid "subscribers" is now 616 million worldwide, and the total number of 'streamers' is at 1.6 billion and growing. This is almost 21% of the world’s population.

Paid subscribers are super important because for every music listener that "tithes the ten", the monthly royalty pool of each DSP (Digital Service Provider) grows as well. Free Users generates Ad revenue further contributing to the monthly royalty pool. Every bit counts, and little by little the influence shifts back to the creators making reform more likely.

A quick reality check about how this all works. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all the other DSP's are retail providers of the music, just like the record stores of the past. They built the experience, and it's their retail operation, and their customers. Let's put it to bed once and for all, they deserve to make a profit. These digital retail services do not operate for free. We can discuss the margins or better yet, the royalty laws governing all of this, but these retail services should make money. I believe reform is in how Music Royalty is generated and then paid, not in killing the record stores.

What are the age demographics?

The majority of streamers (lets just call them "Music Fans" since 84% of them all use a DSP streaming service) are 35 or younger. When you throw in Music Paralysis (a future blog subject), your fan potential is going to be found in this demographic window, especially if your music is new. Here is a breakdown of Spotify's Age Demographics.

  • 18-24 = 26%
  • 25-34 - 29%
  • 35-44 - 16%
  • 45-54 - 11%
  • 55 + - 19%

There has been tremendous growth of older demographics finally starting to join the streaming era as Music Fans. This should be a good thing. However, the majority of them are fueling the explosion of what the industry calls "Catalog Music". They are simply "streaming" what they already have in a CD collection gathering dust on a shelf. The Big Three Labels love this because in most cases they sold them the CD or even the Vinyl, and now they get to double or triple dip with streaming revenue on top of that. The big labels are still using 'old school' contracts with 'catalog' artists. They are making bank right now!

So now let's cut the pie up. With 55% in the sweet spot range of 35 or younger, this takes the 616 million paid subscribers and make it 277 million; and the 1.6 billion streamers now turns into 720 million.

If you are creating new music and are looking for general intelligence on your potential fans, then you should have a focus on 35 or younger. There are always exceptions and when I discuss Music Paralysis, I will dive a bit deeper into that. Now, if your music is highly derivative of a past music genre and you know the approximate decade, then targeting an older demographic can be effective. I'm actually not a fan of targeting your music or creating music to fit a fan base. I have observed that being authentic and prolific is the magic sauce. If you start to grow a fan base with new music, odds are, the majority will be 35 or younger. Knowing this is smart.

Once you have an audience, you can then mine your analytics. If your results contrast this generality, then that is also super interesting and smart. Knowing that 85% of Music Fans use a music streaming DSP, and that 55% of them are 35 or younger, it should at least inform your strategies and maybe your tactics. Know your audience!




Song Competition Winner Going to Blackrock Studios in Santorini

Liam Barrack | IMSTA Song Competition | 2020 Winner

January 12, 2023.

After a hotly contested competition that ended in a photo finish, we are happy to announce that Liam Barrack has won the IMSTA Song Competition 2020 Edition. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the competition finals received songs of the highest quality. The Phase 2 finalists were given a theme, which was "A Love That Cannot Live But Never Dies". However, the competition was interrupted by the pandemic and the suspension of the Song Camp at Blackrock Studios in Santorini for 2 years. In the end, Liam edged out strong entries from the second place finisher Seyblu and closely in third Farrah Mitha. Liam Barrack is a Canadian singer/songwriter who has been learning and playing music from a very young age, and his goal is to pursue a career in music full time

Liam Barrack

A Love That Cannot Live But Never Dies




Marknox is the winner for Episode 7!

IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE Ep 7 Summary

August 24, 2022.

Episode 7 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE was a lot of fun. There were 7 good songs and the reviewers gave it their all and provided some amazing feedback as always. In the end, the top song of the episode was "In Harmony" by Marknox. A groovy song with a solid vocal performance and great musicianship, "In Harmony" was in harmony with the panel’s taste for good music. This was a well-deserved win for Marknox, a composer, keyboardist, producer and sound engineer from Toronto, Canada. His composition accomplishments include a wide range of film scores, TV open themes, Pop songs and numerous production music tracks that have been used all over the world. Mark is currently the owner/operator of NewSound Productions, a boutique music production studio located in downtown Toronto.

Episode 6 was sponsored by PSP Audioware. Take a listen to the winning song below:

Marknox

In Harmony




Reality Check #12

Be obsessed with the “Do” not the “Done” – there is artistic opportunity everywhere and this fundamental work ethic will always guide you.

July 29, 2022.

One of the most depressing observations I’ve made about new music is, so few really care. When you add up that music as an art is basically free to the world and a sad thing called “Music Paralysis”, the amount of engaged music lovers or fanatic music lovers is just so small. In short, most people could care less about new music. There is no greater diss in my mind than being apathetic to the artistic process. So why do it at all?

So, what is music paralysis? 

“A new study conducted suggests that people over the age of 30 tend not to seek out new music, a state referred to as “musical paralysis.” …… The survey, conducted by music streaming service Deezer, polled 1,000 Americans about their listening habits and found that, on average, people reach “musical paralysis” at an age of 29 years and 10 months. The results also indicate that people, on average, reach the peak of their music discovery efforts around age 26. – “From Live for Live Music Andrew O-Brien”

One could argue if this really exists, but I can assure you from my observation, it really does. The exception is with most industry people as they have learned skills for listening or the millions of music fanatics that are out there. However, when we are talking about the normal non fanatic consumer north of 30, it leaves a much smaller group of potential fans to engage with. I have been curating new releases in the New Music Collective for almost five years and for the most, only a few really care. In fact, the most common response is “it was better back then” or they only respond to music that the mainstream is pushing hard. So sadly, if you are an artist trying to get heard, it can be so bleak because, so few really care. What’s point of trying?

The other harsh reality is music is just too free. We have devalued music art so much the general consumer takes it for granted. You can get Spotify FREE and basically have access to all the music in the world for nothing. Stranger still is that so many people north of 30 don’t have Spotify FREE nor do they pay for a monthly music subscription! Most people think $120 a year is too much to have access to all the music in the world but have no issue paying five bucks a day on designer coffee. How upside down is that?

This is not the case with music enthusiasts south of age thirty or the diehard music lovers. They “tithe the ten” gladly. They totally understand the industry term “The Value Gap”.  It’s a no-brainer to pay $10 a month for everything. With such a small pool of potential fans, why would anyone bother to even consider being a musical artist?

Add to this, that the streaming payouts for one-to-one play royalties is so small, that making a living seems impossible. There are millions of naysayers to the modern music market. The “Value Gap”, a term the industry has coined where the value massively favors the consumer instead of the creator, is a real thing. There is so much room for Royalty reform to fix this. So again, why even try to be a music artist?

Thankfully for our younger generation and all the music fanatics out there, there is still an artistic need by millions to express themselves musically. There are now tools to do this inexpensively, in the comfort of your home and in high fidelity. There are now many music aggregators enabling you to release your music to the world without a record contract. As we have discussed, there has never been such a time in the history of recorded music. Yes, it’s hard to find a following but every week I find new artists with mad talent with enough fans to start making recurring “Art Money”. This blog was about me observing this amazing movement happening off the mainstream that is almost all outside the purview of the big labels. It was about noticing how so many artists have this driving need to create where the “do” was more important than the “done”.

This is the question that needs to be asked. Are you obsessed with creating and expressing? If you said yes, then this new world of music subscriptions, streaming, growing a fanbase, playing IRL, and engaging with your followers is pure artistic opportunity. Once you have figured out your potential audience is most likely younger, or they are your old fans, or just real music lovers, it becomes obvious why being authentic resonates the most. If you are an older artist with a respectful catalog, your opportunity is to fire up your older fans and bring them into the present while hopefully making them new music fanatics. At the same time, you are introducing your catalog to new music lovers. All of this is possible because of the way music is now distributed. Streaming music from Spotify, Apple Music or any other DSP is an opportunity not a roadblock.

The leader of the viral funk band VULFPECK Jack Stratton, is very vocal about how unfair streaming payouts are to artists. He is right, there needs to be reform. The Value Gap needs to be fixed. His band “gamed” Spotify in 2014 with an LP called “Sleepify”. They asked their rather large viral fanbase to stream the LP of total silence while they slept. They made twenty grand and used the cash to fund an admission free tour that blew up their following. In an interview on CNBC in 2018 on the eve on Spotify’s IPO, Jack was brilliant in his dismantling of the Spotify business model (yes reform is needed) but in the closing questions of the interview he was asked if there was any tangible benefit to the ‘streaming era’ – to which he honestly said, well of course, it’s because of the model they don’t need a label and are as successful as they are. Google it – it’s worth it.

Always remember it’s just too easy to complain about Spotify. Too many industry people make the erroneous comparison of physical LP/EP unit sales to only Spotify payouts. Spotify is 30% of the streaming revenues so this is like measuring your old hard copy sales at one Record Store chain. Then, so many still think it’s about selling stuff, when all the younger artists know it’s about growing and engaging a fanbase. Spotify is nothing but one ‘engagement funnel’. Look at any modern link tree of a new record release and you will see there are many ‘engagement funnel’. All funnels lead to your very simple website where there is a picture of the artist, then usually buy my hard goods such as CD’s or Vinyl, then here is my complete back catalog in convenient link tree’s, this is where we will be on tour, here are some super fan opportunities for the live events, here are my video’s, please become a fan here and contact information for gigs, feats, or licensing.  I have investigated thousands of artists webpages, and this is the common formula. It’s no secret.

Instead of echoing common complaints, learn about the current Royalty system. It’s so complex that often it’s not about earning royalties, it’s about getting paid all the royalties you earned. There so many services and resource material to help you in this, it’s almost irresponsible to not arm yourself with the knowledge. Then, when it comes to the needed reform, be specific on what needs to be changed. Saying the Spotify payouts should be much bigger just signals you may be lacking acumen. You need to know streaming is a one-to-one radio royalty. It’s a recurring revenue stream modeled after radio play not physical record sales. Yes, the payouts are not correct, nor should the different royalties be so convoluted, but I believe we should be united in what the best possible reforms should be. First – I believe we need to abolish the FREE Ad supported subscription models. It’s time to pull the plug. These models only dilute the pro rata royalty pie. As much as it may be impossible, I would like to see the Pro Rata payment system change to a one-to-one payment system. The Pro Rata model simply favors the big labels way too much. Next, the whole streaming model was designed to be interactive but, it’s the passive aspect of playlists and algorithms that subscribers are using. We need to add a new royalty layer to all ‘passive’ play. And finally – the more music lovers that “tithe the ten”, the more money the music DSP’s make and then slowly the power will shift to the creators. $120 a year for all the music in the world is a no-brainer. Spread the word.

Instead of detailing each one, here is a final list of all the Realty Checks with some commentary. Each one is a blog entry with detail.

  1. It’s no longer about selling anything – it’s all about finding, growing, and nurturing engagement with your fan base.
  2. There is just too much music – millions of choices for music lovers, you need to be prolific and authentic to be sticky.
  3. Rock Star money is rare; art money is attainable – it’s the sum of all engagement funnels that trigger recurring revenue. 170K Monthly Spotify Listeners (multiply by 3 for total world-wide listeners) makes Art Money.
  4. New music is king – you need to be prolific with re-purposed new tracks or new music to sustain engagement.
  5. If your catalog is old – release something new even if its repurposed tracks – it will stimulate plays of your back catalog.
  6. You must engage your fans IRL (in real life) – this is the stickiest and value rich form of engagement. You must kill it live or your fans will move on.
  7. Write Cohesive LP/EP’s – the single era is gone. There is no ‘considered’ purchase of your CD – you want your fans to hit play on track one and not stop till the end.
  8. Learn to understand your metrics – Spotify and many other DSP’s give you deep analytics, learn to mine them and it will pay dividends.
  9. You do not need the Mainstream anymore – Indy or small label at all costs. You want to own your masters. If you make the big label world – fantastic.
  10. Authenticity is Your Brand – find your true voice, be brave and authentic. Young and music fanatics resonate with this.
  11. Being Prolific is the Business – Until your catalog is deep, write prolifically, this fuels the building of a fanbase and hones your authenticity.
  12. Be obsessed with the “Do” not the “Done” – there is artistic opportunity everywhere and this fundamental work ethic will always guide you.
One of the observations I have made is that a lot of the modern musical innovation has come from artists that where not mainstream. They were disruptors and authentic to a fault. They started as ‘artist owned’ or DIY. They may have risen to lofty heights, but it was on their terms. They owned the relationship with their fans. If you go off the mainstream, the examples of this explodes. This vibrant, growing, innovative, and exciting DIY, artist owned, and small label sector is where so much great new music is hiding from the masses but adored by their fans.

It is from this sector that I have observed these reality checks. This is where I created terms like ‘art money’ or ‘engagement versus sales’, the ‘Coachella cycle’, and most of all that ‘authenticity is your brand’ and ‘being prolific is the business’. It’s these pioneering artists of the streaming era that have created a new template for artistic opportunity. The potential is so vast, and I know that we are lucky because “creators will create”.  I truly believe we are now in the second golden age of recorded music.

I humbly dedicate this to everyone that creates music because they have too. There are millions of young ears and music fanatics that keep their ears young. We all want to hear your music. So please keep creating and the ears will find you. Thank you.     

https://newmusicworld.org/




Ian Elkerton is the winner for Episode 6!

IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE Ep 6 Summary

July 25, 2022.

Episode 6 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE was on fire this past Saturday and there were a lot of great entries with some phenomenal performances. In the end, Singer/songwriter Ian Elkerton’s “Chasing Winter” came on top with an overall score of 34.5 out of 40. Although the intro could be much shorter, the overall song structure is on point. Ian more than makes up for the long intro by capturing the audience’s attention from the first moment he starts to sing. The lyrics jump out and the production supports the narrative of the song very well. Overall, Ian’s “Chasing Winter” is a professional level song with a lot of potential. Ian Elkerton has been writing music since he was 16 years old and has come from a long line of musicians and singers. He is currently attending SAE Institute to pursue his dream of being a producer.

Episode 6 was sponsored by Sonible, SAE Institute & NAMMYP.

Take a listen to the winning song below:

Ian Elkerton

Chasing Winter




Reality Check #11

Being Prolific is the Business

July 18, 2022.

We truly now live in a headline click bait and sound byte era. With pervasive mobile connectivity, the media and advertising world has realized they are competing for microseconds not minutes. Everything is disposable unless a viral surge sustains the sticky. The world of news and current events dominate this sound byte bedlam and the deterioration of critical thought has given rise to a tide of confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance. Yet, how has this affected art? How has this affected music? On one hand I see art, especially music art, as a counterweight to this but also a victim to the serial need for new everything. Music lovers will still delve deep into a loved record or artist. They still put their favorite music or even playlists into high rotation. But catching the attention of music lovers and your fans really requires sustained effort. There is just so much music, so much noise, that almost every successful independent or signed artist has one thing in common in the new music world. They are prolific and their fans love new music.

Being prolific in todays music industry is not just about having a mountain of new releases. As we have discussed, almost every artist re-purposes their songs. This re-release of familiar material is an effective way to keep your fans engaged. Yet, it is without doubt that your fans are real because they like what you create. They relate to your expressions and to your authenticity. In this new world of constant noise, any new expression is a very powerful elixir. In my opinion, it’s part of the counterweight to the disposable phenomenon. As much as people are under a constant barrage of everything, humans still enjoy and need long form art with deeper narratives and music is the perfect food for everyone’s artistic soul. So, new singles, new EP’s or LP’s are super important to sustain and grow your fanbase. You simply need to write as much as you can, as often as you can until your catalog is big enough to support longer periods in between new releases. This pressure for new is real for both Indy and big label artists.

The second aspect of being prolific is developing your authenticity. The Beatles wrote some amazing songs, but they where never back to back. They came as they wrote many songs. As they finished one, they moved to the next and in the process the great songs emerged. This is pretty true for almost all successful authentic artists. They simply had to create and the more they created, the more authentic their voices became, and the special art emerged from the process of being prolific. As an artist in these modern times, you need to be obsessed with the “doing” and not the “done”. Many artists obsess on perfecting just one musical expression and once it’s complete they obsess with that singular example. Prolific artists live in the energy of creating and once their expression is complete, they share it with the world and sustain the new work with a host of modern tactics such as the most important of all, IRL (in real life). Yet, as what I call the “Coachella Cycle” ends, these artists are drawn back to their creative corners to embrace the writing process.

When you add all this up and look at the sound byte world we live in, and how both off the mainstream and big label artists are successful in sustaining and growing a fanbase - it’s easy to understand why I say “being prolific is the business”.

Reality Check #12 - Artistic opportunity and wrapping up the observations …

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #10

Authenticity is your brand

July 6, 2022.

Streaming has changed the landscape of the worldwide music industry. There has never been a time where so many artists can release their music independently or partner with a smaller Indy label. With a paid subscription, music enthusiasts basically have access to every recording from the past, present, and near future. There is really an infinite variety of music to explore. So how do you stand out, get noticed and grow a sticky fanbase? It appears that music lovers, especially young ones, seem to gravitate to “authentic” music art. To grow a fanbase, authenticity seems to be the magic elixir in finding and maintaining a fanbase.

The global music industry was worth 26 billion in 2021. This is an 18% surge from 2020 and the largest since the 1990’s. Streaming now accounts for 65% of all revenues, and the major labels earned well over 20 billion dollars of the total revenue. It’s still rock star money if you can reach the pinnacle of the industry, but the fastest growing portion of the industry is still the “artist owned” Indy sector. Streaming subscriptions has changed how music lovers discover and engage with new artists and this new rising sector is benefiting.

As I have done before, I will use Coachella as the example. Look at the lineup poster from any year and you will notice only the “big font” acts are mainstream. Most of the other “smaller font” acts are a diverse collection of artists, genres, and expressions. In a word, this festival and many others routinely showcase artists with a high level of authenticity. There is a reason for this. The audience tends to be younger, largely music enthusiasts that have totally embraced the streaming era’s “value gap” plus the almost infinite supply of music. They hit the play button on anything, save along the way and revel in the freedom of discovery.

What’s become apparent, is these younger music lovers can sense when a musical product is being sold. They value authentic expression over mainstream hype and promotion. The mainstream mavens are still masters of their business, so great music is routinely promoted and released but this is truly becoming the era of the authentic artist. Freedom to make anything is a result of computers, music software, and gear being both powerful and affordable. You can make a Grammy winning album in your bedroom. Then with the advent of Music aggregators the path to market has zero barriers. Lastly, the market is all digital so the consumption of music is free with ad supported models or for $120 a year, you can have unfettered access to basically everything.

The result of this freedom of expression is a surge in authentic musical art. Authenticity is proving to be ‘super sticky’ when finding, growing, and engaging your fanbase. This is why I composed the slogan: “Authenticity is your brand”. It’s my opinion all artists are best served by being as authentic as possible in their art of creating music. I believe this should be the ultimate litmus of an artist’s creative process. Did they try to make a musical product that fits an existing ideal, genre expectation or make it sound like something currently popular or was their expression free of commercial influence and formulaic intent? I am not saying authentic is a new thing but rather its importance has risen. In today’s new music world, Authenticity is your brand!

In the next reality check, we will explore why I believe being prolific is now the business.

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #9

You do not need the mainstream anymore, Indy or small label at all costs

June 17, 2022.

There was a time when you had to have a contract with a notable record label just to get your music tracked, mastered, and distributed to as many record stores as possible. The mainstream of the industry was the ultimate gatekeeper. Everything notable passed through their doors before it was enjoyed by music lovers around the world. Today, if you are talented and lucky enough to land a major contract with one of the big music labels, you will have deep support and resources to find and grow a fan base. For those that are mortal, the good news is you no longer need the mainstream to record, master, and distribute your music. You can be entirely independent or forge a partnership with a smaller Indy label. In fact, your authenticity will probably flourish if you stay Indy or small label.

The major record labels still own the lion share of the industry’s revenues but the ‘artist owned’ segment is gaining ground all the time. This is a mixture of independent artists, but also smaller labels where the masters stay artist owned. Most of the “off the mainstream” music I find, curate, and share comes from this growing sector of the recording industry. If you look at the Coachella lineup each year, most of the festival card is small label, artist owned or Indy. It’s my belief this sector is where the most musical innovation comes from. In other words, there is a lot of freedom to express authentic art and not make a product. I hold no grudge or disdain for the big labels and the mainstream, as they are professional giants representing super talented artists. Yet, this grass roots ‘artist owned’ movement is spreading top to bottom.

Taylor Swift is a great example of how the Indy and small label mindset is creating change at the top. Taylor started her epic career with a sweet big label record contract. Like most big contracts, she did not own her masters. Subsequently, her catalog was sold, and she no longer had control. To combat this, she simply released new recordings with masters she owned. She knew her fans where hers and not the label’s. She also realized that with music subscription, her fans did not have to consider buying her CDs again. They just streamed the new LP’s. Brilliant. This is an extreme top-down example, but the lesson is the same. In this era, the artist should own all their masters and be in control of all their royalties. This is best done as “artist owned” or by signing to a smaller “facilitator” style label.

When Billie and Finneas dropped “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO” it sent shivers through the executive offices of the big labels. They did this on their own, in a bedroom with a dedicated fanbase waiting. After that release, I recall a quote from Jimmy Iovine where he basically said this, “the artist now owns the relationship with their fans, not the label. The labels need to start asking the artist what they can do for them, and not the other way around”. These are profound words that are at the heart of the Artist Owned, Indy and small label sector.

When I say “facilitator” label I am referring to the ‘artist first’ mindset. There are many smaller labels that really want to help the artist make their most authentic music. They are there to help by handling the time-consuming stuff like promotion, social, tour management, backend licensing, and a whole host of things that the artist once had to do on their own. The purpose is simple - to nurture and facilitate the artists ability to concentrate on their musical vision. New music is the life blood to continuing engagement with a fan base and these labels know this is hard to do, so they make this as easy as possible.

The younger generation can smell a product with a sales pitch a mile away. It’s becoming apparent they prefer authenticity in the expression of art. I constantly discover interesting artists with authentic music that none of the big labels would ever consider signing. Yet, these artists have dedicated large fan bases. The Unknown Mortal Orchestra has 2.4 million monthly Spotify listeners, with an estimated 7.2 million world-wide monthly listeners. Thundercat has 4.3 million monthly Spotify listeners, with an estimated 7.2 million world-wide monthly listeners. Ludovico Einaudi is a classical composer, and he has an estimated 19 million world-wide monthly listeners. Only one of these are signed to a major label. Can you guess which one?

If you are an artist just starting out, you DO NOT need a record contract from one of the major labels. There is zero barrier to release your music independently. Armed with this freedom, there is no one to tell you what your music should be. I contend that if you stay authentic and hone your art you will find fans. If your fan-base grows to that magic 500K world-wide monthly listeners, then there would be many small “artist first” record labels that would be happy to sign you. Stay Indy or small label at all costs.

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #8

Learn to understand and mine your metrics, it will pay dividends

June 3, 2022.

Everyone knows you made more money in the good old days selling hard copies of your records. In today’s streaming era, many see Spotify as the villain. Even though they represent 30% of the streaming market, their per stream payout makes it difficult to make a living. It goes without saying that reform is needed.

However, many forget to understand the advantages artists have in the digital streaming era. Spotify is one-part recurring revenue, but also one-part radio because it has a free ad supported model. It’s also one-part business intelligence. Artists get continuous granular metrics of what their fans are listening too, when they are listening, and for how long. You even know where these fans are located around the world and much more. Never in the history of the music business has so many analytics been available to the artist. If you learn to mine this data, it can pay dividends in maximizing how you engage and grow a fanbase.

When you release a new EP/LP on the music DSP’s, there is no inventory to manage. There are no endcaps to buy space on, or big push into the world of radio. If you are lucky to be signed to a major label, they still trigger many promotional levers and then some. The mainstream big five are a well-oiled marketing and promotion machine. They even command the top squares on all the DSP’s. Without a doubt their KPI’s (key performance indicators) all come from the analytics the DSP’s share with content creators. This access is NOW 100% democratic and every artist has access to a host of useful data.

You work hard to write, record, mix, master, and release a new record. Within hours, you will know which track is resonating the most with your fans. You know which track is the ‘most played’. Was it one of the singles you trickle released? Did you predict which song would resonate the most? Did your fans play the new album from top to bottom? Or did they listen to the first one or two tracks and then move on? Within a very short time, there is a host of data that can help you make important musical and business decisions. Getting a granular snapshot of your total plays, will help you choose which track to re-purpose into a new sustaining engagement single. You may do an acoustic version, or a live version or add a ‘featured’ performer. This takes the guesswork out of it and instead you use concrete evidence from the data to inform your next creative step.

A new EP/LP release that gains traction with your fanbase, will usually trigger the streaming of your back catalog. In the physical unit sales era, your fans would have to ‘consider’ buying your back catalog. With music subscription this is not the case, and you can quickly measure the “all boats rise” factor as your fans start to listen to your entire catalog. It’s now the norm that with each successful release, your entire catalog usually starts to generate more plays. With your metrics you can draw conclusions from the play counts. It’s truly powerful data.

If you are an aspiring and evolving artist, finding your authentic voice is super important. It’s my experience that most modern fans gravitate to an authentic voice. Getting your play counts for each track will often help you hone your authenticity. For many artists it becomes surprising what song is the most played. It’s often that track they loved but thought no one would like. Since the numbers don’t lie, your analytics become a powerful way to get excellent feedback on the art you have created. Often, there is affirmation and that can only sharpen your pencil when you start writing your next EP/LP.

One of the other data collections is your demographics. Knowing where your fans are is critical to building an effective IRL (in real life) tour. Always target your fan rich cities and countries. They will show up to your show and bring friends. It could also be useful or at least interesting to know what the ratio of your audience is male, female, non-binary or unspecified. What is the predominant age group? You can also find out what other artists your fans listen to. This can help you forge potential collaborations for tours or adding a featured artist for your new record.

The data will also tell you where your fans are coming from. Did they all come from being on a playlist. You can see which of your songs have been added to a playlist, which is a key performance indicator. You can also see if your fans are coming from your artist page or primarily from these playlist inclusions. All this data helps inform how your fans are engaging with your music. I would never suggest you manipulate your compositions to trigger favourable analytics, but I do know that often, your analytics will help you discover your most resonate artistic voice. Mine your metrics, it will pay dividends.music art. Always try to write cohesive albums as it will pay off in this new era where there is a zero-dollar investment for your fans to consider all your music.

Reality Check #9 – you do not need the mainstream anymore, Indy or small label at all costs

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #7

Write cohesive EPs and LPs - the ninety-nine-cent single is dead

May 27, 2022.

often talk about what I call the golden age of recorded music being the “album era” from the mid 1960’s through to the 2000’s. Prior to this, the 45 RPM seven-inch single was the primary format for the record industry. The “album era” really featured an explosion of timeless recordings and completely cohesive LP works that stand the test of time to this day. The 1980’s saw the rising dominance of CD’s and the peak of physical LP sales by the end of the 1990’s. Napster changed the script with their file sharing platform and then on January 9th of 2001, Apple released the first version of iTunes. The industry came full circle and the era of the .99 cent “single” came of age in 2005 with Gwen Stefani’s “Hollow Back Girl” becoming the first track to be downloaded a million times.

Armed with a computer, consumers started shopping singles from iTunes and other sources with a passion, creating playlists to sync to their iPods and taking with them everywhere. Everything was about the single and the hope that a consumer would later pay $9.99 for the entire digital LP instead collecting their favorite tracks as singles. In so many ways, the cohesive LP faded as the artistic priority. The playlist had become the king of the hill and you wrote singles at all costs. Physical sales started to decline as the MP3 era evolved and then the industry was disrupted again when Spotify was founded in 2006. By 2013 streaming had become the dominant source of music consumed.

During these times, there was a parallel revolution of how music was created and recorded. From the 1980’s into the 1990’s computers and the rise of DAW software changed the creative methods and slowly lowered the bar to releasing professional quality music without the need of an expensive studio. It’s totally possible with today’s software and computers to write, record and master a Grammy worthy LP in the comfort of your bedroom. In 2005 TuneCore was founded and marked the beginning of the ‘aggregator’ era for artists to release music without having a traditional record contract.

We now have millions of tracks available in hundreds of worldwide markets to millions of streaming customers and the industry is coming full circle again, where the “cohesive” LP/EP is becoming the artistic priority and most valuable expression for music creators.

In the “album era” fans loved top to bottom play of vinyl, tape, and then CD. If the album was cohesive, it sold better. When the MP3 age arrived, ninety-nine cent singles took center stage and fans had to “consider” whether to buy the entire album or not. Fast forward to the streaming era and young artists have figured out that you trickle release singles into your LP/EP release and if your final album is cohesive, the odds increase your fans will play it top to bottom.

The key point they understand is that there is no longer a consideration to invest extra money to buy the entire album. Your fans can freely hit play and the more plays, the more revenue. Since the name of the game is keeping your fans engaged, if the new album is not cohesive, the chances of the dreaded “skip” increases. Because of all this, cohesive works with narrative themes and careful consideration to the order of the tracks around the singles is becoming the artistic norm.

In conclusion – cohesive albums are more engaging and increase the odds of top to bottom play. Yes, we are in the playlist era, but singles load the funnel where a new interested fan will open your entire catalog and hit play. It’s in the artist’s interest to capture that fan and draw them in with an “album era” style piece of music art. Always try to write cohesive albums as it will pay off in this new era where there is a zero-dollar investment for your fans to consider all your music.

Reality Check #8 – learn to understand and mine your metrics, it will pay dividends...

https://newmusicworld.org/




Ruin Machine Wins Ep 4!

Watch LIVE Stream

May 24, 2022.

Episode 4 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE started with a song called “Ruin Machine”, by a US band called Ruin Machines. Perhaps we should not have started with this song, since it set the bar for the other songs. Although there were so many good songs that followed, none measured up to “Ruin Machine”, which ultimately became the top song of episode 4 with scores that no other song had received in previous episodes. The song caught the listeners’ attention and kept it for the duration, right to the last note… It checked all the boxes, having a solid vocal performance on top of a well-produced rock track, and a guitar solo that you just want to keep on rewinding. A well-deserved win by Ruin Machines.

Episode 4 was sponsored by Antares, the makers of Auto-Tune.

Take a listen to the winning song below:

Ruin Machines

Ruin Machine




Reality Check #6

You must engage your fanbase IRL, if you don’t…

May 19, 2022.

The name of the game in today’s new music world is growing an engaged fanbase. This is done on multiple levels with a culmination of touch points such as social media, trickle release singles, LP and EP releases, playlist placements, sync placements, and video - to mention a few. The stickiest of all engagement tactics is still playing live. This is the highest form of fan engagement. It’s very important to put on a great show and to make it memorable for your fans. If you don’t, they have hundreds of other artists to engage with. Unless you’re super famous, if you don’t engage IRL or tour, you will most likely not be able to stay relevant to your fans. They will move on.

When someone claims the only way to make money is to tour, the odds are they are an established older artist with a large catalog, very little new music, and an older fanbase. They need the type of fan that can pay the crazy ticket prices for the bands of their younger years. This is also the case with the mainstream acts being pushed by the big labels. The big tours fund costs but also yield profits. However, the IRL tours I am talking about are not these big expensive shows. Younger artists that understand the IRL tactic want as little friction as possible to have their fans see them live. They play smaller clubs and venues with very reasonable ticket prices. This is not a profit center, it’s a ‘make it sticky’ opportunity with your fans and an effective way to find new ones.

Because of all this, the quality of live performance is on the rise. If you show up with a drum machine, some canned backing tracks, and a microphone, you better have one flashy show. Young artists are realizing that great music played well in a live setting will resonate and keep your growing fanbase listening to your catalog long after the gig has ended. There is a trend of artists having bands with more musicians. It’s an old truism, a well-rehearsed band playing live is hard not to enjoy. This does not mean it’s the standard drums, bass, two guitars, and a lead vocalist. Even electronic acts are adding as many live play elements as possible. It’s amazing watching an accomplished artist play a Native Instrument's Maschine or modern synthesizers being controlled in real-time. Whatever you do, you just need to kill it live. This is the magic sauce that will fuel the growth of your fanbase and retain their interest.

There seems to be an observable cadence to how new music is being released, especially off the mainstream. I like to call this the “Coachella Cycle”. With great regularity, it seems the fall and winter are the writing season. There are less EP/LP releases during this time. Then as winter fades, the trickle releases start accelerating. This is usually a sign of a new EP or LP coming for these artists. It seems spring is the hot window to release new works. After you release, you start your tour to promote the new LP and touch your fanbase IRL. If you are lucky enough to be a small font at Coachella, fantastic. This event is the start of the summer festival circuit. Countless acts plan their summer tour around such festivals. Because of the depth of the available analytics, they know exactly where their fans are and try to hit these locations in between the festivals, usually at smaller venues with affordable ticket prices

The cadence is, release your new music in the spring, tour the record at festivals and fan rich locations, get sticky with your existing fans, and find new ones. When the summer ends, go back into writing mode. Then “rinse, repeat” for the next year. At some point, if your music and hard work find a large enough fanbase, the cycle can be extended to every two years. Even the biggest acts of our time, always tour. There is no secret here but knowing how the emerging artists are leveraging this modern world could be helpful to your success. Just kill is live as often as possible, it will pay dividends.

Reality Check #7 - Write cohesive EP and LPs - the ninety-nine-cent single is dead...

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #5

If your catalog is old, it’s a problem but there is a solution

May 12, 2022.

Younger artists are rarely nostalgic about selling CD’s in a record store. They understand selling hard copies is good business, but they see it as another revenue stream, and not their major money maker. In fact, hard copy sales are almost always the first offering once a new fan has funnelled to their website. However, most of these younger artists are fully committed to growing an engaged fanbase from multiple avenues and don’t rely on just selling CD’s. Their revenue comes from multiple income streams. Whenever I hear older artists lament they have no streaming revenue and are no longer selling many CD units, I know their catalog is probably older and usually pre-dates 2008. Surely, they have moved their entire catalog to all the available streaming DSP’s but engagement is low, hence streaming royalties are low as well. There is a fix for this.

If your original works pre-date the streaming era and you re-release the catalog on every possible modern DSP, you still must launch an engagement campaign to re-ignite your fans. I was amazed when Madonna released her last LP “Madame X” in 2019. Her ‘Monthly Spotify Listeners’ was approximately 10 million. A week later it had ballooned to 15 million. That 5 million bump was not only from streaming the new LP. That release re-ignited her fanbase to listen to her back catalog. Yes, the very fans that bought all her CD’s did not dust off the CD player, they just streamed the older catalog LP’s. This is what I call the classic double dip. All she did was release a new LP and her back catalog popped.

Writing a new LP is a lot of work. I have noticed that artists with a back catalog will often re-purpose the originals in new EP and LP works. The classic “greatest hits”, or a live set, or maybe a stripped-down acoustic version all work well. All you need to do is release something, preferably new original music, but really anything that will remind your fans from the past that you are still alive and well. If they were a fan, they will probably start streaming your back catalog. These will be the very same people that bought your CD from the record store.

One of the most recent success stories of an older artist was John Prine. Before he became a sad casualty of the Pandemic, John was on fire. When he released his LP “The Tree of Forgiveness” it blew up. He was at every festival and old fans went back catalog and new younger fans that were smitten with his honest storytelling, also went back catalog. He still has 1.8 million monthly Spotify listeners.

If you have an extensive back catalog of your music, re-release all of it on every possible modern DSP like Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, or Amazon Music. Then release a new EP or LP as soon as possible. This will trigger a new engagement with your long-time fans and help you acquire news fans. Make sure you have a simple website that offers hard copy sales and link trees to your entire catalog. If you then invest in some IRL (in real life) events, you will engage with your total fanbase. Then monitor your analytics and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Reality Check #6 – You must engage your fanbase IRL, if you don’t

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #4

New music is King, without it there is no engagement …

May 5, 2022.

One of the hardest realities of the new music world is the insatiable requirement for the regular release of new music/content by an artist. The one hit wonder is now super rare. Since sustained engagement is the rule, that popular single will come and go from the collective “mind share” so fast, that you will wonder if anything can be called a hit anymore.

In the first golden era, great tracks got played endlessly on the radio, etching themselves into the memory of society at large. Today, great songs come and go daily that never get their deserved attention. Sticky is by the hour, and not by the decade anymore. We live in a disposable world of sound bites, tweets, memes, and viral whirlwinds. Gone are the savoring days of buying an entire CD just because that hit song was on it.

Every artist on the planet now fights for as many ears as possible. The act of listening over and over is one major way artists make a living, and an engaged fan is one revenue source. It’s not about selling them that CD with the one track they loved, then listening to the CD twice before putting it on the shelf. Today, you better have an evolving catalog with new music releasing on a constant trickle and drip basis. It doesn’t have to be exactly new music, but it must be something new to tickle your fanbase, keeping you at the front of their listening mind.

The most common tactic is to trickle release singles, leading up to an EP or LP release. After releasing you need to keep up the drip. It's hard work to write new original music all the time so we are now in the era of re-use and re-purpose. Your streaming analytics will tell you what song is most popular, so do an acoustic version of it. If you are doing the IRL (in real life) grind, get to know which venues capture the best live performances. There are countless examples of how todays ‘off the mainstream’ artists are being creative and always having something new to be shared.

You deploy all these tactics – to simply keep your fanbase engaged. You can try to do it with just social posts, tweets, and other content variations. However, new music or new versions of your music, is what your fans want the most. It’s the stickiest tactic after performing live for your fans. Without new music, you simply cannot sustain engagement. Your fans have thousands of choices, so the minute you are not front of mind, their ears will find new artists to engage with.

Remember, your fans all have streaming access. They have millions of choices. You must stay relevant to them at all costs. I have composed a two-line slogan simplifying today’s industry and this reality check is part of it. It goes like this “authenticity is your brand and being prolific is the business.”

Reality Check #5 – If your catalog is old, it’s a problem but there is a solution …

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #3

Rock Star money is rare, but “Art Money” is attainable

April 28, 2022.

One of the other big shifts in the new music world is how an artist makes money, and how much. The truth today is, only a few can achieve “Rock Star” money. However, what I call “Art Money”, which is anywhere from 70K to 900K per year is achievable. I figure once an artist starts grossing a million a year, they are edging into the rock star club.

Globally the recording industry is still on a growth trajectory. In 2021 it grew by 18.5% to 26 billion, which was a 7.2% increase from 11.3% in 2020. This growth came in the following sectors: streaming, physical formats, performance rights, and sync. The only sector that saw a decline was digital downloads. The big labels that represent the mainstream artists still own most of the “Rock Star” money. As reported by Music Business Worldwide, the three major labels earned up to 20 billion in 2021. However, there is supporting evidence that the biggest growth is still coming from Indy/DIY/Artist Owned sector, even if this is only a 6 billion slice of the total pie.

I have spent a half a decade reviewing and curating new music released on a weekly basis across multiple genres. This has introduced me to an avalanche of amazing “off the mainstream” artists. Every week I find something interesting, and usually they’re not represented by any of the major labels. I will often go digging, and during this process I have formulated ways to estimate how these artists are making a living. Surprisingly most of these artists don’t have days jobs and most of them make “Art Money” on a sustaining basis.

If you only look at their Spotify revenue in one country – they would all need days jobs. It’s only when you add up all their potential engagement funnels that you start to see the potential sum of all revenue streams. My observed and estimated number for “art money” is to have a half million monthly streaming listeners, a sustained release of new music, and a healthy dose of IRL (in real life) performances. The easiest way to define the half million mark it to take the published Spotify Monthly Listeners number and multiply it by three. Basically, you need at least 165,000 worldwide monthly Spotify listeners to have your funnels primed for recurring monthly revenue.

All engagement funnels lead to the artist website. With great regularity these websites follow the same basic formula in this order: image of the artist, buy their hard goods (CD/vinyl/merch etc..), explore their entire catalog in “Link Tree” offerings, their current tour (IRL) schedule, VIP ticket opportunities, watch their videos, please become a fan, do you want to license their music, and contact information.

The net sum of all these parts is where art money starts. If you are missing any single element; or have not signed up for all the services to get all your royalties; or have very little new music, have a small back catalog, and don’t engage with your fans IRL – then it all starts breaking down. The path to “Art Money” is always “many” revenue streams.

Next week: Reality Check #4 – New music content is King, without it there is no engagement …

https://newmusicworld.org/




EFFEX Music Wins Ep 3!

Watch LIVE Stream

April 25, 2022.

In episode 3 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE we heard 11 songs, mostly from the United States, but we also had two songs from Canada and one from Norway. One song came on top, receiving 8, 9.5, 9, and 8.5 from our panel. The songwriter/producer who submitted this song had also entered songs in episodes 1 and 2. After coming close in these previous episodes, Effex Music wins episode 3 with a song called “Stop Signs”, featuring an artist named K.O.

Born and raised in the New York City area, Effex Music has a profound understanding of different genres of music from several eras. “When I was younger, I admired the music my parents would listen to,” says Effex. He eventually became active musically and decided to create his own signature sound. To date Effex Music has successfully released three instrumental EP’s and a host of remixes for various artists.

In addition to the recognition, Effex Music will be receiving a software prize from IMSTA member company, Steinberg Media. Let us thank Steinberg for sponsoring episode 3 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE.

Take a listen to the winning song below:

K.O. & Effex Music

Stop Signs




Reality Check #2

There Is Just Too Much Music

April 21, 2022.

With any of today’s computers, a decent audio interface, some quality outboard gear, and affordable music creation software; as well as a near infinite variety of software instruments and effects, you can create a Grammy worthy record in the comfort of your own bedroom. No professional studio or record contract required. Having access to a professional studio, mastering and a label can never hurt, but once upon a time it was a requirement to release a record. Now, there is zero barrier for artists to create their music, release it to the world and start growing a following.

Added to this are music aggregators like Tune Core, or Distro Kid, plus music being distributed by streaming subscriptions, and there is now more music than any other time in history. To be blunt about it, there is not enough money to go around. You could have composed and released a Beatle’s quality LP and it does not guarantee anything. This is a hard truth observation; it’s increasingly challenging to find and keep an engaged fan base and earn a living.

To put things in perspective, as per Music Business Worldwide, Spotify is on track for over 100 million songs by the end of 2022. There are up to 60,000 new tracks uploaded per day to this platform, which essentially means that there is a new song uploaded to Spotify every second of the day. Spotify had 3 million creators in 2018, 5 million in 2019, and over 8 million in 2020.

Before we get totally depressed, there needs to be an understanding that Spotify is not the holy grail of revenue streams. Spotify represents 30% of the ‘streaming’ pie and is only one of many potential engagement funnels. Spotify is important because it’s really three things: one-part recurring revenue that pays better than YouTube; one-part radio via the free version; and one-part business intelligence by sharing analytics with their creators.

A common breakdown of the potential revenue tributaries for artists are streaming, hard good sales, IRL (in real life) events, publishing, licensing, sync, collaboration, and splits. In the coming weeks, we will touch on some of these in more detail.

Next week: Reality Check #3 – Rock Star money is rare but …

https://newmusicworld.org/




Reality Check #1

It’s No Longer About Selling Anything

April 14, 2022.

I often have discussions with industry veterans about Spotify being a rip off for artists and that something must change. They are making a direct comparison to the CD/LP unit sales of the past and they are correct, reform is still needed. But something has already changed, and what’s happening might be surprising.

I have spent over half a decade unraveling these changes and many of my preconceptions have shifted. In the coming weeks I will share these insights with you. Nothing is new, but I feel I have created a solid version of the big new picture. Being artist focused, I will offer a series of reality checks, and give some straight talk.

Unit sales where once everything but now they’re just one tactic of many. The real goal is growing an engaged fanbase. With subscription services like Spotify, there is no consideration to buy anything. Once an artist has a fan base, they must engage with their fans as often as possible in order to stay relevant and front of mind.

Spotify is only one of many avenues that I call Engagement Funnels. It’s the sum of these recurring revenue tributaries that artists must learn to stimulate and cultivate. Spotify might pay the least, but it’s one part radio, one part metrics, and one part revenue. To see this in action, notice that every artist shares their music with a link tree. They are saying - here is everywhere you can engage with my music and come visit my website to learn more.

Next Week - Reality Check #2 - there is just too much music …

https://newmusicworld.org/




ILDIKÓ BARTA Wins Ep 2!

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Episode 2 of the IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE was even better than the first episode. During the 2-hour event, we heard 12 songs by songwriters from Australia, Canada, Hungary, Hong Kong, Netherlands, and United States. The 1st place spot went to a song called “Encounters” by Ildikó Barta from Hungary. This emotionally charged song was composed and performed by Ildikó. Her smooth and beautiful vocal performance, over cleverly crafted chord progression, with simple yet effective instrumentation made this song an obvious choice for the panel. Ildikó Barta has been involved in music since she was 3 years old. She studied music theory at the Liszt Ferenc University of Music and graduated in 1995. Since then, she has been a teacher at the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music in Miskolc and has written and performed several songs.

In addition to the recognition and the feedback, the winner will receive an T-RackS 5 MAX ($499 value). Let us thank our product sponsor, our panel, our contestants, and our viewers for another incredible event.

Take a listen to the winning song below:

ILDIKÓ BARTA

Találkozások Encounters






GoCasual wins the very first Song Reviews LIVE

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On Saturday, February 19th we held the first episode of IMSTA Song Reviews LIVE and it was a great success. During the 90-minute event, our expert panel listened to and provided feedback on 12 songs submitted by songwriters from around the world. The scores were very close in the top spots and we had to resort to a tiebreaker to choose the 2nd and 3rd place winners. In the end “Ride of My Life” by Effex Music feat. Kimera won 3rd place; "All or Nothing” by Universal Doctrine won 2nd place; and “Slopes” by GoCasual won 1st place.

In addition to the recognition and the feedback these winners received on their songs, each winner will also receive a prize sponsored by IK Multimedia. The 1st Place Prize is IK Total Studio 3.5 MAX ($999 value); the 2nd Place Prize is IK Total VI MAX ($699 value); and the 3rd Place Prize is IK T-RackS 5 MAX ($499 value). Let us thank our product sponsor, our panel, our contestants, and our viewers for an incredible event.

Take a listen to the Top 3 Songs below:

GoCasual

SLOPES (ACOUSTIC)



Universal Doctrine

ALL OR NOTHING



Effex Music

RIDE OF MY LIFE