music industry

Vinyl Outsold CDs for the First Time Since 1987

The resilient format raked in $1.2 billion in 2022, outselling CDs by nearly 8 million units.

Culture Kevin Hurler Mar 10

Bob Dylan Says Music Is ‘Too Smooth and Painless’ in the Streaming Age

The living legend also called technology "sorcery" that "might be the final nail driven into the coffin of civilization."

Internet Kevin Hurler Dec 20

Apple Music Says It Pays Artists an Average of a Penny Per Stream, Which Is Somehow Good

We now have a clearer picture of how Apple Music compares to Spotify in terms of royalties. Citing a disclosure letter sent to creators on Friday through Apple Music’s artist dashboard and posted in full by 9to5Mac, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the service pays artists an average of a penny per stream—which…

Internet Catie Keck Apr 16

Axl Rose Says Tim Cook ‘Is the Donald Trump of the Music Industry’ and We Have Questions

Late last night, on March 7th, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose tweeted something with zero context. (Who among us?) But the more I think about what he tweeted, the more questions I have. “Tim Cook is the Donald Trump of the music industry,” Rose wrote. Tim Cook is the Donald Trump of the music…

Tech News Frida Garza Mar 8

Pirate Bay Founder Will Sue the Recording Industry For a Change

Last week the Helsinki District Court decided that Peter Sunde, one of the co-founders of file-sharing portal The Pirate Bay, owes quite a bit of money to the music industry. Specifically, he owes a coalition of Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Universal Music, and Warner Music $400,000, as reported by Torrent Freak. His response? No, fuck…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jun 22

1 percent of recording artists earn 77 percent of recorded music revenue

Thanks to the internet, there are now more ways than ever to get music. But this hasn’t allowed smaller artists to get a bigger share of the financial pie. In fact, the top 1 percent of artists now collect 77 percent of all revenue from recorded music. The Atlantic has a new story out about…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 18

The Biggest Record Pressing Factory In the US Is Expanding

In recent years, people have been buying more and more vinyl records—and now, demand for music etched into this aging format is so hot that the country’s largest plant is increasing its capacity by more than 50 percent. The Tennessean reports that United Record Pressing LLC in Nashville just bought a 142,000-square-foot warehouse where it…

Tech News Mario Aguilar May 7

Britain to Let Its Residents Legally Copy a CD or DVD

You go, Britain. Sources claim the country will legalize the copying of CDs and DVDs for personal use. It could also make it legal for people to use copyrighted works in a parody without permission. Business Secretary Vince Cable is expected to publicly announce the government’s support of these consumer practices on Wednesday. [Reuters; Shutterstock/cardiae]

Tech News Kelly Aug 2

Your iTunes Might Sound Almost Twice as Nice Soon

According to CNN, Apple and other digital download services are in talks with record labels to up music files from 16-bit to pristine, high-fidelity 24-bit. But while Macs can handle 24-bit music already, iPods and iPhones would need to be retooled to accommodate the sweet sounds. Soon please! [CNN]

Tech News Brian Barrett Feb 22

This Is What the Dying Music Industry Looks Like

Instead of eulogies for a music industry too slow to adapt to the digital age, its mourners should just print up this chart on huge poster boards. And while digital sales are helping staunch the bleeding, as you can see here it’s not nearly enough. Then again, apparently the new Radiohead album is pretty good?…

Tech News Brian Barrett Feb 18

Aging Rocker John Mellencamp Says the Internet Has “Destroyed the Music Business”

Not only has it destroyed the music business, but “it’s going to destroy the movie business,” too. Obviously Mellencamp has a new album he’s pimping out (and headlines he’s trying to grab), but the atomic bomb? Really, Mellencamp? [Reuters]

Tech News Kat Hannaford Aug 18

The Wall and Other Great Pink Floyd Albums Removed From Digital Stores

Selling individual tracks online is not the only thing Pink Floyd has been raging against recently. The band has removed several albums from iTunes, Amazon et al due to EMI’s contract expiring at the end of June. https://gizmodo.com/pink-floyd-wins-legal-battle-to-only-sell-full-albums-o-5491039 The Wall, Animals, Wish You Were Here and The Final Cut have all disappeared due to record…

Commerce Kat Hannaford Aug 16

Music Downloads and Streams In Cold, Hard Dollars

Just how much moolah do musicians earn from online downloads and streams? For the artist to earn the US minimum wage ($1,160/month), they need 12,339 iTunes downloads or 849,817 streams on Rhapsody. Lady Gaga apparently made just $167 from 1 million streams of Poker Face on Spotify—to earn minimum wage from that service, an artist…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Apr 14

EMI Is On the Brink of Death

The number of major record labels seems set to drop to a mere three, as EMI has failed to make a deal for North American distribution rights with either Universal or Sony. Updated As I wrote about extensively here, EMI is doing very, very badly, and things have just been getting worse for them. They…

Tech News Adam Frucci Apr 1

Record Labels: Change or Die

It’s a lousy time to be a record label. Profits are tanking, bands are angry—OK Go just ditched EMI—and YouTube and BitTorrent changed the game. Still, some labels are transforming themselves to help musicians in the digital age. “Change or Die” may sound like hyperbole, or an idle threat, but for the music business, the…

Tech News Adam Frucci Mar 11

Pink Floyd Wins Legal Battle to Only Sell Full Albums Online

If any band could justify not selling individual tracks, its Pink Floyd. What, you just want Summer ’69 but not Atom Heart Mother Suite? Come on. Now, you won’t have that option. Pink Floyd has just won a legal battle with label EMI prohibiting their music from being sold as individual tracks. If you want…

Tech News Adam Frucci Mar 11

Music Industry Piracy Fears: A Historical Perspective

There is nothing about this old Dead Kennedys cassette single I don’t love. [SB1 via HypeMachine]

Tech News Adam Frucci Feb 22

Robots Will Kill Music! (1930)

With every important technological innovation a vocal group of people become alarmed that their industry will be adversely effected by it. People are understandably terrified when it seems like a new technology will put them out of a job. However, throughout the twentieth century, we’ve seen that the people who succeed in times of transition…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 17

Warner Music Doesn’t Much Care For This “Free Internet Music”

Warner Music, one of the four largest record labels, is upset with just how free their music is online, and they’re not talking about piracy: They’re worried about legit, ad-supported services like Last.fm, Spotify and Pandora. Uh oh. Warner execs, who were just yesterday lamenting the (shocking!) correlation between raised iTunes prices and decrease sales,…

Tech News John Herrman Feb 10

Bono, You Got It All Wrong

Bonooooooorrrrlllllllll! I know you are a rock star and a defender of the planet and I really like Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum and even Zooropa, but come on, “reverse Robin Hood”? So wrong. And it gets worse: “But we know from America’s noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China’s ignoble…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jan 4

music industry

Vinyl Outsold CDs for the First Time Since 1987

Bob Dylan Says Music Is ‘Too Smooth and Painless’ in the Streaming Age

Apple Music Says It Pays Artists an Average of a Penny Per Stream, Which Is Somehow Good

Axl Rose Says Tim Cook ‘Is the Donald Trump of the Music Industry’ and We Have Questions

Pirate Bay Founder Will Sue the Recording Industry For a Change

1 percent of recording artists earn 77 percent of recorded music revenue

The Biggest Record Pressing Factory In the US Is Expanding

Britain to Let Its Residents Legally Copy a CD or DVD

Your iTunes Might Sound Almost Twice as Nice Soon

This Is What the Dying Music Industry Looks Like

Aging Rocker John Mellencamp Says the Internet Has “Destroyed the Music Business”

The Wall and Other Great Pink Floyd Albums Removed From Digital Stores

Music Downloads and Streams In Cold, Hard Dollars

EMI Is On the Brink of Death

Record Labels: Change or Die

Pink Floyd Wins Legal Battle to Only Sell Full Albums Online

Music Industry Piracy Fears: A Historical Perspective

Robots Will Kill Music! (1930)

Warner Music Doesn’t Much Care For This “Free Internet Music”

Bono, You Got It All Wrong

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