This Startup Used A Chatbot To Sell $1M In Vinyl Records In 8 Months, Scores $3.5M Investment

Chatbots – "a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet" – are all the rage in tech circles. Mark Zuckerberg says they’ll transform Facebook, and an 8 month old startup has used one to sell $1 million in vinyl records. Online vinyl store, The…

Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y And Indie Music

Always eager to help artists check things off their "to do" lists, Hypebot has advice this week on using Snapchat Khaled style to successfully market yourself, how to get more involved with your local music scene, use Facebook Live like a pro, and much, much more. 3 Social Media Fan…

WMG’s ADA Inks BMG For Global Distribution

Remember when BMG sold its mega-share of Sony BMG vowing to exit the recorded music business. In the last 2 years, they’ve re-entered the record marketplace via acquisitions and creative partnerships; and now they’ve partnered with former rival WMG for distribution. Warner Music Group’s independent distribution operation ADA Music has…

Record Store Day 2016: What Was Hot, What Was Not

How did your your Record Store Day 2106 purchases stack up against the rest of the country? This year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens “March of the Resistance” was the top selling album on Record Store Day, while Double-Sided by twenty one pilots was the top selling single. Here is…

An Independent Release Is #1 Album In U.S.

Independent labels have a reason to celebrate. The Lumineers’ "Cleopatra" tops the Billboard 200 chart this week. It sold 125,000 equivalent album units, including 108,000 traditional albums, on an indie label. The album also earned a No. 1 on seven additional charts and features the single ‘Ophelia’, which set a…

Today Is Record Store Day – Unplug And Go Buy Something

Today, Saturday April 16th is Record Store Day – a celebration of all that is good about indie record stores and indie music. Despite vinyl sales these stores are struggling and as convenient as it is to stream or download, we need them. They’re guides pointing us towards hidden musical…

3 Important Independent Music Business Trends

Rather than play by the rules and stick to industry conventions, it has become important for those operating independently within the music business to pursue trends which will allow them greater control over their work. Here we look at three such trends which are expected to gain prominence in the…

Analyst Mark Mulligan Dives Into IFPI’s Global Music Report 2016 And Surfaces Several Surprising Takeaways

Yesterday the IFPI released its Global Music Report 2016 show the first real growth for the music industry in 20 years driven largely by explosive growth in streaming. Here top music industry analyst Mark Mulligan takes a look at the meaning behind the stats. ________________________________________ By industry analyst Mark Mulligan…

3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Announce A Release Date

When prepping for the launch of a new album, announcing a release date for your fans may seem like the smart marketing move to make, but doing so can often do more harm than good, and leave artists in a tough spot when said date actually roles around. ___________________________________ In…

State Of The Music Industry By The Numbers [CHART]

The IFPI released their Global Music Music Report 2016 today. In addition to showing the first industry growth in 20 years and the explosion of streaming, it also contains some other surprising and important stats. This chart summarizes all the key findings. _____________________________________________ click on image to enlarge MORE: Global…