A new RIAA report shows that in the first half of 2019, the U.S. Latin music business continued to grow at a double-digit pace. By mid-year 2019, Latin music revenues grew 13.5% to $232 million at estimated retail value versus the prior year. That builds on three consecutive years of…
Category archives: Major Labels
Haviah Mighty Wins Polaris Music Prize 2019
Haviah Mighty has won the Polaris Music Prize 2019 for her album "13th Floor." The Prize, which was presented in Toronto by CBC Music, goes to the best Canadian album of the year based on artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation. It was determined by…
Public Enemy’s Technique For Cracking “Second Album Syndrome”
SAS or ‘Second Album Syndrome’ has become something of a phenomenon in the music business, with many artists struggling break new ground or successfully follow up a debut with an equally compelling sophomore release. Not so with famed hip hop group Public Enemy, however, who successfully broke SAS. ________________________________ Guest…
Warner Records Partners With Masked Gorilla’s Roger Gengo For New Hip Hop Label
Warner Records has formed a joint venture with Masked Records, the new label formed by hip-hop entrepreneur Roger Gengo, founder of the influential Masked Gorilla website and UNMASKED concert series. Gengo, who is credited with founding and incubating “Soundcloud Rap,” established Masked Gorilla when he was just 17 years old….
Singer Sam Smith Shares New Preferred Gender Pronouns
Singer and songwriter Sam Smith, who came out as nonbinary earlier this year, announced that they are officially changing their preferred gender pronouns to they/them. "Today is a good day so here goes. I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM,” Smith said in a post on social media….
Deezer To Tests User-Centric Muisc Streaming Payouts and It Could Be A Game Changer
Music streamer Deezer is soliciting rights holders to test a major change in how streaming royalties are calculated. So-called "user-centric payments" would more fairly compensate low and mid-tier artists, according to its supporters. While not a top tier player, Deezer’s 14 million users would provide an adequate test of the…
Martina McBride Calls Out Spotify For Underepresentation Of Women
While creating a country music playlist on Spotify, country star Martina McBride found that the overwhelming majority of the songs recommended were sung by men and decided to speak out. McBride says she hard to refresh her list of Spotify song recommendations 14 times before it included one women -…
RIAA Investigating Payola Like Fox Guarding The Henhouse [Op-Ed]
Paying for radio airplay, or payola as it is more commonly known, has been around since the 50s in one form or another, but has recently spiked. This has lead the FCC to request that the RIAA investigate – meaning the industry will, in effect, be policing itself. ____________________________ Guest…
FCC Asks RIAA To Invesitgate Payola (Again)
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Reilly has sent a letter to the RIAA asking it to investigate recent reports of payola – the practice of paying radio stations and other music services to play music. The request came on the heels of a Rolling Stone piece that suggested that payola, which some…
20 Most Searched For Lyrics Summer 2019
[UPDATED] “Old Town Road” may have been the surprise mega-hit of the summer, but the award for most searched lyrics of 2019 globally goes to another newcomer. While the most searched for lyrics of the summer in the US belong to “Old Town Road,” by the end of summer Billie…