After a string of 'fake stream' scandals involving mega-stars like French Montana and G-Eazy, a serious question percolated within the music industry: how real are Spotify's stream counts? Vice went underground and found a shadowy network of 'underground stream farms' that fabricate play counts, raising serious questions about Spotify's numbers. Mi…

What's the future of streaming music platforms? While giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music only getting bigger, there's an enormous opportunity to build smaller, niche streaming platforms for brands, sports leagues and other customized clients. In this episode, we sit down with Con Raso, MD/cofounder of Tuned Global, an…

Emily White is one of the foremost experts in the music industry and an authority on how musicians can maximize the earnings from their music. She's worked at the largest companies in the business, managed top indie artists, and teaches music business ins-and-outs at New York University. She's also the author of the book, How to Build a Sustainable…

When it comes to trainwrecks, this one takes the cake. Just a few weeks ago, the ultra-successful country-pop trio Lady Antebellum decided to change their name, citing newfound sensitivity towards racist overtones. But Lady Antebellum's new name, Lady A, was already taken by Seattle-based black blues singer Anita White, who's been using the moniker…

Door Digital Music News

Door Digital Music News

Door Digital Music News

Door Digital Music News

James Sammataro is one of the top music industry attorneys. And like many music biz barristers, he's witnessing an alarming swell in copyright infringement lawsuits -- some of which are pretty questionable. But even if a claim is flimsy, that doesn't mean an ill-educated jury won't award a multi-million dollar award to the litigating troll. Just as…

Lucidious was a talented musician with a growing fanbase and a well-paying day job. But he also couldn't get onto a Spotify playlist to save his life. Now, he's making $250,000 a year with a rabid and growing fanbase. And he's still not getting any Spotify playlist love. So how is that even possible? Ari Herstand, author of How to Make It In the Ne…

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Phil May from the band, The Pretty Things. One of the most influential people in rock history, and you’ve probably never heard of him. Phil May founded The Pretty Things with Dick Taylor in 1963. He founded the group with Dick Taylor who had previously been in Little Boy Blue And The Blue Boys with Mick …

This week, we talk to the world's foremost experts in guitar effects pedals. After spending decades in music production, live tech, and pedal development, these four guys decided to help break the world's record for the largest guitar effects pedalboard ever created. Some may ask, why? These guys asked why not? In coordination with Sweetwater Sound…

In this episode of the Digital Music News podcast, we stray outside the usual music industry discussions to interview fast-rising YouTube sensation, Dad. Enjoy!Door Digital Music News

Ed McPherson is one of biggest attorneys in the music industry. And he's getting worried about a spate of recent copyright infringement decisions with highly-controversial outcomes. The latest of those decisions belongs to Flame, a relatively-unknown Christian rapper who scored a $2.78 million infringement award after suing Katy Perry, producer Dr.…

Noah Itman spends some time chatting with Todd Rundgren, one of the most influential figures in music. They discuss Todd's massive career, his involvement in music tech, high-level synchronization and his numerous projects throughout the past 53 years.Door Digital Music News

Zöe Keating lost her husband and business partner in 2015, leaving the cellist extraordinaire a single mother. But what happened next was astonishing: Keating soldiered on, determined to continue her unlikely success as a touring and recording avant-garde classical cellist. But it was her fans that made it impossible for her to leave. Keating die-h…

Headphones are dangerous, simply because they block out everything else. Yet everyday, millions of people drive, bike, scooter, and operate machinery with headphones blaring. But what if you could hear what's going on and still listen to the audio? Bethesda, MD-based David Nghiem is one person trying to solve this riddle. Nghiem noticed that munici…

Peter Csathy is the author of Fearless Media, which is 300+ pages about everything that happened in the media world - in just the last year. That's right: the media space is moving so fast, somebody can write an entire book about it, with nearly every page dedicated to a new company, investor, multi-billion dollar merger, or emerging sector. One of…

In October of 2018, the music industry passed a momentous bill: the Music Modernization Act, or MMA. The sweeping law opened a brand-new process for streaming giants like Spotify to pay songwriters, and ordered the creation of a dedicated organization to track, collect, and pay those royalties to publishers and songwriters. Just one question: who's…

Guenter Loibl and Nermina Mumic are trying to figure out a way to detect fraud and irregularities in royalty accounting statements. I asked Guenter: how big of a problem is this iceberg? It's a lot bigger than we all think, he told me. Here's a discussion on what these guys have found, and how they're parsing though the data for errors using the la…

Invest in the right music startup, and you're a billionaire. Make the wrong bet, and you're out of $5 million (or in court for five years). But that's true for any investment risk involving new ideas and sectors. So why are investors still gun-shy around music startups and concepts? I assembled three experts in Hamburg, Germany to help me answer th…

And if it's not one of these three startups, it will likely be one of their competitors. In this episode, we dive deeply into the future of live music with three entrepreneurs attacking decentralized music gigs (SofaConcerts), live performance content recognization (Flits Music), and music concert VR (Noys VR). All three have won startup awards and…

The number of streaming music subscribers is soaring: according to one report from Futuresource, more than 235 million will be paying for a streaming music service by the end of 2018. But most of those gains are happening in North America and Western Europe, while regions like Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East are seriously lagging behind.…

It's an argument with no right answers. Comparing Gloria Gaynor's 1978 smash "I Will Survive" against The Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" from 1977 is like asking a parent to pick a favorite child. And these are the indeed amongst the greatest progeny of Papa Disco.Door Digital Music News

If you haven't heard of quadraphonic sound, join the club. The early-stage surround sound technology quietly died in the late 1970s, and was ultimately supplanted by innumerable other spatial audio technologies. In its heyday, it was used by the likes of Pink Floyd and The Who. Quadraphonic sound was all about 4-speaker surround sound (technically …

If you want an even deeper dive, Jeff Price of Audiam (who's being interviewed) compiled a highly detailed review of the Music Modernization Act on Digital Music News. It basically explains everything. After you hear this podcast + read this guide, you'll hopefully have a far deeper understanding of this bill (and know what to do next). Also, here'…

The public performance license generates $6 billion annually, according to Audiam founder Jeff Price, yet it's one of the most insanely complex and misunderstood revenue generators in the music industry. In this episode, we talk to Scott Schreer, one of the most successful jingle writers in history - and one of the best people to talk to about this…

Both were amazingly huge rap songs that left questionable legacies behind. But which is ultimately the more epic track: "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice, or "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer? There isn't a perfect answer to this conundrum. Boldly diving into this quagmire are Todd Nathanson and Danny Roth, who attempt to make sense of it all.…

"There are no rules for success," says Bibi McGill, leader of Beyonce’s band, Suga Mama. But these principles just might change your musical career. This is the person that Beyonce trusts to manage, direct, and coordinate her backing band on tour. The band is called Suga Mama, and it’s part of a massive roadshow that plays the biggest arenas in fro…

Oasis' "Wonderwall" vs. Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)": which is the most epic? In this episode, Todd Nathanson and Danny Roth pick it all apart with scant facts and little hard data.Door Digital Music News

It's the most contentious music copyright battle of the past decade. And despite howls of protests from artists, the U.S. Court of Appeals just upheld a copyright infringement decision ordering Robin Thicke and Pharrell to pay millions in damages to the Marvin Gaye Estate for plagiarizing 'Blurred Lines'. But was that fair? We interviewed the lawye…