Sony Can Officially Buy 2 Million Songs That Belonged to Michael Jackson
Including a trove of 250 Beatles songs.
A ruling by the European Commission on Tuesday gave Sony access to works by Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and a much-coveted trove of 250 Beatles songs that were previously owned by Michael Jackson.
The commission’s decision gives the music company the green light to buy 2 million songs from Jackson’s estate for $750 million and dismisses opposition by Warner Music and independent music trade group Impala, which argued that the purchase would give Sony too much influence in the industry.
The deal will give Sony full control of Sony/ATV, a music publishing company created 21 years ago through a joint venture that split ownership of the firm 50-50 between Sony and the pop superstar, who died in 2009.
Warner and Impala had opposed the purchase, arguing that it would give Sony—already the largest music publisher—outsize leverage in negotiating licensing deals with music and video streaming services like Spotify and YouTube. Publishing rights are more important than they used to be given the explosion in digital streaming services that give consumers access to millions of tunes through a few taps of their smartphones. Songwriters and rights holders are paid publishing royalties when songs are played through these platforms.
The commission said Tuesday that the transaction will have “no negative impact on competition in any of the markets for recorded music and music publishing in the European Economic Area.” In particular, it said, the deal will “not materially increase Sony’s market power vis-à-vis digital music providers compared to the situation prior to the merger.”
Helen Smith, executive chair of Impala, said in a statement Tuesday that the decision is “clearly wrong.”
“It goes against the EU’s previous analysis of concentration in music, as well as the concerns raised during this market investigation. We will need to read the decision in full when published to understand properly why the Commission has allowed this transaction to go ahead—there is a fundamental flaw somewhere.”
How Mello Music Group Became The Most Successful New Indie Rap Label Of This Decade
When Mello Music Group founder Michael Tolle entered the music biz in 2007, he was bombarded by proclamations of the industry’s imminent demise. A digital revolution had decimated the market for physical sales, and conglomerate-backed major labels were slow and indecisive in adapting to the new landscape. If once-loyal consumers were listening to music on their phones and laptops, skeptics fearfully asked, how were artists, much less labels, going to make money?
Tolle saw the challenge as an opportunity. Born from a series of compilations and self-funded collaborations, his Arizona-based upstart embraced the Wild West of digital downloads and streaming as means of organic publicity. But in other senses, Mello Music was a throwback, pressing releases to CD, vinyl, and cassette for a devoted audience. The album art recalled the great jazz and funk imprints of the twentieth century, and collaboration among Mello’s wide-ranging hip hop roster soon spawned full-length joint efforts from artists of varying stripes.
Rejecting the excesses which helped sink major labels in the new millennium (the built-in overhead of pricey A&Rs, extravagant video productions, superfluous equipment and studio engagements), Tolle let the evolving market dictate the means of his output, reasoning that demand would always exist for considered, musical hip hop. Where other labels clung to outdated mediums and rollout schedules, Mello emphasized the album structure in packaging its stable of idiosyncratic rappers and producers.
Many of Mello’s artists–quirky, progressive narrators with old school sensibilities–are ideally suited for the indie setting. Successful projects have included outings by Stik Figa, a scene-painting lyricist from Topeka; the abstract-leaning discographies of Dudley “Declaime” Perkins and his wife, the neo-soul singer Georgia Anne Muldrow; Open Mike Eagle, who terms his free-associative style “art rap”; and a stable of acts helmed by Detroit producer Apollo Brown, whose neo-noir compositions comprise a brutalist take on his city’s musical tradition.
We caught up with Tolle to discuss the demands endemic to the modern independent label, keeping up with advancing technology, and cultivating an audience.
A lot of Mello Music’s artists hail from distinctly middle American cities. How important was it to seek acts beyond the established hip hop epicenters of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta?
Michael Tolle: Hugely, because while I love listening to music from New York, L.A., Chicago, all of those places, they’re very urban cultures that have their own energies and their own vibes, and they’re visible even when you go there. But they’re not the vibes and cultures that everyone’s on. I personally don’t spend a lot of time in L.A. or New York, but I’m in Seattle a lot, I’m in Portland a lot, I’m in Hawaii a lot, New Orleans and Detroit. Because I listen to so much music every day, to find that little pocket that’s familiar, but has its own little twist, that resonates.
A big thing that people don’t realize about an independent label is that there are a couple of business factors going on that I don’t think anyone consciously tries to do, but they do weigh on things. You saw the death of the group a decade or two decades ago because it doesn’t make sense to tour 18 guys if you can just bring a guy with a microphone. And now it’s sort of gotten back to where the live band is part of the equation, but it’s still economically tough for labels and artists themselves to tour with a band if they’re not really cemented.
Likewise, there’s so much talent in the world, and when you speak to a New York artist or an L.A. artist, they pay New York or L.A. rent. So I’ve got plenty of experience with amazing New York and L.A. artists who are struggling financially, and when you talk numbers with them, they’re paying more per month to share an apartment than you’re paying to buy a house with a mortgage, land, and school district. Living in New York doesn’t sell records, talent does. So if you can find an artist who is not based in New York or L.A., but has talent, money goes farther. And so I think that that plays a factor with a lot of artists because you can go to places like Seattle, Detroit, and things are more reasonably priced without being outside the sphere of understanding, it’s not like you went to some country town where there’s only one building–the experience is similar.
Due to their styles and hometowns, some of Mello’s artists carry the status of hip hop outsiders. How has this helped carve a niche?
MT: There are people who are privileged, people who are not privileged–you get the whole spectrum–but in general most people in this country are somewhere in the middle, and we try to reflect that with music. So when you have someone like Stik Figa from Topeka, Kansas, or Red Pill from Detroit, you get these very American experiences that are unique to the regions. If they’re being truthful in their music, that resonates with people, and it resonates with me. I’d like to imagine we’re building a narrative or a story through all these different people from these very American places, portraying everyday existences with little distinctions that make their stories speak to people.
One thing I noticed with other people I worked with outside the label is that they have this ritual–it’s very hip hop–it’s, ‘Let’s get this big studio that looks awesome, this giant mixing board that we’re not gonna use. We’re gonna smoke tons of blunts, and we’re gonna write our rhymes in the studio, and somebody’s gonna pay $300 an hour for this, and it’s gonna look cool.’ And our artists don’t really work like that. They’re out writing stuff on the plane, on the bus, while they’re sitting in the town square, while they’re traveling, they’re writing as they go, and they only hit the studio when they need to record.
I think a lot of artists have a great first record, because they bring in their experiences from the world. And if they have success, they then tour, they live in hotels, they live in the studio and talk rap music. And that’s what you get on the next record, and the next record, and the next record, as long as they’re successful. But with us, you look at our artists, you don’t hear about that experience, because that’s not what they’re living. They’re continually out in the world writing about their experiences. They maintain a life rather than an industry existence.
Revenue-wise, what’s the current breakout between the digital and physical markets?
MT: I don’t care what format people listen to music in–it’s the music that matters. To that end, we do everything. I personally think CDs are great, vinyl’s great, we do some cassettes now too. Downloads are awesome, streams are awesome. But I’ve watched it change. We used to be pretty evenly split between physical and digital–it would be about 30% CDs, 20% vinyl. Then Apple eliminated CD drives and automakers eliminated CD players, so in the last year or two CDs’ share has decreased, but they’re still about 20% of the market. Streaming has taken over very quickly in the last 12 months, to where, revenue-wise, it has an equal share. Now it’s a little bit tilted–maybe 60% digital, including streaming and downloads, 40% physical.
Within digital, I’d say the most interesting thing is that it’s now about equal between streaming and downloads, which until recently wasn’t the case. Spotify is fantastic to us. Anybody you hear complaining about it, I don’t think they’ve really looked at the comparative picture. iTunes and Amazon are great to us–they’re about the same in terms of revenue. I think that’s why you saw Apple move to Apple Music, and it’s going to get bigger. Some of the iTunes people will move to Apple Music, but hopefully revenue will be equal there. I still think CDs will make a comeback in like five or ten years, and be the vinyl of that age.
Over the last year or so, I’ve been really surprised to see cassette tapes make a bit of a comeback. What do you attribute that to?
I think a few things happened. Vinyl became so trendy, and about two years ago vinyl buyers started requesting free download codes with their purchases. I think the market went from people buying vinyl because they really listened to it–and there’s still that market, that 50% of real vinyl buyers–but there were also a lot of people buying it because it was cool. I think that created a little bit of a bubble, but I still think the core of the vinyl market is very solid.
So then the prices started to go up, and pressing vinyl is still a long process–we’d have to hand records in four months in advance–I think people wanted more of a lo-fi alternative, and it was tapes. I will say that no one’s pressing thousands of tapes, we’re probably talking hundreds at best, even if it looks like they’re everywhere. It’s pretty niche still.
Do you think Mello’s artwork and special edition releases have helped capitalize on the remaining physical market?
Yeah, for me, it’s like Netflix. I stream lots of stuff, but once in a while Netflix changes the selection, and I can’t watch one of my favorite movies. You want to have a copy they can’t take away from you. I don’t want to subscribe to PhotoShop and have to renew it every month, otherwise I can’t open my files. So while I still want to be a subscriber to those services, I want the option of the hard copy.
If I’m pressing something to vinyl, I want it to be a work of art. I joke, I stream it when it comes out, if I like it enough to listen all the way through I’ll buy the digital download. If I’m still listening to it a week later, I’ll buy the CD or vinyl so I can have a physical copy in the house. I know a lot of people don’t do that, but for me, if I have something on vinyl, that means I’ve been listening to it a while, and I want to make sure it’s there, like a book on a shelf. I read digital books, but I have books I really love in paperback or hardcover on a shelf.
Many artists and bands think that they’ll automatically make money when their videos are viewed on YouTube, but that’s far from the case. In the last part of my series on streaming royalties and an excerpt from my new Music 4.1 Internet Music Guidebook, you’ll see all of the variables that go into how YouTube views are monetised.
“First of all understand that just because your video is being viewed doesn’t mean that you’re getting paid. Your channel must first be signed up with Google Adsense (who supplies the adverts), then set for monetization, then the monetize option for each video must be selected. It’s only at that point that your videos can begin to be monetized
View Variables
There’s more to it than that though, as with everything involving digital music. The commercial on the pre-roll must be watched all the way through or else it doesn’t count towards monetization. If there’s a banner ad across the bottom of the video, it must be viewed for at least 31 seconds before it counts as a monetised view.
There’s also the fact that YouTube doesn’t sell ads on all of your views. Then some views on mobile devices just don’t register unless the viewer uses an official YouTube app.
Another major factor is the advertiser and the type of ad that’s placed on your video. If your audience happens to like expensive cars, jewellery or clothing, then an advertiser would probably be willing to pay a higher ad rate, which means that each video view would earn more money.
Yet another variable is the time of year the video is viewed, as many advertisers pay more for the holiday season than in January, for instance.
And then there’s the type of ad that’s used on the video or channel. This can vary from a skippable video ad that runs before your video begins (a “pre-roll”), to a transparent overlay add that takes up the bottom portion of your video, to a display ad featured to the right of your video and more. Each pays at a different rate.
That’s why there’s a wide range of payouts that can go anywhere from around $2.50 to $9.00 per thousand views. That means that a monetized video with 1 million views may generate anywhere from $2,500 to $9,000. YouTube takes a 45% cut however, which then puts the income to the copyright holder to between $1,375 and $4,950.
A generally accepted average of what to expect from a million video views is around $1,750, or $0.00175 per view after the split with YouTube, although its also common to see payouts as low as $0.011, or $1,100 per million views.
Don’t forget that if you’re signed to a record label, that this is what the label takes in, and you’re paid at your label royalty rate (15 to 22% of the net amount) minus any recoupable deductions. No wonder why you’re not seeing any YouTube money.”
Vevo and Warner Music Group have confirmed a long-rumored partnership that will finally see premium video content from the major music company’s artists distributed across Vevo's internal platforms.
The licensing deal, negotiated off and on for more than a year, has been declared a “milestone” which concludes Warner's long holdout against the video platform, owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Abu Dhabi Media and Google. Warner Music was the last major label operating outside of Vevo. The agreement excludes YouTube, on which Vevo maintains accounts for artists signed to UMG and Sony, with Warner artists retaining their own YT channels. It also is not an equity deal, as Universal's and Sony's are, giving WMG flexibility in terms of releases.
“Today marks an important milestone for Vevo as we forge a new relationship with Warner Music Group based on a shared vision of putting artists first and creating a platform that does justice to the music,” comments Vevo CEO Erik Huggers in a statement announcing the deal. “We’re excited to partner with Warner Music and bring their artists’ content to life through our new mobile and web experiences and across a range of our programming.”
According to both parties, “select” WMG videos will begin to appear “imminently” across Vevo owned and controlled properties, including Vevo.com and its mobile app.
The news of negotiations between Vevo and Warner first emerged last August, and come after a year of redesigns and changes at the video service propelled by Huggers, who took over for Rio Caraeff -- the company's top exec since its December 2009 launch -- in April 2015.
Divided into three distinct categories, Vevo last month announced a "reboot" that will impact three distinct areas: brand; creative content and programming; and product. The new features will include a redesigned Vevo logo and interfaces, new user profiles with social components and a personalized video player offering recommendation. Its ambitions weren't lost on Warner Music.
“Erik and his team continue to evolve their service and bring to life a new vision for Vevo,” comments Steve Cooper, CEO, Warner Music Group. “We're pleased to have built a flexible and mutually beneficial relationship that will bring additional creative and commercial possibilities to our artists and songwriters.” The partnership, he adds, “is the latest in a recent series of deals that are helping us explore ways to unlock the true value of music videos in attracting and engaging vast audiences."
In July 2016, Vevo claimed 18 billion monthly views, a number which should spike with the inclusion of Warner's video content. As previously reported, the new arrangement is not understood to involve equity (as Universal's and Sony Music’s are), which gives WMG some flexibility in terms of releases.
1 Percent Of YouTube Channels Get 93 Percent Of The Views
First of all thanks to my friend BOBBY OWSINSKI for this article.
The numbers in total are staggering. To date, there are roughly 2 billion total videos on YouTube that have been watched a total of 39 trillion times, totaling 196 trillion minutes (or 400 million years) of time spent, according to Bernstein Research. What might be most interesting is that out of billions of videos, viewership tends to be intensely concentrated on the top 1% of YouTube channels, and they’ve accounted for 93% of all the platform’s views since its inception.
That means that nearly 3 trillion views went to everyone else, and that’s still a huge number, just in case you’re worrying about getting run over by top creators. Remember that a trillion is 1,000 billion, and a billion is 1,000 millions, which puts that figure a little more into perspective. In other words, there are still plenty of views to go around when it comes to artists and bands.
While Facebook looks like it’s threatening YouTube for the video crown, most analysts are still betting on the later to come out on top. The reason? It’s all about the advertising, and YouTube is far superior in how it handles the pre-roll ads, giving advertisers more bang for their buck, especially when it comes to the top 1% creators.
And don’t forget, although it may be small, YouTube does pay at least a small royalty, and since the company is under fire from a variety of music-related associations and labels, it’s more than likely that revenue is going to rise in the future.
That said, you probably won’t ever get rich on YouTube alone unless you manage to crack that top 1%, but if you keep the purpose of being on the platform in perspective (it’s all about distribution and exposure of your music and your brand), then the money becomes a secondary issue. While you can’t take your eyes off the money and expect to stay in business, the music, and the passion for it, always comes first.
Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale
What Bobby McFerrin does is not an act; it’s spontaneous invention. He peers over the edge of the cliff, acknowledges the void below, and dives head first, buoyed by the element of surprise. Bobby uses dense rhythms, extraordinary scales, and complicated intervals that accomplished musicians and educators have studied and dissected.
Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? Join host John Schaefer, scientist Daniel Levitin and musical artist Bobby McFerrin for live performances and cross cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s note-worthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.
1. “GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN” — CYNDI LAUPER (1983) // ROBERT HAZARD (1979)
The Cover
The Original
Cyndi Lauper’s first hit single as a solo artist, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” reached the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. Lauper was nominated for two Grammys for the song, including Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Performance. Self-proclaimed Country-Western fan Robert Hazard originally wrote and recorded “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” as a demo for his band Robert Hazard and the Heroes in 1979. (Hazard never released his version, though.)
2. “I LOVE ROCK 'N' ROLL” — JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS (1981) // ARROWS (1975)
The Cover
The Original
Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker—the frontmen of the British rock band Arrows—wrote and recorded the anthem “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” in 1975. The song got the band a TV appearance on the show 45, which eventually led to the band getting its own TV show based on their performance of the song. In 1976, while she was on tour in England with her band The Runaways, Joan Jett watched Arrows perform the song on their show.
Then, in 1981, Joan Jett recorded a version of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” with her new band The Blackhearts. It became a No. 1 hit single in the United States for seven weeks and was certified platinum when it sold over one million units.
3. “HEY JOE” — THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE (1966) // THE LEAVES (1965)
The Cover
The Original
While the authorship of the song “Hey Joe” is ambiguous and unclear, the earliest recording of the song dates to 1965, by the California-based garage band The Leaves.
“Hey Joe” was a modest hit for The Leaves, but it was The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first hit single overseas in 1966. It peaked at No. 6 on the U.K. Singles Chart in 1967, but it failed to gain any recognition in the United States. Over the years, the song became iconic; Rolling Stone placed it at #201 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
4. “HOUND DOG” — ELVIS PRESLEY (1956) // WILLIE MAE "BIG MAMA" THORNTON (1953)
The Cover
The Original
Songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Hound Dog” for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in 1953. While Thornton’s original version was a No. 1 hit on the R&B charts for seven weeks, Elvis Presley’s iteration immediately became the most popular after its 1956 release. Presley’s version was a crossover success that spent 11 weeks on the top of country, pop, and R&B charts simultaneously. “Hound Dog” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”
5. “CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE" — QUIET RIOT (1983) // SLADE (1973)
The Cover
The Original
In 1973, British glam rock band Slade released “Cum On Feel The Noize," which went straight to the top of the charts in the United Kingdom and Ireland and was a top 10 single throughout parts of Europe. Ten years later, American heavy metal band Quiet Riot recorded and popularized song in the United States. The single reached the No. 5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
6. “WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS" — LED ZEPPELIN (1971) // KANSAS JOE MCCOY AND MEMPHIS MINNIE (1929)
The Cover
The Original
In 1971, British rock band Led Zeppelin re-arranged and popularized the song “When the Levee Breaks” for their fourth album, which is referred to as Led Zeppelin IV. Husband and wife singer-songwriters Kansas Joe McCoy & Memphis Minnie originally recorded “When the Levee Breaks” as a blues song in 1929 about the Great Mississippi Flood that took place a few years earlier. But Led Zeppelin’s arena rock anthem became an iconic piece of music from the '70s, and the song would go on to be highly influential among rock bands and hip-hop artists since its release.
7. “THE TIDE IS HIGH” — BLONDIE (1980) // THE PARAGONS (1967)
The Cover
The Original
The Paragons were a Jamaican ska/rockstead band whose vocal harmonies were influenced by American soul and R&B groups. In 1967, they released a single called “The Tide is High,” written by band member John Holt. Thirteen years later, Blondie guitarist Chris Stein discovered the track on a reggae compilation album he’d bought in England. Blondie recorded it for their Autoamerican album, adding strings and a horn section (borrowed from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show band). “The Tide is High” went on to become Blondie’s second No. 1 single.
