Indústria Da Música Processos (Judiciais) Para Observar Em 2018

Music Industry Cases And Issues To Watch In 2018

First of all thanks to Erin M. Jacobson for this article.

It’s been a year since I wrote about Music Industry Cases to Watch in 2017 and, unfortunately, not much has changed. Here’s an update on what’s happening in the music industry and what to keep an eye on for 2018.

The Department of Justice v. ASCAP and BMI

Background: I previously wrote about this issue here and here, and there hasn’t been much forward movement. To briefly recap, performance rights organizations ASCAP and BMI asked the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) -- which oversees the consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI -- to reform the decrees based on today’s digital age. The DOJ responded by ignoring the music industry’s requests for reform and instead mandating a model of 100% licensing, which restricts a performance rights organization to license rights to perform a work only if the organization controls 100% of that work. BMI appealed the decision and got an immediate verdict in BMI’s favor. The DOJ appealed and oral arguments on the case were just heard. (More info here as well.)

What You Might Expect: It could go either way. 

How It Could Affect the Industry: If the DOJ wins, then the music industry might need to change its business model and overhaul all of its longstanding licensing practices. If ASCAP and BMI win, then the music industry will be able to proceed with doing business as it has been for decades and continue making efforts to improve the existing system.

Potential Reform of Royalty Rates by the Copyright Royalty Board

Background: As I previously explained here, the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”) held hearings to potentially update the mechanical royalty rates paid to songwriters and publishers for reproductions of compositions. The current mechanical royalty rates for physical products and digital downloads are 9.1¢ for compositions five minutes or less in length, and streaming rates are at fractions of a penny. The National Music Publisher’s Association argued for rate increases on behalf of songwriters and publishers, while digital service providers (like Google, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and Apple) offered alternative rate structures that may lower rates overall. The CRB recently raised some rates for master recording owners, but the determination on mechanical royalties has not yet been revealed.

What You Might Expect: Hopefully this first determination for master owners will predict a raise in mechanical royalties as well. Whether mechanical royalties are raised still remains to be seen, but any increases that are granted would probably not be enough to remedy the music industry’s struggle with the value gap. David Israelite, President and CEO of the National Music Publisher’s Association (NMPA), graciously provided some exclusive quotes for this article, saying: “We are cautiously optimistic the CRB will return a rate structure that values appropriately the contribution of songwriters to digital music services. This is a very important decision as interactive streaming services become the dominant format for the enjoyment of music.”

How It Could Affect the Industry: If the CRB maintains or lowers the rates in favor of the digital service providers, the music industry would continue struggling with low rates of payment. If the CRB increases the rates, it would help the music industry’s cash flow issues, but probably still not support the music industry at the level it needs. Israelite also commented to us, “Regardless of the decision, the time has come for the government to get out of the business of setting rates for songwriters and to let the free market determine the value of songs.”

Many Lawsuits Against Spotify

Background: Spotify is an interactive streaming service required to pay both mechanical and performance royalties. As detailed here, Spotify has already agreed to several settlements for failure to properly pay mechanical royalties and has been sued several times for the same reason, with those cases still pending. Spotify made the argument that it shouldn’t have to pay mechanical royalties, despite previously admitting that it needed to do so.

What You Might Expect: Spotify’s argument is flawed in many ways, but their $16 billion valuation may hold some clout, or at least the funds to continue pushing their position. The music industry hopes to quash their arguments, but acknowledges that the lawsuits are just Band-Aids, and is striving to implement a more efficient system.

How It Could Affect the Industry: A legal decision set in Spotify’s favor could mean massive losses of income to songwriters, music publishers, and the music industry as a whole.  Hopefully, the streaming giant and the music industry will find a way to work together for their mutual benefit.

Many Music Catalogues Being Sold

Background: It’s old news for music industry folks that a large number of record labels are owned by just a few major corporations. However, acquisitions of composition catalogues are now hitting the spotlight after traditionally not garnering much attention. The catalogue purchase and sale market is booming, and those of us in this space (like me) are regularly looking at either buying or selling catalogues, depending on who we are representing. Many music publishing companies are also raising a lot of money from outside investors in order to gobble up other substantial catalogues. There are even rumors of music publishing giant EMI for sale at a $3 billion valuation.

What You Might Expect: There will be a lot more of these deals happening in 2018.

What It Means for the Industry: The majors will continue to buy the indies, and the larger indies will buy competitors and smaller companies. The music publishing world might get smaller, but there will always be more copyrights to go around. The downside is that the investors coming in with the funds are usually not in the music industry, meaning that the music publishing industry may now have to answer to venture capitalists, which has been a problem for years with major record labels. The good news is that these non-industry investors will need current industry experts to manage the catalogues they have purchased, continuing jobs and revenue flows throughout the industry.

*This article does not constitute legal advice.

Como Pensar Sobre Inteligência Artificial Na Indústria Da Música

How To Think About Artificial Intelligence In The Music Industry

First of all thanks to Kristin Westcott Grant for this article.

One of the goals of the industrial revolution was to have machines simulate physical tasks to produce outputs more efficiently. Fast forward to the present. The purpose of artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is to simulate any mental task. Machine learning is arguably one of the most important subsets of AI because it effects all other fields within AI. In any industry, you have a pattern or a model that you know to be true, you make a prediction, and then you update your model based on the result. This represents the learning process of machine learning. The introduction of this technology into industries like music, online dating, online publications, video-sharing and sports is becoming vital to each organization's competitive sustainability.

The more data you have, the better the accuracy of your machine learning algorithm. In the music industry access to information presents a big challenge, but once you have it, the question becomes, how can you use and manipulate it using machine learning?

Let us quickly recap why access to data is such a big challenge in the music industry.

Courtney Menard

The picture about depicts the challenges around access to streaming data, otherwise known as 'gold.'

DATA ACCESS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

In this metaphor, the "majors" represent Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The "streams" represent streaming companies like, but not exclusive to, Spotify and Apple. The "gold" represents consumer data from streaming platforms. The majors and the streams sit knighted at the roundtable. The streams rule the island of consumption and as a result control access to the gold. The majors are granted access to the gold because they own most of the island of content and a share of land on the island of consumption. The independents own a smaller portion in the land of content, and as a result, they have to get their gold from Robin Hood. Also known as direct-to-fan platforms that provide consumer data to artists such as Pledge Music, Hive or Superphone.

The question is, once you have access to the gold, what do you do with it and how can you maximize its value?

ENGAGEMENT DATA IS GOLD

Have you ever been hunting for gold? How do you go about it? You get a sieve, you dip the pan into the water, and you pull up a whole bunch of dirt, mud, rocks, and stuff that you do not need. However, somewhere in there is your gold, otherwise known as your actionable engagement data. Engagement data can be the "rate of collections," "follower change," "plays per user," or a "save," otherwise known as a "collection" from a playlist. The term, "collection," on Spotify, refers to when someone listens to a song, presses the add sign and adds the song to their library. Tapping into engagement metrics increase the likelihood of reaching potential super fans. Focusing on engagement data will allow a label to make more targeted business decisions across all verticals while driving revenue. According to a Goldman Sachs report released earlier this year, streaming will drive over $34 billion dollars worth of total revenue in the music business by 2030. That is a whole lot of streams, a whole lot of royalty payments, and a tremendous amount of data.

Courtney Menard

The motivations of the person holding the filter dictate how the filter is shaped and how the filter is shaped dictates what gold you get.

DATA FILTERS

The motivations of the person holding the filter have a direct impact on how the filters are designed, and subsequently how much gold you get. For example, the primary goals for a streaming platform like Apple, Spotify, Google Play or Deezer is to turn non-paying subscribers into paying subscribers. A major label's goal is to create, and then market hit songs while turning passive fans into super fans, similar to the rabid Beliebers of the world.

Two years ago, Spotify launched a marketing campaign called "Found Them First." The microsite lets users see which musicians they heard on Spotify before they became a breakout artist. From a label perspective, Spotify quantified what it means to be an early adopting fan. The point is that this potentially impactful mechanism was used to drive subscriber growth, not artist careers.

Industry players who have access to the gold are now competing with the help of their filtration ability. How can you design your sieve to get the gold you need, when you need it, to drive a higher return than your competitor.

But music is not the only industry working to create the perfect filter. In fact, one should pay attention to the advancements being made in other industries because of the parallel applicability to the music industry.

Courtney Menard

Just like how dating algorithms match couples together, so can those similar algorithms match artists to potential super fans.

DATING ALGORITHMS & AUTOMATED MARKETING TOOLS

In 2013, Amy Webb went on the TED stage and spoke about hacking the online dating code. She amassed 72 data points of her perfect man, everything from Jewish, to athletic, wants two children, is an adventurer, to even his appreciation of things. It was crucial for Webb that her perfect man appreciated an excellent spreadsheet. She then prioritized each data point, breaking them down into two tiers, giving each data point a score between 1 and 100. Amy then built a scoring system. If her perfect man scored 700 points she would send him an email, if he scored 900 points, she would have a phone call, and if her potential ideal man scored 1500 points, that meant there was long-term relationship potential, and they could go on a date.

Amy started getting all of these fantastic matches, except there was one problem. These men didn't like her back. Amy had forgotten to analyze the competition. She scraped the top profiles on the dating site, in music this could be compared to examining the social or streaming patterns of similar artists. She analyzed her competition's photo, humor, tone, voice, communication style, the average length of description, and time between posts. Amy's profile ended up becoming the highest ranking profile on the dating site. Soon after, a man scored 850 points, which she hadn't seen before. Three weeks later they went on a date. A year and a half later they got engaged, and two years later they had their first child. Now, If an algorithm can be used to narrow down your choices for a lifelong partner, then an algorithm can be used to find a fan that is guaranteed to spend $100 on your artist per year.

Just as Webb broke down her perfect man into 72 data points, so an artist can break down the characteristics of their potential super fan. For example, suppose Beyonce's base of super fans could be broken down as female, ages 27-34, with a typical purchasing pattern of buying premium brand diapers because they want to show that they are good mothers. If you rank these points, give them a score and run them through a scoring system. It is then possible to target the fans that are most likely to engage with your artist. For example, if your fan scores 700 points, you send a targeted Facebook ad, if your fan scores 900 points you send them an email and if your fan scores 1500 points you send them a personalized email with a free concert ticket.

The ability to find your true fan suggests that automatic marketing capabilities are not only possible but in our near future. However, the type of marketing actions that a label might engage in will differ based on the stage of the artist and genre. This assumes that fan types differ per genre and fan engagement differs depending on the stage of the artist. However, online dating algorithms are not the only industry that provides interesting parallels to music.

Courtney Menard

The image above showcases different types of engagement metrics as well as data that is insightful but not necessarily actionable.

YOUTUBE & RECOMMENDATION ENGINES

Assume that you have access to granular level engagement data from streaming platforms such as the "rate of collections" and the "rate of replays per user," all by a zip code level granularity. How could you use this information to not only target market but predict the likelihood of a potential superfan? The best industry parallel to consider in this example is YouTube's Recommendation algorithm.

Youtube, fueled by their parent company's artificial intelligence division, Google Brain, has successfully accelerated their recommendation capabilities through a series of micro-improvements. For example, roughly four years ago, YouTube made its first significant improvement to its recommendation algorithm when it decided to value the number of times users spent watching a video more than the number of video clicks per person. With this one move, creator's saw their view counts decline, who had originally profited from misleading headlines and thumbnails. All of a sudden, higher quality videos which were directly correlated with long watch times came to the forefront. As a result, watch time on YouTube grew 50% year over year over the next three years.

Google Brain learns independently by picking up on less apparent patterns at an accelerated rate. This technique is called unsupervised learning. Another micro-change caused by Google Brain was the choice by YouTube to recommend shorter videos for users on mobile apps and longer videos on YouTube's TV app. Google brain picked up on the notion that varying video length by platform would result in higher watch times. In music, this could be compared to varying advertising length based on the platform assuming shorting ads for mobile and longer ads for the desktop.

In 2016, Youtube launched 190 micro-changes on Google Brain and is said to be on pace to release 300 more microswitches by 2017. The implementation of Google Brain has increased the time people spend watching videos on YouTube by 70%.

Deep Reinforcement learning technology like this will be a catalyst to drive the music industry forward. This will likely be the case for United Masters, a recently publicised record label. Led by Steve Stoute, the former president of Interscope records, $70 million dollars was raised in a Series A investor round, led by Google's corporate parent, Alphabet. Other investors include Floodgate, Andreessen Horowitz, and 20th Century Fox. One of the company's core competencies will be its ability to target market high potential superfans based on learned data from sources including YouTube and Spotify.

Courtney Menard

Image above showcases examples of actionable engagement metrics.

NBA & IDENTIFYING PATTERNS

When Joe Lacob became the owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, he adopted a data-driven strategy. Lacob and his team analyzed player behavior across the NBA and identified the number of three-point shots taken as being "market inefficient." They concluded that roughly the same number of shots were being made from just inside the three-point line as outside it. Therefore they built their strategy around the notion that if their players, particularly Stephen Curry moved back a few inches from the three-point line before shooting, it would improve their point scoring average by 43%. With a data-driven strategy, Jacob Lacob took the Golden State Warriors, a team that hadn't won an NBA Championship since 1975, to win against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 Championships.

The NBA identified a pattern based on a common activity within the game. Here are a few examples where patterns are likely to be found in the music industry; the genre of playlists people are listening to, the time of day people listen to certain genres, and the effect that holidays, political events, or an artist's passing have on music consumption.

Courtney Menard

Image above showcases another example of engagement data.

BUZZFEED & ENGAGEMENT DATA

Buzzfeed is a social news and entertainment company. Buzzfeed invented an internal proprietary metric that curates articles based on reader preference. They do this by measuring the "rate of shares over time," within the first weeks of an article's release. Buzzfeed decided that a reader sharing a piece was more valuable than a click. Have you ever clicked on an article or played a song and walked away from your computer? What the act of sharing an article or saving a song to your Spotify collections shows is a higher level of engagement in comparison to a stream or a click. Arguably, this is helping to ensure a return on your investment.

So a "share" is more valuable than a "click," and a "collection" is more valuable than a "stream." By calculating the "rate of shares over time" or the "rate of collections over time," you're not only making sure that the consumers you are targeting are engaged but that they are growing significantly over time.

As of mid-2017, Buzzfeed was estimated at approximately$1.7 billion dollars and was processing roughly seven billion monthly content views.

With the sheer volume of streaming data growing year over year, the ability to enhance and fine-tune marketing capabilities in the music industry is endless. It comes down to access to the data that you need and the software capabilities to intelligently process and act upon that information. Moving forward into 2030, success as a label will come down to a company's ability to pair its human capital with intelligent software.

Lorde, Linkin Park, Kendrick, Eminem E Mais Algumas Razões De Que A Música Foi Boa Em 2017

Lorde, Linkin Park, Kendrick, Eminem And More Reasons Music Was Awesome In 2017

First of all thanks to Steve Baltin for this article.

The normal year-end music lists are built around the best albums of the past 12 months. But my year in music is never measured in albums. It is measured, first and foremost, by live shows. And then the conversations and unique moments I am very fortunate to experience.

So looking back at 2017 these are the shows and artists, from the National, Linkin Park and Bruce Springsteen to Tom Petty and Kendrick Lamar, that defined a 2017 that was, for music, very impressive

Band Of The Year: The National

The alternative heroes delivered the year’s best album with the brilliant and typically articulate Sleep Well Beast. In addition, they were also among the most politically outspoken, going after not just the current administration, but Karl Rove as well with “Walk It Back.” If there was any doubt that the National were the most interesting and challenging band of 2017 it was laid to rest with the band’s devastatingly powerful show at the Hollywood Bowl this past October. One of the top three shows in L.A. this past year the two-hour set proved they are as compelling and dynamic live as almost any band in rock today, all done while delivering songs as diverse as the horn-infused “Fake Empire,” the rocking “Mr. November” and “The Day I Die,” the gorgeous “Pink Rabbits” and “About Today” and so much more. For all the thoughtfulness and ambition the National brought to music in 2017 they are an easy choice for the most important band of 2017.

Rock Star Of The Year: Eminem

Four years after his last album, the Detroit rap icon reemerged with “The Storm,” his blistering freestyle attack on Donald Trump. The video went viral with more than 42 million views and just over two months later Eminem made history as Revival debuted at No 1 and he became the first artist to ever have eight consecutive chart-topping albums. Eminem isn’t just the biggest rock star of the year he is the benchmark for rock stardom in the twenty-first century. Living in Detroit, he largely avoids social media and the limelight, then when he is ready to return does so under his terms, with very select interviews and tour dates. In an age where artists feel the need to share all, the way he maintains privacy and mystique make him a true rock star.

Most Inspiring Artist: Kendrick Lamar

Last Monday, December 18, thanks to a longtime friend, I got to watch Kendrick Lamar perform a short set at the jersey retirement of the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant. Lamar played “Humble” and other songs for “the living legend,” as Lamar referred to Bryant, in a private lounge at Staples Center for an audience that included NBA Hall Of Famers Bill Russell, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal, who DJed after Lamar, Elgin Baylor and more. Three days later, Lamar performed during the day for underprivileged kids at Watts’ Nickerson Gardens as he does every year. What makes Lamar so inspiring and so special as an artist is that he does both with grace, dignity and fun. He is clearly enjoying his moment as one of the biggest music stars in the world today, but still gives back and speaks out socially all the time. He has found the perfect balance of having fun and being involved, which is needed in the crazy world of 2017.

Rock God/Best Show Of The Year: Nick Cave

Ask almost any musician of a certain age or even Brad Pitt, who was hanging backstage at Cave’s godlike Greek Theater show in L.A., and they will tell you the Australian renaissance man – singer/songwriter, actor, author, composer – is the rock god of the moment. He showed why at the Greek, delivering a performance that, as I wrote at the time, “Transcended music in many respects.” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2017/07/07/seeing-nick-cave-and-the-meaning-of-art/#5283183a1ce2) In the span of a few moments Cave can bring either a power or beauty that are almost unrivaled on either count. Performing with a passion that is almost other worldly he merged art, spirituality and rock and roll into a timeless performance that, for those lucky enough to see it, will be deservedly remembered as legendary.

Activist Of The Year: Shirley Manson

What makes a great activist is an unyielding combination of conviction and candor. Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has been sharing both for years, becoming a feminist icon for a new generation of musicians and music fans. Unapologetically speaking out for women, LGBTQ and artists with intelligence and passion, Manson is an inspiration for artists regardless of gender or age.

Triumph Of The Year: Linkin Park

In a year that saw so many horrific tragedies there were a lot of contenders for musical triumph of the year, especially Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert, which raised $13 million and brought together a country devastated. But if one show stood out as the single most triumphant it was the five remaining members of Linkin Park taking the stage at the Hollywood Bowl just three short months after the shocking death of lead singer Chester Bennington. Performing for more than three hours with a who’s who of friends, including Blink-182, Alanis Morissette, Avenged Sevenfold and more, the remaining members of LP shared their pain and doubt in a performance that I wrote at the time was part of a “night of beauty, of power, of love, of incredible sorrow and of joy. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2017/10/28/linkin-park-make-chester-bennington-proud-with-heartfelt-and-powerful-tribute/#2081ac255ed8). Two months later that feels even more so looking back. What makes the night so compelling is instead of masking their uncertainty and anguish as many artists would do, LP shared with their fans their own immense pain. To do so, so bravely, is something all musicians should aspire to.

Trailblazer Of The Year: Bruce Springsteen

With the recent news Lady Gaga is following in the footsteps of Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez in doing a Vegas residency, it’s becoming increasingly clear Vegas is the preferred home for pop stars who don’t want the demands and rigors of a full-time tour. So where do the classic rock acts, like Elton John, Rod Stewart and the Who, all of whom have done Vegas residencies, go? Thanks to Bruce Springsteen’s phenomenally successful Springsteen On Broadway, which has been extended twice and is breaking box-office records, Broadway is all of a sudden a viable option for many of music’s greatest troubadours. From Tom Waits and Bob Dylan to Alanis Morissette, there are numerous artists who could flourish commercially and artistically on the “Great White Way.”

Interview Of The Year: Dave Gahan

The Depeche Mode frontman does few interviews these days, so when I received an email saying, “Dave wants to do the email himself, can you meet him at his hotel?” I wrote back, “Hell yeah.” Gahan did not disappoint, opening up about politics, his relationship with band mate Martin Gore and how he went from being a fan of David Bowie to being “just dads” with him as their kids went to school together in New York City (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2017/05/25/depeche-modes-dave-gahan-opens-up-about-david-bowie-enduring-four-decades-and-more/#60b8e2345644).

Tour Of The Year: Tom Petty

As I wrote about September 25 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2017/09/25/how-tom-petty-ruled-classic-rock-with-the-tour-of-2017/#54af1a6a79c9), just a week before his tragic death, Petty spent the year performing his greatest hits with the Heartbreakers for the fortieth anniversary of the band. Whether it was headlining festivals like BottleRock or Arroyo Seco or headlining his own shows, Petty and the Heartbreakers showed off one of the great catalogues in all of rock with a joyful glee and youthful passion every night, delighting audiences and cementing his status as one of rock’s all-time greats. Still hard to believe that just a week after wrapping up triumphantly at the Hollywood Bowl Petty was gone. But he truly did go out on top musically.

Best New Artist: Rationale

Two years ago I was walking into my friend Bryan Ling’s club at 432 N. Fairfax in Los Angeles. I was having a conversation with another friend, Tyler, who runs the venue. We were discussing how seeing so much music it was very hard for either of us to be blown away anymore. Then I walked in, listened to this British singer/songwriter deliver his soulful trip-hop bent in a stripped-down set that left jaws dropped. It wasn’t a fluke. His eponymous debut, released this past October, is stunning. His magnificent voice, as showcased on songs like “Loving Life” and “Something For Nothing,” is truly unique in music. Trust me, when he tours next, you need to see Rationale live.

Most Interesting Artist: ASAP Rocky

The rap superstar is probably going to give me crap for this title. Befitting his humility, he joked with me about being embarrassed by GQ magazine’s title of “The World’s Flyest Human.” All humility aside though, Rocky is that chameleon who can bound between the fashion world, Hollywood, big business and more. What makes him such a pop culture icon and a for certain future mogul is he is one of the rare artists, like Mick Jagger, Dave Grohl and Dr. Dre before him, who can fit into any scene. Rocky can talk about the Doors and smoke in the studio until two in the morning and then be at a GUESS meeting the next morning and both worlds feel natural for him. That’s what makes him so interesting.

Lyricist Of The Year: Lorde 

How do you follow up a debut album that is released when you are 17 years old and goes No 1 in more than 20 countries? If you are a legitimate talent like Lorde you do so with a sophomore effort that earns a Grammy nod for Album Of The Year and should have been nominated for Song of The Year for the smart and biting “Green Light.” “Well those rumors, they have big teeth/Hope they bite you,” she delivers with a snarl. She showed a poet’s heart throughout the album, like the opening to “The Louvre.” “Well, summer slipped us underneath her tongue/Our days and nights are perfumed with obsession.” The gift to write like that shows Lorde will be around for a long, long time.

O Que A Neutralidade Da Internet Pode Significar Para Os Músicos

What the repeal of Net Neutrality could mean for musicians

What is Net Neutrality?

Last week the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality rules. What is was Net Neutrality?

According to Wikipedia:

Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.

Without the concept of Net Neutrality, internet service providers (ISPs) can take action on the content flowing through their networks. One common example of what ISPs would be allowed to do is represented by the following graphic:

What a nightmare!

Common consumers don’t want to pay an added fee just to access free services such as Twitter, but even worse would be having to pay Netflix’s subscription fees and then another fee on top of that to Comcast in order to access Netflix at HD-level speeds.

Can anything be done?

Before we go further, I just want to say that fighting to save Net Neutrality is not a lost cause. We can still pressure Congress to use a “resolution of disapproval” to overturn the FCC’s vote to dismantle the Net Neutrality rules.

Urge lawmakers to reverse the FCC vote today!

Where does CD Baby stand on Net Neutrality?

Allowing ISPs to take action on the content flowing through their networks allows them to choose winners and losers, and will likely stifle innovation. If ISPs decide to enforce pay-to-play rules, then it’s possible only larger corporations with deep pockets will be able to pay up. That could mean ISPs drastically slow down delivery of content from those companies that do not pay. Worse still, they could outright block content provided by competing services. For example, Comcast owns NBC, so perhaps they would slow down or block streaming from CBS properties unless CBS or its consumers pay them an added fee.

These scenarios are not certainties, but they are possible outcomes of repealing Net Neutrality rules. Likely, the initial actions by ISPs will be small and seem innocuous. But as the Internet builds upon itself in layers, so too may ISPs build upon the lack of Net Neutrality in layers, making it that much more difficult to reverse in the future.

“It feels like a slippery slope to allow the big cable and internet companies to decide how fast your internet should be,” says Tony Van Veen, CEO of AVL Digital Group, the parent-company of CD Baby. “There’s no way this will lead to lower rates. To the contrary, rates will go up.”

How does the repeal of Net Neutrality affect artists?

If you look at Wikipedia’s list of Comcast-owned properties, you’ll see they own… quite a lot. Many of those properties have some musical component. Any musical artists signed to a Comcast property could have their music preferred on Comcast’s network. Perhaps Comcast would offer a fee to artists not signed to their own labels to allow fast delivery of music. This would add yet another burden to artists, and those without deep pockets would be left with their music either blocked or not loading as quickly on Comcast networks.

Something else to consider in a world without Net Neutrality – artists may end up forced to distribute their music with certain services if those services are given preferential treatment by ISPs. If Apple pays Comcast a fee to make Apple Music Comcast’s “official” music streaming service, to the detriment of Spotify and others, then artists will likely need to make sure they distribute to Apple Music as well in order to maximize the chance of their music being heard. This removes one element of choice that artists previously had when making decisions about what’s best for their music.

This kind of behavior is anti-competitive, and oftentimes works to the detriment of innovation. The repeal of Net Neutrality rules is bad for independent people throughout the country (and world). With CD Baby already championing independent artists, it only makes sense for CD Baby to champion Net Neutrality, which levels the playing field for all kinds of independent operators.

“Companies that need significant bandwidth – like Spotify, Apple, or Pandora – will possibly (if not likely) face higher internet access costs,” says Van Veen. “As for-profit businesses their goal is to make a profit — albeit eventually, in the case of Spotify and Pandora — which means the higher costs will get passed on to consumers in the form of higher subscription rates. This may impact adoption of streaming by customers, and therefore music consumption levels, if customers decide not to pony up for a Spotify subscription because the price is too high.”

Bandcamp Libera Os Números De 2017 Incluindo Fitas Cassete

Bandcamp Releases 2017 Year-End Numbers, Including Mind-Boggling Cassette Tape Stats

'Tis the season to look back at all that has happened in the past year, as New Year's Day hurtles closer and closer (it's Monday!). Today, Bandcamp got in on the fun, via a blog post by engineer Ben Walker that detailed a few notable, and surprising, trends the company saw in 2017.

Most notably, the company announced that 500 bands set up a Bandcamp page each day in 2017, or approximately 182,500 new bands in the calendar year -- and each page in that tally, the blog post notes, is an active one with music uploaded to it, rather than a placeholder or dormant one. And the post also noted that the new Bandcamp app, which was introduced Oct. 31 and provides users with real-time statistics and merchandising capabilities, has already seen 36,000 artists and labels begin using it in less than two months.

But the bulk of the blog post centers on a more unusual, and definitely surprising, metric: cassette tapes. According to Walker, 17,872 tapes were released on Bandcamp in the past year, equating to around 50 tapes per day and one every 29 minutes; in total, artists on the platform sold 22.6 years worth of tapes overall. As the post notes, "That’s 17,076 km of beautiful, crunchy tape. You could wrap it around the moon and still have enough left over to spool gently off the back of a raft as you travel the entire length of the Amazon River."

(For those less familiar with the metric system, those 17,000-plus km equate to about 10,600 miles. If you're keeping track at home, the circumference of the moon is around 6,786 miles, while the length of the Amazon River is approximately 4,345 miles, which means... well, it's close enough. The point stands.)

Parsing a few other data points, Walker notes that Atlas is once again the most popular band name on Bandcamp, with 77 artists using that in their name (six more joined the list in 2017); in terms of new bands (those that uploaded their first release this year), Apollo tops the list at 13 artists, with Grim coming in at No. 2 (10 artists) and Bloom, Indigo and Nova all tied at No. 3 (nine apiece). And, proving that we just can't get enough of that nostalgic feeling, the most popular album title in 2017 was Home, with 130 releases using that title this year (up from 115 in 2016); a four-way tie for second, with 71 titles apiece, includes Lost, Memories, Void and Waves. In a maybe-not-surprising upset, the title Love fell from a three-way tie for third-highest in 2016 down to 10th in 2017, though only one fewer album was released with that title this year (54) than last (55).

Below is the rundown of most-popular new band names and album titles of 2017, and check out the full blog post here.

Band names
Apollo (13)
Grim (10)
Bloom (9)
Indigo (9)
Nova (9)
King (8)
Void (8)
Milk (7)
David (6)
Smith (5)

Album titles
Home (130 albums released in 2017)
Lost (71)
Memories (71)
Void (71)
Waves (71)
Reflections (70)
Blue (64)
Dreams (62)
Bloom (58)
Love (54)

Conheça Os Compositores Responsáveis Pelos Sucessos Do 'Top Chart' de 2017

Meet the Songwriters Behind 2017's Chart-Topping Hits, From 'Havana' to 'Believer'

As streaming continued to revolutionize music, songsmiths from the pop, dance, country and rock charts had breakthrough years. Get acquainted with four songwriters who stood out in 2017, below.

JACOB “J KASH” KASHER

On the charts: Maroon 5’s “Cold” (No. 16), Charlie Puth’s “Attention” (No. 5) and “How Long” (No. 26) are among Kasher’s 10 appearances in 2017 on the Billboard Hot 100, where he was the chart’s 13th-ranked songwriter this year.

His story: Following a short-lived stint as a rapper himself, Kasher started focusing on songwriting with producer Kevin Rudolf circa 2008. It was a light-bulb moment: "I thought, I might suck as a rapper, but I can put some lyrics to good use," he recalls, laughing. The Virginia native now known as J Kash has since worked with everyone from Selena Gomez to One Direction. As for his 2017 success, Kasher thanks the "smorgasbord" of genres on this year's pop charts for pushing him to expand his comfort zone. “Country and Latin music got really big,” says Kasher. “Nothing is off-limits, and there’s no wrong way to create.”

ALI TAMPOSI

On the charts: Tamposi co-wrote a pair of top 10 Hot 100 hits -- Camila Cabello’s “Havana” (No. 2) and Kygo and Selena Gomez’s “It Ain’t Me” (No. 10) -- and dominated even more on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, where she was the year’s third-biggest songwriter.

Her story: “I don’t necessarily know what makes a hit, but I know what feels like a special song,” says the 28-year-old Florida native. Her star-studded resume proves it: Tamposi had her first placement with Beyoncé  at 18, co-penning Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger," her first Hot 100 No. 1 hit, two years later. These days, honesty is her secret songwriting weapon -- for "It Ain't Me," Tamposi mined her own relationship history for lyrics. “Artists are expressing their vulnerabilities in a way that resonates with listeners," she explains. "Honest lyrics always win.”

MATTMAN & ROBIN

On the charts: In 2017, the two were a force on the Hot Rock Songs chart (where they were the seventh most-credited team of the year), co-writing much of Imagine Dragons’ Evolve LP including the band’s No. 4 Hot 100 hit, “Believer.”

Their story: The famously reclusive Swedish duo -- Robin Fredriksson and Mattias Larsson -- is part of hitmaker Max Martin and Tom Talomma’s Wolf Cousins production entity, and have crafted pop gold for the likes of Gwen Stefani, DNCE and Hailee Steinfeld. But 2017 proved the duo's versatility: While working with veteran songwriter Julia Michaels on her lauded Nervous System EP, co-penning standouts like "Uh Huh" and "Worst in Me," the duo also left their fingerprints on Imagine Dragons' Evolve, dominating the rock charts with smash "Believer."

ASHLEY GORLEY

On the charts: The year’s top-ranked songwriter on the Hot Country Songs chart, Gorley penned hits like Jon Pardi’s “Dirt on My Boots” (No. 2) and Brad Paisley’s “Today” (No. 7).

His story: “I’ve always been restless,” says Gorley, who heads up Tape Room, the Nashville publishing company that released Sam Hunt’s record-setting, chart-topping smash, “Body Like a Back Road.” It shows. In November, Gorley was awarded songwriter of the year at the ASCAP Country Music Awards -- his record fifth time receiving the honor. And while his heart is with country music (with more than a decade of professional songwriting experience, he's worked with Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and countless others), he was excited to see the genre widen in 2017. “[Hunt] is following Rihanna and DJ Khaled on my pop station," Gorley explains. "I love being part of that.”