š„ IC Digest: Streaming Model Throwdown
Plus, weāre at NY:LON, our Q1 Special and new pricing, what youāre up to + more
Ahoy from 2023ā¦ the year we finally fix streaming?
One can only hope, and if major labels are finally willing to have a conversation around real changes, perhaps weāll make some headway. Assuming, of course, itās not just the CEO of a publicly traded company seeing an opportunity to leverage the situation for their own catalogās gain at the expense of others. Hmm.
More on that below, along with the big news about our new lower pricing for smaller catalogs (+ our now annual Q1 Special), community updates, and upcoming industry events, including NY:LON in London, where Iām currently sitting - if youāre here too, reply and we can meet up to talk about streaming models over a pint, which is actually my idea of fun.
ā Hunter, Infinite Catalog co-founder and person imploring you to watch The Traitors (UK edition)
āThe economic model for streaming needs to evolve,ā wrote UMG boss Sir Lucian Grainge in a memo to staff on Jan 11th.
Indeed. As he correctly notes, thereās a serious problem when bad actors gaming the system (31 second tracks, fake artists, etc) are incentivized by the streaming services themselves, whether via shadow deals to production companies, algorithms, or payola-lite āDiscoveryā programs.
Things get a little surprising, however, when he goes on to say UMG is working on a model that āsupports all artists ā DIY, indie and major. An innovative, āartist-centricā model that values all subscribers and rewards the music they love.ā Forgive me my skepticism of such an innovation coming from a now-public company whoās duty is to its shareholders, not the music community writ large.
Particularly in light of an obvious solution thatās already made serious headway: user-centric/āfan-poweredā streaming, in which your subscription dollars are split between what you actually listen to, which solves most if not all of the issues above, and gives more artists the opportunity to make a living from their music.
Without any hard details to go on, one suspects an āartist-centricā model is being offered up as a would-be alternative because UMG doesnāt benefit from user-centric/fan-powered as much as the indie/DIY artists Lucian ā$200 million in 2021ā Grainge claims to care about do. Hurting major label artists isnāt the goal, though - getting rid of the bad actors and the incentives enabling them is, not to mention making the model work for non-superstars, many of whom call a major label home.
That a UMG-innovated model would do these things without further advantaging themselves would beā¦ surprising. We look forward to hearing what their āartist-centricā model is and how it would work. In any case, thereās increasingly widespread agreement that the current model is broken - let the battle for a better model begin.
Quick Hits
Lawsuit claims UMG cut artists' royalties under secret Spotify deal; artist-centric royalties canāt come soon enough. āļø
Damon Krukowski calls 2022: The Year Music Broke; have we hit bottom? is music destined to be a loss leader? Essential reading. ā¤ļøāš©¹
YouTube Shorts ad revenue-sharing program kicks off in February, adding yet another new income stream for artists/creators. š©³
Musicians press for US rule over post-termination mechanicals, an obvious clarification; the more salient bit for many is likely the fact that you can terminate your life-of-copyright deals after 35 years (really!). š¦¾
š¢ ANNOUNCEMENTS
Last week, we were extremely excited to announce that weāve updated our pricing, AND brought back the Q1 Special, making IC even more accessible for smaller catalogs and those just starting out. Get all the details at those links above.
šĀ IC EVENTS
Weāre not hosting anything over the next couple of weeks, but hereās a few pics (ft. our friends at Fire Talk and Carpark) from the IC Q4 Cool Down // Winter Mixer, which took place last month at Babyās All Right in NY during our first-ever company retreat!
šĀ INDUSTRY EVENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Jan 16th - 17th ā£ NY:LON Connect (London, UK)*
Jan 18th - 21st ā£ Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival (Groningen, Netherlands)
Jan 19th - 21st ā£ MID3M+ (Cannes, France)
Jan 25th - 27th ā£ Women in Music Summit (Online)
*weāll be there!
šĀ WHAT YOU'RE UP TO
Elene:Ā Soft Kill - Canary Yellow
Ari:Ā Bill Lewis & Khan Jamal - The Vanishing Man
Hunter:Ā Alvvays - Blue Rev
Dev:Ā Beastie Boys - Paulās Boutique
Christopher:Ā Roberto Musci - Tower Of Silence
Austin: Black Rave Culture - Black Rave Culture Vol. 2
Adam:Ā THUS LOVE - Memorial
You can find a Spotify playlist here ft. our favourite tracks at the moment
Till next time,Ā Adam, Hunter & the IC Crew