music streaming

The music industry is deceiving you. They aren’t doing it on purpose, though. Statistics are just deceptive. And I’m not talking about any fancy statistical techniques. I’m talking about simple things, like means and medians. I’ll illustrate how with Spotify’s album charts.

The simplest way a music streaming service calculates the top album on their... See more

In 1926, the year before The Jazz Singer popularized pre-recorded sound to cinema, theater pits employed 22,000 musicians in the United States; by 1934, there were only 4,100. Fewer musicians’ salaries meant lower ticket prices and more daily showings, and attendance almost doubled. New York City’s Local 802 organized picket lines outside theaters... See more

The major labels are finally facing a crucial reality: Independent music's market share keeps climbing, and controlling the infrastructure behind it is becoming as vital as owning rights.

Universal Music Group's Virgin Music Group led this charge in 2024 — snapping up Downtown Music Holdings in a $775M power move (pending regulatory approval), as... See more

Well, even though making and releasing music has become easier than ever, the support of a major label — and its marketing powerhouse — is one of the top determinants (if not prerequisites) for getting access to some of the most valuable streaming "real estate" .