Music Business Roundup: Apple’s Week of PR, Free Google Play, & More

Each week on Songwriter U, Songspace recaps the top stories in the world of music business. Here’s everything you need to know from the week ending on June 26th.

Apple’s Week of PR
Taylor Swift’s Tumblr letter to Apple – a post asking them to pay artists during the 3 month free trial period – started off a big week for Apple. They conceded to Swift, which lead to her agreeing to put 1989 on the service and lead to an outpouring of support from major artists for the pop singer. Apple also finally came to an agreement with indie labels, announced radio shows with artists such as Elton John & St. Vincent, and they announced Apple Music would have exclusive content – starting with a new song by Pharell.
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Free Version of Google Play Launched
Google tried to take some of the streaming attention this week by announcing a free version of Google Play. It will be ad supported, people won’t be able to choose their own tracks, and it will feature custom playlists based on mood, time of day, etc. It looks to be more of a competitor to Pandora than other services such as Spotify.
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Billboard Music Industry Salaries Report
Billboard released an interesting set of data this week about how much people make in the music industry. Their lists range from what publicists make vs. journalists to indie record labels vs. the majors. Click the link below to look at the top paid people in the industry, and click on one of the specific sectors above the graphic to find more detailed info (publishers, labels, etc.).
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Pandora’s Payments Broken Down
Recently there was a court decision about Pandora’s rate payment to BMI – the decision was they must pay 2.5%. Though that may seem like the process was simplified, there is still a lot of math involved and different types of rates to consider. This article breaks down what was likely paid out before and what that means.
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Twitter Takes On E-Commerce
Twitter is on a roll with new features. It has announced it will launch a new e-commerce feature that will allow users to easily buy products without leaving the app. There will also be featured collections curated by celebrities such as Demi Lovato and Reese Witherspoon.
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