(This was originally published as a section in today’s Monetizing Media newsletter. Sign up here.) Hi everyone – Last week, Spotify added a feature called Artist Fundraising Pick for artists to add a fundraising links to their profile. It’s done in partnership with Cash App, GoFundMe, and Paypal.me so when a user clicks it, they are redirected to… Continue reading Spotify’s monetization misstep with its new fundraising feature
Category: Music
The Covid-19 crisis should push musicians to own their audience and invest in virtual concerts and membership models
(This was originally published as a section of today’s Monetizing Media newsletter) This crisis is an opportunity for the music industryMusic has been hard hit by Covid-19 because live events comprise such a large proportion of artist earnings. But working from home is forcing artists and their teams to confront how under-developed their business is… Continue reading The Covid-19 crisis should push musicians to own their audience and invest in virtual concerts and membership models
Digital Media 2020: my overview of film & TV, gaming, VFX, audio tech, social media, music, podcasting, and publishing
My outlook for 2020 is now up on TechCrunch >>
Kobalt Music, Part 4: Market Position
The last article in my series on Kobalt and the future of the music industry steps back and assesses Kobalt market position in recorded music, publishing, and copyright/royalty management give what we’ve learned. Read it on TechCrunch >>
Kobalt Music, Part 3: Recording Artists & Labels
Part 3 of my series on Kobalt Music and the state of the music industry digs into the rise, and challenges, of recording artists gaining success without traditional record label deals. Read it on TechCrunch >>
Kobalt Music, Part 2: Music’s broken system of copyright and royalty management
Part 2 of my series on Kobalt Music and the state of the music industry breaks down the complex structure of copyright tracking and royalty payments in music and how Kobalt has pushed the industry forward through centralization and transparency. Read it on TechCrunch >> How Kobalt is simplifying the killer complexities of the music… Continue reading Kobalt Music, Part 2: Music’s broken system of copyright and royalty management
Kobalt Music, Part 1: The Rise of Kobalt
Similar to my past series on Patreon and the efforts of independent content creators to monetize their core fans, I’m writing a series of posts on the music company Kobalt and the state of the music industry. The first post explores the founding of (London-based) Kobalt and its overall structure. Read it on TechCrunch >>… Continue reading Kobalt Music, Part 1: The Rise of Kobalt
My interview with Northzone’s PJ Pärson
Today I posted an interview in TechCrunch that I did with Northzone general partner PJ Parson at the SLUSH conference in Helsinki. We talked about the core investment thesis that has guided him for 20 years, how he went from running a fish distribution to running a VC firm, his best practices for effective board… Continue reading My interview with Northzone’s PJ Pärson
What Spotify can learn from Tencent Music
Read my post on TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/05/what-spotify-can-learn-from-tencent-music/
The war over music copyrights
Read my post on TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/30/the-war-over-music-copyrights/