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I had this dream where I was working at the shop and there was this brunette with a black rucksack. All black clothing. I mentioned it over the radio. Her name was apparently Tara. I rang three bells. Had to repeat it as management had not heard it. Sometimes it wouldn't come out properly. Tara may have taken something but we couldn't prove it. In a new scene I am at home and have two security radios. Items went missing from the rooms. So I needed to place padlocks on the doors. A man in his 20s was at the door. Ginger hair. 6 ft tall. Checkered blue shirt. Blue jeans which said Jeans on them. He had a £10 note which he swapped with my mum. One was a fake. I dealt with the problem and he went off saying that he would get the CEO gang. He was a gypsy I believe and a member of this gang. I radioed it in. Later on the guy is back. He has reversed his red car into my brother's silver car which is parked on the driveway. We go out. I go and tell Tango Victor what is happening on the radio. The guy on the other end tells me to phone the police as the radio is strictly for work. My mum has opened the door again. I had got to the station a few minutes away. We head back home to deal with the culprits. 99 Problems - Jay-Z My mum calling to me every 15 mins telling me what the time is. Then this afternoon comes into my room asking if I am alright. I was fucking asleep. She is in her room going "jewra" and other phrases repeatedly. I may stab someone to death. One Step Closer-Linkin Park https://mobile.twitter.com/BlondeBimboette attractive photo. Shame she is a fascist. Twitter and Yahoo are fucking useless when trying to get access to an account. Teepublic deleted my account. Wasting my time. I had to set up another one. Pointless point scoring going on between some left and right wingers. Florida shooting. Nikolas Cruz is a terrorist and the alt right will be wanking themselves off. I did feel a little I'll from using the FIST poppers. Loss if appetite. Sinus headache. The back of my teeth hurt as the gums were inflammed. I considered going to Splash Spa in Leicester. It is if I can be arsed and then when it is busy. I got this newsletter from a website that you should check out.
Audioboom Acquires Triton Digital For $185 Million and more...Audioboom Acquires Triton Digital For $185 MillionAudioboom will raise around $215 million in new shares to fund the deal at a valuation well above its current market capitalization of $48.6 million. Audioboom calls the deal "an opportunity to combine leading audio infrastructure, metrics and ad-serving companies that service the expanding global live and on-demand publisher base." The company believes that the combo has the potential "to be a leading global digital audio services provider to both live and on-demand publishers, with the scale and reach to capture a significant share of the revenues available within the global online audio industry as a whole."            Musical Tastes Solidify In Early Teens, says Study
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A New York Times analysis of Spotify play data for every Billboard chart topping song released between 1960 and 2000 show that the early teen tears shaped your musical taste for life, For men, this solidification happened between the ages of 13 to 16, with the average being 14 when their favorite song was released. For women, its ages 11 to 14, with 13 being the average age.
"a consistent pattern"
From The Rolling Stone to My Morning Jacket, there are songs that make form rock's great American songbook. But on an individual level, what those songs are varies wildly depending on one's birth year. "Consider, for example, the song 'Creep, by Radiohead, writes NYT journalist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. "This is the 164th most popular song among men who are now 38 years old. But it is not in the top 300 for the cohort born 10 years earlier or 10 years later. Note that the men who most like "Creep" now were roughly 14 when the song came out in 1993. In fact, this is a consistent pattern." Bandcamp Reports 'Stellar' 2017, Indie Revenue Up 73%
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"Meanwhile, standalone music streaming companies continued to lose money in 2017," the company wrote in a blog post chronicling its "stellar" year. " The seemingly inevitable upshot of these two trends is that the majority of music consumption will eventually take place within the subscription rental services of two or three enormous corporations, who can afford to lose money on music because it attracts customers to the parts of their businesses that are profitable."
"standalone music streaming companies continued to lose money."
andcamp sees itself as a counterweight to these dangerous monopolies. "Bandcamp serves as an honest-to-goodness, proof-in-the-pudding bulwark against the creep of artistic monoculture fueled by the consolidation of digital life into the hands of a few companies," NPR Music's Andrew Flanagan wrote "Maybe the future isn't a dumpster fire after all." How Musicians Can Survive The Facebook Apocalypse And Thrive In 2018
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Guest post by Amber Horsburgh, SVP Strategy at Downtown Records on Medium
On Thursday Jan, 11th 2018, Mark Zuckerberg announced a colossal change to the algorithm that will strip the Newsfeed of news taking Facebook back to its original mission of bringing us closer to people who matter — family and friends.
This update will be a huge change because unlike past ones, Zucker's has made his personal New Year's resolution to "fix Facebook". In the new update public figures, (fake) news, and brands will take a beating — expect zilch organic reach, pricey ads, and more power to fans.
Here is how musicians should focus their Facebook strategy to thrive in the change.
1. Prioritize comments over shares
For years, shares made content go viral and therefore "share" was the most important success metric. Now, it's comments.
According to Facebook,
"Pages making posts that people generally don't react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases in distribution. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect."
The new update prioritizes posts that keep people in comment threads incentivizing long-form responses and subsequent follow-ups. Creative content should be designed with discussion in mind. Ask yourself "what makes this worth talking about?" otherwise, it's fluff no-one will see.
This is different from how music marketers treat Facebook today — as an official website and advertising network. Look at any band's page today and you'll see it used for broad awareness with tour dates, PR announcements, track releases and music video posts written by label or manager personnel.
If this has been your focus, it's time to change strategies.
2. Rejig the media spend. Skill up in paid social
Now they'll focus on "time well spent".
"Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we'll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses. Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease."
Less people on site will cause ad prices to skyrocket.
Moving forward, paid posts must be more engaging and social media managers need to be proficient at paid media strategy. It's not enough to rely on a budget to ensure things are seen or something is so cool it'll be spread. The two go hand in hand.
3. Treat official music videos and Facebook videos separately
Oddly enough, Facebook is still pushing Live. They claim live videos get 6x as many interactions as regular videos. In Zuckerberg's post he says
"We've seen people interact way more around live videos than regular ones. Some news helps start conversations on important issues. But too often today, watching video, reading news or getting a page update is just a passive experience."
What Zucks forgets to mention is video exploded because Facebook designed its algorithm that way and paid publishers to make boatloads more video content. In any case, Facebook Live videos are here to stay (for now).
Marketing budgets must include social video content and not rely on repurposing official music videos from YouTube for Facebook because their passiveness is not good enough for Facebook.
4. Create a loyalty club to distribute information
Content by family and friends will be prioritized over public pages by up to 5x so fans become powerful bearers of content distribution. Now's time to build a street team to spread information on behalf of the artist.
Majors have been doing this for years, think Swifties, Rihanna's Navy, Lady Gaga's Little Monsters and 30 Seconds to Mars' Echelon but in 2018's Facebook, this is a relevant strategy for indie artists too.
A street team allows top fans access to special opportunities in exchange for posting an artists news, moderating comment threads to stoke discussion and manage community.
5. Encourage followers to change preferences
One very direct way to get around the algorithmic demotion is to have people update preferences to see a public page's content. This can be done in a simple CTA on Facebook, just be wary of "engagement baiting", i.e.: offering a coupon in exchange for a preference update — Facebook is slapping those folks on the wrist too.
As a marketer and a consumer, I am thrilled about the changes. It rewards creativity and encourages community back on platform and I'm interested to see what products they roll out to make people unlearn the like-baiting they've do encouraged over the past 10 years. Bring it on.
For for more music strategy insights subscribe to Amber Horsburgh's Newsletter
Subscription War: Spotify, Apple Music Expand Discounts
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Apple Music and Spotify are both offering new discounts in their increasingly competitive battle for new subscribers.
As Spotify nears its first public stock offering, the streamer has announced one of its deepest discounts yet. Billed as a Valentine promotion, "Cozy up with free premium" offers new subscribers 60 days of Spotify Premium for free. In recent years, the streamer's most frequent promotion has been $.99 for three months.
Apple Music's standard free trial has consistently been 30 days longer at 90 days.Apple is working to attract new users on another front with expanded student discounts. Yesterday, Apple Music added half price student discounts in 79 markets with 3 more going live before the end of the month. That means that nearly every market where Apple Music is available offers discounted student memberships including the newly added countries of Israel, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal and Taiwan. Shaping The Subscriber Narrative These discounts come amid reports that Apple Music is gaining paid subscribers in the US at a rate 2.5 times faster than Spotify - 5% vs. 2% - and could have more subscribers here by summer of this year. That's not a narrative that Spotify wants Wall Street to adopt as preps to go public. 4 Tips For Having The Best Tour Of Your Career
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In this recent article from MusicThinkTank, Emma Sturgis outlines four essential tips for helping to ensure you embark on the best tour of your career.
YouTube Red To Add 100 Countries, 10,000 Content Police
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YouTube Head Of Music Lyor Cohen has promised a new Google music subscription music early this year that will boost revenue for artists and labels. But his boss, YouTube CE O Susan Wojcicki, delivered a different message during her appearance at the Recode Code Media conference yesterday.
Wojcicki announced that YouTube would be expanding its YouTube Red paid subscription service "to many more countries" in the coming months. Sources put the number of new countries at about 100.. It's unclear if that signals that Cohen's promised service is just a revamped YouTube Red or that Google is continuing to split its own anemic paid streaming efforts between Red, Google Play and a yet to launch new service.
10,000 Content PoliceWhatever the plan, YouTube's ongoing problems with offensive and dangerous content and the attendant backlash from advertisers will only become more acute as Red expands. To that end, YouTube is adding 10,000 people to vet content, according to the CEO, who set no timetable for hiring. TUE. BRIEF: Trump Slashes Arts Funding • YouTube Red Expansion • Sillerman Bankruptcy • More
Music Business News From Around The Web
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Musician's Guide To Facebook Live_________________________ Re-post from CD Baby's DIY Musician blog, by Chris Robley
Here's the thing about Facebook Live: you can go live with nothing more than your phone!
Hardly any toolkit needed at all. And if we're going to learn a lesson from Steve Lacy, it's to just start. Don't wait around for the perfect equipment, the newest gadget, the best lighting rig. Take what you have, even if it's just your phone with its built-in camera and mic, and begin. You'll fumble, you'll get better, and maybe you'll find that the least amount of equipment yields the best results. It worked for Dawn Beyer, who earned more than $74k in under a year by playing short concerts on Facebook Live using nothing more than her phone. That being said, there a few affordable items that can, under certain circumstances, make your live-streaming life a lot simpler. Most likely the simpler it is to "go live," the more you'll do it, the more fun you'll have, and the better your broadcasts will become. Here are five items that can improve your live streaming on Facebook:1. A lightning/USB micThe built-in mic on your phone is fine. But if you want something better than fine, there are affordable options for external mics.I love the Shure MV51 digital condenser microphone. Firstly, it comes with two cables (USB to USB for PC or Android devices, and Lightning for use with iPhones, iPads, or iPods). It has a kickstand so you can easily prop it on a nearby table; but if you have to get the mic in just the right position, it's easy to remove the cap from the bottom of the kickstand and mount it to a mic stand. This is a small, rugged, portable, multi-purpose digital microphone, so putting it to the test against the best condenser mics would miss the point. When you compare the results you get with this mic versus what you'd pick up with your camera's built in microphone, though, there's a world of difference. I'm no audio engineer, so these could be imprecise descriptors, but compared to my phone's built-in mic, the MV51 provides clarity, smoothness, mellowing out some of the harsher stuff, and it adds a little roundness without sounding smashed. So yeah, it sounds good AND gives you a ton of flexibility, since the thing has a number of presets to choose from, including:
A built-in headphone output helps you reduce latency when monitoring, and — these newfangled devices are so smart — it also knows to power up when you phone's video camera is enabled. Because the MV51 either requires a mic stand or a flat surface nearby to prop it on, there's one other mic worth considering for your Facebook Live efforts: Shure's MV88. The MV88 is a super small stereo condenser mic made specifically for iOS devices, and it plugs right into the device — so the phone is actually acting as the support brace or "stand" for the microphone. Again, this saves you on having to bring a mic stand or worry about having a table or desk nearby, and that more minimal approach may inspire you to "go live" more often in more locations. The drawback is that, while you can rotate the MV88 to a degree, you might not be able to get a perfect angle to the sound source AND a perfect camera angle from your phone at the same time if you happen to be oddly positioned in the frame. In contrast, the MV51 can be placed independently of the phone (though you still need them to be close enough together to be connected by the cable, of course). If you're just sitting in front of the camera strumming a guitar though, the MV88 should do the trick. 2. A smartphone tripod…… so you don't have to lean your phone against a stack of books or a tree, and…3. A small LED lightI breezed over #2 because you can get a smartphone tripod AND small LED light together in a package like this one from Livestream Gear.The light is battery-operated, of course, so you gotta keep it charged, and expect it to only work at full brightness for about 30 minutes. After that it'll slowly dim for another 30 minutes or so. But that's plenty of time for your average Facebook Live broadcast. Then just remember to put that battery back in the charger when your live stream is done. 4. A taller tripodIf your location doesn't allow for a good spot to place the smartphone tripod, you can remove the mount for the camera and light and attach it to a standard tripod. This is definitely an "extra," but if you're not always going live from the same location, it might be worth getting one of these.5. BeLive.tv (and a good webcam)This last option is going to send us in a whole different direction, but if you want to incorporate screen-shares, pre-roll video, split-screen interviews, customized branding, or other fancy elements into your broadcast, you might want to check out a platform such as BeLive.tv, a third-party tool which helps you stage a pro-looking presentation and publish it (live) as a Facebook Live stream.Be warned: There's a monthly subscription fee that might seem hefty if you're on a tight budget. But if you've gotten to the point where you're wanting video elements that aren't supported within Facebook's native "Live" features, this is a good avenue to explore. The reason I include the "good webcam" above is because as the host you can only go live through BeLive.tv from a desktop. If your computer's built-in camera is crappy, invest in something that captures HD. Did I forget any essentials? Let me know in the comments. And if you want some tips on how to interact with your audience, and how to monetize your Facebook Live streams, check out Rick Barker's session from The DIY Musician Conference below:  How To Use Instagram's Top New Features
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Guest post by Jeanette of the Symphonic Distribution BlogAfter months of speculation and teasing, Instagram has now added GIF support to stories, along with many other new capabilities that will help make your social media presence stand out. Check out all of the new features, and how to use them, below! GIF IntegrationThanks to the app's new GIPHY integration, you can now search for GIFs of any kind to include in your Instagram stories. To access the GIF stickers, tap the 'add' option at the top of Stories and select 'GIF.' From there, search for any keyword you want, and add exciting, animated stickers to your stories! The options are endless, but just make sure not to go overboard. GIPHYUpload Photos of Any Size
Finally, you can upload photos of any size to Stories, so you'll no longer be forced to awkwardly crop them or use additional editing apps. Simply upload your photo and pinch it to minimize or maximize it. The border will turn into a color gradient that matches your photo, so everything will look uniform. Instagram will also be rolling out the same capabilities to video.
Type Mode for Text-Only StoriesInstagram is switching things up with the addition of text-only stories and new font options. The brand new feature allows Instagram users to post text in Stories, without having to upload a photo or video. Once the Instagram Stories camera is opened, the Type mode will be visible alongside the Live mode, Boomerang mode and more. You can choose from an abundance of various new fonts, backgrounds and highlights. The brand new typefaces are also available on regular picture and video stories. To access all of Instagram's new updates, make sure to download the latest version of the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play and get to posting! More Recent Articles
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