A personal site, all views my own unless stated. I do not represent anyone neither am I affiliated with anybody. Please feel free to share the following links. May cause offence, please avoid.
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Blade Runner 2049. Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford. Could not read the text at the beginning as it is small. I had to use the zoom option. Nice special effects. Takes place 30 years after the original film. Officer K is hunting down Replicants. He had unearthed a secret which could bring chaos. He goes looking for Rick Deckard who had gone missing. I saw parts of the first film. May look at it again. Older models have gone into hiding. The new versions are in production. You may have seen Humans, RoboCop, Terminator, The Machine, ExMachina, The Matrix. Ryan is pretty brooding. I understand why he has many female fans. California in the future looks surprising. Gorgeous actress playing this hologram. Trying to understand the dialogue when it is being mumbled. Jared Leto is a CEO. Some links to the previous film. Expect cameos. Some nudity. Nice tits along the way. I do like the blue haired nude lady projected from a building. The bloody thing is skipping. This is a DVD rental. Strange music and audio effects. Weirdest sex scene. A dystopian future. You should also look up Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Great acting and cinematography. I need to look up trivia and discussions. Extras: prologues.
Emma Chambers was a British actress that passed away at the age of 53. She starred in The Vicar Of Dibley and some of the following:
I remember watching Pond Life as a student. Her popular role was as Alice. Stole the show. People remember the wedding with the Teletubbies bridesmaids. Those kids are now grown up. Interesting to see what they're up to now. Great actress with comedic timing.
A woman had been to the shop and gone to the baby milk powder. Taken the security tag off. Gone to staff to get an exchange. Here is the thing. Savers does not offer exchanges or refunds on baby powder. The manager went to check CCTV and the shoplifter puts another powder in her bag. So the manager confronted her. My brother not making his mind up about sending emails. Blaming a woman from work for the negativety he gets elsewhere. Bollocks. Winds me up having to listen to his chatter. Dumb miserable cow Rachel was back in the store. Mind you she is irrelevant. I have some right wing cunt from America following me on Twitter. #Spunkstain I had forgotten my work t-shirt and had to go back for it losing time over the delivery which was tough. Many injuries to my hand. Some so called Islamic Dance Remix video with derogatory comments from dumb right wingers. #SouthernSiriSays "too many snowflakes getting offended over this hashtag." Don't listen to the right wingers. Leave them to play with their guns. Please share this link https://www.private.com/scene/Kira-Roller-teen-princess-is-a-good-fuck/25383?nats=fangina.6.2.6.0.12896.0.0.0
You get a whole bunch of these natural disaster films. Often independent and found on the Horror Channel. A talented cast. I hope this is good. GEOSTORM is a SciFi film. You may have seen 2012, The Day Before Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Armageddon, Dante's Peak, San Andreas, Sunshine, Interstellar. Recent years the impact of global warming was talked about. Some people don't believe in it. 2019 and extreme weather hits the world. Satellites are deployed to combat the storms. The little girl gives a great introduction. Her father is Jake Lawson. The man behind the tech called Dutch Boy Gerald Butler, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia. However Dutch Boy goes crazy. Think Skynet and it has turned against humanity. There is a team onboard the space station. Good effects. See the Amazon reviews. Bonus is a discussion with the director. I do wonder about the dialogue. Some suspect characters might be behind all this.
My younger brother wasn't able to pay back the money that he borrowed and now asks for more. He'll just jeep putting it off. I am not doing this. I need it for my payments. I didn't get that FBI from work. Victims of the Leicester explosion
In this piece, on the rise R&B singer out of Chicago Ravyn Lenae chats about the sounds and influencing factors behind her music in anticipation of her upcoming new release Crush, set to drop soon. ______________________ Guest post by Rachel Grate of ...
Here are the FeedBlitz email updates for ki5h0re.guest@blogger.com
In this piece, on the rise R&B singer out of Chicago Ravyn Lenae chats about the sounds and influencing factors behind her music in anticipation of her upcoming new release Crush, set to drop soon.
What if we looked at today's most promising new artists from a super nerdy, almost scientific level, zeroing in on the elements that make up their musical DNA? That's the exact thinking behind Anatomy of an Artist, our new interview series that might just be the geekiest interview series around. Using data from Pandora's Genome Project — an analysis that assigns 450 musical attributes to each and every song on Pandora — we'll look at the genres, moods and sounds that define up-and-coming artists, and talk to them about the influences that shaped these sounds.
Our first subject? R&B singer-songwriter Ravyn Lenae. The Chicago native is currently one of the artists on the Pandora Predictions Chart, which uses social growth to predict the up-and-coming artists who are most likely to make their debut on the Billboard 200 Chart in the next year. The chart has previously been home to the likes of Dua Lipa, Khalid and SZA, so it's not a bad place to be.
Ravyn Lenae Washington got a very early start. She was only 17 when she released her debut EP, Moon Shoes, which eventually caught the ears of Atlantic Records, who signed her in 2016. Fast forward just one year, and Washington opened for Grammy nominee SZA on her Ctrl Tour. Now, with the release of her third EP Crush on February 9, she's moving toward household name status with her soft, smooth brand of R&B.
Below, she takes us through the sounds and influences that shape her music, and what fans will hear on her new EP, Crush, out now.
1. Soft Vocals
Ravyn Lenae's R&B isn't anything like the R&B of, say, Alicia Keys. Unlike big-voiced singers like Keys or Mary J Blige, Washington's voice coos rather than belts.
"I've always had a very soft, breathy voice," Washington says. "I remember when I was younger and was first beginning to sing thinking that, Oh I'm less of a singer because I'm not belting. But I value the artist that can sing a note straight and it be beautiful instead of being so busy with it, because if you can sing a pure tone and it sound beautiful that means you're a great singer. So I had to kind of step back and realize that I'm not less of a singer — I'm just a different kind of singer."
Among the many genres that you'll hear listening to Ravyn Lenae, the most influential — according to the data, at least — is soul.
"I grew up listening to the legends — Erykah Badu, OutKast — very soulful artists," Washington says. "They had a lot to do with the soul aspect of my music." (Not coincidentally, Badu comes up as one of top-spinning artists on Ravyn Lenae's Pandora station, along with other soul- influenced acts like SZA and Solange.)
3. Love-ly Lyrics
More than lyrics of anger or politics, Ravyn Lenae chooses love. While her songs run the gamut in mood — from the introspective, downtempo "Unknown" to the danceable, uptempo "Free Room"— one thing is constant: Love is the most common subject. But it isn't alway the romantic love she's singing about.
"People have been writing love songs since the beginning of time. It's just such a big theme in human life and human nature that it's hard not to come back to that," she says. "Even if it's love in not a romantic way — love for nature, or for a friendship — I think our lives kinda revolve around that theme. I try to approach it in a different way and write about it in a not so obvious way."
4. Major Chords
While Ravyn Lenae's catalog has many songs with minor chords, on the whole, Washington has historically gravitated toward major harmonies.
"I don't think i do it intentionally, but a lot of my music does have those uplifting, happy themes," Washington says. "But I also feel like I do have a lot of songs in minor chords too — to balance it out with something mysterious, deep and thoughtful, in a different way than the major chords."
5. Up Next? A More 'Live' Sound
While Washington's catalog up until now has been heavily synthetic, she made a notable departure on Crush. Lead single "Sticky," for example, is a funk-influenced song with a heavy guitar presence. (Crush is a collaborative EP with The Internet guitarist and producer Steve Lacy. )
"Fans of mine are definitely going to get a more live sounding production," she says. "I know in the past I've done more techno sounds but Crush definitely has a more of a live, natural sound."
As part of its quarterly report to investors yesterday, Pandora, shared a stat that no other music streamer has ever dared to share: the number of new paid subscribers not including current free trials. Competitors Spotify and Apple Music have a history of discounts and special promotions prior to announcing their user stats.
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Yesterday, Pandora reported a 63% increase in subscription revenue from 5.48 million subscribers. That's an increase of 25% year over year, but just 290,000 in the last quarter. While less than stellar, Pandora has provided a much more accurate subscriber number than those offered by Spotify and Apple Music. During Wednesday's call with investors, CFO Naveen Chopra shared that, unlike its competitors, Pandora's 290,000 new paid subscribers do not include any trial subscriptions.
Spotify, Apple Music and others regularly offer deep discounts and special promotions, and do not break them out of their subscriber announcements. Spotify is in the midst of a 60 Day Free trial that could skew its "total subscribers" just prior to their first public stock offering.
Whether it's Spotify plays or social media traffic, being able to look at a tangible metric and see that listeners are consuming and enjoying your music is exciting for any band or artist, unfortunately this feedback doesn't always translate to success. Here we look at why.
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Guest post by Patrick McGuire from the ReverbNation Blog There's nothing more exciting for a new artist than finding out that listeners are starting to learn about and enjoy their music. But using play counts, views, and hits as the only metrics to measure musical success is a bad idea. If you think about it, using statistics like views and plays to measure an artist's traction with fans is a relatively new thing. Sure, the music industry has relied on radio charts and record sales to gauge and understand what music is resonating with listeners and what music isn't, but those metrics are completely different than measuring how often listeners play a particular track on a streaming platform. When bands used to get played on mainstream radio and sell lots of records, their popularity could easily be translated to money. But in 2018, getting millions of plays across various platforms might not be enough to earn artists a livable wage depending on various factors like whether they're signed to a label or not. Play counts don't translate to a significant amount of money until they get extraordinarily high, but even more important than that, it's problematic to have such narrow definitions when it comes to thinking about what music is and isn't successful. If you only measure success in music with how much money an artist earns from their work, then you're leaving the most important component out of the equation. This, of course, is the emotional fulfillment and joy a person gets out of making music. It's the kind of love that sustains songwriters and musicians through years of artistic development and discovery that's almost always accompanied by heartbreak, disappointments, and hardship. A bunch of plays can't tell you anything about that kind of stuff.
Your band's single will sound exactly the same whether it has five plays or 5,000,000.
Obsessing over the numbers when it comes to how often listeners are playing your music is also problematic because it can be addictive, distracting, and discouraging. Yeah, your band's single is up to an impressive 50,000 plays, but what can you do to get it up to a million? Statistics like these give a value to music that doesn't really exist. Your band's single will sound exactly the same whether it has five plays or 5,000,000. If your goal in music is to write terrific songs and get people to listen, then obsessing and lamenting over the numbers isn't going to help you. With constantly evolving artist analytics and more platforms than ever to stream music on, it makes sense why so many artists constantly look to the numbers to determine whether their music is successful or not. But if you want lasting fulfillment in music, you'll have to find it on your own terms and not by fretting over likes, streams, and play counts. We'd all probably be much better musicians and writers if we spent more time with our craft and less time obsessing over whether we're successful or not.
Patrick McGuire is a musician, writer, and educator currently residing in the great city of Philadelphia. He creates music under the name Straight White Teeth, and has a great affinity for dogs and putting his hands in his pockets.
While having and keeping up with a band or artist website may seem easy enough, many music industry entrepreneurs struggle to do so. Having a solid website has become a must for artists however, and is essential for keeping your fans engaged and up-to-date.
It seems pretty simple to have and maintain an artist website, right? Truth is, it's not always so easy for everyone. Being in the industry, I've seen both extremes: websites that make us feel jealous and websites that make us feel pity (and some that don't exist at all). At the end of the day, a web presence is no longer an option for artists. The possibilities are endless with a good website. Not only will it keep your audience engaged and up-to-date, but it can also be a great additional revenue stream if done right.
If you're curious as to whether or not you're doing your artist website right, ask yourself the following questions.
Do you know your target audience and are you branded accordingly?
What types of people do you want to buy your music? If you don't know how to answer that then its going to make building your website unfocused. Once you've identified your target audience it's time to create unique branding design to set yourself apart.
Do you have high quality content?
A good artist website should always have high quality content; this applies to both text and images. If you don't have a professional logo made or bio written, we highly recommend the professional investment.
Is your website compatible on all devices?
Just because your website looks great on a MacBook Air, doesn't mean it will look as awesome on an Android. The key to having a successful website is to be functional on all devices. You can get creative once the basics are covered. A great example of going above and beyond in the digital realm is that of artist ill.Gates and his site illgates.com. His website doesn't stick to the traditional revenue stream of selling artist merch; it takes the concept one step further by selling quality music tools that benefit all types of artists. In a similar vein, Vespers.ca was created by Canada-based DJ Vespers to offer quality online training in electronic music production through video courses, downloadable packs, and webinars. Both of these websites are successful because they covered the basics of branding, content and site functionality and have built off of that with e-commerce intelligence. If you want to build a great e-commerce platform like Vespers and ill.Gates, start by asking yourself:
Am I selling a quality product?
This should be a given. If you aren't selling a quality product then going through the trouble of building an awesome site is totally not worth your time.
Have I thought about payment?
Don't forget to set up a payment gateway. We recommend accepting PayPal and credit card payments. In order to accept credit cards you'll need to set up a payment gateway like Stripe.com. You'll need to register for an account and if you are using WooCommerce, purchase a Stripe.com plugin that gives WooCommerce the ability to tie into Stripe's system.
Is my website secure?
You want to protect your customers, and yourself, from getting into some serious trouble. Make sure to purchase an SSL certificate and have your host install it on your web server. This allows sensitive information to be shared over the Internet because it's encrypted. We know this is a lot, but it's only the beginning of the things you need to think about. That is why both Vespers and ProducerDJ hired Lion's Share Digital to help build their e-commerce stores. Lion's Share has worked with many in the music industry to build successful websites and e-commerce platforms.
Rapper Talib Kweli has canceled a performance at a Kansas City music venue after the booked a Scandinavian accused of being Nazi sympathizers. According to the Kansas City Star, Kweli on Feb 20th told the management of the Riot Room that he would not be performing the following day after he learned that the venue had also booked the band Taake for a March 31st show.
Kweli released a statement on Tuesday that said: "I find it appalling that the Riot Room refuses to apologize for booking this band. I wouldn't feel safe bringing my team, family and fans into a venue that is sympathetic to white nationalism, so I've canceled the show." Taake, a Norwegian black metal band, has been criticized on numerous occasions for its use of Nazi iconography in its live performances and for what has been perceived to be anti-Islamic lyrics. In February, purported anti-fascist groups took to Twitter for the band to call off their North American tour, which is due to begin 24th in New York City. So far, the calls for cancellation have been partially successful and at least two shows — March 24th at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, and the Bottom Lounge in Chicago — have been canceled. On February 18th, Taake's frontman Ørjan 'Hoest' Stedjeberg released a statement addressing the cancellations and claiming the band's past displays of swastikas were for shock value and not an ideological statement:
"I have clearly explained many times throughout the years that me wearing a swastika once at a German concert was not at all meant to show support for the nazi (sic) ideology. It was all about doing something extreme for the sake of it, which certainly backfired. But it has now been 11 years and the band has even performed in Israel! Anyway, similar incidents have not happened in Taake's 25 year long career and will obviously not happen again. But certain parties seem to find this cold case unforgivable nevertheless, insisting on wilful (sic) misunderstanding. So, once and for all, Taake is not a racist band. Never has been, never will be. Still claiming so is as ridiculous and unfounded as are the attempts at sabotaging our highly anticipated shows."
Update: The Riot Room has now announced that they had also canceled Taake's performance.
"We have decided to cancel the Taake event scheduled to be held March 31st at The Riot Room. Refunds will be processed immediately for anyone who purchased ickets. As a venue, it is our priority to provide a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for all patrons, artists, and staff. This always has, and will always continue to be our primary goal," a rep for the venue said in a statement published on their social media.
Warner Music UK is celebrating its most successful BRIT Awards ever with Its artists won six of the eleven awards (six of eight in UK categories) , more than any other music company. These awards follow a strong showing Warner Music at the Grammy Awards in New York last month.
At last night's BRIT Awards, Dua Lipa took home British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist, Ed Sheeran won Global Success, Gorillaz was crowned British Group, and Stormzy was awarded British Male Solo Artist and Mastercard British Album of the Year, for Gang Signs & Prayer
All record for Warner Music UK labels with ADA, Atlantic, Parlophone and Warner Bros. all marking wins.
Max Lousada, CEO Recorded Music, WMG and Chairman & CEO, Warner Music UK said: "Tonight was a celebration of the unprecedented opportunities for home-grown U.K. talent on the global stage. Artists like Dua, Stormzy, Ed, Liam, Rita and Gorillaz are making hugely popular and influential music that is moving culture and cascading throughout the world. Congratulations to all the winners, nominees and performers, and thank you for making music, and life, more dynamic and exciting."
While it's well known that the music industry's top earning bring in a solid chunk of change, we here take a look at how the income of this demographic (e.g. music's top 1%) compares with the income of the average employee in an alternative field.
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In this latest piece from MusicThinkTank, Ryan Harrell explores how much the top musicians make when compared with other, average jobs.
"...Analysis revealed that top musician incomes dwarf even well-paid professions such as software developers. Diddy, for instance, made a software developer's annual income in just under 7 hours. Even the lowest grossing musician on the list - The Chainsmokers - made a software developer's annual income in under a day."
New artists beat the old guard at the 2018 Brit Awards which saw grime artist Stormzy and pop music singer-songwriter Dua Lipa take top honors at the annual awards show, winning British Male and Female solo artist, respectively. Lipa, who was the first female artist to pick up five Brit nominations in a single year, took the trophy for British Breakthrough Act, which recognizes artists who are new to the scene. "I also want to thank every single female that has been on this stage before me, that has given girls like me, not just girls in the music industry but girls in society, [a] place to be inspired by, to look up to, and that have allowed us to dream this big," Lipa said. "Here's to more women on these stages, more women winning awards and more women taking over the world," Liupa said, accepting her award. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewitt's virtual group Gorillaz took top honors for British Group, while Ed Sheeran, who was nominated in four groups, took home just one Brit Award for Global Success. Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, and The Foo Fighters won awards for International Female, Male and Group respectively, while former One Direction member Harry Styles picked up a win for British Artist Video of the Year. Performances for the night included Ed Sheeran, who provided a raw rendition of "Supermarket Flowers" from his album Divide, and Stormzy, who delivered a rain-soaked rendition of his hit "Blinded By Your Grace Pt 2." Absent from the list of performers for the evening was Ariana Grande, who had been lined up to perform a tribute to the victims of the deadly bombing attack that targeted her concert in Manchester last May. Grande missed the show after calling in sick. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the Brit Awards, said that "on doctor's orders" Grande was unable to travel to the show. Filling in for Grande was Liam Gallagher, who performed "Live Forever" for the tribute. English comedian, actor and television presenter Jack Whitehall handled the hosting duties for the awards show, which took place at The O2 Arena in London.
Pandora stock rose as much as 7% in after hours trading Wednesday, after the streamer beat Wall Street expectations in a key metric. Overall revenue grew $395 million, beating analyst predictions of $376 million. On Thursday, pre-market trading priced the stock up a 5.34% Overall, however, Pandora's report to investors was far more mixed. The company reported a loss of 21 cents a share vs. analysts polled by Reuters who expected a loss of 7 cents per share. In other mixed news, Pandora listener hours continued their slow decline to 5.03 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 5.15 billion hours last quarter and 5.38 billion for the same quarter last year. Paid subscriptions to Pandora Plus and Premium grew to 5.48 million in Q4, up 25% year-over-year, but just 5.6% for the last quarter. Just weeks ago, Pandora announced an organizational restructuring that included 5% staff layoffs as part of a $45 million in cost cutting "designed to prioritize its strategic growth initiatives and optimize overall business performance." We'll be following the stock and updating throughout the day.
LiveXLive Media, which includes music streamer Slacker alongside a live concert streaming platform, has been approved for listing on The NASDAQ Capital Market.
Shares of common stock are expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ Capital Market on February 22, 2018 under its existing trading symbol "LIVX."
"2017 was a monumental year for LiveXLive and listing on NASDAQ is an exciting and major milestone in our evolution that we believe will expose the company to a wider audience of potential institutional investors and increase liquidity, ultimately contributing to our ability to increase shareholder value," commented Rob Ellin, Chairman and CEO. "Consumers demand accessible, world-class experiences and LiveXLive has built a platform for just that – a social ecosystem for music lovers around the world. Backed by an impressive management team and propelled by the incredible market opportunity, we have built a company that uniquely addresses a previously untapped market. We look forward to continuing to share our developing story with the investment community," concluded Mr. Ellin.
Besides getting the industry back on its feet as a whole, playlist have been a huge asset in bringing unknown groups and artists out of obscurity. While this all seems like a good thing, playlist culture has it's own potential downsides.
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Guest post by Patrick McGuire on the ReverbNation Blog In addition to delivering big profits to labels and publishers, playlists are helping new and unknown artists succeed in some profound ways. From popular independent playlists curated in dorm rooms to Spotify's insanely successful Discover Weekly feature, playlists are becoming a major way for listeners to learn about new music. The music industry has a lot to gain from this new trend, but is there a downside to our ever-increasing penchant for playlists?
Where do albums fit inside playlist culture?
Playlists are a little like all-you-can-eat buffets in the way that you're encouraged to try a little bit of everything without putting too much on your plate. They're the perfect way for audiences to listen to new music without committing to the experience of listening to an entire album. But when new artists write music intent on finding an audience in today's single-driven atmosphere, it begs the question––why write albums anymore? Blame it on a culture of convenience, our collective diminishing spans of attention or some combination of the two, but artists are getting almost the same amount of mileage from having a single being featured on prominent playlists as they used to get from releasing an entire album.
Songwriting in the playlist era
The music industry has hailed 2017 as the year its long awaited comeback, and streaming revenue borne gleaned playlists is a major driver behind the turnaround. But is music really better off in a single-driven culture? The Guardian certainly doesn't seem to think so. In a recent article, the British daily newspaper warned readers that songwriting and music in general suffers when music is made with the specific intention of getting placed on popular playlists. "Inevitably, there is a darker side to all this. First, at the extreme end, songwriting is now starting to contort to fit the aesthetic and audience of certain playlists; trying to second-guess what will connect best." The idea of artists making music with the intention to fit within certain commercial molds isn't anything new, but it's taken on an entirely new and troubling place in music in the age of Spotify. The article goes on to profile major artists who've begun experimenting with releasing music outside the album format. "Artists are even starting to pull apart the album format and create evolving playlists in their place. Drake's much-vaunted "playlist", More Life, was essentially an album given a zeitgeisty rebrand, but in 2016, David Gray released a "dynamic" greatest hits on Spotify where tracks were switched around depending on how popular they were, while there were industry rumours, subsequently scotched, that Calvin Harris was going to abandon the album entirely and instead release singles and EPs on a rolling basis. Playlisting now means the album no longer has to remain a fixed entity." Some music industry veterans have gone as far as saying that playlists will most likely replace the album entirely within a few years. But no matter what happens to the album, the challenge for artists will be the same as it's been for decades: Create meaningful music and find an audience in a world of tastes, trends, and methods of consuming music that's constantly evolving. Patrick McGuire is a musician, writer, and educator currently residing in the great city of Philadelphia. He creates music under the name Straight White Teeth, and has a great affinity for dogs and putting his hands in his pockets.
While methods of music discovery vary drastically from person to person, we here look at few avenues which avid music consumers commonly turn to in their search for fresh tunes, depending on the demographic in question.
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Guest post by Rich Nardo of the TuneCore Blog [Editors Note:This article was written by Rich Nardo.] New music discovery is a highly personalized process. Fans of different genres tend to find music in different ways and, obviously, people of varying age and geographical demographics also tend to favor different manners of discovery. Unless you have a major label or an indie with a large budget putting out your music, it's very difficult to cover all of your bases. Your best bet is to hone in on who is most likely to enjoy your music and focus heavily in the areas where that sort of fan is most likely to be searching for new tunes. That's not to say, allocating some time and energy in other areas is not beneficial, but with limited resources it's always best to be more focused on the areas where you will get the most bang for your buck. Below are several sources people tend to tap into for music discovery:
Terrestrial Radio
According to a 2017 Study by Larry S. Miller of the NYU's Steinhart Music Business Program, if your fans tends to be members of Generation Z (born after 1995), this is largely a waste of time. Due in large part to having grown up in an 'on demand' culture, the number of teens that tune in on their AM/FM dial dropped 50% between 2006 and 2016. As more and more new cars are coming equipped with streaming service integration (a projected 75% by 2020) and people are turning more towards "Smart Home" devices like Amazon Alexa in their households, this number is expected to decrease further unless Radio undergoes an extreme makeover. Traditional radio campaigns tend to be very expensive and have high barriers of entry, so unless you're an established pop star selling out arenas, putting any eggs in this basket is probably not worth the investment.
XM Radio
Sirius XM is a weird sort of hybrid in this scenario. The barriers to entry are high (though not as high as their terrestrial counterparts), but there are a handful of bands that break nationally in large part due to XM every year. In particular, getting rotation on a station like AltNation, XMU, Octane or The Highway can really help kickstart a band. The biggest issue with XM is that, even if you find yourself in a DJ's favor, you need to be able to show that your marketing campaign is firing on all cylinders before they'll really jump behind a project. If you're at the stage in your career where your streaming numbers are high, press is coming in and you're touring consistently at mid-sized venues, investing in a College & Specialty Radio campaign that builds towards pitching XM is worthwhile. If you're not quite there yet, you may be better off investing more time in building your fan foundation and business model out first.
Social Media
Social Media is another unique situation, as it isn't necessary a traditional "new music discovery" platform but is integral to success on most other platforms. Without a doubt, major streaming services, radio stations, press, venues and other industry types that can open doors for an up-and-coming artist pay attention to your social numbers. As we mentioned last month, Instagram has established innovative new ways for musicians to interact with fans and is leading the way in terms of music discovery via social media. With Facebook's recent algorithm shift away from business pages showing up in people's feeds, it's more difficult to reach people there. Still, allocating some budget to Facebook (and Instagram) advertising can help get your music in front of new ears in a highly efficient and cost effective way.
Music Blogs and Publications
Press has always been a staple of new music discovery. The 'gatekeepers of cool' have been a primary resource for finding what's coming next for decades, but we're seeing a changing of the guards as of late. Press will always be important, but unless you're being featured as part of a larger editorial piece, the reach of even the top outlets is starting to diminish. A few years ago, a big premiere on a press outlet like Noisey or The Fader could result in tens of thousands of plays. Today, it might only be a couple of hundred. Most top-tier sites are altering the way they approach music coverage to respond to this fact, but I would not rely solely on getting a review in one of the most respected publications to really break you as an artist. In fact, I would wager to say that the value in press lays largely in getting quotes from tastemakers to help enhance other elements of your marketing campaign as opposed to new fan acquisition. That being said, press is still very important and there are chances to grow your fanbase with a well run press campaign. This should be one of the first places you allocate money when it comes to music marketing.
Streaming Services, Pandora & YouTube
Not surprisingly, this is the big one. According to Variety, a recent poll of 12-24 year olds who find music discovery important, these were the three biggest resources for finding new music – YouTube (80%), Spotify (59%) and Pandora (53%). While doing something officially with any of these outlets might be hard, there are plenty of ways to still utilize their reach. Blogs, Brands and unofficial tastemakers are more approachable for streaming playlists and there are vlogs such as Suicide Sheep, Majestic Casual or MORindie that get hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of plays for their posts. With over 78 million monthly listeners, Pandora is still the largest music streaming service in the world. Their advertising campaigns are relatively affordable and can help boost your ranking in their algorithm in a way that makes a genuine difference. As Amazon, Google and Apple all evolve their streaming services in 2018, the possibilities are only multiplying for a savvy artist who stays up to date on the world of streaming.
The Good Ol' Fashioned Way
The above listed outlets are all extremely important, but nothing will aid a new artist as much as good ol' fashioned performances. Music fans are fickle these days and tend to fall out of love with songs quickly as they move on to the next big thing. Only the intimate connection of winning a fan over in a live setting can really imprint an artist enough on a group of fans to really make that adoration stick. If you plan on building a sustainable career as a musician, get really good live and make the effort to meet fans at your shows. Those encounters and memories of your performance are what will build a long-term fanbase that evolves with you from release to release. Rich Nardo is a freelance writer and editor, and is the Director of Public Relations and Creative at NGAGE.
Pandora listener hours continued their slow decline to 5.03 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 5.15 billion hours last quarter and 5.38 billion for the same quarter last year. Paid subscriptions to Pandora Plus and Premium grew to 5.48 million in Q4, up 25% year-over-year, but just 5.6% for the last quarter. Ad revenue was up 7% last year. Last month, Pandora announced an organizational restructuring that included layoffs in some departments as part of a $45 million in cost cutting "designed to prioritize its strategic growth initiatives and optimize overall business performance." Here is Wednesday's full report.
PANDORA REPORTS Q4 2017 FINANCIAL RESULTS
Ad RPM Reaches an All-Time High; Subscription Revenue Grows 63%
Q4 Revenue excluding Australia, New Zealand and Ticketfly was $395.3 million, growing 7% year-over-year
Ad RPM hits an all-time high of $75.65 in Q4 2017, growing 12% year-over-year
Q4 Subscription revenue was $97.7 million, growing 63% year-over-year
Total subscribers were 5.48 million, growing 25% year-over-year
Q4 Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA significantly exceeded our forecast
Launched Premium Access, enabling greater interactivity in ad-supported tier
Announced plans to reinvest $45 million of expected annualized cost-savings toward key growth initiatives
OAKLAND, Calif. - Feb. 21, 2018 - Pandora (NYSE: P) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017.
"Digital audio is on the verge of massive growth - music consumption is increasing, podcasts are gaining popularity and voice-activated devices are quickly becoming mainstream. Just like video, audio is transitioning from a one-to-many broadcast experience to a one-to-one model with personalization at the core. Pandora's scale, listener engagement and data position us well to capitalize on these trends," said Roger Lynch, CEO of Pandora. "From launching on-demand for our ad-supported listeners to expanding multiple device partnerships in the last quarter alone, we're building a strong foundation for audience growth and improved monetization. These efforts will enable us to strengthen business fundamentals and reinvigorate Pandora in 2018."
Premium Access: Pandora successfully launched Premium Access, which allows ad-supported listeners access to on-demand experiences including, for the first time, the ability to search, play and share songs, albums, and playlists by viewing a short video ad. Premium Access also unlocks new rewards-based video inventory for advertisers.
Revenue: For the fourth quarter of 2017, total consolidated revenue was $395.3 million, an approximate 7% year-over-year increase compared to the year-ago quarter, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Ticketfly. This included $297.7 million in advertising revenue and $97.7 million in subscription revenue. Revenue in the year-ago quarter, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Ticketfly was $370.5 million. We discontinued our service in Australia and New Zealand on July 31, 2017 and Ticketfly was sold to Eventbrite on September 1, 2017. Including Australia, New Zealand and Ticketfly, total consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $392.6 million.
GAAP Net Loss and Adjusted EBITDA: For the fourth quarter of 2017, GAAP net loss was $44.7 million compared to a net loss of $90.0 million in the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.8 million, compared to a loss of $30.4 million in the same quarter last year.
Cash and Investments: For the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company ended with $500.8 million in cash and investments, compared to $499.4 million at the end of the prior quarter.
Partnerships: Expanded partnerships across Sonos, Comcast's Xfinity X1, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV in the fourth quarter.
Listener Hours: Total listener hours were 5.03 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 5.38 billion for the same period of the prior year.
Active Listeners: Active listeners were 74.7 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.
Subscribers: Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium subscribers were 5.48 million at the end of the fourth quarter.
Full Year 2017 Financial Results
Revenue: For the full year 2017, consolidated total revenue was $1.467 billion, a 6% year-over-year increase. This included ticketing revenue of $76.0 million from the period. Our ticketing service was sold to Eventbrite on September 1, 2017. Excluding revenue from Australia, New Zealand and Ticketfly, full year 2017 revenue was $1.385 billion, an 8% year-over-year increase. This included advertising revenue of $1.071 billion and subscription and other revenue of $314.3 million.
GAAP Net Loss and Adjusted EBITDA: For the full year of 2017, GAAP net loss was $518.4 million compared to a net loss of $343.0 million in the year ago period. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $125.0 million compared to a loss of $119.5 million last year.
Recent Events & Other Information
Strategic Realignment: Pandora recently announced an organizational restructuring designed to prioritize its strategic growth initiatives and optimize overall business performance. A combination of eliminated roles and other measures are expected to result in combined annualized savings of approximately $45 million to adjusted EBITDA. The savings will be reinvested into growth initiatives including ad-tech, non-music content, device integration and marketing technology, toward which the company will redeploy existing employees and hire for new positions.
Guidance: Guidance will be discussed during the fourth quarter and full year 2017 conference call.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Financial Results Conference Call: Pandora will host a conference call today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2017 financial results with the investment community. A live webcast of the event will be available on the Pandora Investor Relations website at http://investor.pandora.com. A live domestic dial-in is available at (877) 355-0067 or (443) 853-1239 internationally. A domestic replay will be available at (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 internationally, using passcode 3687488, and available via webcast replay until March 14, 2018.
