Category: Podcast

Is There a Future for Hi Def Streaming Services?

Larry Miller

cropped-01LOGO.jpg It’s OK. We know you probably don’t use Tidal’s $20 per month highest fidelity music streaming service.

Or hey, maybe you do, but the fact of the matter is most people don’t spend their hard-earned money on luxury streaming services. But level with us here— even though you might not be subscribed to a high-fidelity streaming service, are you really satisfied with your earbuds?

On this episode of Musonomics, we investigate whether there’s enough room for a profitable niche market supporting multiple competitors in the high-resolution music market.

We’ll talk to MQA CEO Mike Jbara, 7 Digital deputy CEO Pete Downton, and HDTracks CEO David Chesky to see what the future of high quality streaming could become. Is there a real future for these high-quality music streaming services, and, if so, what does that future look like? Let’s find out. As always, you can listen to the new episode above iTunes, or stream it on Soundcloud or YouTube.

Music, Data and the Blockchain: A Digital Utopia?

Larry Miller

01LOGOImagine the creation of database that would contain all of the data about all the music that already exists as well as all music going forward. It doesn’t exist yet, but it might — on the Blockchain.

In our latest episode of Musonomics: why are more and more music industry insiders looking to Blockchain technology as a solution to the metadata problem? What really is the Blockchain? And why is it so important? These are just some of the questions host Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt, and co-host Carmen Cuesta Roca will unpack.

To get you started, we’ve covered the Blockchain on our blog before. Here’s a good Blockchain explainer, and here’s another entry on its significance.

The episode features PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers, who is evangelizing a comprehensive database of music metadata on the Blockchain. He’s also written on the topic, which you can access here. Singer-songwriter Imogen Heap sheds light on the potential for accurate and intricate metadata. And Bill Rosenblatt of Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies explains that industry-wide standards are key to the metadata problem, but the complexity of the music industry and its vast number of stakeholders will make those standards difficult to achieve.

As always, you can listen to the new episode above via Soundcloud, or you can find it on iTunes, YouTube, and Stitcher.

The Headwinds Facing Music Startups

Larry Miller
Michael Dorf at City Winery NYC
Michael Dorf at City Winery NYC

No music startup has generated an operating profit in 20 years. Not Pandora, not Spotify.

The largest cost and greatest obstacle for music-streaming services like these is the the cost of the music they play, while prioritizing growth over profitability.  Spotify pays out 70-80% of its revenue to rights holders for its on-demand service, and Pandora about 50% of its revenue for the radio-like service it currently offers.

But music startups all across the board are struggling.  More than half of 2013’s most promising music startups no longer exist.  

Why are music startups struggling to thrive, or even simply survive?

01LOGOIn this episode, we examine several perspectives to understand why the space for music startups is so
unforgiving, and what music startups can do to be successful.

Cortney Harding, a digital music consultant, discusses the recent slowdown in the music startup space.  Edward Ginis and Brady Brim-DeForest, share of the bootstrapping approach that’s worked for OpenPlay.  David Pakman of Venrock explains why his firm has never invested in a digital media company, while Jon Vanhala, formerly of Universal Music and now at Crossfade Partners, offers insight into who can be blamed for the fact that music startups are finding it so hard to make money.  But it’s not all bad news. Music isn’t going away, it’s an essential aspect of the human experience. Our episode concludes with Michael Dorf, who tapped into the value of the live music experience and his own love of wine.  Michael is generating more profit than he ever did in the digital music business while operating and growing his City Winery locations across the country.

As always, you can listen to the new episode above via Soundcloud, or you can find it on iTunes, YouTube, and Stitcher.

The Vinyl Resurrection

Sam Behrens
Eric Astor of Furnace MFG
Billy Fields, the vinyl guy at Warner Music

Hot on the tail of this year’s Record Store Day, we’re taking a fresh look at an old medium — vinyl records. About this time last year, we did our first show on the state of physical music retailing, and we concentrated on vinyl. We took a look at how Record Store Day helped revive a segment of the music industry and saved local record stores — but there’s more to the vinyl story than the retail effect.

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In this episode of Musonomics, we look further up the vinyl production line to see how the format is maturing, and what’s still holding it back. Josh Friedlander, the RIAA’s data guy, talks about the continued growth of vinyl records. Billy Fields, the vinyl guy at Warner Music Group, chats with us about whether vinyl might be heading for a plateau.  And Eric Astor of Furnace takes us into the factory and through the vinyl manufacturing process, from finished audio to a pristine, pressed record.

As always, you can listen to the new episode above via Soundcloud, or you can find it on iTunes, YouTube, and Stitcher.

Songwriters, Consent and the Age of Discontent

Larry Miller

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Songwriters struggle to get paid while the copyright system designed to protect their rights is partially to blame, but why? In this episode of Musonomics, Larry Miller takes a look at how the copyright and royalty payment system is failing a new generation of songwriters.

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The 3 Most Important Stories of 2015

Larry Miller

From Adele to the streaming wars to a call for revision of arcane music licensing laws from the U.S. Copyright Office — in our final episode of the year Larry Miller talks with Neil Shah of the Wall Street Journal about the three most important music industry stories of 2015.

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That Weird Thing That Happened To Recording Studios

Larry Miller

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Recording studios used to be the place where music was written and produced, but since the ’90s their role in music production has undergone a dramatic change. This week’s episode examines the plight of the modern recording studio.
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YouTube’s Big Red Elephant is Loose in the Music Industry’s Room

Larry Miller

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Season 2 of The Musonomics podcast kicks off today with the release of episode 8, “YouTube’s Big Red Elephant is Loose in the Music Industry’s Room.” We’ve talked a lot on previous shows about the streaming wars; Spotify vs Tidal vs Apple Music vs Deezer vs an ever-growing list of new faces — but there’s one streaming service whose user numbers dwarf the competition, and that streaming service is YouTube. In just 10 years, YouTube has become the biggest streaming service in the world.

Continue reading “YouTube’s Big Red Elephant is Loose in the Music Industry’s Room” →