MusicTech Rewinder - Back from the summer break

Dear reader,

I hope you had a wonderful summer wherever you are.

I am back from the break that I took from writing this newsletter and you can expect to receive the MusicTech Rewinder from now on every Friday again.

Please reach out if you have questions or suggestions, and I would appreciate it if you share this newsletter with your network.

It has been quite a while since I sent it out the last time, that's why this edition contains 14 instead of the usual 10 links to the latest music tech news. I have also added the new category "VIDEO BITE OF THE WEEK" in which I will from now on add one video per week that I recommend watching.

Enjoy reading and have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers,

Matt

Ps.: If you were wondering who the oldest professional Club DJ on this planet is. It's Sumiko Iwamura (a.k.a. DJ Sumirock) from Japan who works at a Chinese restaurant during the day and is still rocking the dance floors at nightclubs at the age of 83.

A new study using music streaming data to measure national mood underlines how much stock markets are governed by emotion rather than rational calculation.

Spotify proudly announces their research into how to harvest the brains of your fans for fun and profit. Is that what you signed up for?

Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to audio systems used to render spatial audio in context with Augmented Reality. In one case, the patent covers spatial audio used in a head mounted display device (HMD) and one that could integrate an iPhone as its display.

Manufacturing delays and rising costs are straining small, independent vinyl labels. Paired with environmental concerns and a reassessment of what physical releases can entail, the wax bubble appears to be bursting. Is this the end of the vinyl revival? Will Pritchard investigates

How platforms mess with our tastes.

This missive contains a recap of my columns on digital culture for The New Yorker and a B-side essay that helped me figure out my column on how social-media interfaces manipulate us.

Steve Cooper reveals stunning stat – and MBW crunches the numbers on what it could mean…

The Brooklyn-based VÉRITÉ is a very modern artist, with multiple threads running through her career that connect with audiences and generate income. She’s not only an independent singer-songwriter, but is also a podcast host, and is experimenting with selling parts of her master recordings via NFT auctions. We asked VÉRITÉ to write about the value […]

American artist and cryptocurrency pundit 3Lau will give away 50% of his new song Worst Case’s streaming rights to 333 fans, who will get paid every time someone streams the song.

TuneGO, which already operates a tech platform that creates a digital fingerprint for songs and tracks associated metadata, is launching an NFT marketplace with Dapper Labs that's designed specifically for music artists.

Making a tune is now as easy as taking a photo and uploading it to Instagram. With its 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram has made photographers out of all us. As phone cameras improved, the Instagram filters did the rest. Music has spent most of this century battling the ghosts of piracy. The major […]

This article is part of Extended Play, our new free weekly briefing built around contextualizing music-industry data. To receive future briefings, subscribe

The Mechanical Licensing Collective, Inc. has been sitting on a half billion dollars of songwriter money for seven months with no payment in sight. Where is the Copyright Office?

Along the way, Thomas Edison may have played a key role in disseminating the innovations of black music—although that was the exact opposite of what he intended.

When Beethoven died, all he left behind were some sketches for his 10th Symphony. Now, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, the composer’s vision is coming to life.

VIDEO BITE OF THE WEEK

Spotify alone has 4 billion playlists!

Are Streaming-Services a level playing field for both independent and major label artists?

It seems that the answer to that question is NO.

A recent study found out that most playlists have little or no impact on streams due to most listeners being heavily skewed.

"Playlists are streaming’s silver bullet, but indie artists are at a disadvantage. Major labels unfairly occupy the golden playlists."

Music streaming platforms have a huge influence on the music choices of consumers. Streaming services decide which songs and artists to promote through playlists. A lot of new and independent artists rely on being on that playlists but when you get to the top 1,000 playlists and even the top 10,000 you’re looking at over 77% owned by a major label.

Watch this video from Amber Horsburgh to get a better understanding of how playlists are owned, structured, and curated.