Pie v. Pie

Can we all get along? Music Business Worldwide takes a deep dive into indie label group IMPALA’s own deep dive into the streaming music pie, and the NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION takes an angry dip into both, and one can’t help wonder why artists/labels and songwriters/publishers are still fighting *each other* over how to divvy up their smallish shares of 70-ish percent of the $9.99 you’re paying to SPOTIFY or APPLE every month. Quick context: Artists/labels get significantly more of that 70-ish percent, in gross figures, than writers/publishers. But the former, per Impala’s most recent report on streaming financials, thinks its net share is slipping. But why, in any case, is their beef with each other? Shouldn’t artists and songwriters, who are sometimes the same people, be on the same side of the table? Shouldn’t labels and publishers, who often are the same company, be sitting side-by-side, too? Do indie artists *want* indie labels to negotiate against their songwriter friends? Do you want your favorite football team’s offensive line and wide receivers arguing salary with each other? Or do you envision them both arguing with the owners, and maybe even arguing together? Does it get worse or better when the overall pie they’re arguing about (back to the music makers now) stops growing the way it’s been growing for the past several years? Does it get worse of better when (see next item) another major source of streaming music income is suddenly in danger of going away?

Butte Out

More than half the states in the US have joined the federal government in banning TIKTOK from government devices, but Montana has become the first state to ban the app altogether. The bill, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, has been criticized as being both unenforceable and unconstitutional and will almost certainly be challenged in court. “I rarely see a bill that is this technically stupid,” TARAH WHEELER, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Atlantic in April. But Montana may go even further: GOV. GREG GIANFORTE has expressed support for legislation that would ban any app whose user data can be accessed by “a person or entity located within a country designated as a foreign adversary.” The music industry, for its part, has had several years to prepare for this; attempts to ban TikTok in the US and elsewhere date back to at least 2019. And while there are plenty of people in the music biz who would be devastated by the video’s disappearance, there are others who can think of other places where the money currently being poured into TikTok marketing campaigns might be better spent, for whatever that’s worth.

Etc Etc Etc

Do musicians need to watch out for AI name/voice/likeness clauses in their contracts? (Do you even have to ask?)... AM radio is quickly disappearing from new cars, but a bipartisan group of US lawmakers, citing AM’s importance during emergencies, is pushing back. The AM for Every Vehicle act was introduced Wednesday in both houses of Congress... WEEZER performed on the Hollywood writers’ picket line outside the PARAMOUNT lot Wednesday afternoon... LEWIS CAPALDI performed at the TINY DESK... French Canadian singer DIANE DUFRESNE, jazz pianist OLIVER JONES, country singer TERRI CLARK and rock band TROOPER will be inducted into the CANADIAN MUSIC HALL OF FAME tonight in Calgary. The CBC will stream the ceremony here.

Rest in Peace

SHAWN “GUS” VITALE, longtime sound engineer at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. “He was the first face folks see when they load-in for a show and the last when they load-out, and had the most welcoming smile every time,” the club said.