MUSIC NEWS    MyCD.ca

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Sales of all physical albums, which includes CD's and Vinyl Albums dropped 7% for 2020 even though Vinyl album sales have increased year over year.

 In 2020 there were approximately 7 Vinyl albums sold for every 10 CD's sold in a physical format.

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Neil Young has sold 50% of his catalogue of just under 1,200 songs to Hipgnosis Song Fund. That is an astronomical amount of songwriting.

 Hats off to Neil Young. Hipgnosis Song Fund is an Investment Company incorporated under the Islands of Guernsey, a British Commonwealth

Dependency. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was started by Merck Mercuriadis, former manager of Elton John, Guns N Roses,  

Morrissey,  Iron Maiden, Beyonce and other huge Artists. Purchasing an artists catalogue gives them the future royalties from song sales, streaming,

the song's use in Movies, Games etc. They have also purchased the catalogues of Rainbow, Journey, Barry Manilow, Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry

and others. Bob Dylan recently sold his catalogue of over 600 songs to Universal Music. Apparently both deals were in the hundreds of millions of

dollars range. Stevie Nicks sold part of her catalogue for apparently just under 100 million. David Crosby reportedly sold his catalogue as well.       

       There you go, there is the secret to songwriting success. All you have to do is write 600 to 1,200 good selling songs, then you can cash out for a

hundred million or two. It is as easy as that..... EZ Peezey....... chop chop .... Sneezey ..... the clock is a tickin... 600 ...  1200 songs.... that shouldn't

take too long ..... should it?

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  Artists can share new music directly to  Spotify's Editorial team now for playlist consideration.

   Some artists have seen their monthly listeners increase by 88 times.  

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   Spotify purchased 10% of Distrokid.

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Posted: August 28, 2017

(Hypebot) – Merlin, the global digital music rights agency for 20,000 indie labels and distributors from 53 countries, has announced its billionth dollar

in distributions, since launching in May of 2008. With all of its payments coming from music streaming, this milestone points to a promising future for

independent music companies. Since signing its first commercial partnership in September 2008 as launch partner to Spotify, Merlin has now licensed

more than 20 digital music services - including Deezer, Google Play, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, YouTube Red, Pandora, Vevo and KKBOX.

Now $1 billion in payments later, Merlin is often referred to as the “virtual fourth major.” In April of this year, Merlin announced a renewed

multi-year global licence with Spotify. Merlin's membership represents 12% of the digital recorded music market, including Beggars Group,

Secretly Group, Domino, Sub Pop, Epitaph, Anti Records, Entertainment One, Redeye Worldwide, Kobalt Music Recordings, [PIAS], Merge, Warp,

 INgrooves, Mad Decent, Naxos and Curb Records. "this billion dollars in revenues comes only from the new-generation services"

“It makes me immensely proud to reach this landmark. Like all the best independent labels, Merlin is run with passion, as a lean and efficient operation

 – albeit with an extensive and profound global responsibility," Merlin CEO Charles Caldas said in a statement. “Even more inspiring is that this billion

dollars in revenues comes only from the new-generation services that have launched since we did. In a market still in its early stages of evolution, the

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more significant growth is arguably yet to come.”

Streaming and revenue stats:

• The transition to a streaming market

In June 2017, 64% of Merlin members report that streaming services accounted for over half their digital revenues - up from 46% in 2016, and 34% in

 2015.

• International growth

Audio streaming has clearly opened new global markets for independent labels. 42% of Merlin members report that overseas usage accounts for a

majority of their digital revenue, while Merlin’s revenues from Brazil have now overtaken those from France.

• Consistent revenue increases

In June 2017, Merlin announced 2015-2016 distributions to members of $353m - up 52% from 2014-2015.

(Hypebot) – Here we dive back in to look further at 'neighbouring rights', a form of rights holding which entitles allows monies to be distributed to artists

 and sound recording holders when one of their works is either broadcast publicly or streamed.

Guest post by Justin M. Jacobson, Esq. on the TuneCore Blog

Featured artists, session musicians and master sound recording owners, typically record labels, are entitled to an additional royalty stream that artists

 and sound recording owners within the United States are currently not receiving. This additional revenue stream is referred to as “neighboring rights”

royalties. In recent years, this revenue stream has become a valuable source of additional income for non-U.S. citizen performers. It is reported that

 neighboring rights generates over $2 billion per year. 

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It is well established within the music industry that there are two copyrights in music, the underlying musical composition (“PA”) and the sound

 recording (“SR”). The underlying musical composition is usually exploited by a music publishing company and songwriters. They receive public

 performance royalties from a Performing Rights Organization, such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC in the U.S. The sound recording is typically owned by

 a record label, which receives their rights from the featured vocalist on the track.

“Neighboring rights” are monies distributed to musicians and master sound recording owners when a work is publicly broadcast or streamed. The

 concept of “neighboring rights” is derived from Copyright law and has been applied to many countries through the signing of the 1961 Rome

 Convention. The Rome Convention treaty was enacted to provide featured performers and session musicians with an additional revenue stream when

their works are publicly performed.

     To receive “neighbouring rights” royalties, the Rome Convention treaty mandates that a featured performer, studio musician and master sound

 recording owner must be a permanent resident of one of the signatory countries. Some signatory countries include Canada, the United Kingdom,

Australia, Germany, Japan, Greece, France, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Poland.

 $   

In Rome Convention signatory countries, neighbouring rights collection societies, similar to United States’ ASCAP and BMI, collect and distribute

 “neighboring rights” royalties to their members. Since collection societies vary in different countries, a musician must register the individual master

 recordings with each collection society in all of the countries that their track is receiving airplay in to receive full payment.

For example, the performing rights organization that distributes neighbouring rights royalties in the United Kingdom is PPL; in Germany, it is GVL;

in Spain, it is AIE; and, in Canada, it is The Recording Artists’ Collecting Society (RACS), which is a division of The Alliance of Canadian Cinema,

Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).

As discussed earlier, the United States is not a signatory to the Rome Convention treaty. Since the U.S. is a non-signatory country, U.S. citizen musicians

 do not receive any neighbouring rights royalties. This is due to a concept called “reciprocity,” which means that because the United States does not pay

 neighbouring rights royalties to non-U.S. citizens, those countries refuse to pay neighboring rights royalties to U.S. citizens.

This has put U.S. musicians, especially those who are solely featured vocalists and studio session players, such as many of today’s pop stars, in a bind by

 limiting most of their income to only record (which have steadily declined) and touring sales.

   There are various reasons why the U.S. did not become an initial signatory to the Rome Convention treaty. One suggested justification is that radio

 station lobbyists fear that terrestrial radio stations would then have to pay additional license fees, essentially doubling its current fees. This additional

 expense may could result in a severe strain on their already dwindling business. The broadcasters are a significant lobby. Others counter this argument

 by saying that radio stations are predominantly kept in business by the music they play and without the master sound recording copyright owners,

featured artists, and session musicians’ creations, the radio station would have nothing to air.

Although American law does not currently recognize neighbouring rights for a terrestrial broadcast such as traditional radio stations, the “Digital

 Performance Rights in Sound Recordings Act of 1995” was established in an attempt to compensate featured vocalists for the digital public

performance of their work. This Act allows U.S. musicians and master rights owners to collect royalties on digital performances of their work through

 satellite radio and Internet platforms.

This includes royalties paid by music streaming platforms such as Pandora and Spotify as well as satellite and Internet radio stations, such as

Sirius XM. These royalties are collected and distributed through the licensing organization, SoundExchange. While American musicians can now

collect digital performance royalties with the passage of this act, they still cannot collect royalties on terrestrial broadcast platforms. This means that

 U.S. musicians, who are only featured vocalists, still only receive half of the potential revenue streams available to them that other non-American

vocalists do.

As recently as 2017, legislation called the “Fair Play, Fair Pay Act” has been discussed before the U.S. Congress with the intention of remedying the issue of

 neighbouring rights. However, to date, no progress has occurred and it seems that no immediate movement is on the horizon. The lack of this income stream has

 widespread effects on U.S. musician’s earnings. In fact, according to Niels Teves, Co-CEO of Fintage House, the inclusion of neighbouring rights could

 potentially “double the size of [the U.S.] annual market,” an industry severely in need of a monetary infusion.

Neighbouring Rights are untapped revenue streams for many featured musicians and master sound recording owners. Unfortunately, most of this revenue is left

unclaimed due to a lack of reciprocity between signatory and non-signatory countries. In order to help accelerate the music business’ recovery, copyright owners

 should attempt to apply additional pressure on the U.S. Congress to enact the “Fair Play, Fair Pay Act” or some variation of it. This would hopefully give

 musicians and sound recording owners their due royalties and compensation guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

[Editors Note: This is a guest blog written by Justin M. Jacobson, Esq. Justin is an entertainment and media attorney for The Jacobson Firm, P.C. in New York City. In 2012, we published an article titled “Neighboring Rights: What They Are & Why They Matter”. This newest instalment includes a current exploration of today’s neighbouring rights, including which countries currently provide them and which don’t. It also explores recent United States’ legislation that has been discussed in an effort to extend “neighboring rights” to U.S. Citizens; as well as a discussion on the current financial impact these royalties have on the world-wide music business. It expands on the existing material while reinforcing the information it provides.]

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SOCAN Enters Mechanical Rights Business with Purchase of Audiam