Long Weekend Long Reads
Some select deep dives to dig into during the 4-day weekend.
After record-breaking winter rainfalls and an endless May-grey/June-gloom season, we here at The Cadence are ready to slide into the longest weekend of the summer with some fun and frolic in the sun, even while our readers east of the Rockies suffer through smoke, storms and scorching temperatures.
Whether you spend the next four days inside or out, we put together a list of lengthy articles that we might have written ourselves had we not spent the last week enjoying the perfect mid-70s temperatures in SoCal.
So enough bragging. We hope you enjoy the long weekend wherever you are.
Have even more time to kill this weekend? Might we suggest checking out the long-format interviews we have available for Premium Subscribers?
We currently have full-length video interviews with recent guests like Vevo founder Rio Caraeff and Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels, with several more booked for the coming weeks. We hope you’ll give it a go.
LONG READS
Deep dives for the 4-day weekend.
1. Music Merchandise Keeps Artists Afloat. But How Does It Work?
Our colleagues over at Water & Music take a break from exploring the cutting edge of music technology to train an eye on an old-school money maker — music merch.
Takeaway: While streaming payouts are notoriously oblique and the cost of touring has risen (especially in post-Brexit UK), there’s something pleasingly solid and time-tested about the profit margins on a baseball cap or a shirt.
2. An Anti-Scalping Effort Was Gaining Momentum in the Senate – Until Live Nation Came Out to Support It
Grassroots lobbyists for fair ticketing claim efforts have been slowed by the fox’s offer to guard the hen house.
Takeaway: With NIVA representing thousands of independent venues and Live Nation representing its huge corporate portfolio, the two entities often have opposing agendas, and some NIVA members theorized that Live Nation was attempting to sabotage their bill.
3. Goldman Sachs Music In The Air 2023: Monetising superfans, price rises, streaming remuneration & AI
The latest annual report known for boosting music biz moral strikes a more cautious tone in 2023.
Takeaway: The consumption of audio streams globally has increased by 2.5 times since 2017, but monetisation has lagged behind the growth due to lack of price increases, dilution from bundling of plans and lack of customer segmentation (which we’ll come to later). That effectively means that revenue per stream is falling.
4. What Does AI Mastering Mean for Artists, Engineers, and Music?
Artists aren’t the only ones whose craft could be copied by AI. Mastering engineers, whose skills aren’t protected by copyright, could be even more exposed.
Takeaway: Sub-par skills will certainly struggle to compete against consistent (and affordable) mastering, while studio savants will probably still retain their niche in the upper echelons of the industry.
5. Sounds Made Up: Hollywood’s Fascination With Fake Pop Songs
If you liked our roasting of The Idol last week, The Guardian adds to the pile on.
Takeaway: But no matter how hard it tries, Hollywood has a hard time matching its fictional pop artists with music worthy of a superstar.
