Separately, a Washington, D.C.-based advocate called Russell’s claim “essentially correct.” Kevin Erickson of the Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit that says it supports a “musical ecosystem where artists flourish and are compensated fairly and transparently for their work,” added by email: “For a variety of reasons, it can be difficult to get complete information on which countries pay for the performance right. Iran and North Korea do not currently pay. China is a bit more ambiguous right now; there may have been a deal struck. We’ve also gotten some conflicting information on Afghanistan and Rwanda.” read more

For balance, here’s the Future of Music Coalition, which is quoted in the piece, taking issue with some of the details. “If you want to know how musicians are faring,” the collective writes, “you have to ask musicians. You’ll get different answers from different musicians, and they’ll all be correct in terms of their own experiences. But your overall understanding will better reflect the complexity of the landscape.”

[…]

In this episode of Music Biz Podcast, we talk with Scott LeGere and Jay Coyle, who are music business educators and entrepreneurs. Scott is the head of the music business department at McNally Smith College of Music. He has a long history of founding companies, teaching classes, playing music, and recording bands. Jay is the founder of Music Geek Services, a music marketing and digital strategy agency for artists. He also teaches music business classes at Berklee Online. The three of us attended the Future of Music Policy Summit in Washington, DC a few weeks ago. I sat down with Scott and Jay for dinner, we had a couple of drinks, and we recorded a podcast.

[…]

According to Billboard magazine, “25” is expected to sell more than 1 million units in North America in its first week, and will very likely be the biggest album release of 2015.

Casey Rae, chief executive of Future of Music Coalition, told the New York Times that Adele’s decision to withhold the new album on streaming for a certain period of time was sending a “strong signal to other artists.” However, in reality not all artists are able to make those same choices, he added.

[…]

[Amber Healy, our DC correspondent for sister website Geeks&Beats, recently attended the Future of Music Conference and came away with some interesting insights. In this story called “Don’t Kill the Kitten that Cures Cancer,” she debates the finer points of music streaming. – AC]

With a few probably exceptions, musicians aren’t making obscene amounts of money from streaming services or people who pay for subscriptions to them.

But is there a better way? Might it be possible to let individual listeners decide how much of their monthly fees are going to bands they like, instead of a communal pot o’ cash? read more