What the Paperchain team has been reading about royalties, music tech & blockchain — February 10 2017 Edition
Check out the news that’s keeping the Paperchain team informed.
The US Music Industry Crossed A Threshold In 2016
Nielsen recently released its Year-End Music Report for 2016 and it details a pattern of music consumption in the United States that has never been seen before. Album sales in every format save one are down from 2015. Downloads of digital songs are down. And yet, overall music consumption was up 3%. The reason? On-demand streaming took over the music business. Read more
Sony/atv Music Publishing Ltd Saw Revenues Grow 10% Last Year
SM Publishing (UK) Ltd posted £4.55m in revenues in the 12 months to end of March 2016 — down 2.8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, its annual operating profits bounced 137.7% to £1.4m. Combined, these two companies gave Sony/ATV’s UK operation a revenue figure of £57.7m — up just under £5m on the £52.86m combined figure from the year before. Read more
How the NMPA Fights For Music Publishers — With Help From Sting, Steven Tyler, Bon Jovi and More
The NMPA, which marks its centennial in 2017, represents more than 500 members of the $2.5 billion U.S. music publishing industry. It has been on the front lines of some of the most important legislative and legal battles of the digital age. Read more
Music Subscriptions Passed 100 Million in December. Has the World Changed?
Spotify has consistently led the streaming charge and despite a continually changing competitive marketplace it has held determinedly onto pole position since it first acquired it. Even more impressively, it has also maintained market share. According to data from MIDiA’s Music Streamer Tracker, in Q2 2015 Spotify’s share of global music subscribers was 42%, H2 15 41%, H1 16 44%, H2 16 43%. Read more
Songwriters: ‘good Music Data Is Your Income Ticket’
Paul Dilorito, director of operations at PRS for Music, said: ‘Most creators don’t understand the importance of getting the data right or understand the concept of the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) and why it’s right. It’s your ticket to collecting your income, at the end of the day.’ Read more
Managed Chaos: Why the Music Industry Needs Blockchain
Music is one of the most complicated copyright environments with one of the worst data practices. Labels have typically failed to develop comprehensive contracts and keep proper records for the artists they sign leaving data entry to interns or IT departments. Of course, there are thousands of Rights Organizations globally that are supposed to help coordinate music licensing but who will help coordinate the Rights Organizations themselves? Read more
Upgrading ‘Smart Contracts’ to ‘Wise Contracts’
“Smart contracts” is a phrase which is often difficult to define. Let me help: a “smart contract” is a contract which enforces itself! Nick Szabo gave the example of a vending machine. You insert the money, and the machine lets you take back either [1] your money, or [2] some merchandise.Szabo’s vending machine is not quite as “smart” as it could be. Read more
AmEx Joins JPMorgan, IBM in Hyperledger Effort
The biggest credit-card issuer by purchases has signed on to the Hyperledger Project, a industry group of more than 100 members developing blockchain technology for corporate use. The digital ledger known for underpinning bitcoin has potential to reshape the global financial system and other industries. Read more
Hyperledger, the Blockchain, and the Future Of The Digital World
The Blockchain industry was created nearly a decade ago, and in that time, numerous industry players have evolved the scalability and functionality of the platform. Much of the industry has delivered distributed databases through one flavor or another… this range includes one with cryptocurrency, one without, and one with cryptocurrency but only known participants.
Because of this variety, the entire industry can feel daunting, even confusing for outside industries. As the Blockchain becomes primed to grow more mainstream — including catering to business needs — the industry faces an increasing need for education and standardization. Read more
Originally published at blog.paperchain.io on February 10, 2017.
