This story appears in Rolling Stone‘s 2021 Future of Music issue, a special project delving into the next era of the multibillion-dollar hitmaking business. Read the other stories here. Others may opt for docs about Jay-Z or the Notorious B.I.G.; Dallas Martin’s favorite music movie is Inventing David Geffen, about …
Read More »Classic Rockers Are Getting Vaccinated. Could They Tour Soon?
Early this week, Dolly Parton tweeted footage of her receiving a Moderna coronavirus vaccine shot. Among veteran musicians, it turns out she’s far from alone when it comes to getting the jab: More and more classic rockers and country acts over 65 are being vaccinated, leading to new conversations about …
Read More »The Three Biggest Myths Deluding the Modern Music Business
Music streaming isn’t just a big part of the record business: It basically is the record business. According to RIAA data, streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube contributed 85% of all record industry revenue in the United States in the first six months of last year, …
Read More »Hipgnosis's Founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis — Future 25
Few people in music have had a bigger year than Merck Mercuriadis, the founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, who has tossed a billion dollars at songwriters, artists, and producers to grab the copyrights of the biggest charting hits of the past 50 years. Mercuriadis recently purchased catalogs from …
Read More »With TikTok's Fate Uncertain, Artists Test Instagram Reels
The music industry is not known for immediately embracing new technology. So it was a surprise that last month, as Miley Cyrus prepared to release “Midnight Sky,” her first solo single in almost exactly a year, the singer was teasing the track through Reels, a new feature of Instagram that …
Read More »Without Shows, Lizzo's Audio Engineer Is Twitch Streaming, Trading Stocks, and Writing a Book
This is the latest of Rolling Stone’sMusic in Crisis series, which looks at how people all across the music industry — thousands of whom have been out of work for months due to the global concert shutdown — are coping with the coronavirus pandemic. When the U.S. government first gave …
Read More »The Music Business Is Holding a 'Blackout.' But No One Seems to Know What That Means
As protesters and industries react to the killing of George Floyd and other black victims of police brutality, artists, executives, and companies from across the music business will participate in a day of silent protest on Tuesday — though a lack of clear messaging from the major labels makes its …
Read More »No Recording Equipment? A Music Manager and Engineer Built a Professional Studio in a RV
Recording studios are still closed along with all other “non-essential” businesses. That hasn’t derailed music-making for huge stars with home studios or bedroom pop purveyors who rely entirely on laptops. It does, however, present a problem to everyone in between. But what if artists could order a sound-proofed RV — …
Read More »Will Coronavirus Cancel Coachella and Other Music Festivals?
Concert season is coming at the worst possible time this year. As the global coronavirus outbreak creeps into major cities across the U.S., the music business — which depends on large-scale festivals for billions of dollars in annual profit —is weighing the costs of canceling lavish events against the economic …
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