How to tame music’s 3-headed elephant

What would you say is the music industry’s elephant in the room?

Looking at the news this week, I wrestled with the same question. The result: some distilled, high-proof thoughts on how to tame the beast that’s crushing artists careers like peanuts.

Grab your seat by the ring for this week’s show, here we go.

🎶 Taming music’s 3-headed elephant

A new lawsuit has emerged from Atlanta-based producers Don Lee and Glen Keith DeMerit III against Cardi B and Lil Nas X. Don Lee and DeMerit III point out the similarities between their instrumental “gwenXdonlee4-142”, later used in “Broad Day”, and Cardi and Nas X’s record “Rodeo”. [High Snobiety]

Without commenting on the ongoing lawsuit, I feel like this is yet another finger pointing at the three-headed elephant in the industry: little or poorly centralized systems surrounding industry clearance, attribution, and payment.

Head 1: Inconvenient clearance

A recent poll has found that roughly 81% of small businesses in Canada don’t pay the required fees to publicly broadcast music [Tri City News]. Why? My guess is convenience. There’s no standard, easy platform for management to hook into for music clearance and payment, leaving hourly employees to aux their Spotify and hit play.

The ‘Rodeo’ issue likely stems from the same fault, just in production. Imagine if you could bounce a draft copy of the record, quickly upload it to a private Shazam-like system in a centralized industry platform, and get notified prior to release of the song’s doppelgangers. Just sayin’.

Head 2: Attribution who?

Here’s a question: Where do you go to find a list of everyone who worked on a song or album nowadays? You might now see how the music industry has a visibility issue.

On our pipedream platform, having an index of everyone who contributed to a musical work seems like a great way of ensuring credit (and royalties) are given and agreed upon. Industry professionals can log in to see works-in-progress, and when you hit “Publish” that information is syndicated to various entities (PROs, streaming services, social media, and so on) to ensure that attribution is consistent across many platforms. Need inspiration? Look at IMDb as an example.

Head 3: Poor payment passthru

We’re in agreement that the music industry’s revenue is growing [RIAA]. We should also be in agreement that the distribution of this revenue… sucks [TechDirt]. This week saw studio musicians make a push for residual payments for streaming platform content (Netflix, Disney+) [Variety]. More of us should take cues from the American Federation of Musicians, the organizing body, and press for a more straightforward, centralized, and fair payment system across the industry.

So what can you do?

Continue to be vocal about the issues, and don’t think that the de facto standards enjoyed by other entertainment industries are out of reach. Look for opportunities to consolidate processes, leverage the power of the community, and negotiate for better circumstances. Simplify.

Just this week, SoundExchange announced an upcoming feature slated to allow artists to search and claim unmatched recordings, allocating more royalties to the respective copyright owners. Moving forward, platforms such as SoundExchange may play an integral role in taming the industry’s menagerie. [SoundExchange]

📣 New stream on the block(chain)

The announcement of a blockchain-based decentralised streaming platform, Audius, early this week has brought about mixed reviews. Aimed at “empowering artists through supporting direct relationships with fans” and “fair pay”, the platform’s arrival is a head nod to how many of us feel. However, The Verge has criticized it’s arrival as a copyright nightmare [The Verge].

Head on over to check it out. Audius’ website »

🏃 Putting musicians’ wellness in the spotlight

Too many tragedies have sent shockwaves through the musical community over the past few years. Thankfully, there are some great people doing exceptional work to help. Here are a few new resources for you to check out:

• Backline has recently launched a health and wellness resource hub devoted to the live music community. Learn more »
• For you all in Ottawa, a new wellness center focused on musicians has launched this week. Learn more »
• Going to 11 is great, but consider turning down every so often. The Good Men Project gives you a gentle reminder that tinnitus sucks. Learn more »
• Cutting back on social media is always an option. PC Mag gives a few tips to keep a handle on the dopamine dump. Learn more »