Musonomics

Digital music services continue to drive recovery of the music industry after a long period of decline, and the AM/FM music radio business is starting to feel it. Young people born after Millennials don't use radio the same as previous generations. Can commercial AM/FM radio compete with pure play digital music services? Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch and Steve Goldstein of Amplifi Media join us to discuss what's happening to radio listenership, and how radio needs to respond to the threat posed by unlimited, commercial-free music. The way radio pays for music it uses may have acted as a kind of an economic disincentive for radio to invest in its own digital future. AM/FM radio broadcasters in the US pay a tiny amount, about 4% of revenues, to songwriters and music publishers, but American AM/FM stations are exempted from paying anything to the artists who performed the music or their record companies. This exemption doesn't apply to digitally delivered radio streams, like SiriusXM or Pandora, or even the digital streams of AM/FM radio broadcasters. Edison Research's "Share of Ear" report shows that AM/FM radio is responsible for over half of all time spent listening to music in the U.S. among listeners 18 and older. Radio believes the power of its strong, local brands will insulate it from digital competition. However, this may not be the case in the car as the dashboard reconfigures around connectivity with advanced digital services. The car is currently the number one location for listening to radio, and automotive is the number one revenue category for radio. The connected car and its multiple audio offerings may be the greatest threat to AM/FM radio broadcasting, with 75% of new cars expected to be connected by 2020. Listen to this episode of Musonomics as we dive into the uncertain future of radio.

Rock is headed towards a demographic crisis. Fifty percent of last year's top 100 grossing acts are over 50 years old. So what will happen to the live music industry when Mick Jagger is no longer filling stadiums charging hundreds of dollars per ticket? On this episode of Musonomics, Larry Miller talks to Neil Shah from The Wall Street Journal and Cherie Hu from Forbes about the future of the live music industry and rock's demographic crisis.

In this episode of Musonomics, Larry Miller looks beyond the borders of the United States and dives deep into the music industry of the world's most populous country: China. To better understand why one of the world's largest economies still has a music market smaller than that of European countries like Austria or Sweden we talk to Ed Peto, music executive and founder of Outdustry, and Billy Koh, the Simon Cowell of China and the founder and former CEO of the record label Ocean Butterflies.

In this episode of Musonomics: how does lyrics licensing work and who benefits from it? Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt talks to Darryl Ballantyne, CEO of LyricFind, about what it was like to try and start a lyrics licensing business before the music publishers understood lyrics licensing was a thing. Songwriter Phil Galdston talks about how the changes in the music industry have affected the songwriters. And we also hear from New Yorkers about how they learn lyrics.

In the first episode of our third season of Musonomics, Larry Miller takes a look at the future of high quality music streaming services. To investigate whether or not there's enough room for a profitable niche market supporting multiple competitors in the high-resolution music market, we talk to MQA CEO Mike Jbara, 7 Digital Deputy CEO Pete Downton, and HDTracks CEO David Chesky.

In this episode of Musonomics: what does it mean to be a Music City? The term "Music City" is becoming widely used in cultural communities and has penetrated the political vernacular in many cities around the world. But just because a city has lots of live music venues, doesn't make it a Music City. There needs to be a formal strategy in place to optimize the music industry present in a city. Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt and producer Carmen Cuesta Roca speak to Shain Shapiro, Manager of the Nighttime Commission; Mirik Milan, the Night Mayor of Amsterdam; music publisher Justin Kalifowitz, the cofounder of New York is Music, which has raised awareness around the cultural and commercial impact of music on the region; and Julie Menin, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment on what New York City is doing to support a robust music economy.

In this episode of Musonomics: why are more and more music industry insiders looking to Blockchain technology as a solution to the metadata problem? What really is the Blockchain? And why is it so important? These are just some of the questions host Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt, and co-host Carmen Cuesta Roca will unpack. The episode features PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers, who is evangelizing a comprehensive database of music metadata on the Blockchain. Singer-songwriter Imogen Heap sheds light on the potential for accurate and intricate metadata. And Bill Rosenblatt of Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies explains that industry-wide standards are key to the metadata problem, but the complexity of the music industry and its vast number of stakeholders will make those standards difficult to achieve.

In this episode of Musonomics: why are music startups struggling to thrive, or even simply survive? Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt heeds several perspectives to understand why the space for music startups is so unforgiving, and what music startups can do to be successful. Cortney Harding discusses the recent slowdown in the music startup space. Edward Ginis and his business partner Brady Brim-DeForest, share of their success with their own startup, OpenPlay -- one of the lucky ones able to spin out of a major independent label. David Pakman of Venrock explains why his firm has never invested in a digital media company. Jon Vanhala, formerly of Universal Music and now at Crossfade Partners, offers insight into who can be blamed for the fact that music startups are finding it so hard to make money. Finally, we hear from Michael Dorf, who turned away from the internet business and is now generating more profit than ever through live music experiences at his City Wineries across the country.

In this episode of Musonomics: what's driving the resurgence of vinyl. Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt looks up the production line to see how the format is maturing, and what's holding it back from even faster growth. Josh Friedlander, the RIAA.s data guy, talks about the continued growth of vinyl in the age of streaming. Billy Fields, the vinyl guy at Warner Music Group, chats with us about whether vinyl is heading for a plateau. And Eric Astor of Furnace Manufacturing takes us into the factory and through the manufacturing process from finished audio file to a pristine, pressed, perfect vinyl record.

In this episode of Musonomics, Larry Miller takes a look at how the copyright and royalty payment system is failing a new generation of songwriters. Ari Leff, a developing songwriter/producer who records as LAUV, and Nashville songwriter Brett James, who has written huge hits for Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride, share the struggles of modern songwriters. We take a look back at how the collective licensing system was put in place -- and how the Consent Decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI fail to protect the economic interests of songwriters in the modern music-consumption landscape. With ASCAP's Clara Kim, music attorney Chris Castle and The New Yorker's John Seabrook, this episode is packed with expert analysis and insight into how our antiquated music copyright system is breaking down -- and how we might start to mold a better future for American songwriters.

Presidential politics is in the air! Hot on the heels of Super Tuesday we delve into the world of presidential campaign music. We take a trip back in time to look at how music has been used in American presidential campaigns from Washington to Obama and beyond, with lessons from the current election cycle. With Ben Sisario of the New York Times on the impact that music can have on a presidential campaign, and entertainment lawyer Joel Schoenfeld and NYU Law School Professor Christopher Sprigman on what happens when music is used without the artist's and songwriter's permission.

Super Bowl 50 is this weekend, and on this episode of Musonomics, NYU Steinhardt Professor Larry Miller examines music's relationship to the NFL's biggest day. We'll take a look back at some classic ads to see how and why the Super Bowl became so important to advertisers, and Josh Rabinowitz of Grey Advertising sheds light on how music works in Super Bowl ads. Then it's on to the halftime show and a chat with Ed Christman of Billboard about the show's marketing power -- and how a half time show performance drives the sale of records, downloads and streams.

2015 was a year of change and unexpected record breaking. In our final episode of the year Larry Miller of NYU Steinhardt talks with Neil Shah of the Wall Street Journal about the three biggest and most important music industry stories of 2015: Adele and the unbelievable success of 25; the multitude of streaming services that launched this year, and a call for revision of arcane music licensing laws from the U.S. Copyright Office.

Recording studios used to be the place where music was written and produced, but since the '90s their role in the production has seen a dramatic decrease. In this episode of Musonomics, we take a look at the state of the modern recording studio. We talk to producers and studio veterans from both coasts about the technological advances, changes in production methods, and ever-shifting musical styles that have made for tough times at recording studios. Dave Amlen of MSR Studios tells us how facilities in New York survived and how hip hop helped. Finally, we chat with John Seabrook, author of The Song Machine, about the new way hits are made and the small group of producers from Stockholm making them happen.

Season 2 of The Musonomics Podcast kicks off with episode 8, "YouTube is the Big Red Elephant in the Music Industry's Room." We've talked on previous shows about the streaming wars; Spotify vs Tidal vs Apple Music vs Deezer vs an ever-growing list of new faces -- but there's one streaming service with user numbers that dwarf the competition, and it isn't any of those names. In just 10 years, YouTube has become not only the biggest video streaming service in the world, but the biggest music streaming service in the world. But how did YouTube become so huge, and what's next for the streaming giant? How how will YouTube continue to impact the music industry? To find out, we look back to 2005 and trace YouTube's explosive growth over the past 10 years. Then we chat with media analyst Rich Greenfield about what all that growth and power means for the music industry, and what to expect from YouTube in the coming years. Then finally, we take a quick look at YouTubeRed, the streaming giant's new subscription service.