The Price of Music

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe revel in an extremely varied week of music biz news (including some more great pop football shirts AND a brand new jingle):
→ 200 musicians have written a letter to the UK's new prime minister Andy Burnham. No, it's not to tell him New Order are rubbish. It's a protest against a decision he might be taking soon...
→ $121bn. That’s how much recorded-music will be worth globally in 2033 according to the latest industry forecasts – but will it be that big, and why?
→ Listeners' Letters – Sarah shares some HOT Port Vale sponsor news; and Stefan has a couple of great questions about streaming fraud and whether innocent artists suffer. Stu investigates (Spoiler: yes, artists suffer).
→ It looks like the Grammy Awards are going to quickly reverse-ferret on their ‘Asian Pop’ category plans, after a protest from BTS.
→ Spotify is giving AI-generated artists their own special badge on its service. Is this good news for human musicians?
→ Fairground is the latest music startup focusing on independent artists and labels. And it’s all about the ‘scenes’...
→ Why have people stopped drinking quite as much in Berlin clubs? What are they doing instead? Berlin resident Joe has some family-unfriendly suggestions...
And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:
More pop football kits: upon discovering that Massive Attack are sponsoring Bohemian Football Club, Joe and Stu have a look at their many other pop sponsorships

There’s a huge gap between demand and supply of music podcasts. But do we really need more music chat, and if so, what kind of shows? Joe has invented some potential new music podcast genres, and pitches them to Stu

We're entering the end phase of the UK festival season and one thing that has caught our eye this year is the the number of festivals that have lineups consisting only of tribute bands, offering festival vibes, nostalgia, and live music at a fraction of the cost of major mainstream festivals. Our intrepid duo hypothesise why tribute bands are so popular, propose a sausage/cider festival index, and Stu tries to guess the tribute band names that sound almost – but not quite – like the real band.

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As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!
Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
See you next week!
Stuart and Joe
======
TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠
Support The Price of Music on Patreon:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠
Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge
Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod
For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠joe@musically.com⁠

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe wade into share prices, EU Law, and German legal judgements... NO WAIT, COME BACK! These are all actually really interesting insights into modern pop music and how it connects with the humans who make it and enjoy it (honest.)
Plus, TPOM Superfans get to hear Joe and Stu go deep – some may say too deep – into minor league Welsh football clubs seeking musical sponsorship opportunities. In this week's show:
Universal Music Group is worth now than it was at the start of this year, based on its share price, and Spotify wobbled too… so why are people wondering whether music may not be making as much money as it could - and what is Spotify up to with independent labels?

Welsh Ardal League South East football club Cwmbran Celtic have some new shirts for sale. Why are we telling you about this? Well, they feature some bands you might know…

We need to talk about ‘Rubberz’. No, not erasers and – for our American listeners – not condoms either… it's an (allegedly!!!) AI-generated song that is becoming a cross-over hit.

There’s a lot going on with AI-music company Suno at the moment: a big legal ruling in Germany; its latest promises about how much it supports human artistry; and a very unexpected move into… vinyl!

Two things that music publications BrooklynVegan, AltPress, Goldmine and Revolver have in common: first, they’re all owned by Live Nation, which many people didn’t realise. And second, “nearly all” their staff have reportedly been laid off. Is this the final nail in the coffin for music journalism?

LISTENER LETTERS: after last week's Lock-In look at expensive Discogs records sales, James The Joiner gets in touch about his weirdly and unfortunately mis-pressed Blur LP – so will it be worth LOADS of money or NOT MUCH AT ALL? We investigate.

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:
Mold Alexandra, Cefn Druids and Mumbles Rangers: what other rock/Welsh football sponsorships would you like to see?

Who needs MTV when you can have Green Day TV? Although the lineup of artists featured is, well, quite a lot smaller than traditional music-TV channels…

We’ve been talking about prediction-market Kalshi in recent episodes, and it turns out they’re also betting on Spotify’s financial results… [we also check if they were right.]

===================================
As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!
Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
See you next week!
Stuart and Joe
======
TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠
Support The Price of Music on Patreon:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠
Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge
Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod
For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠joe@musically.com⁠

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe pivot the podcast to the popular TRUE CRIME format in order to woo a giant mainstream audience. OK, not quite – but sort-of.
We’ve spoken a lot recently about AI-generated music accounting for 50% of music uploaded to streaming platforms – and how the reason for it, mostly, is for it to be used for fraud. We had a few emails asking: so, how does AI music help fraudsters, and how does streaming fraud work anyway?
So we pulled on our trenchcoats and got investigating – and in this episode we’re going to have a good old root around music streaming fraud: and we think you’ll actually be surprised at how it works, who is doing it – and how much money can be made.
The crime: Streaming fraud isn't indie bands cheating to boost their numbers; it’s organised crime laundering money, and stealing from real artists.

The scale: anti-fraud firms estimate that a huge 7–10% of streams are fake, but streamign platforms claim that it’s far lower (but still costing artists a lot of money).

How AI powers fraud: scammers use AI to flood platforms with songs, hiding billions of fake streams across thousands of low-profile tracks.

It might be you: Fraudsters hijack real users' streaming accounts to stream the fake songs overnight and exploit bot farms to manipulate payout thresholds.

Betting manipulation: people using prediction platforms like Kalshi are accused of artificially pumping track streams to win trades – risking account bans for innocent artists.

DSP crackdown: Platforms are fining distributors, purging dead AI catalogue, and wiping fake streams to protect payouts for real creators.

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:
Stu and Joe chat about the recently announced 2026 Mercury prize nominees – which include young upstart songwriter Paul McCartney. So who do they think should win it, and who do they think will win it? Here's the list in full, in case you missed it:
Dave: The Boy Who Played the Harp

Dove Ellis: Blizzard

Florence + the Machine: Everybody Scream

Jade: That’s Showbiz Baby

Knats: A Great Day in Newcastle (Joe's tip- listen here!)

Kojey Radical: Don’t Look Down

Nia Archives: Emotional Junglist

Olivia Dean: The Art of Loving

Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane

Raye: This Music May Contain Hope

Suede: Antidepressants

War Child Records: Help(2)

And then Stu poses an idle question that might expand into a running feature: what's your favourite music video of all time – and why?
Joe's answer was "every Michel Gondry video" – including the White Stripes' famous Lego-powered "Fell In Love With A Girl" https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl3Hr9RYX6gPSyj7-_cRTcMi06DqZW9xh
===================================
As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!
Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
See you next week!
Stuart and Joe
======
TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠
Support The Price of Music on Patreon:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠
Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge
Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod
For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠joe@musically.com⁠

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe comb their Emo fringes, use a tie as a belt, and pout about this week's music industry news:
→ A surprising percentage of Americans are actually MORE interested in music if it was made using AI – according to a new survey.
→ In last week’s episode, we talked about a data breach at Suno that seemed to have given the game away on what music it trained its models on. But there’s been a development…
→ Spotify has a brand new daily music videos chart. Is it now officially The New MTV? And does this mean full-length music videos haven’t been killed off by TikTok after all? 
→ The UK has a new prime minister, he’s a New Order stan, and one of his first moves was focused on helping grassroots music venues and clubs…
→ What’s the latest big music trend in Mexico? It's erm, emo…
→ Live Nation wants YOU to become a festival promoter. But happily for your stress levels and financial standing, this is just for pretend on Roblox.
→ AND FINALLY… KPop Shark Heroes!
And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:
Stuart has a new favourite music wearable: a Game Boy-inspired digital music player on Kickstarter.

It's time for a Little Grandad Update!

Discogs and crazy vinyl prices: which 00's band has the highest-priced record sold on Discogs so far this year?

https://www.discogs.com/digs/collecting/the-most-valuable-records-sold-on-discogs-in-2026-so-far/

===================================
As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!
Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
See you next week!
Stuart and Joe
======
TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠
Support The Price of Music on Patreon:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠
Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge
Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod
For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠joe@musically.com⁠

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe are back from two weeks' holiday in Rhyl – and immediately hop into a golf cart along with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to go through this week's music biz news:
→ More than 50%(!) of all new music being uploaded to streaming services is now AI-generated. How might the music industry respond to this? With... a system of labels (not the record kind…)
→ Stu's Big Number is 1.124 billion... but which mega-song does it relate to? (If you’re a parent, you’ll know it only too well…)
→ Someone's leaked the code of Suno, the biggest AI-music service, and they claim they know what it trained its models on...
→ The latest startup hoping to help artists make some money directly from their biggest fans is Lume, and it’s got Lorde’s backing
→ Lorde has also been giving a right Royals bashing to Meta and Spotify... but why?
→ Michael Jackson biopic ‘Michael’ got a mixed response from critics (OK, they thought it was rubbish). But at the box-office it’s a huge hit: to the tune of ONE BILLION dollars…
→ The Rolling Stones (collective age of their three founder members: 243) are now on Roblox, the platform famously used by children. But is this a surprisingly good fit?
And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:
→ Following the last episode featuring plastic bottles being turned into Ed Sheeran Records – could Ed Sheeran records be turned back into plastic bottles?
→ A recap on the World Cup half-time extravaganza: Madonna! Ronaldo/Ronaldinho! Muppets! Bieber! Vuvuzelas! BTS!
→ Stuart rhapsodises about seeing the Beta Band live, including some epic four-man bongo wigouts
→ Good overlooked deep-cut World Cup songs, including  Chin Up by The Rhythm Method (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KqmUtU1QEM)
===================================
As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!
Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
See you next week!
Stuart and Joe
======
TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠
Support The Price of Music on Patreon:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠
Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge
Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod
For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠joe@musically.com⁠