The Price of Music

• Morrissey, Mazzy Star, and, erm, Bonnie Tyler: selling The Smiths’ songs, and the truth on music streaming royalties – do artists REALLY get such a bad deal?

  Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s The Price of Music: an urgent-ish delve into the news that Morrissey has announced he wants to sell his ownership of The Smiths’ songs… including a suggestion from Steve and Stu about how Johnny Marr might buy the songs off Morrissey via a gmail address that Morrissey put online.And then Steve and Stu take a deep dive into a fantastic question from listener Simon who asked: artists often say that they are not making enough money from music streaming but are artists REALLY worse off today in the music streaming age?To answer this, Steve and Stu wander down some... interesting pathways. They:talk to their Top Secret Sources in the artist and label world, and found out the answer… (which may surprise you);hypothesise about both Mazzy Star AND Bonnie Tyler’s record contracts;chat to Spotify, which reveals to our dynamic duo about how much they paid Mazzy Star and Bonnie Tyler(!);wonder how being a ‘radio artist’ pays compared to a ‘streaming artist’;dig into artist deals: because the money paid from streaming doesn’t go to the artist first;ask why the artists who ARE doing well from streaming platforms aren’t talking about it?…and tangentially… is TPOM better to listen to on a treadmill than Hi-NRG house music? A brief discussion.And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:The time Steve worked in a record shop for a day; and he immediately faced a quandary: which letter should he file PJ Harvey under?Steve gently chides Stu over his love of a Songs Of The Summer Stats List from TikTok, which includes a load of old nostalgia songsRadiohead are back – and how do you sell tickets to shows that will be massively-oversubscribed and make sure those tickets get to real fans?After Covid’s impact, money spent on live music is up - and more popular than ever.  But what were Steve and Stu’s first gigs after Covid?A call for your suggestions of hard-to-file records!As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠See you next week!Steve and Stuart======Support The Price of Music on Patreon:⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacqFollow Stuart on X - @stuartdredgeFollow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpodFor sponsorship, email - ⁠[email protected]

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• The Weeknd’s big streaming milestone; ABBA Gold’s long chart run; Ready for friends to slide into your Spotify DMs?; Apple Music Radio expands; and Radiohead’s ‘Let Down’ gets a TikTok boost.Th

  Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s The Price of Music:Steve takes over Big Number duties to reveal how many weeks ‘ABBA Gold’ has been in the UK’s album chartThe Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Light’ hits 5bn Spotify streams – but what is he raising $1bn for?Why has Spotify reintroduced messaging inside its app, and would Steve or Stuart use it?Apple Music’s radio stations are expanding beyond their parent serviceSad TikTokers have given Radiohead a new chart hit in the US with an old songBandcamp is enlisting DJs and journalists to curate $13-a-month clubs for music and community.More shade for The Smiths’ tracklisting skills.Plus music speakers made out of rocket-fuel tanks, which we almost certainly can’t afford.And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:Why Stuart never liked The Smiths – and Steve’s recommendation of the perfect song to explain thatHow Steve and family arrived three hours early to queue for a Conan Grey gig – and still found hundreds of people ahead of themThe tale of Stuart accidentally queuing for a selfie with Grumpy Cat in the days of Peak YouTube Cat VideosAs ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!Email us: [email protected]

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• Coldplay's never-ending world tour keeps selling tickets; K-Pop Demon Hunters!; What on earth is "speculative ticketing"?; Bandcamp's $3.5m Friday; and has Steve actually “gone deaf for a living?”

  If you want an easy guide to the music biz and how it all works – here we are! In this week's The Price of Music:Stuart’s Big Number involves Coldplay, a lot of sold-out Wembley stadium gigs, and the band raising money for grass roots venuesHas Steve actually “gone deaf for a living?”Chinese streaming platforms have a “Super VIP” subscription that costs 5x as much (and 15m people are paying for it…)Ticketing re-selling platform StubHub: how does it work, how many tickets are being sold by users, and what on earth is “speculative ticketing”?Bandcamp processes $3.5m of sales on the most recent Bandcamp Friday, where all money goes to artistsThe soundtrack from animated pop group Netflix film K-Pop Demon Hunters has now had billions (and billions… and billions) of streams in just a few months(Also: 25% of US kids say that K-Pop is their favourite music genre)More badly-tracklisted albums! • Due to high demand: more of Stu’s thoughts on Taylor Swift (her approach to buying back her recordings, not her music, honest)And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart loosen their ties, lean against the bar a bit more, and chat about:Why Liam Gallagher has been banned from throwing his tambourine into the crowdWhich 80s pop-soul singer did Steve write the tour programme for?Olivia Rodrigo's $38 tour book – how much would you pay for your favourite artist’s book?How much will fans pay for unreleased demos and live tracks? • And how much stuff like that does Radiohead have in their (allegedly giant) bunker of songs?As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!Email us: [email protected] you next week!Steve and Stuart======Support The Price of Music on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusicFollow Steve on X - @steve_lamacqFollow Stuart on X - @stuartdredgeFollow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpodFor sponsorship, email - [email protected]

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• Spotify's prices go up again; Which album's songs are in the wrong order?; Napster are being sued (is it 1999 again?); How easy is it to get a #1 album?; Steve's tip for getting into a sold-out gig

  Steve and Stu have questions – so many questions. Fortunately they also have answers! In this episode:Stuart's Big Number is 217.5 million... and what does it have to do with a B-side by US indie rock icons Pavement?Steve wants to know which albums have the songs sequenced in the "wrong" order? (And which Blur album does he have a controversial tracklisting opinion about?)Spotify's prices go up (again) – and who is happy about it and why?How easy is it to get a #1 album now – and did indie band The K's do it by selling CDs?Live-show promoters Live Nation have made "stonking" profits – and have sold 130m tickets. And it's because stadium shows are incredibly popular at the moment – but why?Napster are being sued by Sony Music... so have Stuart and Steve accidentally travelled back to the year 2000, or is something else happening?Donating a kidney for a sold-out festival ticket;Stuart waits up all night for the Taylor Swift album announcement – or is it a pre-pre-pre-announcement announcement?And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart chat about:The time when the man in front of Steve in the guestlist queue claimed that he was Steve Lamacq;(And the time when Steve claimed he was someone else to get into a Bob Mould gig);Steve’s top tip for legitimately getting into a sold-out gig;The time Stuart accidentally ended up at a minor reality TV star’s birthday party;Stuart CONFESSES ALL about his ILLEGAL Napster use in 1999 (and how he downloaded the pop songs he felt too ashamed to buy in the shops);How Stuart was once gifted - and then lost - a $2000 bottle of tequila.As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!Email us: [email protected] you next week!Steve and Stuart======Support The Price of Music on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusicFollow Steve on X - @steve_lamacqFollow Stuart on X - @stuartdredgeFollow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpodFor sponsorship, email - [email protected]

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• Beyoncé sells $400m+ of tickets; How much money is Oasis making from merch?; Spotify wants a billion subscribers; Hayley Williams surprise-releases songs; and Cardi B’s "full-on cheese experience"...

  This week, Steve and Stuart find out that they both went to see Oasis last week, but try not to spend the whole show talking about it; and instead get stuck into all this:Beyoncé’s tour is the most successful country tour of all time; Steve and Stu both go to watch Oasis - but what did they think?;Stu’s Big Number: Spotify wants One. Billion. Subscribers; Tomorrowland festival gets 74 million viewers on Tiktok; Hayley Williams lets fans who buy her hair dye listen to her songs first;and Cardi B has “a full-on cheese experience” with “drippy cheese” (Stuart’s words, not Cardi B’s)And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stu chat about:Steve and Stu check out the Oasis merch (official and unofficial); They compare their experiences of seeing Oasis at Wembley - and which member of Oasis looked “a bit glum”?;How much do ticket holders spend in total when they go and see Oasis?They find a few more interesting points in Spotify’s earnings call – what does the company say about AI and music?Steve recounts when his label released Elastica’s debut album and what happens when no-one can agree on the track listing (They also further explore the world of “drippy cheese”)As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!Email us: [email protected] you next week!Steve and Stuart======Support The Price of Music on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusicFollow Steve on X - @steve_lamacqFollow Stuart on X - @stuartdredgeFollow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpodFor sponsorship, email - [email protected]

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