Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Friday edition • 3 min read

Instagram Will Let You Change the Song and Keep the Likes

What's Up

"Wait, I don't remember that song being on this post."

Hey, hey, you're not losing it.

Instagram just added a "replace audio" button so people can swap out whatever was trending in 2023 for something a little fresher in their posts, and those posts keep all the likes, comments, shares, and reach they already had.

So What

Your best post is doing absolutely nothing for you. Wait, scratch that. Was doing absolutely nothing. Now you can swap the song on it whenever you want. Think about that for a sec.

Now What

Screw whatever Instagram's pitch is. This is yours: make one post saying something like "this is where you'll find my new music." Then every time you release, swap the audio, and bam, it's current again. It works on carousels too. Do your part in recycling posts.

[Full story at DMN]

On Spotify, Video Is How You'll Prove You're Human

What's Up

Spotify. Slow down eating YouTube's food, you'll choke.

Hope you know that video upload thing from June wasn't a one-off.

Spotify launched a new pitching tool just to get your videos in front of their editors, with over 100 video playlists worldwide and a brand new global music video chart.

So What

K-pop is already at the top of the video chart, and BTS alone has six of the top ten. So expect competition.

But hey, it isn't all bad. Anyone with a bot farm isn't uploading a live session. Who needs Spotify's human badge when you've got video?

Now What

The feature's in beta and only open to about 100k artists right now, so if you're not in yet, either wait (not recommended) or start prepping your videos. Keep them under 20 minutes and MP4 or MOV. And once you're in, pitch videos that are unreleased or released in the last 7 days.

[Full story at DMN]

Nina Protocol Got Sold for Parts

What's Up

SoundCloud just bought what's left of Nina Protocol.

A while back we told you Nina was shutting down and to grab your releases while you could. Yeah, take your time. Reports say about 77% of its roughly 37,000 listings were never collected. Basically, nobody bought them.

So What

Nina was supposed to be one of the good ones. It had it all. Full ownership, 100% revenue, and none of that streaming pool BS.

But somewhere along the way, about 6,500 releases got stuck on the blockchain, and that made all those tracks unbuyable. To make things worse, total spend across Nina's entire life was... (drum roll) about $50k. All that ownership and it still added up to nothing.

Now What

Alright, so you had music on Nina. It isn't the end of the world. There's a migration page at ninaprotocol.com/migrate, and SoundCloud's throwing in a 5-month trial of Artist Pro. Note the word trial.

Happy ending and all, but for the love of God, get your masters off the internet and on your drive.

[Full story at DMN]