Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Sunday edition • 3 min read

Qobuz Pays 6x More Than Spotify. No Catch

What's Up

Ever heard of Qobuz? You probably scrolled right past it before, but get this. They just crossed 1.2 million monthly active users, which makes them the second-fastest-growing music app in the US. Aaaand, they pay $19 per thousand streams. That's six times whatever Spotify pays.

So What

Qobuz used to be the platform people with $3,000 headphones bragged about on Reddit. You know the type. It's gone well past that now. BTS fans are buying hi-res songs there, and all those Spotify refugees had to go somewhere.

To top it all off, Qobuz is run by actual humans, and they made a public promise to never scrape your tracks to train some tech bro's AI model.

Now What

Make sure your distributor works with Qobuz and switch if it doesn't. Come on, getting paid more per stream on an app run by actual music fans is a complete no-brainer.

[Full story at DMN]

Blue Dot Fever Claims Another Victim

What's Up

Live music isn't doing too well. Remember the Blue Dot Fever? Yeah, it just spread to mid-tier festivals. And according to analyst Annick Maas, they're the next domino to fall.

So What

Millennials absolutely blew up the festival scene ten years ago. Problem is, those same millennials are now busy taking the kids to soccer practice. So they're out. What about Gen Z? They want to go; they're just, well, broke.

Big festivals are fine; they sell tickets off of brand name alone. Niche festivals survive because their fans are absolute diehards. But the middle guys are paying huge production costs without the ticket sales to cover them.

Now What

Believe it or not, being weird and niche is a massive advantage for indies. Who's got it better? You, tearing the roof off a 300-cap venue, or some festival with three headliners bleeding money on empty seats?

Stop trying to be for everyone. Build your group of diehards.

[Full story at DMN]

They Sold Out 11 Shows and Almost Lost Money

What's Up

Los Campesinos! sold out 11 shows across North America, moved almost 13,000 tickets, and grossed $257k. Every indie's dream. But if it weren't for merch, they would have lost money.

So What

Props to Los Campesinos! for opening their books like this, because it's a free lesson for the rest of us. $257k in ticket sales sounds like a dream. Until it isn't. First, you get hit with foreign tax withholding if you're playing outside the country. Then your manager and booking agent take their cut straight out of the gross. Then gas. Then hotels. It's a nightmare.

The one thing that saved them was merch. The stuff you've been treating like bonus money is what makes or breaks a tour.

Now What

Get this through your head before you decide to hit the road. Merch is not an afterthought. Say it with us. Merch. Is not. An afterthought. Factor in taxes and agent cuts too, because the government and your team are getting theirs no matter what.

And seriously, go print some t-shirts.

[Full story at Hypebot]