Bypass: Music Industry News for Independent Artists

Monday edition - 2 min read

TIDAL Lets You Sell Direct 

What’s Up

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a streaming platform wants you to sell music. 

Tidal launched direct-to-fan sales because it couldn’t let Bandcamp have all the fun. Fans can buy your music even without a subscription, and you get to keep 90% of the revenue.

So What

You know the whole song and dance. Streaming doesn’t exactly pay the bills. 

But selling your music does.

You need to control your relationship with your fan. Screw the middlemen; they just want your money. That’s the indie spirit, right?

Now What

Upload to TIDAL and set your price. It’s rolling out in the US now, with expansions coming in the UK/Canada/Europe soon. You need to own 100% of the rights to your songs – master and publishing. Just make sure your samples and covers are cleared. Don’t get cute.

[Full story at Hypebot]

Spotify Kills Third-Party Tools

What’s Up

Spotify cut off API access to a bunch of third-party apps. Great. Now, they’re making it even harder for artists or anyone who isn’t, well… them to make it. 

So What

No more BPM finders, no more audio analyzers, and no more collaborative playlist builders. Even the Discord bots that track new releases are dead. 

But there's gotta be a way for devs to get access, right? Yeah, you just need 250K monthly active users and a registered business. Oh, and a Premium sub. Which is pretty hard to do when they're capped at 5 test users (man, these guys need a Nobel Prize or something).

Now What

All hope isn’t lost, though. Switch to alternatives: TuneBat (free BPM/key detection), Spotify for Artists (official streaming data), or your distributor’s analytics dashboard. Not as convenient, but these get the job done.

[Read more on Music Ally]

What's Happening with Native Instruments

What’s Up

Earlier this year, Native Instruments entered preliminary insolvency proceedings after losing €288M from their 2021 private equity buyout. Now, their CEO, Nick Williams, filled us in on what’s going on. They're currently in an “active M&A” process that’s “progressing well”. Hopefully, that isn’t just corporate for “don’t worry about it”.

So What

Since we’re taking Nick at his word, nothing seems to be on fire. Your Kontakt, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx are safe… for now, at least. All we know is that something’s definitely cooking, and whether that’s good or bad, we don’t know yet. 

Now What

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, back up your licences and installers. While things are still stable, and while you're at it, consider looking for alternatives – not because NI’s dying, but the new ownership might make things wonky.

[Full story on Music Ally]

While You Were Making Music...

💰 Deezer posted its first-ever profit in 2025 – thanks in part to being one of the only streamers that actually tags AI music [not the hero we deserve, but the one we need]

🤔 Fred again.. says too many plugins might be killing your creativity [tell that to my credit card statement]

🤖 Sony removed 135,000+ AI deepfakes of its artists from streaming platforms [at this point, just nuke the internet]

Today's edition by Jordan F. For indies who ship music, not excuses.