Music Biz Features

The U.S. may be the biggest recorded music market on the planet — it generates 37 percent of the globe’s trade revenues, according to 2020 data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry — but its music business is curiously un-American. Whether due to historical precedent or recent deals, …

Sean Lynch is in limbo. Like thousands of other independent venue owners across the country, Lynch — who owns the Pub Station, a once-thriving concert hall in Billings, Montana — is depending on the money promised by the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a federal program passed last year to deliver …

This story appears in Rolling Stone‘s 2021 Future of Music issue, a special project delving into the next era of the multibillion-dollar hitmaking business. Read the other stories here. Teenage Lil Yachty was already plotting an empire when his single “Minnesota” went viral in 2016. Today, at 23, he’s an …

In a huge labyrinthine ecosystem of labels, publishers, distributors, and royalty collectors, the idea of artists getting paid quickly may sound like a revolutionary concept. What if it wasn’t? What if the music industry‘s hundreds of thousands of artists — who are especially cash-strapped when they can’t tour, like right …

“Ten years ago, BTS wouldn’t have made it in the U.S.,” says Shin Cho. “Western audiences just weren’t ready. Now, people get it.” Cho is the new head of K-pop for Warner Music Asia, where he leads strategy for the genre’s global growth. For Cho, who joined Warner Asia nine …

The biggest news in the music industry last week was a bit of a damp squib. Universal Music Group and Spotify jointly announced Wednesday (July 22nd) that they’d re-upped their global licensing deal — but aside from a vague commitment from Universal to utilize Spotify’s “two-sided marketplace” tools (something we’ll …

Raja Kumari was not born in New Delhi or Mumbai or Kolkata — rather, 8,000 miles away, in Claremont, California. But Kumari and her record label have a huge ambition this year: to smash down doors for Indian rappers all over the world. Kumari, whose parents emigrated from India to …

This is the fourth installment of Rolling Stone’s series At Work, in which we explore the fast-changing music business from the perspective of a different industry leader each week. Read earlier pieces in the series here. No matter how Nashville evolves, the Grand Ole Opry remains an unwavering constant. At …

At the end of October, Spotify introduced a new option for labels that allows them to pay to “drive incremental streams” for their artists. This is the centerpiece of an advertising initiative called Marquee. Labels can now purchase a pop-up ad prompting users to listen to Taylor Swift’s Lover, for …