Digital Music Trends: Independent music, Bandcamp, artist-fan relationships...
Our new friends at Digital Music Trends have posted their latest webisode with a special show focused on independent music, featuring Senior Editorial Analyst at Billboard Glenn Peoples (billboard.com), cellist and composer Zoë Keating (zoekeating.com) and solo bass guitarist Steve Lawson (stevelawson.net).
The crew covers some crucial topics affecting the independent music community:
- Bandcamp, why does the platform work well for artists and why do artists identify with it?
- How platforms like Patreon, Bandcamp and Pledge can facilitate an artist’s relationship with fans and what that relationship can mean to artists on both a human level and on a practical level.
- Streaming: how is it affecting “middle class” musicians and is the mainstream narrative of people’s shift to services like Spotify correct? Should artists have more of a say on the rates they are paid from streaming services or at least the ability to negotiate them?
- David Byrne’s latest comments on copyright review published by Glenn in a Billboard article this week.
- The Content Creators Coalition: can collective organizations help artists increase their bargaining power? Are there downsides?
- YouTutube’s music service: after a high-profile staff departure and several stumbling blocks what’s next for the yet-to-be announced service?