Articles, news and inspiration
Every day, we are surrounded by inspiring design and great communication. But it’s often easy to miss because if implemented well, it fits seamlessly within an organisation and doesn’t look anything special. But of course, that’s not the case. We also see news from authors and creators all over the world that can help give meaning and direction to our own work.
Streaming “needs a complete reset”. UK government inquiry concurs with FMTI study on revenue parity
After ten months of analysis, discussions and expert testimony, the UK government has released the results of its inquiry into the Economics of Music Streaming and concluded that the system…
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“Fans deserve better” says Anita Baker in comments on music streaming
One thing on which songwriters and music streaming platforms generally agree is that the more people that hear a song, the better. For the music creator, this certainly builds awareness…
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The key drivers for music streaming adoption in 2021
The Mobile App Daily website has published a fascinating in-depth analysis of the key Spotify statistics driving music streaming adoption in 2021. In the article, writer Aparna Kaushik looks into…
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SoundCloud prepares to launch user-centric streaming model
SoundCloud, the digital audio distribution platform based in Berlin, is to become the first service of its kind to switch to a user-centric royalty model for 100,000 of its indie…
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Music streaming platforms give evidence at UK government inquiry
Following a successful campaign and public petition, the UK government has been conducting an inquiry into the economics of music streaming. The process is examining the economic impact music streaming…
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UK based #FixStreaming campaign gathers momentum
In the UK, the Musicians Union and Ivors Academy are continuing work on their joint campaign to address what it sees as fundamental inequalities in the music streaming economy. Following…
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Mechanical Licensing Collective receives $424m in unmatched digital royalties
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) today announced receipt of US $424m in accrued historical unmatched royalties from digital service providers. Also received were more than 1,800 data files, which contain…
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Led Zepplin guitarist joins call for equitable streaming payments to songwriters
British songwriter, guitarist and founding member of Led Zepplin, Jimmy Page, has added his voice to the campaign for digital music streaming companies to make fairer payments to songwriters. He…
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“Right now, hit songwriters are driving Ubers” Reports BBC
The UK inquiry into the economics of music streaming continued this week with MPs hearing more testimony from songwriters. Fiona Bevan has released a number of her own albums and…
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The current streaming economy is “threatening the future of music”
The UK government has been conducting an enquiry into the economics of music streaming. This week, the UK digital, culture, media and sport select committee heard testimony from a number…
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“Justice at Spotify” campaign launched by Union of Musicians and Allied Workers
A new artist-focused campaign has been launched in the US by the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers that aims to redress what it sees as an imbalance in the…
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British songwriters call for equitable streaming deals
Songwriters in the UK have launched a new campaign this week that calls for a more equitable revenue split of streaming royalties. The “Keep Music Alive” campaign urges changes to…
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Digital music distributors seek royalty reduction in US courts
This is something that we in Europe may not be aware of, but that will affect us in the future. Google, Spotify and Pandora are in the US courts right…
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2019-2020 Streaming price bible released
This report from the excellent Trichordist website is essential Sunday morning reading for anybody wondering how the next generation of songwriters is going make a living. The most alarming takeaway…
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Songwriters Association of Canada “Black History Month” playlist
Our client Songwriters.ca do important work and are without exception, tirelessly passionate and enthusiastic about music. As a result, their playlists are an amazing way to discover new artists. Join…
Read MoreVulfpeck – Live at MSG
This band has no manager, no record label, and earlier this month, sold out Madison Square Gardens on word-of-mouth. Then they released the entire convert video for free. Oh, and…
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Your Music, Your Future
A new campaign targeting the fair remuneration of composers has recently launched. Operating under the banner “Your Music, Your Future”, the campaign is dedicated to educating composers and creators about…
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How a failed economic theory still rules the digital music marketplace
This great article is an essential read for anybody that wants to know how the digital music ecosystem got into this state. In summary, music streaming services were built on…
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Value of UK’s live music scene hits record high
Today the Guardian newpaper reported a new study that reveals live music is worth £1.1bn to Uk economy with industry as a whole put at £5.2bn. This is great news…
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Global Collections on behalf of Creators Hit €9.7bn
We have spent recent summers in Paris working on the CISAC Global Collections Report and the latest 2019 edition is published today. It tracks and analyses the earnings collected on…
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Streaming platforms to appeal against decision to increase songwriter royalties
A report published by Variety has described plans by Spotify, Google, Pandora and Amazon to team up in an appeal to overturn a U.S. Copyright Royalty Board ruling that could…
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What can startups (and the rest of us) learn From a zero-brand marketplace?
This is a photograph of the fresh food market in Ljubljana’s BTC shopping centre. If you’re used to regular supermarket produce, it’s an amazing array of fresh food. By Slovene…
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How to make digital copywriting easier to review
We all understand why context is important in a piece of copywriting. To create the impact we need, it’s vital to understand the place that your opinion occupies in the…
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When a brilliant and beautifully executed idea doesn’t fly, perhaps you just failed to explain it simply enough?
This is the premier lounge of the Côte des Flandres cross-channel ferry that takes travellers from the UK to and from France. The lounge is a haven of quiet relaxation…
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We’re all brand communicators now
Having coffee with a friend recently and they noticed the advert above stuck to a lamp post. “Look at that – they don’t even give their address. How is anybody…
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Bad news may sell papers, but perhaps positivity sells everything else?
Much of our work is in the creative sector where our experience helps international organisations to promote the rights of artists and creators. It’s a fascinating area, an extremely worthwhile…
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Hammond Organs and the merits of choosing the difficult path
This is the inside of a 1960 Hammond C3 organ. And it’s being repaired. Again. Even if you’re not a music lover, you’ll recognise the sound of this instrument in…
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Introducing Fair Trade Music
This is an amazing Japanese hip-hop artist that we discovered on Spotify this week. There is zero chance we would have even found this artist a few years ago and…
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How working abroad taught us to communicate back home
If you get the chance to work abroad, seize it with both hands. Apart from the amazing experiences that travelling and working in new places will bring, the change you’ll…
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Paris Monster: You don’t always need to follow the rules
We saw this amazing band in a small club recently – the photo above shows just how small! One guy plays drums with left hand, synth bass with his right…
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Support Europe’s Screenwriters and Directors
The EU parliament’s draft Copyright Directive could guarantee audiovisual authors an equitable share in the success of their work. But it needs a little encouragement … please consider signing the…
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Women-fronted films are top three highest-grossing movies of 2017
It’s worth remembering that even *apart* from being simple common sense and absolutely the right thing to do, ensuring equality and diversity in filmmaking also ends up just producing more…
Read MoreLogo design for the screen
As an addendum to the post on the craft of logo design, we spotted the new Sonos logo this morning. It seemed interesting but perhaps a little complex … until…
Read MoreThe truth about logo design
When you’re commissioning a new visual identity for your business, it’s easy to imagine that brand communications consultancies and designers are unjustly getting rich from this simple task. It’s just…
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The 22 immutable laws of marketing
Our approach is absolutely rooted in classical marketing and there is no better way to understand the key principals then to spend an hour or so with this book. “The…
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Kubrick and Us
It seems that Kubrick and us have at least one thing in common … we both love movies and typography. He was, it seems, “wedded to his sans serifs”. A fascinating…
Read MoreLeadership: Strategy vs. biology
We just found an incredible film that we had to share. Here Simon Sinek describes the biological reasoning for leadership in a manner that is the antithesis of the usual…
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Stomp box branding lessons
We spent a number of very happy but tragically wage-less years in the music industry. Like many companies today, the brands that dominated the equipment market in the 1990’s had…
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Don’t say it, prove it
There is a great pub near our office that serves beautifully prepared, home cooked food. The menu tells us that the ingredients are of the highest quality, individually selected and…
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Be generous with praise
The importance of good manners with colleagues and with competitors is not new and not just for reciprocity. Just ask Alfred Hitchcock. (Found via the excellent @FilmHistoryPics Twitter account)
Read MoreAlways listen to Seth
As usual, there was more great stuff in this one hour keynote speech than I could write down so here’s the whole clip. It’s a really worthwhile way of spending…
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When differentiating, lead with the meat
We took this photograph from a dining table in an amazing Turkish restaurant in Sheffield, UK. It is located in a city that boasts one of the highest student populations…
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Brand positioning at sea
Thanks to a combination of foreign parentage and international clients, we’ve been crossing the English Channel up to a dozen times a year since the mid nineties. During that time…
Read MoreJust because you might not understand it
Just because you don’t understand it, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t art. There are a few organisations that really excel at one thing. They can get so good at…
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United Nations hears Fair Trade Music’s message of fair remuneration for creators
The panel was organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) as part of their “Get Up. Stand up: For Music!” event and also featured a number of other composers and copyright experts.