Rhythmic Rebellion

On May 5-9th, the 25th annual Key West Songwriters Festival - the largest festival of its kind - fired up once again. Rhythmic Rebellion, a sponsor of the festival, hosted and provided breakfast Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Ramshead Southernmost from 9-11am. Two of our very own Rebel artists, Karen Waldrup and Rory John Zak, had several performances throughout the festival! Check out their websites built on Rhythmic Rebellion: https://karenwaldrup.com/ https://roryjohnzak.com/ We were thrilled & honored to be a part of this legendary event and look forward to sharing our mission at many more events soon. If you'd like to be a part of the Key West Songwriters Festival next year, check out their website below! https://www.keywestsongwritersfestival.com/

Thursday April 8th, the songwriting community in Nashville had an event to raise money for songwriter Travis Meadows to help with medical bills resulting from health issues. Rhythmic Rebellion was proud to be the main sponsor of the event! We also made another large donation bid and were awarded a Taylor box guitar signed by all the songwriters that performed that night. In the image, you can see songwriter Jeffrey Steele posing with the guitar and Rhythmic Rebellion founder, Greg Allen. Steele had just finished playing the guitar and singing “The Cowboy in Me”, a song which he co-wrote and Tim McGraw recorded and made famous. It was an inspiring night and a great evening of music, seeing all these famous songwriters showing up for their friend. Over $100,000 was raised to help Travis and Rhythmic Rebellion was honored to be a part of this event.

From the article: Most of you know that the music streamers are all losing money. Spotify was born 15 years ago, has over 345 million users, and they still can’t make a profit. So what happens when songwriters and publishers are finally given the raise they’ve been promised? At some point the streaming industry fails. They can’t lose money forever. So let’s use streaming to our advantage. Pretend it is like FM radio and use it to sell albums….yes, you can sell albums and here’s how! Fans don’t want to buy your music when they can get it for free from streaming services. But, what if you had other features or entertainment to sell along with each song? What if you could include scrolling lyrics and access to a track with no lead vocal so your fans could sing karaoke? What if you could include a 10 track mixer in which you upload the stems like drums, bass, guitars, and vocals, and let the fans make their own mix of the song? What if you could include access to hidden web pages that contain never-before-seen videos of you in the studio, doing acoustic versions of songs, or just hangin with family or friends? By including all that along with access to your album and songs, you have now created value that your fans are willing to pay for. Click the button to read the whole article.

The decline in income is because many of the restaurants, bars, malls, and other places where you hear music have been shut down. These places pay a licensing fee to PROs like BMI and ASCAP. Business shutdown means songwriter fees are shutdown. This is one more reason why Rhythmic Rebellion is the solution. Our mission to create new and innovative digital content that artists can sell to fans is just what is needed in this socially distanced world. Our focus on content that is song related so that songwriters and publisher get a cut is especially helpful. Our Fan Song Mixer (MxRR) and our Karaoke creator are just two examples of how we are helping songwriters and all music creators make more money. From the article: According to the latest annual Global Collections Report published by CISAC today (October 28), lockdown measures and cuts in advertising revenues due to the pandemic are expected to result in lost music royalty collections for the world’s music publishers of between €1.8 billion ($2bn) and as much as €3.1 billion ($3.45bn) in 2020. That would result in an annual revenue decline of between 20% and 35%.

Our Fan Song Mixer or MxRR(seen in image) and our karaoke creator, because they are directly song related, are just two features we have that directly increase the incomes of songwriters. Rhythmic Rebellion is working every day to help improve the lives and incomes of all songwriters. Here's the rest of the story. In February 2019 the Copyright Royalty Board gave songwriters the equivalent of a 44% royalty rate increase. In March 2019 the Music Streaming Companies appealed the decision. This week the court hearing the appeal sided with the Music Streaming Companies and sent the case back to the lower court for them to reconsider saying the following: “In other words, the only backstop identified by the Board majority was the prospect that sound recording copyright owners would want the existing interactive streaming services to survive rather than (for example) preferring to replace them with their own in-house streaming services,” the filing stated. The line specifically addressed the possibility that heightened mechanical royalties would have a dramatic financial impact on cash-stressed streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, prompting them to reduce recording royalties and, in turn, inspire labels to jump ship. The above basically says that the music streamers are already struggling to make a profit and if songwriters are awarded this rate increase it will put the music streamers out of business. Us songwriters cannot depend on music streamers to pay us fairly. We cannot depend on the government to help us. It is up to us to get creative and figure out new ways to make money. Rhythmic Rebellion is doing just that, creating innovative entertainment that you can sell your fans. And we have plans to pay the highest streaming royalty on the planet but we need all music creators to join us to make that happen so spread the word.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been hard hitting on many industries and the music industry is no different. Thousands of workers have lost most if not all of their revenue streams from this virus continuing to hurt the entertainment business. Not only are road workers, theater crews, and behind the scenes employees hurting because of a lack of shows and touring, but musicians themselves are hurting; they can’t play shows, sell their merchandise, and are hardly able to work during these difficult times. Thankfully, Billboard has compiled a list of both National and State specific resources where musicians and workers in the entertainment industry can turn for help right now. The labor departments for the federal government as well as individual states are listed on this continuously updating article. There are also resources listed like artist relief funds, food banks, and low interest loan associations for those in need. If you are experiencing hard times due to the Coronavirus, please check out the list of available places that can help you at the link below. Many people are suffering from the wide ranging consequences of having to social distance and stay home but if we all do our part, sooner rather than later there will be a time when shows can be played again, and the entire industry can go back to work for good. In the meantime, if you need help to get by, do not hesitate to reach out to any of the organizations or relief funds listed at the Billboard link. Check out the article on the Billboard website linked below.

The CARES Act is a part of the 2 trillion dollar stimulus the United States Government passes on March 7, 2020. In the CARES Act, there are some of the farthest reaching benefits passed yet. These benefits are specifically geared towards helping musicians and gig economy workers amid the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic. Nearly anyone who has lost a job or work because of the virus, had to cut down hours, or was furloughed from a job is eligible to qualify for whole or partial assistance. Furthermore, much of the assistance is run through state unemployment programs already in place however, the federal government is also paying out additional benefits to those in need. The CARES Act even lets people who could not qualify for assistance before now qualify under new guidelines. If you or anyone you know is struggling financially because of a loss of job or work due to the current pandemic, the Cares Act is there to help. Check out your local unemployment website for further help in applying. The article from Billboard states, “Self-employed workers and independent contractors (along with sole proprietors, part-time workers, and those with limited work histories) who are out of work due to the pandemic* are eligible for state unemployment benefits. This is the first time in history that those workers -- which make up a large chunk of the music industry -- have been eligible for these benefits.” It goes on to mention “No additional forms are needed for the federal benefits. If you apply and are approved for state employment benefits, you will receive the federal dollars automatically. The program is effective through Dec. 21, and both state and unemployment benefits are retroactive.” It is clear that the music industry is hurting from the Coronavirus pandemic. However, there are things being done at the federal and local level to help out those that are struggling. Check on your own state websites to see how they are offering residents assistance during these difficult times. Read more about The CARES Act and how to qualify for assistance at Billboard.com.

Just over 40 music companies joined together to send a letter to congress requesting relief in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 20th. Their letter was specifically addressed to leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate namely Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, and Chuck Schumer. In the letter, the music companies (largely representing the industry as a whole) lament the challenges that are facing the music industry and its workers during this trying time. Namely the fact that musicians and industry workers who make shows happen literally cannot work from home as so many others can. With concerts and other events cancelled, many artists will completely lose their income. Furthermore, many music industry employees are being fired and not paid as tours are halted, theaters cannot open, and music venues close down for the foreseeable future. In the letter, they state, “The entertainment community will do what it can to support its members, but this moment calls for the unmatched capabilities of Congress. As you navigate the difficult path to providing necessary aid to distinct sectors of our economy, we ask that you specifically address the unique nature of our work. Payroll tax holidays, paid leave, and other typical assistance may never reach many in the entertainment community; in fact, direct financial aid remains one hopeful – and perhaps best - solution to replacing lost income and offering some semblance of economic sustainability.” It is clear that like so many other industries in the United States, the music industry is facing a work shortage like never seen before. The industry needs support from Congress who has the full power to fund emergency unemployment among many other ways to help the business and keep workers afloat. Hopefully Congress will hear the cries of the music industry and its many workers who keep the entertainment industry alive both onstage and behind the scenes. Rhythmic Rebellion management has sent a letter of support to our congressional representatives. We encourage everyone to do the same. Almost everyone in the music industry could use some help right now and petitioning congress for relief is a great way to urge them to act as soon as possible. Read the full article from Billboard along with the letter to congress and the companies that are signed on with what it has to say.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently released their annual 2019 year-end revenue report and the findings are fascinating. The report details how music streaming in 2019 was bigger than the entire recorded music market in 2017. Also, revenues from recorded music at wholesale value grew by 11% to $7.3 billion. Paid subscriptions from 2019 reached more than 60 million people showing just how big streaming services are right now. By the numbers, streaming services are only going to continually grow to astronomical heights and seem to be growing as streaming music becomes an increasingly more popular way for people to consume their music. On demand streaming services alone streamed over 500 billion songs to more than 100 million listeners in the United States. In an article from Digital Music News they state, “In 2015, less than 11 million Americans subscribed to premium music services, and though the figure has grown tremendously each year, the 29 percent hike from 2018 to 2019 was the single largest year-over-year increase yet in terms of absolute subscriber gains.” These numbers show just how quickly the music industry is moving towards streaming services as the main method of consumption for music consumers. Rhythmic Rebellion strives to be a part of that move towards streaming services however we want to pay music creators what they’re worth to the industry. There is no reason that music creators should not be the main benefactors when it comes to the revenue that is paid to streaming services. Because music creators are the people that drive the industry with product we believe they should be the ones who benefit when the industry takes off. Right now, music creators are struggling to make a living despite year over year growth in both the streaming markets and the wholesale music market. Rhythmic Rebellion is looking to change that by empowering music creators with streaming their music and receiving fair compensation while also creating new and creative ways for music creators to market themselves and earn a living doing so. Check out the link to an article on Digital Music News to read more about the RIAA and their annual report.

After an investigation into their payment system by the State of New York, Sofar Sounds, a company that runs intimate concerts and performances in cities around the globe, will end up paying workers and artists about $460,000. They have also agreed to change the way they pay artists. As the article from Digital Music News linked below states, “For ticketed-city performers who sell between zero and 70 tickets, Sofar will pay $100; anywhere between 71 and 100 sold tickets will earn artists $125; and 101+ attendees will result in artists being paid $150. The rate “applies to all standard shows in ticketed cities,” according to Sofar.” Overall this is a big win for artists in general. For too long artists have been asked to play for free, “for exposure,” or for very little compensation in general. Now, people are taking notice and the industry is finally changing for the better. To allow artists to make an actual living off of their hard work. Rhythmic Rebellion seeks to be a front-runner in this great change within the industry. By formulating creative new revenue streams for songwriters and artists alike, we are giving the power of the industry back to the people who are actually the heart and soul of the music industry. The more we are able to give the power of the industry back to the artists themselves, the more the music business in general will thrive. Innovation for songwriters and artists is key to helping them overcome the gap in revenue lost from streaming services today. If you are looking for a way as an artist to start making income off of shows, you should look into playing shows through Sofar Sounds. They have shown a willingness to work with up and coming artists and to try and compensate all artists fairly for their time and efforts. At the least, playing intimate shows like theirs is a great way to start performing and to get in front of new potential fans. While you’re there, direct them to your Rhythmic Rebellion website where they can stream your music, buy merchandise, and support you as an artist. Check out these two articles on Sofar Sounds detailing both their settlement with the New York Department of Labor as well as how they are going to pay their artists and ambassadors more in the future.

The beginning of the year is always the perfect time to reflect on the past 12 months that have gone by. Thankfully, a full rundown of data taken from 2019 detailing U.S music consumption was recently released by Buzz Angle. It runs down the entire year of U.S music consumption data by both the number of plays a song or album has, and also breaks down the numbers by genre of music, total plays, and even includes the year over year percentage that those numbers are either up or down. This report offers incredible insight into the trajectory of the music industry. These insights are not only based on what people in the U.S want to consume and are consuming but also the changes from year to year that these different categories of data show. One thing that this report certainly makes clear is that music streaming is bigger than ever and seems to continue to be on a rising trajectory. More specifically from the report: Buzz Lightyear was famous for saying “to infinity and beyond.” BuzzAngle can now say “to a Trillion and beyond” as for the first time on-demand streams broke the 1 Trillion mark in 2019 with 1,010,000,000 on-demand streams. For the third year in a row, total consumption growth was up double-digits. The 13.5% growth in 2019 in total consumption was fueled by the continued growth of on-demand streams. In 2018, we reported a 16.2% growth in total consumption and an increase of 12.8% in 2017 over 2016. Some other highlights from the report show that vinyl sales were up again this year, there were over 705 billion on-demand streams last year, and 31 different songs were streamed over 500 million times. Check out the full report at the link below. It offers innumerable insights into the music industry now as well as the subtle directions that the industry will be taking in the coming years. As a music creator, this information is invaluable to making it as an artist and furthering your career in the music industry.

This is from the attached article: "Earlier this week, composer Kerry Muzzey — whose work appears on TV shows like Glee, So You Think You Can Dance, and The LXD, as well as major motion picture trailers — shared his mechanical royalty check from Spotify. The windfall: $11.60 for 32,222 plays. Which boils down to approximately $0.000360 per play." There is a good chance that music streaming royalties will always be low. All the streamers struggle to make a profit. Because of this they need to keep their payments to artists as low as possible. On-demand streaming killed the ability to sell albums. But ads and subscriptions just don't generate enough income to be able to pay music creators what they have lost in income. Solution? Come up with other creative ways to make money other than streaming. 1. An artist website with fun entertainment that attracts your fans. 2. Rhythmic Rebellion pays you $2 for each fan you get to follow you and sign up. 3. Use our artist Penthouse feature to allow fans to pay you to get access to your never before seen videos and images. 4. Use our Gift Code creator and offer free access to your Artist Penthouse. When the fan signs up with RR, you get $2. 5. Create the Fan Song Mixer where your fans pay you to make their own mix of your song. (Artist side is done. Fan side is coming soon.) 6. Our Merchandise Store is now available to you. (This is new and we are still getting the bugs out. Let us know if you find one.) Go here to get help on these items: https://rhythmic-rebellion.helpscoutdocs.com/category/70-fans-section

In addition to creating your songwriter account and your artist account by using our checklist.. https://rhythmic-rebellion.helpscoutdocs.com/article/129-songwriter-singer-band-how-to-checklist You also need to learn about our: Artist Penthouse-Fans pay you to access private content like pictures, videos and music; Crowdfunding-Let your fans help you fund your next music or video project; Gift Codes-Use these to help build your fan base by giving away some songs and access to Artist Penthouse; Fan Song Mixer-The MxRR is a way for your fan to mix their own version of your song. They pay you to get access to a mixer you create. https://rhythmic-rebellion.helpscoutdocs.com/category/70-fans-section Browse our Knowledge Base to learn even more.

Spotify did their part, depositing the $43.5M into and interest-bearing account after settling the law suit regarding songwriter and publisher claims of not getting paid. The problem is the person in charge of sending that money to the deserving songwriters says they have only been able to match about 10% of the ISRCs. (Get more info on ISRCs below). This is crazy. I wish we had more info on where the fail is. Are songwriter's not responding to emails? How are they trying to contact us? If you are a singer-songwriter and you have songs on Spotify make sure those ISRC registrations have your correct email and mailing address. Did all the songwriters on your songs get defined with correct shares? If not, this could be the problem. I was alarmed a few years ago when I heard a conversation while at the Music Biz Conference in Nashville. While listening to a panel, a person with Spotify stated that it is often hard to pay songwriters because they are not always defined correctly. But the alarming part was when another person on the panel from a music publishing company admitted that often song recordings are rushed to streaming platforms before the songwriters and their shares are defined. I was shocked! Songwriters! We need to take responsibility for this. Don't leave the writing room until the writers and the shares are agreed upon. It would be nice if there was a software system that allowed easy registration and the ability to modify if needed....and GOOD NEWS...we built one. As part of the Rhythmic Rebellion system we have a songwriter song composition registration system. You define the song, metadata, the writers and their shares. And each co-writer receives an email notifying them of the registration and they can review and approve the shares. And we are happy to give streamers like Spotify access to the system. If they needed to know the writers and shares they could look it up. The only thing left to make this a reality is for songwriters to join and define their songs. Let's do this! What is an ISRC? ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the globally recognized standard numbering system for audio and music video recordings. It comprises a 12-digit alphanumeric code and functions as a universal identification number for each sound recording. ISRC codes are primarily used to identify and catalog individual songs (tracks) on an album. The ISRC allows you to get paid for digital music sales by ensuring that your royalties are tracked properly. ISRC codes are necessary to sell your individual tracks via iTunes and other online music distributors. They are also required for any songs that you plan to offer for streaming on Spotify and other streaming services. Learn more here: https://www.isrc.com/general-faq.html

The article states "Eminem publisher Eight Mile Style has filed a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against Spotify — and questioned the legality of the entire Music Modernization Act in the process." In simple terms, the publisher is claiming that Spotify only paid for a portion of the streams that actually occurred. Of course, Spotify has been sued many times in the past by publishers and they always settle. The publisher is also claiming that the Music Modernization Act is unconstitutional. Why would they claim this when the MMA was passed to help us music creators? Because the MMA give the streamers protection against law suits. So Spotify can simply say "You can't sue us. We are protected by the MMA." These types of conflicts are never ending. The streamers will always fight to pay the music creators the least amount possible. That is why Rhythmic Rebellion was created. This gives music creators their own company, where they make the rules, and split the profits. As it should be!

The U.S. Copyright office has made their decision on who should implement and run the agency that the Music Modernization Act created to benefit songwriters. And the winner is....The Mechanical Licensing Collective. An email sent our by the NSAI reads as follows: Nashville, Tennessee (July 05, 2019) – The U.S. Copyright Office today chose the industry-consensus Mechanical Licensing Collective, or MLC, to be the new agency to oversee licensing of digital mechanical royalties for American songwriters. “Songwriters have looked forward to this incredible advance in music licensing for years,” said Steve Bogard, award-winning songwriter and President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). “The MLC creates a number of historic gains for American songwriters. These gains include, for the first time, our participation in the governance of a mechanical rights agency on both board and committee levels. We are, for the first time, guaranteed an activity-based share of unclaimed funds. And the cost of collecting our royalties is, for the first time, paid for by the streaming companies instead of being deducted from our songwriter earnings.” “NSAI is very proud of our role in crafting guarantees for songwriter inclusion in the MLC governance, stipulating the payment methodology for unclaimed funds and mandating transparency. These things were all achieved as part of the Music Modernization Act. These landmark accomplishments also included heading up the national selection process for MLC songwriter board and committee members,” Bogard continued. Now the MLC will set about the business of hiring a staff and preparing to ensure the new collective can efficiently license tens of millions of songs by January 1, 2021. The MLC, while awaiting designation, has been working tirelessly and is well on its way to achieving that goal. The Mechanical Licensing Collective was spearheaded by the National Music Publishers Association, NSAI and the Songwriters of North America (SONA). The MLC was endorsed by nearly the entire American music industry when it submitted its application to the U.S. Copyright Office earlier this year.

As the rift between artists and streaming platforms like Spotify widens, industry leaders, individuals and companies alike, have been weighing in on the controversy. Let’s start with outgoing CEO of Sony Music Publishing Martin Bandier –– he makes his stance very clear. He states: “I am incredibly disappointed that Spotify and the other companies have chosen to attack songwriters by appealing the long-overdue rate increases. The move flies in the face of everything that I have fought for on behalf of songwriters for fair-market rates.” He goes on to say that: “Songwriters are unquestionably the most important contributors to the success of the streaming services and deserve the benefits of the new rates that we worked so hard to achieve.” Solidarity from such an industry leader like Bandier is important in the push for better treatment on behalf of artists. But the support doesn’t stop there. COO and co-chair of Warner/Chappell, another major publishing label, Carianne Marshall, backs up artists with a similar stance. She states: "We value our relationships with the companies who help us deliver music to fans, but we have to draw a line on this issue. Their attempt to roll back rates fairly determined through the CRB process is unacceptable. As such, we will vigorously seek to protect the value of music and passionately promote the rights of songwriters.” With two of the biggest names in music publishing weighing in to condemn Spotify and similar streamers for their move to effective fight back against artist and song-writer’s rights and royalties, another famously unexpected entity decided to weigh in. Apple, the same Apple behind Apple Music, made a bold statement a few weeks ago but making the decision to agree with the CRB’s decision to increase royalty rates to song-writers by 44% by 2022. In a further move, Apple publicly condemned Spotify with a number of statements: “We share Spotify’s love of music and their vision of sharing it with the world. Where we differ is how you achieve that goal. Underneath the rhetoric, Spotify’s aim is to make more money off others’ work. And it’s not just the App Store that they’re trying to squeeze — it’s also artists, musicians and songwriters.” They continued on, saying “This isn’t just wrong, it represents a real, meaningful and damaging step backwards for the music industry.” So with such a rift in the community and with streamers like Spotify and Amazon Music appearing to be the outliers in this situation, we can only ask ourselves what does this mean for the future of streaming and publishing music? We know a lot has got to change, notably so in the entire way these sites are run, from their leadership to their motives to their revenue split. That’s why we’re here to change the industry, one artist at a time. We need you to sign up to be part of our Rhythmic Rebellion today so we can all side with the industry leaders who side with artists and champion for fair treatment, and so we can show the leaders who want to throw artists to the side that they have no business here as we approach 2020.

As songwriters, we owe a debt of gratitude to Ms Lapolt and her team. Not only were they very instrumental in getting the Music Modernization Act passed, they wrote or helped write most of the legislation. Watch the video and see for yourself what a fiery woman Ms Lapolt is and you will appreciate her passion to help improve the lives and incomes of songwriters.

For any readers who thought the recent controversy with Spotify and Amazon Music regarding royalty payments for songwriters would be a short-lived story –– time is proving otherwise. The decision from Spotify to appeal the Copyright Royalty Board's (CRB) ruling is still hot in creator’s minds, and at the forefront of worry for many songwriters, given that their livelihood is at stake. In a to-be-expected move from Songwriters of North America (SONA), an advocacy group for songwriters if you couldn’t guess, has vocalized it’s solidarity with National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) on the issue, expressing sincere distaste in the move from the streaming giants. “Instead of acting in good faith, where we were all on board, they were secretly filing the appeal on the side after they got what they wanted in the [Music Modernization Act],” said Dina LaPolt, a co-founder of SONA. “It does not smell as though we are one big community, which is the thing they’ve been preaching for the past 3 - 4 years since we’ve been trying to modify the copyright act legislatively.” What thickens the pot here and makes things even more interesting is that SONA is backed by the very same streaming partner who helped to start all of this controversy in the first place –– Amazon Music –– along with Pandora and Google. And to add another layer to the matter, Spotify and Amazon are accused of biding their time to file the appeal, having waited over a year, seemingly content with the new split of 15.1% (+ 4.6% increase) of streaming revenue paid to songwriters. What we’re seeing here is a massive rift in the music community widening even further. The very creators music streaming platforms and artists themselves rely on are being pushed out –– and priced out –– of the industry that they breathe so much life into. That’s why at Rhythmic Rebellion, we’re inventing the answer to problem, set on a mission to bridge this rift. We’re here to pay out the highest royalty-rates to singer-songwriters. We’re creating a platform for singer-songwriters, by singer-songwriters, that put creators’ bottom line before ours. We’re not here to squeeze as much cash as we can out of the industry, but instead the opposite. We want to set a new precedence to reward the creators who make the music biz what it is. LaPolt is already predicting an uprising in the songwriter community, which see as highly likely. The only question we’re asking ourselves is when will you join? All we need now is for all music creators to sign up, load their music, and invite their fans. Grow with us as we start the next music revolution.

You may have –– very, very likely have –– already heard news that there’s a big rift forming between the songwriting community and music streaming platforms, notably Spotify and Amazon Music, along with Pandora and Google. Why you may ask? In a nutshell: The streamers are appealing a ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board saying songwriters deserve a bump from 10% to about 15% of the revenue that these companies bring in. Add in the fact that this decision was made over a year ago, but just now being fought. Yikes. And not to mention the songwriting community feels backstabbed because the streamers have been playing nice so they could slip this dissent in last minute. And now you have what feels like a full-blown music industry civil war. Double yikes. The larger question to ask is do these big wigs really care? Without a doubt, the answer to that question depends. Depends on who you ask, and how candidly the response is. A public relations spokesperson for Spotify, say asked for a comment, would undoubtedly say they care, maybe more than anyone else, accounting for some fluff here and there. But what really matters is that behind-the-scenes, behind closed doors board meeting conversation from the very top –– which would probably bring about a very very different answer (just speculating here). Ask yourself: Would they have appealed if they did truly care about the well-being of songwriters? We want to be crystal clear –– we’re not anti-big streamers. In fact, we encourage our creators to publish on the household-name platforms because you need exposure to all those fans. But what we fully understand is that business is business, and this is no more than an attempt to save money. Did you know Spotify still isn’t profitable? Even though they’re wildly enormous with nearly 100 million paying users, they’ve yet to turn a profit if you exclude the stock swap with Tencent. And the prospect that they never will isn’t out of the picture. For Spotify and the others that followed their decision to appeal, it’s a zero-sum game, simple mathematics at that. An additional 4% to songwriters means 4% less to recoup their bleeding losses. It’s a business model that makes sense, even though we don’t agree with it. Throw in all the software and marketing and executive expenses and you get a month-after-month bleeding budget. Triple yikes. That’s why here at Rhythmic Rebellion, we’re starting from scratch, building a brand new platform that makes sense both for the fan, but for the artist alike. A platform for artists & songwriters, by the very same people ourselves. We’ve made the software. We’ve invested into the infrastructure. We did all the math and crunched the numbers. And now all we need is user buy-in. It’s not a question of if Rhythmic Rebellion will be artists’ favorite platform –– it’s a matter of when. Why not find out why we’re set to change the industry as we know it, today?

If you are a songwriter then the news from the music business world broke your heart on March 7, 2019. The image in our article is from the MusicBusinessWorldwide.com article that day. And no, they didn't actually sue songwriters but the net effect is the same. NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) Executive Director Bart Herbison had this to say, “It is unfortunate that Amazon and Spotify decided to file an appeal on the CRB’s decision to pay American songwriters higher digital mechanical royalties. Many songwriters have found it difficult to stay in the profession in the era of streaming music. You cannot feed a family when you earn hundreds of dollars for millions of streams." The real issue is that the licensing deal Spotify had to make with Major Labels to allow fans to stream a song on demand was super expensive. They are worried that if we take another 4% of their revenue and give it to songwriters and publishers that they will never reach a profit. They might be right. They lost over 1 billion dollars in 2017 and are still struggling to overcome that. As songwriters, let's take a minute to look at this purely from a business perspective. To music streaming companies, you, are an expense. In fact, paying music creators for the use of their songs is the biggest expense these companies have. They will always argue and fight to get that expense lower by paying music creators less. And do you think you can get the government to help you. This is only the second meaningful increase the government has given songwriters in a 110 years. So, as a music creator, your income is completely dependent on other people that do not have your best interest at heart. Rhythmic Rebellion is the answer. We are the streaming company of the future for songwriters and all music creators. We are controlled and operated by the music creators. We will decide how and how much we get paid. Because of our good business practices we believe that we can be at a profit when we hit one million active monthly users/fans. This profit will be split among the deserving music creators and the royalty payments will be the highest of all the streaming platforms. The music creators will work as a team to drive the profits higher because the higher the profits the more money we all make. Just as it should be. The software is ready. All we need now is for all music creators to sign up, load their music, and invite their fans.

The U.S. music industry grew 11.9 percent to $9.846 billion in 2018 from the $8.797 billion tallied in 2017, thanks to continuing explosive growth from streaming, which jumped 30.1 percent to $7.37 billion from the prior year’s total of $5.66 billion. With only a few exceptions, indie artists are not getting to participate in this explosion in the music industry. The goal of Rhythmic Rebellion is to change this. There is power in numbers. Please ask all your music friends to sign up, use our free promotional tools, and in time, we will get our cut of that cash!

The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has published its preliminary year-end results for 2018. Royalties from non-Canadian sources have risen 70% since 2013, and now rank as the top revenue stream for SOCAN members. The organization credited its technology, search capabilities, and improved data matching for the increase in royalty collections. SOCAN also thanked its International Relations, Membership, Licensing, and Distribution teams for “securing markedly better returns for members.” Speaking about the preliminary financial results, Eric Baptiste, the organization’s CEO, said, “The consistently increasing number of Canadian music creators aspiring to make a living from their creative work is similar to the halo effect we see in other industries. While overall revenues from digitally-delivered performances of music continue to climb, music creators and publishers on average [have] yet to see earnings commensurate with the value that their work brings to these online corporations. To put it in perspective, the average SOCAN member who earned royalties in 2018 realized only $54 ($41 in the US) from domestic digital sources in the entire year. This has to improve and SOCAN is working tirelessly to ensure our members actually receive what they have fairly and deservedly earned from their extraordinary work.“

We are excited to pay you $25 for each songwriter friend you invite to join us. Let them see this video to help them understand why it is good for them and all of us as music creators.

Now that many streaming companies allow fans to play any song they want, over and over, it is a great time to be a music fan. But this option for fans has killed our ability to sell album downloads or physical albums. A million streams on YouTube earns you less than $700. That will not pay for the making of a music video much less the recording of the song. How do we as music creators overcome this problem? Rhythmic Rebellion is operated by Music Creators with the sole goal of helping music creators make more money. Other music streamers want to pay music creators lower amounts as they struggle to make a profit. Sounds great but how? 1. We are going to select artist to be part of our advertising campaign. Same as money in your pocket. 2. Fans pay $3 for a cup of coffee each day and $15 to see a movie each week. They will pay for digital entertainment also and we are creating a platform that allows you to offer innovative entertainment and an easy way for your fans to pay you for it. 3. The Rhythmic Rebellion business model requires that profits be split among the deserving music creators with bonuses also going to investors and employees from profits. This gives everyone great incentive to drive up the profits and keep expenses low. 4. If you are just getting started as a music creator, our tools are services are free. Stop paying $20 a month for a website to some other provider. The average streaming royalty takes 4000 streams a month just to earn $20. So that is like Rhythmic Rebellion paying you for 4000 streams. What we need to make this all a reality is for every music creator in the world to sign up, so please tell all your music friends to join Rhythmic Rebellion.

The BRIT Award-winning producer was the recipient of seven awards at October's ASCAP London Awards including Song Of The Year and Top Digital Song for Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You (two billion Spotify streams and counting). Mac also won awards for Strip That Down, Liam Payne’s debut solo single featuring Quavo, What About Us by Pink and Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie.

Look at my girl Katy topping the list of the world's highest paid women. That's right! I love me some Katy Perry! I actually have many favorites on this list but I will leave you to guess the rest. She was almost the top of both genders but Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars beat her... just barely. 1. Katy Perry ($83 million) 2. Taylor Swift ($80 million) 3. Beyoncé ($60 million) 4. Pink ($52 million) 5. Lady Gaga ($50 million) 6. Jennifer Lopez ($47 million) 7. Rihanna ($37.5 million) 8. Helene Fischer ($32 million) 9. Celine Dion ($31 million) 10. Britney Spears ($30 million)

The Music Modernization Act is signed into law by President Trump with many musicians in the room. Here are six things the act will do to help improve things for music creators. 1. Changes the standard by which songwriter streaming rates are established replacing an outdated 1909 law that governs songwriter mechanical or sales royalties, changes consent decree regulations from 1941 that govern songwriter performance royalties. 2. Requires the random selection of judges when performing rights societies ASCAP or BMI go to a rate court proceeding. Presently those judges are appointed for life. 3. Creates a new Music Licensing Collective governed by songwriters and music publishers to oversee and administer digital mechanical licensing and payments, resolve disputes and administer unclaimed royalties. 4. Eliminates the disastrous Notice of Intent (NOI) program administered by the U.S. Copyright Office that shifted the digital mechanical licensing burden back to songwriters. 5. Guarantees streaming royalty payments to artists whose recordings were done before 1972 who now are not required to be paid due to a loophole in the Copyright Act. 6. Stipulates direct streaming royalty payments to record producers and engineers.

This is very interesting. And yes, Rhythmic Rebellion will soon be in a place to fill this void if it happens. From the article by By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA The European Parliament has passed Article 13,. The controversial copyright directive will force Google, YouTube, Facebook and others to do much more to stop the spread of copyrighted material on their platforms. But according to MIDiA's Mark Mulligan, the legislation has some important unintended consequences. The walk away scenario: Minimum per-stream rates could break YouTube’s business model, especially in emerging markets where it usage is strong, but digital ad markets are not yet developed. It would also set a precedent that other YouTube rights holders and creators would want the same applied to them. So, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that YouTube could simply opt to walk away from music, applying take down and stay down its way (i.e. every piece of label content stays down). It could feasibly continue to provide ad sales support and audience to Vevo, but if YouTube gets to this point, then relationships are likely to be fractured beyond repair, meaning Vevo would likely have to decamp to Facebook and build a new audience there, one which is crucially not accessible to under 13s.

Good news! Late yesterday the Music Modernization Act passed the Senate. Hopefully this will help songwriters get fair compensation from streaming. The Music Modernization Act package contains three key elements: The Music Modernization Act reforms Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act to create a single licensing entity that administers the mechanical reproduction rights for all digital uses of musical compositions – like those used in interactive streaming models offered by Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora, Google and others. It also repeals Section 114(i) and, consistent with most federal litigation, utilizes random assignment of judges to decide ASCAP and BMI rate-setting cases. The CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society Act) would benefit artists and music creators who recorded music before 1972 by establishing royalty payments whenever their music is played on digital radio. SoundExchange would distribute royalties for pre-’72 recordings played by Internet, cable and satellite radio services just as it does for post-’72 recordings. Currently only sound recordings made after 1972 receive payments from digital radio services under federal law. The AMP Act (Allocation for Music Producers Act) for the first time adds producers and engineers, who play an indispensable role in the creation of sound recordings, to U.S. copyright law. The bill codifies into law the producer’s right to collect digital royalties and provides a consistent, permanent process for studio professionals to receive royalties for their contributions to the creation of music.

From the Billboard news article: "BMI nearly reached $1.2 billion in revenue collections for its fiscal year ended June 30, a 6.1 percent increase over the $1.13 billion in revenue over the prior fiscal year ended June 30, 2017." They say this increase is largely due to streaming. Great! But why is this money not making into the pockets of average artists. Sure the top tear artists like Ed Sheeran are doing well. Thanks to streaming we see great things happening. But what about mid level artists? In its first day of release, Drake’s “Scorpion” shattered Spotify’s one-day global record for album streams when the album’s individual track totaled 132,450,203 streams. That's in one day. YouTube has a few artists hitting a billion streams with music videos. No wonder BMI collections are up. But mid level artists once did well too, back when you could sell an album. Streaming income does not equate to the same money as album sales. Let's break it down. Let's say a mid level artists sells 100,000 albums over a year at $10 each. That's one million dollars. That's a nice living. Now let's stream it. Spotify pays .005 cents per stream (Youtube pays .0007 cents per stream) and that's above average for streaming. So .005 for 12 songs on the album and let's say those 100,000 fans listened to the whole album 20 times during the year. That's $120,000. That is an 88% reduction. But wait, that's not how it works. A fan can just choose their 4 favorite songs from the album to stream and not play the other 8. That knocks the $120,000 down to $40,000, a 96% reduction. Now take into consideration that 85% of new music discovery is done on YouTube which pays less than half that of Spotify and the artist's income takes another hit. Yes, it is bad. Does this mean the digital age is a death sentence to the average artist? Not at all. The internet is an opportunity for music creators to make more money than they ever have. We just need to do a better job taking advantage of the digital platform. Fans crave entertainment and they pay for entertainment every day and it is usually in the form of video. Your job as music creators is to provide entertainment not only through great music but through video also. Our job at Rhythmic Rebellion is to create the perfect platform for delivering your entertainment to fans and ways fans can easily pay you for this entertainment. If 100,000 fans give you dollar here and a dollar there and they do this every 3 months, now you are making a nice living again. That is the Rhythmic Rebellion goal and we have plans in the works to make this happen.

In this article they discuss the recent beef between music labels and publishers, and the lack of sufficient payments made by Spotify on the playing of artist videos. Towards the end of the article they say "In upcoming negotiations, Spotify will look for a royalty payment deal that will help it become profitable." Yes, Spotify needs to pay less to music creators so that it can make a profit. In the past music creators sold albums. Music creators decided how much to sell music for. Today music streamers sell our music and we have no say as to how much. They fight to pay us as little as possible. It is a broken business model for music creators. It will never turn in our favor. Rhythmic Rebellion wants to transfer the power back to the music creators. The music creators will decide the rules. The profits of the company will be split with the music creators. Everyone will be rewarded for the success of the company. This business model achieves the highest income for all those involved. Rhythmic Rebellion provides the solution that music creators have been hoping for. Please tell all your friends to join us.

Good news! Blackstone Group (that owns Harry Fox and SESAC) and the songwriters and publisher have come to an agreement on the Music Modernization Act. Bad news! Now SiriusXM and Music Choice are complaining. Did you know that the law says that recordings made 1972 and prior no longer receive copyright protection? The CLASSICS Act would expand federal protections of sound recordings beyond 1972. But traditional radio stations don’t pay for the broadcast of any sound recordings in the U.S. — for any year, post- or pre-1972. This bill does not change that. During the same period that SiriusXM paid $2.2 billion for its use of post-72 works, terrestrial radio paid them nothing. Is that fair? Why should satellite radio pay music creators when FM radio doesn't? Be careful music creators. If you decide that you are happy with the promotion you get and you will not require satellite or FM radio to pay you, then why should streaming services pay you? It's a big ole mess. So you best push for laws that require FM radio to pay music creators. Sounds great until we bring up the fact that FM radio is losing money and might not survive. Seem like all music companies that provide our music to fans are struggling to make a profit and always argue to pay music creators less. The Rhythmic Rebellion business model is different. We are the music creators and we will work to make profits and then we will split the profits. The higher we drive company profits, the more money we make as music creators. Isn't that the way it should be? And hey Beatles, we don't care how old your music is. If fans hear your music and we generate revenue then you get paid. So come on Beatles, join our REBELLION!

Please contact SESAC and/or your Senator and ask them to support the MMA without the changes proposed by the Blackstone Group. The below is an excerpt from a letter sent out by SONA, Songwriters of North America. In short, the performance rights organization, SESAC, along with some other very recent players, is actively pushing an amendment in the US Senate that could effectively kill the Music Modernization Act. As you already know, songwriters have been uniquely screwed in the new music streaming economy and the MMA is desperately-needed copyright reform legislation - the bottom line is that, if passed, songwriters will get a raise. Obviously, there’s more to it than that, but SONA has been in the room, weighing in on the architecture of this bill from its beginnings. It has undergone many revisions, changes and clarifications along the way. Yet, for the first time, all the stakeholders that make up our music industry - songwriters, publishers, streaming companies, artists, producers, record companies - have made serious compromises in the service of this painstakingly negotiated consensus bill that is as fragile as it is historic. Out of the gate, in April 2018, the Music Modernization Act passed unanimously in the House 415 to 0, followed up in June with another unanimous yes vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee. We always knew that the full Senate vote would present challenges so we prepared for many adverse scenarios. But in final moments of the MMA’s journey, just as the bill approaches its final hurdle, SESAC, Harry Fox, and parent company, The Blackstone Group, have chosen to lob an amendment into this finely tuned compromise bill that, if we do not fight back, will surely blow up the entire thing. What does SESAC have to do with this? Quick primer: In 2015, SESAC bought the Harry Fox Agency, a longtime collector and distributor of mechanical licensing revenue. Last year, SESAC was purchased by a private investment firm called the Blackstone Group. So Blackstone now owns Harry Fox. One of the primary tenets of the MMA is that it creates a Mechanical Licensing Collective - called the MLC - to issue blanket licenses to the Digital Service Providers, match the licensed works with their owners (rights-holders - like songwriters!), and collect and distribute payment from those DSP’s to the proper owners. “But wait a second,” you may be thinking, “that’s what Harry Fox does!” Yes, exactly. EXCEPT THAT THE MLC WILL OPERATE AT NO COST TO SONGWRITERS, WITH GREATER TRANSPARENCY, WITH SONGWRITERS ON ITS GOVERNING BOARD, WITH LOWER OVERHEAD, AND, HOPEFULLY, WITH A HIGHER MATCHING SUCCESS RATE. And let’s be honest, if Harry Fox had been doing such a good job of licensing digital mechanicals, would we need a legislative solution in the first place? Now, nothing in the MMA precludes Harry Fox from competing to become a vendor of the MLC. Vendors will be required under the new law to curate data, match claims, locate rights-holders, etc. And if they can convince the Board of songwriters and publishers that they can do the best job for us, then they will get the gig. But Blackstone doesn’t want to do that. They want to kill the MLC and have the playing field all to themselves. Lucky for them, they found a friend in one senator from Texas who loves the free market and hates government-created entities, particularly ones with the word “collective” in them. In their amendment proposal, they describe the MLC as “a single, European-style government regulated monopoly… antithetical to the free market.” This makes all the prior squabbling between songwriters and publishers over board composition and the board seat selection process seem almost quaint. In the Blackstone amendment, an MLC governing board has little to govern. It practically mandates that the Harry Fox Agency take the place of the MLC, and without any of the oversight and accountability that we all fought so hard for. It is a Texas-sized land grab for Blackstone – an investment group for whom a music business holding in inconsequential in the scope of their other holdings. Squashing this bill is like killing a fly – a bit annoying, but really easy. Our friends at SESAC can’t possibly feel good about this. Their parent company is trying to protect an investment to the detriment of the entire music business ecosystem. Just the timing of the amendment on its own is the definition of “bad faith.” Last week (week of July 16th), Blackstone went from Senate office to Senate office, handily turning Republican senators away from the bill one-by-one. The good news is that ALL of the stakeholders are strongly united in their opposition to the Blackstone Amendment. The Digital Service Providers – like Amazon, Spotify, Apple, etc – hate the idea of paying twice for the same service of matching and administrating with zero oversight. For songwriters, this amendment tips the balance previously struck in the MMA from helpful to harmful. Why would we support a new blanket license (which historically suck for us) and grant indemnity with no oversight, audit rights and protection? It would mean doubling down on the current broken system, with less transparency and even less control. After all the time, energy, passion, and personal funds we’ve expended to get this far, we - songwriters ourselves - would have to walk away from a bill meant to help ALL songwriters.

Spotify and Apple are both exploring paying artists/signing artists to their own label of sorts. This causes a conflict with big labels and small labels. I read before that Spotify was not allowed to do this because the contracts they have with the four Major Labels didn't allow it. Spotify may be exploiting a loop hole. We will see as times goes by. Rhythmic Rebellion wants to do something like this (we have direct agreements to play the artist's music, the same agreements like any website provider has with artists that allows them to play artist's music to the fans) but we will work in tandem with all the labels, Major or Indie. It is certainly not fair to the indie labels or artists when Spotify is pushing their signed artist ahead of other artists. RR wants provide a level playing field for all. We will encourage a method that allows any artists to be discovered by fans, indie or signed to a label. We want indie music labels to feel good about using the tools RR provides to promote their artists and know that RR is not competing against them....like Spotify and Apple plan to do.

On Wednesday, Kendrick Lamar accepted his accolade during a ceremony at Columbia University in New York, New York. His 2017 album, Damn., became the first non-classical and non-jazz album to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Kendrick showed class and style as he humbly accepted his award.

This is more proof that the Rhythmic Rebellion solution is the right one. Keep expenses low. Maximize profits and pay those profits to the music creators. This means the songwriters, singers, and other creators are in control of how much money they make. In this article David talks about how as streaming plays grow for artist, payouts to artist may actually decrease. From the article: "Keep in mind, streaming is a fixed cap market. So it does not matter how much the market grows in actual consumption, the revenue is capped by the amount of revenue earned by the hosting provider. If consumption doubles, but revenues stay flat, every stream is worth half of what it was previously."

In short, if you have a song you are promoting but you don't have a music video of the song, you are making a huge mistake. There are plenty of cheap ways to do it yourself. Get a friend to help you. Use your phone and the free video editing software that came with your computer. Look up how to make a music video on YouTube. So you wrote a song....you recorded a song...Great! But you are not done until you have a music video. From the article: Paid (subscription) audio platforms claimed 23% of total listening, according to the IFPI, with free audio streaming on 22%. Combined, then, audio streaming platforms were responsible for 45% of all listening – one percent behind YouTube’s estimated haul. Other video platforms, such as Vevo and Vimeo, were responsible for the remaining 9% of listening hours, according to the report.

The Music Modernization Act, (MMA) H.R. 5447, passed the U.S. House of Representatives today by a unanimous vote . The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate for a hearing scheduled for May 15 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a statement today, Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) President Steve Bogard said “We are an important step closer to the adoption of this landmark copyright reform legislation. I’ve seen too many of my colleagues give up writing songs professionally because of unfairly low streaming royalties and other changes in the era of digital music delivery. The MMA gives us tools to move toward better compensation from streaming companies, while giving songwriters and music publishers control of digital mechanical music licensing."

From the article: "Compared to the rest of the major labels, $472 million only constitutes 2.7% of all global recording sales. Revenue from major labels easily dwarves this number. " So why is this true? One word....PLAYLIST! The major labels rule the main playlist on Spotify. So when an artist signs with a Major, even though it is the same music they were already promoting as an indie artist, they get many more song plays because the Major added them to their playlist. Is this fair? Of course it's fair. Spotify doesn't owe you anything as an indie artist. Spotify is a public company whose job is to make money for the stock holders. As a music lover I like Spotify. I get most of my music from Spotify because it is so easy. But as an artist and songwriter I know my Spotify payments will never be any better than they are now. Solution? Songwriters and Artists need their own music streaming company that they rule and operate. Where every decision is in their best interest. Where the profits belong to them and no one is purposely holding their income down. Rhythmic Rebellion is our future, our hope, and our prosperity.

To quote the article: "At a shockingly-low rate of $0.0006 per stream, YouTube took the last place." So why do artists keep putting their videos on YouTube? Because it is a great way to gather new fans. FM radio doesn't pay artists at all, but for the exposure, artists would pledge their first year's income. The industry has agreed to 1500 streams being the equivalent of one album sale. $.007 per stream times 1500 is $10.50 per album. That is not bad for an artist considering there is no cost of producing a CD or anything physical. Of course the top 5 streamers are below that amount. Spotify and Pandora have been losing millions a year so don't expect them to give you a raise anytime soon. Keep in mind that at $10.50 all we paid was the artist. What about songwriters, publishers, producers, and so on? But wait.....didn't we just say the streaming platforms are like FM radio and artist just need to be heard and discovered and shouldn't worry about the amount they get paid from streaming? HELL NO because it's not the same! YouTube and the music streamers allow fans to play songs over and over again....as many times as they want. FM radio helped artists sell albums. On demand streaming has completely shut down real album sales. They can't use our music to build users, take away our ability to sell albums, and then not pay us the equivalent of what we used to make on album sales. So what's the answer? Can we squeeze more money out of streamers? Not likely. Will the government help us by forcing them to pay more? That would put Spotify and Pandora out of business and fans would complain...so not likely. The only answer is Rhythmic Rebellion! Build our own streaming company. Figure out how to generate the most revenue we can for artists, songwriters, and all music creators. Give artists options on how they offer their music to fans. Create innovative ways for artist to offer digital entertainment to fans that the fans are willing to pay for. Pay music creators based on the profits we make. This means the sky is the limit and the money we make can be as high as our creativeness can push it. The current streaming models are broken. Our model solves the problems. It really is a Rebellion... A Rhythmic Rebellion!

From Billboard: "On Tuesday, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is expected to introduce the Music Modernization Act, which will transform the way mechanical royalties are collected and reform the way labels and musicians are paid for the use of sound recordings online. It's the first significant music licensing bill in a generation and the result of five years of lobbying, hearings and compromise." Like all songwriters, we at Rhythmic Rebellion hope this legislation greatly increases the compensation that songwriters are getting from streaming. Songwriters won an increase in the mechanical royalty when a CD, Vinyl, or download is sold but as we hear that Apple Music will soon stop selling downloads you realize this increase is not very helpful. Songwriters need a way to make more money in this new age of streaming. And songwriters need a way to participate in free market opportunities and negotiate their royalty directly with the artist. Those things are more are the goal of Rhythmic Rebellion.

Digital music downloads for 2018 will be one third of what they were 6 years ago. Apple Music says they will soon end music downloads. Streaming is what fans want. All the music, at their fingertips, anytime they want it. But streaming royalty payments do not make music creators the same money as selling downloads or CDs. Music videos are a great way to attract new fans but those payments are even less than music streaming. Must music creators just accept this as the new normal? It is time for a STRATEGY REBELLION! Think back to when FM radio was all we had. Artists didn’t make money from FM radio. But we all wanted our music there. Why? Because FM radio could help us sell albums, merch, and concert tickets. So, let’s think of music streaming like FM radio... a way to attracts FANS. Fans that we can sell too. Fans that will pay to be entertained. All we need to do is come up with new things fans are willing to pay for. We want your suggestions. Using our contact page and suggest digital items you think your fans might pay for. Things like access to stream your music before everyone else and including a free download. Access to versions of a previous songs done a new way or a video of you singing this song that has not been seen. We are developing software now that will allow fans to pay you for this type of access. We have many secret ideas that we will reveal in the future. We want to help music creators make more money and we want all you rebellious thinkers to join us. Your fans spend $15 or better at the movie theater each week. They will spend a couple of dollars on you each week if you can provide entertainment that is worth it to them. Yes, it is a lot of work to be a successful music creator. You are not just a singer/songwriter. You are an entertainer. But if you have the drive and determination then you can do it and Rhythmic Rebellion is going to give you all the tools you need to be the best entertainer you can be.

This article from Billboard discusses the decisions that the 3 major music labels much make regarding when to sell their Spotify stock and how to divide it with their artists. The most troubling paragraph I have quoted next: "And what about the songwriters? Sources indicate that the publishing companies of the majors did not receive any equity at the time of the licensing negotiations, so writers who don't perform their own songs are unlikely to benefit." Spotify began trading their stock on April 3, 2018. In 2011 Spotify granted the 3 majors stock as part of the licensing of the music. Spotify did not see the need to negotiate licensing with songwriters.

Do the major music labels own Spotify? In many ways, YES! #1. The Majors own stock in Spotify. Spotify gave them stock as part of their licensing deal. #2. The Majors have deals that allow them to have their own playlist on Spotify and these playlist get priority over other playlist. This means that as an independent artist your chances of becoming a superstar on Spotify are slim to none. See the word Filtr circled in yellow, bottom left in the image posted with this article? The name Filtr is associated with many popular playlist on Spofity. Where does Filtr come from? Sony Music. Warner has Topsify and Universal has Digster. So how did this happen? How did the Majors end up with so much control over Spotify? In the beginning music streamers just used a general license to offer music to fans and paid music labels based on this license. But there were restrictions. Fans could choose the type of music they wanted to hear but they could not choose the song or build playlist. Spotify decided to change this. They went directly to the music labels and signed licensing deals that allowed Spotify Fans to hear any song they want over and over and add it to their playlist. Fans loved it. Spotify ruled the streaming market. Pandora eventually had to follow Spotify's lead. Rhythmic Rebellion has agreements directly with each artist and each artist uses our tools to design how their music will be delivered to fans. RR will never need to have direct licensing agreements with music labels and therefore will always be able to give independent artist a fair opportunity at success. Songwriters and artists agree it is nice to have a their own company, Rhythmic Rebellion, to rule and operate.

With recent Facebook deals netting labels and publishers tens of millions of dollars, and next months Spotify IPO creating a windfall of tens millions more, songwriters are demanding their fair share with the Brits leading the charge. The hashtag #soldforasong is the battle cry for a campaign launched this week by the The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA). BASCA wants to make sure that music publishers reward songwriters by following the lead of major labels who recently pledged to share in any financial benefits from Spotify’s forthcoming direct listing with their artists and associated indie labels. Similar calls are being made for music publishers to equitably share Facebook licence advances with the writers they represent. A decade after its launch Facebook has recently concluded licensing agreements with the major music publishing companies and those deals involve lump sum advance payments worth millions.

IHeartMedia, which has struggled with $20 billion of debt and falling revenue at its 858 radio stations, said cash on hand and cash generated from ongoing operations will be sufficient to fund the business during the bankruptcy process. It also owns iHeartRadio.com. The following is a list of music companies that are listed on the bankruptcy documents and how much iHeart says it owes each. SoundExchange $6.4m, ASCAP $1.4m, BMI $1.4m, Universal Music Group $1.3m, Warner Music Group $3.9m, Global Music Rights $2m. It is not clear if they will pay these amounts or not. Most of the time only secured creditors get paid and the companies listed here would be considered unsecured creditors. They will wipe out half of their debt and stay in business. This is the last thing that songwriters need as they struggle to survive in the age of streaming. The remaining question is will enough fans keep listening to FM radio for iHeart to pay their bills in the future, or will streaming put them out of business completely. FM radio used to be how songwriters paid their bills. Rhythmic Rebellion is the future of songwriters and....just in time.

On April 3rd Spotify will start being publicly traded on the stock market. Anyone will be able to buy Spotify stock. The question is will they buy it? Spotify recently published that they lost over one billion dollars in 2017 and they have no clear path to profitability. Going public will help them cut one of their biggest expenses which is the cost of financing its operations. Plus they are growing their subscription fan base very quickly passing the 71 million mark. So there is the possibility of a profit....maybe. I am a big fan of Spotify. I have used them for years and enjoyed their service. I don't pay for it. Ads don't bother me. I have great respect for Daniel Ek and his team. They are pioneers in our industry and I wish them well. Because of their losses they argue that they need to pay less to music creators. They argue they should not be required to pay songwriters. Music publishers have sued them for over one billion dollars. This is one of the reasons Rhythmic Rebellion was created. Our profits will belong to the music creators. Our goal is for music creators to make more money not less.

Sunday night Chance the Rapper received the iHeartRadio Innovator Award for his “groundbreaking accomplishments in the music industry and his unsurpassable contributions to social causes”. As you watched him give his acceptance speech you cannot help but think he is a classy guy. Very humble and giving others credit for his success. Chance may have had some help from friends but he is the first artist to make it this big without being signed to a Major Music Label. He is a pioneer and is forging a path that many up and coming artists after him will follow. Rhythmic Rebellion is looking forward to being part of this new movement. Congratulations Chance and thanks for showing us the way.

Hey World, this is Greg Allen and I am happy to announce that our Rhythmic Rebellion has been launched and is ready to fight for the benefit of songwriters and artists. We are keeping a low profile for the moment. Still testing our software, debugging, and making upgrades. Soon we will start inviting songwriters and artists to sign up with us, load their music, and make it available to fans. Get READY! You never knew a rebellion could be so much FUN!