Tag Archives: features

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. “Executive songwriter” isn’t a title. But Madison Love — who’s penned smash hits like Selena Gomez’s “Rare,” Lady Gaga’s “Sour Candy,” …

“Who is it that’s going to take the chance to go back on tour?” The question, voiced by a prominent music booking agent in the U.S., captures the sentiment of roiling uncertainty across the music industry right now. When President Joe Biden said this week that America will have enough …

In October, Johnny Cloherty, co-founder of the digital marketing company Songfluencer, dashed off an email to several labels: Christmas was nearly three months away, but Cloherty advised his partners to act like the holiday was imminent. Christmas music owns the chartsevery December, and if labels wanted to enjoy a piece …

Despite never showing his face publicly or signing a proper record deal, Marshmello is one of the biggest stars in the world, with a YouTube subscriber count exceeding that of Taylor Swift, Drake, or Beyoncé. The DJ would likely not be where he is today without the guidance of Moe …

Early in 2019, Sub Urban’s “Cradles” — a pinging, defiantly introverted single — helped establish a path that has now become commonplace in the music industry: A deluge of TikTok users picked “Cradles” to soundtrack their 15-second videos, leading to a surge in streams, and the wave of interest helped …

Music publishing has never been more commercially vibrant — from some perspectives, at least. Institutional investors are increasingly viewing evergreen music copyrights as hot property. Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Songs Fund is paying notoriously high multiples to acquire songwriter and publishing catalogs, and it hit an all-time share price high in …

I n June 2019, Mitch Mills, a senior vice president of radio promotion at Elektra Records, sent an urgent text to Steve Zap, an independent radio promoter who works with a number of stations in the adult contemporary format. The pair are both longtime players in the music industry, and …

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the biggest crises the music industry has seen in decades. As the pandemic expands, artists are delaying their album releases, streaming is down, and the live sector has shut down, putting tens of thousands of mostly freelance workers in potential dire straits. The …

Coming out of a decade of upheaval, the music business has never been such a challenging — or thrilling — place to work. What does a career in music look like in 2020? How do decision makers balance the traditional philosophies of their industry with new responsibilities, the endless flood …

First off, Apple says, this isn’t an awards show. It’s not a concert, either; it’s much more than “just a concert,” much different from “anything you’ve ever seen before,” much less possible to describe. For one evening, the tech company has turned its campus into a public music venue to …