Music Biz 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. “Throughout my life, I’ve been judged because I’ve been labeled a pretty girl,” says Saweetie. But like a diamond, Saweetie is …

A few weeks ago, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the state would reopen large arenas at 10 percent capacity for sports and music — spiking Google searches for “concerts in 2021” and setting off a flurry of excited chatter about live music‘s long-awaited return. “One thing is clear, we …

At the start of the pandemic, concerns were mounting that the record industry was going to get lacerated. But at least in the case of the major music companies — Universal, Sony, and Warner — a different narrative is now starting to emerge. Not only were Sony’s recorded music revenues …

This is the ninth installment of Rolling Stone’s seriesAt Work, in which we explore the fast-changing music business from the perspective of a different industry leader each week. Readearlier pieces in the series here. Wendy Ong is an anomaly in the U.S. music business: She grew up in Singapore, didn’t …

Ten months ago, I calculated that DIY artists would earn more than $1 billion from their music royalties (records plus publishing) across 2019, stating this was a number that was “only going to escalate in the years ahead.” At the time, that risked sounding a little hubristic — but it …

Michael Dorf founded his first music venue, the Knitting Factory, in New York City in 1986. In the years since, his business has weathered all kinds of calamities. “We were probably the closest venue to the World Trade Center area back in 2001,” Dorf says. “I’ve been open during blackouts …

First things first, says Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson: “We only work in guarantees.” Hutchinson is one of three founders of Discwoman, an artist collective, booking agency, and events platform for women and gender-nonconforming electronic artists. Established in 2014 by Hutchinson as well as coordinator Christine McCharen-Tran and DJ-artist Emma Burgess-Olson, Discwoman …

What do you know about Spotify, the Swedish music company? Five researchers who have spent the last several years investigating the inner workings of the global platform would argue that it is neither particularly Swedish nor truly a music company: They posit that Spotify is a shape-shifting tech business, serving …