Hypebot

By Steve Canfield of Song Cage *This piece is based on an earlier published article on Song Cage. On July 30, IFPI began applying new chart eligibility principles across the official charts it manages in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and started work with its national groups to reach twenty or so more.

By NJ Bigornia of Midnight Rebels Ask DLV what a residency actually gives you and he doesn’t talk about the paycheck. He talks about learning to read a room, week after week, at Grelle Forelle in Vienna, until he could shape the club’s whole identity from behind the decks. That’s not a small claim. It’s the difference between playing music and building a place people belong to. It matters right now because venues are getting crowded.

Thelive music and festival season in Colorado is facing significant hurdles as rising costs force fans to rethink their entertainment budgets. According to the newly released Summer Squeeze Survey by Red Rocks Credit Union, nearly 33% of Colorado residents plan to skip concerts, festivals, and major summer events entirely due to financial constraints, while another 24% are undecided.

If you spent any time near Fred again..’s corner of the internet this summer (how could you not?!), you probably encountered three young Mexican brothers singing, producing, laughing and finishing music alongside him in Mexico City. Fred again.. and LATIN MAFIA turned the creation of their collaborative mixtape, 9 months & 50 hours, into a three-day YouTube livestream watched more than 7.5 million times. Now that's a deep hang.

By Gavi Shohet Zabin, Founder/CEO of SRND AI An artist posts a TikTok -> it gets 200,000 views -> a playlist adds your song. Streams jump 40%. Release day is the biggest day of the artist’s career -> everyone celebrates. Then two weeks later, the graph comes back down. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see in independent music marketing: we treat activity as progress because activity is easier to measure.

Welcome back to our new interview series, Manager of the Month, in which we spotlight the work of successful pros in the artist management space, and ask them to share (just a few of) their coveted trade secrets... shhh! Manager of the Month is supported by Bandsintown Pro, the smarter way to promote live concert events. Joshua Smith is the longstanding guitarist for Australian heavy metal group Northlane, and has been on the road consistently for the last nearly 20 years.

This post originally appeared on Venture Music Blog Most artists think about email marketing as a way to announce things. New single out. Tour dates up. Merch available. And that's fine — but it's not why email is actually valuable. Email marketing gives artists something social media can’t: it allows you to talk directly to a fan. No algorithm deciding whether they see it. No post getting buried. Just you, in their inbox, with their full attention for thirty seconds.

On the latest Music Biz Weekly podcast, Michael Brandvold and Blasko focus on Bandcamp. its features, its benefits for independent musicians, and how it compares to other platforms. Michael shares his experience using Bandcamp for BraveWords Records, highlighting its fast payment system, high-quality audio options, and direct artist-to-fan communication capabilities.

The NAMM Show will return to the Anaheim Convention Center from January 26–30, 2027, with five days of education, networking, performances and industry events surrounding three days of exhibits. Organized by the National Association of Music Merchants, the annual gathering brings together instrument and equipment manufacturers, retailers, artists, creators, educators, audio professionals and music technology companies from around the world. The main exhibition halls will operate January 28–30.

The Live Music Society (LMS) has opened applications for its 2026 Toolbox Grant program. Independent U.S. venues with a capacity between 50 and 300 can apply for grants of up to $10,000 through September 16th. To qualify, applicants must operate a U.S. venue active since January 2023 and host a minimum of 30 live music performances a year. Unlike most grant programs, for-profit and non-profit venues can apply. Promoters and festivals are not eligible.