Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu crunch the numbers and figure out...

• Exactly how much does a Mercury prizewinner’s streams really go up after a win?

• Spotify is going to make a licensed AI music something – but what is it going to be? And will artists get paid?

• Is TPOM now a Baby Shark fan-podcast? Steve politely requests that Stu stops singing a mooted Peppa Pig/Baby Shark collaboration.

• In Australia, people are listening to less music by Australian artists (and it’s the same in the UK too) … so what are they listening to instead? And what can be done to increase fans’ local listening?

• MTV is shutting down its last music channels – so are we witnessing the death of the music video?

• What about Ireland’s idea of a basic minimum income for musicians?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• Festival Goose Poo Vacuuming!

• What did Steve chat about with Damon Albarn in the 100 Club last week (and what drink did he order?)

• Steve has some exclusive hints about the forthcoming John Niven-penned Britpop musical!

• More on the UK’s Mercury Music prize - and the growing gap between the pop-single megastars at the top and the more niche album-oriented artists at the bottom.

• What are the benefits of Neil Young being grumpy (or bold and individualist, depending on your perspective)?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠[email protected]

A special episode for you this week - where TPOM wonders: just how hard is it to run a festival in 2025, anyway? Spoiler: it's tricky, but rewarding! To find out more, we spoke to John Rostron, who started in the festival world when he co-founded the award-winning multi-venue festival Sŵn in Cardiff in 2007.

He's now CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals which represents over 150 independent UK Music Festivals – making it the single largest collective of festival audiences in the UK, with 1.3 million tickets sold.

So, we wanted to know what challenges festivals are facing today, and he shines light on what goes into putting a festival on, including sharing some astonishing facts and figures around the economics of it all. It's a fascinating interview!

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠[email protected]

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And in this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu wrap their minds around...

• How much would it cost to buy Coldplay’s very first single today?;

• Steve reveals the “best new band he’s seen in months”;

• A proper AI vs human band dust up!;

• Are the major labels about to sign deals with music-generating AI platforms?

• A splendidly indignant speech from RAYE;

• Major labels are buying up indie businesses – and now hundreds of indie labels are very angry;

• The Spotify CEO is “stepping down” (and yet is still somehow the boss);

• How have Steve and Stu finally removed ‘Baby Shark’ from their music algorithm?;

• Listeners' letters: how on earth did the UK once have four weekly music newspapers? 

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• Steve and Stu wonder exactly why second-hand records are so expensive at the moment (and how disappointingly little is Steve’s teenage copy of “Message In A Bottle” on green vinyl worth?)

• And more on Slady - the only all-female Slade tribute band, don’t forget – and on buying tickets in advance.

• Do bands get a better reception when they travel to remote cities to perform?

• Should we call AI artists “artists” – or something else entirely?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠[email protected]

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And goodness me, there's a lot in this week’s episode of The Price of Music for our dynamic duo to get stuck into...

• Listener Richard sent us a great question about music journalism – and Steve has a lot to say when answering: what’s changed about music journalism, whether music journalism is still important, where the music print media has gone, and what the future of music writing holds.

• (Plus - does Steve get paid when his 1991 “Nevermind” NME review is re-printed today?)

• Stu’s Big Number is 75 million – and they are “spam tracks” that Spotify has removed from its service in the last year alone. But what on earth is a spam song anyway?

• What extra information do artists need to attach to their songs when they upload music? 

• Spotify has new rules around AI music – so what’s banned, and what’s not banned?

• TikTok is apparently about to be sold in the US (maybe) – but why is TikTok so important to the music industry?

• Why are old Billie Eilish and Rihanna songs re-emerging to huge popularity?

• The Great Record Shop Album Filing Debate rumbles on – where would you file Elton John – “E” or “J”? 

• (Plus: a listener report from the Resident Records shop that started it all…)

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• More on music journalism: are video creators being ‘encouraged’ to do certain reviews? (And in what ways in the past were journalists persuaded to write reviews?)

• Doing an artist interview in real life versus doing it over Zoom

• Should online influencers who help songs become successful get a cut of the song’s profits?

• Introducing Slady – the all-women Slade tribute band! (And why did they have to cancel a gig?) 

• Why are people now buying tickets at the very last minute - and why does the economics of ticketing mean artists won’t be able to do as many gigs?

• Do you always turn up early for support bands – and have you ever discover a new favourite band this way?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠[email protected]

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s multi-faceted episode of The Price of Music our intrepid duo get to grips with...

• Stu’s Big Number is One Hundred Billion Dollars… but who has paid it to whom and should that number actually be bigger?

• Ticketmaster is being sued by the US government for ‘illegal ticket resale tactics’ and deceiving artists and fans - but what will happen now?

• Why have Massive Attack also pulled their music from Spotify everywhere? (and how does it relate to AI drone weapons?)

• And why have hundreds of artists pulled their music from streaming platforms in Israel?

• The Great Album Filing Debate: If Ben Folds is filed under "F" is Ben Folds Five filed under "B"? What about Prince when he was a symbol?

• More AI-artists are finding success – including Steve’s nightmare: an AI-generated Country music album. 

• Artist Lizzo thinks that music videos are dead and that authentic self-videos are key; meanwhile, major research says that "going viral" on social media may not help artists build their fanbases after all. So who is right??

• Stu once again gets excited by Taylor Swift (and this time it’s a cinema-based launch party)

• Why are people suddenly listening to "My Humps" again?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• Which instrument did Steve (reluctantly) learn at school? (And how did he get tricked into learning it again just after he'd given it up?)

• Which nationality of people travels abroad the most to visit music events?

• How does learning an instrument make you a better doctor?

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s action-packed episode of The Price of Music: a bunch of extremely interesting music biz questions are answered by our intrepid duo...

• Stu’s Big Number is 30,000 and relates to the number of AI-generated songs… but why so many songs and where are they going?

• Why are Radiohead’s fans getting angry about tickets (“that don’t exist”)?

• The Great TPOM Record-Filing Debate continues: do you file Van Morrison under ‘V’ or ‘M’? And where does a record by the band 86TVs go?

• Why has Spotify given paying users lossless music for free (and is ‘Lossless’ a long-lost My Bloody Valentine album?

• Did Steve and Stu cause Morrissey to get so many offers for his Smiths songs that he deleted his email address?

• How did King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard fill the entire Top 30 album chart on Bandcamp (and why)?

• What is the (depressing) reason that Bad Bunny has chosen not to tour in the mainland USA?

• How much is Bjork’s VR album re-master?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• The UK’s Mercury Prize shortlist has been announced – what do Steve and Stu think of the finalists and why is Steve “flabbergasted” by one specific missing nominee?

• Steve and Stu’s true feelings about lossless audio - is it actually worth it?

• What is the sole record on Steve’s Discogs Want List, and why does he regret not buying it when it came up for sale recently?

• What is Stu’s ideal Christmas gift? And could it possibly be connected to The Black Crowes, much to Steve’s amusement?

• Can you guess Steve’s response to Stu saying “I should now give you a lecture on The Black Crowes’ ‘Amorica’ album”?

• What is the best song about the fans of The Smiths?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship, email - ⁠⁠[email protected]

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s The Price of Music: an urgent-ish delve into the news that Morrissey has announced he wants to sell his ownership of The Smiths’ songs… including a suggestion from Steve and Stu about how Johnny Marr might buy the songs off Morrissey via a gmail address that Morrissey put online.

And then Steve and Stu take a deep dive into a fantastic question from listener Simon who asked: artists often say that they are not making enough money from music streaming but are artists REALLY worse off today in the music streaming age?

To answer this, Steve and Stu wander down some... interesting pathways. They:

• talk to their Top Secret Sources in the artist and label world, and found out the answer… (which may surprise you);
• hypothesise about both Mazzy Star AND Bonnie Tyler’s record contracts;
• chat to Spotify, which reveals to our dynamic duo about how much they paid Mazzy Star and Bonnie Tyler(!);
• wonder how being a ‘radio artist’ pays compared to a ‘streaming artist’;
• dig into artist deals: because the money paid from streaming doesn’t go to the artist first;
• ask why the artists who ARE doing well from streaming platforms aren’t talking about it?
• …and tangentially… is TPOM better to listen to on a treadmill than Hi-NRG house music? A brief discussion.

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• The time Steve worked in a record shop for a day; and he immediately faced a quandary: which letter should he file PJ Harvey under?
• Steve gently chides Stu over his love of a Songs Of The Summer Stats List from TikTok, which includes a load of old nostalgia songs
• Radiohead are back – and how do you sell tickets to shows that will be massively-oversubscribed and make sure those tickets get to real fans?
• After Covid’s impact, money spent on live music is up - and more popular than ever.  But what were Steve and Stu’s first gigs after Covid?
• A call for your suggestions of hard-to-file records!

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship, email - ⁠[email protected]

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s The Price of Music:

• Steve takes over Big Number duties to reveal how many weeks ‘ABBA Gold’ has been in the UK’s album chart

• The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Light’ hits 5bn Spotify streams – but what is he raising $1bn for?

• Why has Spotify reintroduced messaging inside its app, and would Steve or Stuart use it?

• Apple Music’s radio stations are expanding beyond their parent service

• Sad TikTokers have given Radiohead a new chart hit in the US with an old song

• Bandcamp is enlisting DJs and journalists to curate $13-a-month clubs for music and community.

• More shade for The Smiths’ tracklisting skills.

• Plus music speakers made out of rocket-fuel tanks, which we almost certainly can’t afford.

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

• Why Stuart never liked The Smiths – and Steve’s recommendation of the perfect song to explain that

• How Steve and family arrived three hours early to queue for a Conan Grey gig – and still found hundreds of people ahead of them

• The tale of Stuart accidentally queuing for a selfie with Grumpy Cat in the days of Peak YouTube Cat Videos

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: [email protected]

If you want an easy guide to the music biz and how it all works – here we are! In this week's The Price of Music:

• Stuart’s Big Number involves Coldplay, a lot of sold-out Wembley stadium gigs, and the band raising money for grass roots venues

• Has Steve actually “gone deaf for a living?”

• Chinese streaming platforms have a “Super VIP” subscription that costs 5x as much (and 15m people are paying for it…)

• Ticketing re-selling platform StubHub: how does it work, how many tickets are being sold by users, and what on earth is “speculative ticketing”?

• Bandcamp processes $3.5m of sales on the most recent Bandcamp Friday, where all money goes to artists

• The soundtrack from animated pop group Netflix film K-Pop Demon Hunters has now had billions (and billions… and billions) of streams in just a few months

• (Also: 25% of US kids say that K-Pop is their favourite music genre)

• More badly-tracklisted albums! 

• Due to high demand: more of Stu’s thoughts on Taylor Swift (her approach to buying back her recordings, not her music, honest)

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart loosen their ties, lean against the bar a bit more, and chat about:

• Why Liam Gallagher has been banned from throwing his tambourine into the crowd

• Which 80s pop-soul singer did Steve write the tour programme for?

• Olivia Rodrigo's $38 tour book – how much would you pay for your favourite artist’s book?

• How much will fans pay for unreleased demos and live tracks? 

• And how much stuff like that does Radiohead have in their (allegedly giant) bunker of songs?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: [email protected]

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship, email - [email protected]

Steve and Stu have questions – so many questions. Fortunately they also have answers! In this episode:

• Stuart's Big Number is 217.5 million... and what does it have to do with a B-side by US indie rock icons Pavement?

• Steve wants to know which albums have the songs sequenced in the "wrong" order? (And which Blur album does he have a controversial tracklisting opinion about?)

• Spotify's prices go up (again) – and who is happy about it and why?

• How easy is it to get a #1 album now – and did indie band The K's do it by selling CDs?

• Live-show promoters Live Nation have made "stonking" profits – and have sold 130m tickets. And it's because stadium shows are incredibly popular at the moment – but why?

• Napster are being sued by Sony Music... so have Stuart and Steve accidentally travelled back to the year 2000, or is something else happening?

• Donating a kidney for a sold-out festival ticket;

• Stuart waits up all night for the Taylor Swift album announcement – or is it a pre-pre-pre-announcement announcement?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stuart chat about:

• The time when the man in front of Steve in the guestlist queue claimed that he was Steve Lamacq;

• (And the time when Steve claimed he was someone else to get into a Bob Mould gig);

• Steve’s top tip for legitimately getting into a sold-out gig;

• The time Stuart accidentally ended up at a minor reality TV star’s birthday party;

• Stuart CONFESSES ALL about his ILLEGAL Napster use in 1999 (and how he downloaded the pop songs he felt too ashamed to buy in the shops);

• How Stuart was once gifted - and then lost - a $2000 bottle of tequila.

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: [email protected]

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

======

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship, email - [email protected]