meta-scriptWhat will Spotify for Artists mean for the industry? | GRAMMY.com
What will Spotify for Artists mean for the industry?

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What will Spotify for Artists mean for the industry?

Also in this week's TechWatch: Dish, Facebook, FCC, Merlin, and T-Mobile

Advocacy/May 15, 2017 - 01:36 pm

Rounding up recent tech news that impacts livelihoods in the creative community …

Spotify for Artists promises closer connection to fan bases
On April 18 Spotify announced the launch of its Fan Insights upgrade called Spotify for Artists. The Fan Insights dashboard launched in 2015, signed up more than 10,000 artists and produced copious feedback now integrated into Spotify's new platform. Monitoring fan engagement has allowed artists to expand tours and better target promotions. Improvements to Spotify for Artists should help close the loop connecting artists and management teams with their emerging fan bases. Up-and-comers will no longer need 250 followers to apply for verified status, and all Fan Insights users will be converted to Spotify for Artists. Separately, on April 20 Spotify and indie record label group Merlin announced a multiyear licensing deal, including terms for windowing, restricting album availability to paid users for the first two weeks from release similar to Spotify's recent deal with UMG.

Facebook conference boosts sensory enhancement and in-camera AI
Facebook's F8 2017 conference was held April 18–19 and announced research breakthroughs and upcoming features under development, including augmented/virtual reality, artificial intelligence and even the ability to hear through skin stimulation. F8 promotes the concept that internet-based communication can unfold a more data-rich experience of the world or allow us to detach from our surroundings. For example, Facebook Spaces would offer an immersive VR hangout for friends. Pieces of this picture are still missing, such as eyeglasses able to display overlay imagery, but Facebook, Instagram and Messenger cameras will soon benefit from onboard artificial intelligence, allowing enhancement, recognition and annotation while on the go.

T-Mobile, Dish are biggest buyers in FCC spectrum auction
On April 13 the Federal Communications Commission announced the conclusion of the auctions phase of its broadcast spectrum repack that began five years ago. The auctions that were held began with a so-called "reverse auction," letting sellers set the prices at which they would be willing to sell, followed by a second auction with competitive bidding between buyers. Out of $19.8 billion and 70 MHz of auctioned spectrum, T-Mobile purchased approximately 31 MHz for $8 billion, 45 percent of the auction's inventory. Its acquisitions in the low-band range are expected to improve national coverage. Dish spent $6.2 billion and the next highest was Comcast with $1.7 billion. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, "Now, we begin the post-auction transition period. ... There is still much work ahead of us."

More advocacy at The Academy: Go inside the 2017 GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards

Justin Bieber Breaks Streaming Record As Spotify's Most Listened-To Artist

Justin Bieber

Photo: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas

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Justin Bieber Breaks Streaming Record As Spotify's Most Listened-To Artist

Justin Bieber currently boasts the most monthly listeners on Spotify, scoring the biggest number in the platform's 15-year history

GRAMMYs/Aug 31, 2021 - 12:33 am

Just five months after the release of his sixth studio album, Justice, Justin Bieber has broken the internet. As Spotify's all-time most listened-to artist, the Canadian singer nabbed a total of 83.3 monthly listeners, based on the platform's July data. Tailed by The Weeknd (74.53 million monthly listeners) and Ed Sheeran (72.41 million monthly listeners), Bieber has remained on the charts, credited to surprise features over the summer and his "Peaches" collaboration with Daniel Caesar and Giveon.

Following the release of Justice, Bieber joined The Kid LAROI on the young Aussie rapper's single "STAY"—which has spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—along with the remix of "Essence" by Nigerian artists WizKid and Tems. Featured on the deluxe re-release of WizKid album Made in Lagos, Bieber's appearance on "Essence" was accused of cultural appropriation on social media, but also received a global push on the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 82 on the US Hot 100.

In an oral history article about "Essence" by Rolling Stone, Bieber's DJ and personal A&R Tay James explained Bieber's impact on the song's remix:

"When Justin hops on a record, he'll take it from just being a hip-hop or an urban or an Afrobeats record. It's going to bring other eyes; people who probably didn't even know about the record," James said. "Now they hear it, and now they know who Wizkid is. So, that's part of the reason why we want[ed] to hop on it, too, also just to shine light on these talented artists, which is what I think Justin is really good at."

With over ten years at the top of his game, breaking Spotify's all-time monthly listener record is yet another notch in Bieber's career trajectory and a milestone in his multi-genre influence.

For The Record: How Aaliyah Redefined Her Sound And Herself On 'One In A Million'

From Small Stages To The GRAMMY Stage: How Four Venue Professionals Became Presenters At The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

The Apollo Theater

Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

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From Small Stages To The GRAMMY Stage: How Four Venue Professionals Became Presenters At The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

Operators and staff at the Station Inn, the Troubadour, the Apollo Theater and Hotel Café appeared during the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show to petition viewers for help—and promise an epic party for them if they do

GRAMMYs/Mar 24, 2021 - 07:43 pm

The Recording Academy reimagined everything about the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show on a more intimate scale, and the choice of presenters was no different. When it came time to announce the Best Country Album winner, the person who appeared on screen wasn't a slick Nashville superstar, but a soft-spoken, older man who's unrecognizable to a global audience but beloved in the Music City. His name was J.T. Gray, and he grinned ear-to-ear on national TV.

In a segment recorded a month prior, Gray showed the camera crew around the Station Inn, the 145-person-capacity bluegrass venue he'd owned since 1981. Despite the room receiving almost no income for a year due to the live music industry shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gray was rosy about the future. "Getting to reopen the Station Inn, that's going to be a celebration like never before," he promised. "It's going to be a big party." He then announced the winner, Miranda Lambert, to the world. Gray was naturally quiet and reserved, a closed book. Not after that shoot, though.

"He was just beside himself the whole time," Jeff Brown, the Station Inn's marketing director, tells GRAMMY.com. "He just never believed it was happening. He just didn't believe that his little venue was being recognized on that kind of scale, that those many people in a place with the GRAMMYs and the Recording Academy's recognition actually paid attention. He just couldn't believe it." On Sunday, March 14, Gray astonishedly watched himself on CBS. The following Saturday, he passed away after a struggle with compounding health problems.

Gray might not get to attend the "big party" when things open up. But 9 million people heard his message.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Troubadour offers our deepest condolences to JT Grey’s family, friends, and those at <a href="https://twitter.com/stationinn1974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stationinn1974</a>. JT created a special home for bluegrass, country music, and more in Nashville, TN. He leaves behind a beautiful legacy and will be missed by many.<a href="https://t.co/rGwZGuDoXK">https://t.co/rGwZGuDoXK</a></p>&mdash; Troubadour (@theTroubadour) <a href="https://twitter.com/theTroubadour/status/1374515380622794753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

For a year, venues worldwide have been hanging on by a thread: struggling to pay their rent, waiting in vain for federal aid, and given no clear finish line as to when they can reopen. That's why, with the Recording Academy's blessing, Executive Producer Ben Winston asked Gray, as well as representatives from the Troubadour and Hotel Café in Los Angeles and the Apollo Theater in New York City, to present at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards and talk about their economic struggles during the pandemic. Together, they sounded a shared refrain to the world: We matter to our communities, and we need help.

The venues that spoke their piece during the 63rd GRAMMY Awards were members of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). An assemblage of independent venue owners and promoters from around the country, NIVA formed directly in response to the 2020 lockdown. "We figured we'd better find a way to come together and lobby for federal assistance," Audrey Schaefer, a board member and the Communications Director for NIVA, tells GRAMMY.com. "Because otherwise, we're all going under."

The Steel Wheels at Station Inn in 2015. Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music via Getty Images

Last year, NIVA, along with the Recording Academy and other music organizations, lobbied Congress via the Save Our Stages Act and succeeded. On Dec. 27, the decree became the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and passed along with the COVID relief package. "In that grant fund is $16 billion," Schaefer says. "For an organization that didn't exist before … nobody gave us any hopes of being able to secure that kind of funding. But we did. We got the law passed."

However, venues have not yet seen that money. "We understand that the applications will start at the beginning of April," she adds with relief in her voice.

In the meantime, Scheafer mulled over how best to convey to the world the existential crises venues face. "I was thinking that the GRAMMYs couldn't possibly be at the Beverly Hilton like it normally is—in a big ballroom—because we can't be together," she says. "I thought, 'What if the GRAMMYs were to have the award show, and instead of having all the performances under one roof, they were to have them in independent venues?'"

To try and give this idea legs, Schaefer reached out to Daryl Friedman, Chief Advocacy Officer of the Recording Academy's Advocacy division. "He said, 'Listen, Audrey, I think that's a great idea, but they have a million great ideas. So, let me take it to them and we'll see what happens,'" she recalls. Schaefer persistently followed up. "I kept asking Daryl, 'What do you think? What are you hearing?'"

But unbeknown to her, the Recording Academy and the production team were already independently planning to highlight independent venues and their employees as an advocacy initiative and add a personal moment to the broadcast. "And then I found out that, oh my gosh, they do want to do it," she adds with awe.

Billie Eilish at the Troubadour in 2019. Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Granted, the Recording Academy didn't agree to host performances at independent venues. But Schaefer calls the idea they decided to go with "so much better." Instead, venue professionals would take viewers on a tour of their workplaces, illustrating their value to their communities and why they desperately need help. Participants included the Station Inn's Gray; Rachelle Erratchu, the night manager at the Troubadour; Billy Mitchell, the tour guide and overall house cat at the Apollo Theater in Harlem; and Candice Fox, a bartender at the Hotel Café in Hollywood.

For Erratchu, the problem extends further than keeping the lights on at the Troubadour; the entire live music ecosystem is in trouble. "We need everybody else to survive so that we can survive," she tells GRAMMY.com. "If we don't exist and all the other venues across the country don't exist, the tour circuit as we know it and have relied on it for decades won't exist anymore."

For Billy Mitchell, the Historical Tour Manager and overall global representative of the Apollo Theater who has earned the title of "Mr. Apollo," his job isn't a means to an end; he lives and breathes it. Mitchell's time at the Apollo began in 1965 when he ran errands for James Brown and his band. During the telecast, Mitchell relates a funny story of how the Godfather of Soul sent him all the way home to the Bronx to get his report card, threatening to put his job on ice if he didn't get better grades.

COVID forced the Apollo to temporarily furlough some its staff. To be forced to stop, it was heartbreaking, to be honest with you," Mitchell tells GRAMMY.com. "I give tours to people from all over the world, and they're unable to visit because of COVID restrictions and things like that." While the not-for-profit has offered digital programming in the meantime, most of it has been free as not to burden fans. Thankfully, at press time, all staff members have returned full-time.

Billy Mitchell at the Apollo Theater in 2009. Photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage via Getty Images​

The Apollo has been lucky, in a sense; corporate and private donations have kept it afloat. Still, they're not out of the woods yet. "Donations are needed so that when we do reopen, we can pump out those great shows and bring back our staff," Mitchell says. "We want to bring back our staff as soon as possible." 

In the clip played during the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, Mitchell addressed viewers from the empty audience. "We miss our audience and we can't wait until our doors open up again," he says. "We just can't wait."

Candice Fox, a bartender at Hollywood's Hotel Café, believes there will be an outpouring of activity at her workplace once it's safe again. "I like to believe people are going to want to make up for lost time," she tells GRAMMY.com. "I know that people are itching to perform. People are so excited to experience that exchange of energy again. So, I think it's going to explode."

In line with Erratchu's thoughts on the overall music ecosystem, Fox notes that Katy Perry cut her teeth at the 65-capacity room on Cahuenga Boulevard. "She wasn't the big pop star she is now; she was just a girl with a guitar," she says. "So many artists' careers and the GRAMMYs couldn't exist without small, independent venues like the Hotel Café because you've got to start somewhere." In her clip, Fox ruminates on the regulars she's missed for a year, pouring a Boddingtons and mixing an Old Fashioned to an array of empty stools.

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds at Hotel Café in 2015. Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images​   

At the end of every venue vignette, each venue representative announced the winner of their assigned categories: Best Country Album for Gray (Miranda Lambert's Wildcard), Best Pop Solo Performance for Erratchu (Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar"), Best Rap Song for Billy Mitchell (Beyoncé's and Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage Remix") and Album Of The Year for Fox (Taylor Swift's folklore). All four were thrilled to appear and encourage viewers to support their workplaces—whether by donating directly, paying for a livestream or purchasing a T-shirt. 

That way, the lights at the Station Inn, the Troubadour, the Apollo and Hotel Café can flare up again, ensuring these cultural hubs don't become figments of the past. And if you want to know how memorable the inevitable "COVID is over" parties will be, just look at Gray's blazing smile during the GRAMMYs.

"I can probably count a very [small] number of times that I've seen him truly smile," the Station Inn's Brown reflects. "But truly smiling—that's what he was doing here."

Click here to support the Station Inn.

Click here to support the Troubadour.

Click here to support the Apollo Theater.

Click here to support Hotel Café.

Click here to support NIVA.

Capturing Los Angeles' COVID-Closed Venues

The Recording Academy Partners With Top Brands For 63rd GRAMMY Awards

GRAMMY statues at the 61st GRAMMY Awards in 2019

 

Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

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The Recording Academy Partners With Top Brands For 63rd GRAMMY Awards

This year's official marketing partners will help safely celebrate Music's Biggest Night

GRAMMYs/Mar 9, 2021 - 08:00 pm

Today, the Recording Academy proudly announced its official marketing partners for the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, officially known as the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. Bulova, Facebook, IBM, JBL, Mastercard, Pandora, PEOPLE, and SiriusXM are all supporters of this year's GRAMMY Awards, as well as events taking place throughout GRAMMY Week. 

"We are fortunate to be putting on the 63rd GRAMMY Awards alongside these extraordinary brands," Adam Roth, Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Business Development at the Recording Academy, said. "They are united in their belief that music is a healing force that can bring much-needed change to our world. Our partners stand with the Academy as we work year-round to build a more diverse and inspiring world for music creators. We are thrilled to work with these industry-leading partners to excite and engage passionate music fans everywhere."

Bulova, the Official Timepiece Partner, celebrates GRAMMY-nominated artists with an exclusive watch from their music-inspired GRAMMY Edition watch collection. First-time GRAMMY Award winners will be gifted with an exclusive edition "GRAMMY Automatic" watch, infused with musical cues throughout and a "Circle of Fifths" dial design.

Learn More: The Recording Academy Partners With Bulova To Present Exclusive Edition GRAMMY Timepieces Featuring GRAMMIUM

Facebook is the Exclusive Streaming Partner of the GRAMMY Live pre-show. Music-loving Facebook Groups will have the unique opportunity to participate in the first-ever virtual Fan Zone where members will be featured in hosted segments and have their questions answered by some of their favorite GRAMMY-nominated artists. The virtual Fan Zone will be a destination throughout the night where Facebook Group members can engage on in-show performances and award winners. GRAMMY Live will stream to the GRAMMY Awards Facebook page at 3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 14.

IBM, the Official Cloud & AI Partner, launched GRAMMY Debates with Watson, alongside the Recording Academy, an AI-curated music debate experience available to fans around the world. The experience allows music fans to contribute their individual points of view to some of the most important music-related conversations today. Additionally, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards day-of-show takeover on GRAMMY.com will be hosted for the first time entirely on the IBM Cloud.

Learn More: The Recording Academy And IBM Debut New Fan Experience Powered By Watson And IBM Cloud Ahead Of The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

JBL, the Official Audio Partner, presents "Tomorrow's Sounds," alongside the Recording Academy, a new program created to support the next generation of musicians and artists. Through a digital content series, JBL and the Recording Academy will highlight emerging artists and help tell their stories to a global fanbase.

Mastercard, the Official Payment Technology Partner, is the presenting sponsor of the Inaugural Black Music Collective GRAMMY Week Celebration on Wednesday, March 10. Additionally, they've partnered with the Black Music Collective to present a GRAMMY U Masterclass with multi-faceted artist Tayla Parx on Thursday, March 11. On Music's Biggest Night, Mastercard will host a Virtual Fan Wall experience for select cardholders to interact with some of this year's GRAMMY nominees. Details for all events is available on Priceless.com. 

Read: The Recording Academy Announces Official GRAMMY Week 2021 Events

Pandora launched the first-ever official GRAMMY Awards Radio, which will run from Feb. 5 through March 31. The station celebrates musical excellence and all things GRAMMY Awards including hits from GRAMMY nominees and past winners, as well as behind-the-scenes stories as told by the artists themselves. Pandora and the Recording Academy will host the Pandora LIVE Countdown to the GRAMMY Awards event at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 11, featuring an all-female lineup of current GRAMMY nominees including HAIM, Brittany Howard, and CHIKA.

Learn More: Pandora Announces Lineup For Pandora LIVE Countdown To The GRAMMY Awards: Haim, Brittany Howard And CHIKA Confirmed 

PEOPLE, the Exclusive Magazine Partner, will livestream from the GRAMMY Awards with a pre-show featuring interviews from this year's nominees and performers. People & Entertainment Weekly Red Carpet Live: Grammy Awards will stream at 6:30 p.m. ET on people.comew.com, PEOPLE and EW social channels and the PeopleTV app.

SiriusXM, the Official Satellite Radio Sponsor, launched the first-ever The GRAMMY Channel— airing for a limited time March 2 through 14 on Channel 104.  The GRAMMY Channel will feature a variety of music from this year's nominees across the GRAMMY Awards' 30 Fields, all leading up to the live broadcast of Music's Biggest Night.  Listeners can also expect to hear music from GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Honorees such as Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena and Talking Heads, as well as exclusive interviews with music's biggest stars from behind the scenes at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards.

Listen Now: The Recording Academy And SiriusXM Launch The GRAMMY Channel Ahead Of The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

For more information on official GRAMMY Awards partners, please visit: bulova.com, facebook.com, ibm.com/grammys, jbl.com, mastercard.com, pandora.com, people.com, and siriusxm.com.

The Recording Academy will present the 63rd GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, March 14, 2021, on CBS, from 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT with Emmy Award-winning "The Daily Show" host and comedian Trevor Noah serving as host. The Premiere Ceremony will stream live on GRAMMY.com beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. PT.

How To Watch The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show: A Viewer's Guide On Where To Watch Music's Biggest Night

The Best Apps & Tools For Recording And Monetizing Music In The COVID-19 Era

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The Best Apps & Tools For Recording And Monetizing Music In The COVID-19 Era

Here's a rundown of some easy-to-use apps and tools for recording and monetizing your music in the COVID-19 era

GRAMMYs/Jun 10, 2020 - 02:04 am

We are currently living in an unprecedented era around music creation and touring. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all business has been forced to become remote, making it difficult for artists to maintain their usual level of activity. Of course, though the music landscape looks totally different right now, artists are finding new and innovative ways to get their music heard, be it through livestreams, engaging with fans via social media or launching subscription models that offer exclusive content to fans. To that end, here's a rundown of some exciting new apps and tools for recording and monetizing your music in the COVID-19 era. 

Recording Tools

There are plenty of social media options for getting your work out there: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch are just some of the possible platforms you can use to capture your recording. 

There's also a new all-in-one app called RMusic, which allows songwriters to collaboratively write music on the go. Not only does RMusic let you to record ideas directly onto a virtual project file, but you can punch in new lines, edit takes, invite other collaborators from your address book, type lyrics, undo takes and communicate with project members from within the app.

Live Broadcast & Streaming Channels

Facebook: According to a new Remote Musicians Handbook put together by the Berklee College of Music, Facebook is the best venue for livestreaming if your audience skews a little older. 

Instagram: Meanwhile, Instagram, which has a feature that allows other people to join your live stream as guests, is ideal for younger audiences. "Based on your social media engagement on each platform, you can make an informed decision about which platform will be best for your fans," the handbook writes. "Both of these are well-suited for unannounced livestreams as notifications will go out to engaged fans, as well as letting your fans know ahead of time when you will be streaming."

YouTube: Then there's YouTube, which offers a number of monetization options and scheduling tools, such as pre-stream and in-stream ads, donations and merch sales. YouTube will even notify your followers when you go live and will allow you to schedule a live stream ahead of time. And as the stream takes place, YouTube lets viewers ask questions and interact with the streamer. 

TikTok: If you're on the super music-friendly app TikTok, did you know that you can activate a live stream if you have more than 1,000 followers? Once watching your livestream, viewers can purchase stickers, and a portion of the money is donated to the streamer. According to the aforementioned handbook, on TikTok these purchases are made using "coins." Coins start at $0.99 for 65 coins and go up to $99.99 for 6,697 coins. In turn, users can buy stickers, called "Virtual Gifts," for anywhere from 1 to 100 coins.
     
Twitch: The video game streaming platform can be useful for engaging new fans. Because this app hosts as many as 4 million viewers at once (according to TwitchTracker) actively encourages discovering new streamers, artists can show up under Twitch's "Music & Performing Arts" section (with 2.3 million followers). Here, according to the handbook, "the music ranges from metal to violin covers to singer-songwriters, and is generally more diverse genre-wise than more mainstream platforms."

If you want to monetize your work on Twitch, know that streamers get paid when new subscribers follow them and viewers donate to the streamer. Some streamers use new followers and donations as mechanisms to unlock new content or segments. Some will take requests at certain follower count or donation levels, others run merch giveaways, or give followers access to exclusive content.

OBS Software: OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers.

Nugs.net: Get live music on demand. Nugs.net offers a collection of more than 15,000 full-length concert recordings from the likes of Pearl Jam, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Dead & Company and more. Try it free with a 30-day trial.

Houseparty: This social networking service enables group video chatting through mobile and desktop apps. Users receive a notification when friends are online and available to group video chat. 

StageIt: Founded in 2009, Stageit is a web-based performance venue that hosts paid livestreamed performances. Artists choose when they want to perform, for how long, and how much they want to charge. 

Crowdcast: This video platform hosts live video Q&As, interviews, summits, webinars and more.

Streamlabs: This streaming platform can stream audio to Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. 

BandsInTown: Use BandsInTown to promote your live stream shows. You can even engage new fans and monetize shows through BandsInTown's Twitch partnership.

Fan & Membership Platforms

Patreon: Patreon gives fans access to exclusive artist content for a monthly fee, might be the first option that comes to mind when it comes to fan and membership platforms. But Patreon is only the beginning. Gumroad lets creators offer digital and physical products for sale, while its dashboard provides insight into how your sales are doing and how fans are consuming your content.

Squarespace: Offers subscription products in their store, integrating directly with your website and can be sold alongside your other merch products. 

Shopify: For $40/month, Shopify offers apps that allow you to offer subscriptions from your Shopify ecommerce store, which is helpful if you are offering physical goods as part of your subscription. 

Bandzoogle: Sell music, merch, downloads  and tickets, commission-free. Once you add a store, you can start selling music, downloads, tickets and band merch. Monthly fees start at $8.29.

Ghost: With Ghost, which is free to join, you can publish content online, grow an audience with email newsletters and make money from premium memberships.

Memberful: Memberful helps independent publishers, educators, and creators sell memberships to their audience and build sustainable businesses. You can integrate with Wordpress, send email newsletters, create private podcasts and more. Pricing is free to start and goes up to $25 or $100 per month.

Digital Production Marketplaces, including licensing and sell music, samples, and custom sounds:

Splice: Splice Studio gives you access to millions of royalty-free samples, MIDI and presets on mobile, web and desktop for $7.99/mo. 

ScoreAScore: This music production, licensing and supervision company puts producers in need of original music directly in contact with the composers who create it.

Beatstars: Beatstars is an online marketplace to buy and sell beats.

Putting The Plan Into Action

Now that you have the tools, all you need is to put a plan into action. The Remote Musicians Handbook suggests that you first analyze your audience to get a sense of their social media profiles. Then, you may want to run an unnanounced test live stream, just to get a sense of who's showing up. Then, schedule a series of announced live streams on the platform(s) of your choice. Once livestreams are part of your routine, consider partnering with artist friends on YouTube where you can cross-promote each other's work. From there, consider monetizing your work on Patreon with exclusive content. All the while, to engage new fans, hop on music-discovery tools TikTok and Twitch.

Now that you have the resources to build a fully functional music online platform from the safety and comfort of your home, the rest is up to you. Good luck!   

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