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: ⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

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