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    "title": "Daniel Sokolovskiy’s Blog: posts tagged Spotify",
    "_rss_description": "On the DJ career, music industry, marketing, professional growth, productivity tools, personal journey and life",
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            "id": "745",
            "url": "https:\/\/dsokolovskiy.com\/blog\/all\/what-music-can-be-used-for-a-podcast\/",
            "title": "What music can be used for a podcast",
            "content_html": "<div class=\"advice-question\"><p>Hello Daniel, I would like to create a podcast with chillout, ambient, and deep house music. What should I do? Can I use any tracks I like without changing them, but just make a single mix of 50 minutes, for example? Let’s say, download them off the internet, mix them up and put them on Apple Podcasts? Do I need to get permission from every label and artist? It’s not for commercial use, right?<\/p>\n<p>Aiya<\/p>\n<\/div><p>In short, it’s simple: you take the tracks, mix them, and put them out – that’s it. You don’t need any special permission or anything fancy. But as always, there are nuances.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, some DJs think that if they buy music, for example, on Beatport, they can do whatever they want with these tracks: mix them in podcasts, put them into videos, or play them in cafes. But in fact, this is not quite true: speaking specifically about podcasts (videos and cafes are separate topics), from the legal point of view there is no difference between music that you buy and music that you download for free. I myself am all for buying music legally whenever possible, but you have to understand that in this context, buying music doesn’t give you any special rights compared to free downloaded music. Commercial or non-commercial use also makes no difference in this case.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, in general, you don’t need permission from artists and labels. However, if you want to put a podcast on YouTube and monetize your channel, in this case, you do need permission from the rights holders (they are usually labels, not artists), but this is a complicated and often unsuccessful process.<\/p>\n<p>Third, you’re free to do whatever you want with the tracks themselves: trim, cut, and layer, or leave them as they are. It’s up to your DJ skills and what you want to do with them. You can do any length you want, too.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I would like to advise you to watch carefully the sites where you upload your podcast. In my experience:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Soundcloud can block a track in the mix and hide the entire podcast episode from public access. In my ten years of using the service, this has happened once.<\/li>\n<li>Mixcloud accepts DJ mixes and podcasts, but only them: you can’t upload individual tracks or even use several tracks from the same artist in a row there.<\/li>\n<li>Apple Podcasts, according to my observations, are not moderated in any way, that is, mixes can be posted there (or at least not prohibited). Important point: Apple Podcasts is basically a directory of links, but not a repository. In other words, to add your podcasts to Apple Podcasts, your audio files must be stored somewhere – such a place on the Internet is called hosting. But typical web hosting services have a number of limitations and inconveniences, so it is easier and more convenient to add your podcasts to Apple Podcasts via some service – again Soundcloud, for example.<\/li>\n<li>Spotify Podcasts, on the other hand, are designed exclusively for talking podcasts: DJ mixes are not accepted there. That is, you can talk in the episodes, but you can’t play music. It seems like Spotify is working on making it possible to upload music mixes there as well in the future, but that’s about it for now.<\/li>\n<li>YouTube allows you to upload mixes, but with restrictions: you can’t monetize channels that use other people’s music if you want to in the future. Here you can either try to get permission from the rights holders to whitelist your channel (which is exactly what I wrote about above) or just give up on monetization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope it helps.<\/p>\n",
            "date_published": "2022-02-07T20:40:36+01:00",
            "date_modified": "2023-01-14T21:01:36+01:00",
            "tags": [
                "Advice",
                "Legal",
                "Music Industry",
                "SoundCloud",
                "Spotify",
                "YouTube"
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            "id": "536",
            "url": "https:\/\/dsokolovskiy.com\/blog\/all\/2000-years-ahead-sales-report\/",
            "title": "How much I earned on the album sales",
            "content_html": "<p class=\"lead\">Behind the scenes in facts and numbers<\/p>\n<p>Last year I released <a href=\"\/blog\/all\/2000-years-ahead-album-is-out-now\/\">my second studio album 2000 Years Ahead<\/a>, my the most successful release to date.<\/p>\n<p>Success shows in different ways: followers’ growth, bookings, smiles on the dancefloor. But today I’d like to share specific numbers, and that is how I earned on the album sales. Just in time as I recently got a financial report from the label.<\/p>\n<h2>How many copies sold<\/h2>\n<p>The album was released in two formats: digital and physical. Label — Digital Om Production. At that time Bonzai Music was taking care of the digital distribution, whilst Arabesque Distribution for the CDs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"side-quote\">940 tracks and 140 CD copies sold so far<\/p>\n<p>For the first quarter, people downloaded 940 tracks and purchased 140 CD copies.<\/p>\n<p>Is that good enough or not?<\/p>\n<p>Let me answer with the fact: the album was #1 on Psyshop and #2 on Beatport top charts for the whole month:<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-picture\">\n<img src=\"https:\/\/dsokolovskiy.com\/blog\/pictures\/2000-years-ahead-top-charts.jpg\" width=\"1603\" height=\"1113\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<div class=\"e2-text-caption\">“2000 Years Ahead” in the top sales charts. Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bptoptracker.com\/release\/2000-years-ahead\/1922602\">bptoptracker.com<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Overall, the album spent 18 days in the top-10 and 69 days in the top-100 on Beatport. Sitting in the charts for more than two months considered as quite an achievement.<\/p>\n<h2>How much I’ve got<\/h2>\n<p main>Now comes the more interesting part. To be clear, all numbers below are <i>net<\/i>, i.e. after the deduction of the stores and distributors commission, which is roughly 50% depending on the platform and region. For example, when you see $1,99 retail price per track on Beatport, the real income from it is about $0,9. That’s the numbers I’m operating below.<\/p>\n<p aside>Stores take 20—50% cut from retail price<\/p>\n<p>So, this is what’ve got from all sources — digital sales (including streaming), physical sales and sublicensing:<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"width: 160px; display: block;\"><i>Revenue<\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<td> <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Digital sales<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">+€815<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Physical sales<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">+€610<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: left\">Sublicensing<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">+€200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Total revenue:<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\"><b>+€1625<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>A thousand and a six hundred euros sound nice, right?<\/p>\n<p>But revenue ≠ profit. The album also had some expenses on production and promotion that we have to take into account:<\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"width: 160px; display: block;\"><i>Expenses<\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<td> <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mastering<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">-€225<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Artworks<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">-€200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>CD printing<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">-€300<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Logistics<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">-€100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Marketing<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">-€100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Total expenses:<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\"><b>-€925<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now let’s calculate the profit: €1625 <i>(revenue)<\/i> – €925 <i>(expenses)<\/i> = €700. But we’re not done yet since all profit splits between the artist and the label — that’s a typical deal in the industry. So, then: €700 \/ 2 = €350. And that is how much I earned before taxes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quote\">€350 is how much I’ve got a year later for the first quarter of sales<\/p>\n<div class=\"question\"><p><b>Added in 2021: <\/b> I want to emphasize that all numbers above are given for the first quarter of sales only since the release date. For the last two years since I wrote this post, my total net profit from the album is over <b>€1500<\/b>, mainly due to streaming.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Now we can make a few conclusions:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Once again I’ve got a confirmation of my own words that a music producer cannot make a living on the music sales alone. <a href=\"\/blog\/all\/the-truth-about-music-sales\/\">I’ve written about it earlier<\/a> and talked on my master class.<\/li>\n<li>Music release is not only income but also expenses. And whilst you may not gain profit at all, it will cost you something for sure.<br \/>\nIt’s important to mention that in my case the label took all expenses since we already worked together and I got a trustworthy reputation. Keep in mind that not every label would want to invest a thousand dollars if you are a new producer with a debut release.<\/li>\n<li>People still buy CDs!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Why I’m telling this<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps, not everyone aware of that, but we actually have a problem in the music industry: many young producers expect to make a living on the debut release sales, then they see a financial report with a 2-digit number (or nothing, at all), start to accuse everyone around and eventually quit their career.<\/p>\n<p>I’m sad to see these things happen all the time and hence why I share my experience on how things work behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>I’d love to tell you that “I released my album and bought a house”, but the truth is after a year of hard work and a fantastic appearance in the charts, the album sales directly gave less than a monthly salary of a janitor. That’s the true story.<\/p>\n<p>That’s why you need to remove the pink glasses and start working hard — a something that musicians do not really like to do. And threat your music releases simply as a portfolio.<\/p>\n<h2>Bonus: stats<\/h2>\n<p>A financial report is not only about the money, it’s also a lot of juicy data. I’ll put some metrics that I find interesting down below.<\/p>\n<p><b>Digital sales, by store:<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td>Beatport<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">75%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>iTunes<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">18%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Juno<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Google Music<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Amazon<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>Digital sales, by country<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">20%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United Kingdom<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">13%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Germany<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">12%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Australia<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Switzerland<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Japan<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>France<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Canada<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Brazil<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Finland<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Netherlands<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>26 more countries<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">14%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>Streaming, by service<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td>Spotify<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">50%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Apple Music<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">38%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Google Music<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>iTunes<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Deezer<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>Streaming, by country<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"e2-text-table\">\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Germany<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United Kingdom<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mexico<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Russia<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Netherlands<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Switzerland<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Australia<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Japan<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sweden<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>France<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Canada<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>37 more countries<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right\">25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n",
            "date_published": "2018-06-06T20:18:51+01:00",
            "date_modified": "2023-11-20T22:47:21+01:00",
            "tags": [
                "2000 Years Ahead",
                "Apple Music",
                "Beatport",
                "Behind the scenes",
                "Finance",
                "Music Industry",
                "Spotify"
            ],
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