Hey guys - each Monday we're going to start posting relevant news stories from the previous week that you should be paying attention to as an indie artist. We'll mainly focus on streaming platforms, artist pay rates, and what's going on in the world of social media so you can access your fans better. What you won't find here: top level executive changes at major labels, big money marketing partnerships with giant artists, and things of that nature. As always, send us comments, suggestions, or things we may have missed!

The Rundown - 

• 2017 Pay-Rate Bible. The Trichordist put this out last week and it made heads spin. We've checked it against our own numbers and it is definitely correct.
• Facebook Music License agreement. Facebook just signed a deal with Harry Fox, which means that the licensing agreement is now open to indie publishers (this is probably you!). You have until March 12 to opt in to the agreement, so we highly suggest you read up on that now.
• New social media tools. Buffer put together this great list of new apps that are worth looking into to get your socials lookin so pro.
• Changes to Facebook's algorithm. Facebook is going to start implementing changes to the news feed and making them more personal and less focused on brands. This will affect your band's page! Read up on the changes and start strategizing on how to best use the platform moving forward.
• YouTube + Ticketmaster deal. In November, YouTube announced the partnership with Ticketmaster and it just got a lot more valuable for artists. Starting last week they started rolling out analytics on how many tickets were actually purchased per show by your YouTube viewers (hellllll yes). Now is the time to make sure all of your shows are populating correctly. The downside - this is ONLY for Ticketmaster shows.
• YouTube bad news about monetization. Unfortunately, along with the good news often comes the bad. YT just upped the threshold for monetizing content on the platform. While this should encourage more consistency in uploads and more thoughtful content, this is not exactly great news for newer content creators. While YT was never a huge money maker for strictly music artists (as opposed to YouTube artists... email me if you want to  know the difference), it does come like a punch to the gut to already hard working young artists who are working their asses off & scraping together every penny. 

And with that - HAPPY MONDAY!