Newsletter: 2015 Q1

2015 Q1: Artist to Market

Welcome to Sugo Music Group's Industry Update! The 4th Quarter of 2014 has just closed and alot has been going on throughout the music industry! So without further ado, please take a moment to read the following SMG Music Industry News Update to get caught up on the new trends, announcements, music sales opportunities, and market share updates that are influencing all of us in the music industry around the world.

Here in 2014, Sugo Music Group has expanded its "artist to market" music distribution portfolio and we are proud to offer to you one of the largest, most comprehensive global music distribution and publishing solution services in the industry today! Over the past 3 months, we've updated a number of new game-changing distribution services for our Licensors! Contact us for more info.

Please see below for our 2015 Q1 Industry News Update:

Hot Off the Press:

Rdio Is On the Move! Rdio has gone on a worldwide rampage,launching in India one week, and following up with 24 new international markets across the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific the next, including Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and more. With that, they inked an exclusive mobile partnership with Digicel for all those new territories. Here at Sugo Music Group, we'll make sure your music will be delivered in each of these territories through Rdio!

California Court Rulings in Favor of Pre-72 Artists! On September 22, a California federal district court ruled that pre-1972 recordings are protected under California state law, and that Sirius XM must pay to play these recordings. More recently, on October 14, a California state court also ruled against Sirius XM on the same issue. The judge in the case has effectively ruled that California law allow includes a performance right for pre-1972 recordings. These rulings are big victories for our efforts to ensure that all recording artists are compensated fairly, irrespective of age or the year they recorded. Artists should not have to go to court to be paid for their work. Next up: We are working to help get this done at the federal level and applying the law uniformly across the country instead of state-by-state.

Google Play! Google Play Music just went on a Latin American growth spurt and is now available in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru. Paraguay and Venezuela.

YouTube! Did you know? 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US. YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube; that's almost an hour for every person on Earth, 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network. Contact us today to ensure that your YouTube  presence, management and earnings are performing up to speed!

Q&A Session:

Q: Am I Getting Paid?

How are royalties paid to songwriters, publishers, and performers in various media, such as Physical Products and Download Sales, Radio & TV, Satellite & Cable Radio, Non-Interactive Streaming Radio, On-Demand Streaming Music Services, and Synchronization for Movies, TV, Games, and more are distributed?

A: Many artists are leaving a significant amount of money on the table without even knowing it. Because the rules governing music royalties are so complex and differ so greatly from one medium to another, and from country to country, its understandable that artist's royalties are being unclaimed. Contact us to get your royalties reclaimed and accounted for!

Q: Is My Music Formatted Correctly?

Are my music tracks formatted correctly? Am I losing streams, spins and royalties because I may have incorrect metadata associated with my tracks and compositions?

A: Metadata is king! Streaming music services now generate a major share of distributions. Download stores do not always have the built-in discovery provisions that digital radio streaming services offer, and the search ability within most download stores is limited. With streaming services, who boast millions of tracks for users to browse and listen to, the game has somewhat changed. Most of these radio streaming services make heavy use of algorithms to populate their recommendations or browse sections, limiting pure search ability of your music tracks. To help increase your visibility, despite these obstacles, Sugo Music Group intricately formats, reviews and monitors the information and quality control of your track's metadata and mood descriptors, and stays abreast of the ever-changing music industry's style guides & metadata requirements to ensure that your music is searchable, discover-able and positioned throughout the world - allowing your music to become a requisite part of listeners' playlists.

Q: Are My Tracks Being Monitored Internationally?

I don't have a clue what's going on with music internationally. There are so many new rules, new radio stations, new download stores and new opportunities. I feel lost. And what's monetization and CiD mean and is it important?

A: The value of revenues from performance rights is increasing steadily, and shows no sign of declining. In the U.S., these rights are managed by Sound Exchange, while overseas the options are more complex. What if your track is getting airplay in the UK or Europe, Australia, Japan or elsewhere? There are over 30 international performance rights organizations that collect on your master's sound performances (digital broadcasts). Sugo Music Group has an executive enterprise relationship with Sound Exchange and their international affiliates. Everyday we aggressively negotiate counter claims with all sorts of companies such as Sony, Universal, Word and more. Counter claiming is an essential part of protecting your catalog of masters and requires expertise, constant focus, an experienced team and meticulous attention to detail. Take a moment to contact us so that we can review if there are any of your tacks being mistakenly or illegally claimed by companies around the world.

Q: Will My Royalties Ever Increase?

It seems like I'm earning less and less royalties through my current distributor. What should I do to increase royalties? What does the future hold?

A: In the near future, China and India (along with several other untapped territories) will open their musical doors to the world. To grow the music business in a world of only 300 million music buyers (US, Europe, etc.), we must tap into the 5 billion consumers who currently do not buy music. This challenge is currently being worked out. Make sure your music distributor is equipped for such an undertaking! In addition, all of the world's music need to be distributed to every connected device, mobile phone, car, TV and game console and monetize the artist/fan relationship wherever possible. These and other new revenue centers can grow the music business significantly in the next decade. Learn how to lead the charge to new revenues that will drive more distributions for artists, and a more profitable music industry. Send us an email describing your current music distributions and we'll see if we can add more services and distributions to your current distribution portfolio!

Q: Will Good Metadata Increase My Royalties?

I just sent in my songs to my distributor, yet they didn't ask for any information about my songs. Is this important or will the lack of attention I'm getting from my distributor hurt my sales in any way?

A: As streaming continues to grow, so does the number of tracks ingested by services like Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, SiriusXM, Rdio and more. That means your metadata needs to be up to spec to ensure your music is delivered to the service accurately and with no issues. In addition, there are several new policies on content infringement (always a good thing to know), especially for rules concerning Public Domain content, Performance Rights Organization, Mechanical Rights Agencies, and a plethora of international territory policies. No worries! As complicated as this actually is, Sugo Music Group specializes in precise, up to date, industry-required metadata standards. We've noticed that this is not the case for most automated music distributors - you know who they are! Sugo Music Group analyzes, prepares and monitors your metadata for the ever-changing, global, music industry landscape - and yes, we do it by hand... manually, one track at a time, at no extra cost to you! Contact us and we'll review if your metadata conforms to the industry benchmark here in 2015.

Sugo Music Group Distribution:
Grow, Grow & GROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sugo Music Group is the only distributor to integrate global digital distribution & streaming, newly licensed music compilation albums, publishing, film & TV licensing, YouTube & Internet synchronization & monetization, Content Identification (CiD), global song registration, performance rights organizations, in-store & business broadcasts, and CD manufacturing & distribution services. We understand the importance of selling and marketing across all formats & channels with superior supply chain management. Whether it's a full length album on iTunes, an EP compilation on Spotify, a single on our various YouTube radio channels, a ringtone through Telefonica, or a one-at-a-time manufactured On Demand CD via Amazon in the US & Germany, we supply hundreds of outlets around the world through our unparalleled distribution supply chain & asset management system!

From San Francisco to South Korea, Chile to China, and from India to Indonesia, your music will be distributed the right way... oh, yes, and by real people who will listen to your music and not just shove your tracks into an automated system!

Sugo Music Group's distribution platform stems from 30 years of strategic partnerships which will connect you to more listeners & more paying customers! Learn more by visiting our site...and feel free to ask any questions.

In Case You Missed These Q4 Updates:

Digital Music 2013 Summary! The IFPI Digital Music Report was just released showing that music revenues grew in Europe and Latin America, stabilized in the United States and experienced a sharp 16.7% decline in Japan, bringing global revenues down 3.9% to an estimated US$15 billion. Not including Japan, global music revenues were only down 0.1%. Digital revenues worldwide grew by 4.3% in 2013 to US$5.9 billion. Digital now accounts for 39% of total industry global revenues. Revenues from music subscription services grew by 51.3%, exceeding US$1 billion. Performance rights income more than doubled in 2013, reaching US$1.1 billion globally, an estimated 19% rise. Synchronization income declined by 3.4%, now accounting for 2.1% of total industry revenue. Note: Sugo Music's Publishing & Collections services can help you tap into all of this and more. Contact us and we'll help set you up!

Shazam! Speaking of partnerships, Rdio and Shazam have taken theirs to the next level: Rdio subscribers can now stream a track in its entirety within the Shazam app.

Google and Songza! Also on the acquisition front, Google has taken over the expertly-curated streaming service, Songza. This should help amp up Google's already sturdy music offering.

Oh Canada! Spotify now has a pre-launch site collecting emails for early invitations to the service. No fixed date has been announced, but it's safe to say... soon.

Spotify! In more Spotify news, the streaming service has struck an editorial deal with Viacom, which will now feature specially curated playlists on its suite of sites and apps, including MTV, VH1 and CMT.

Deezer! Another streaming service, Deezer, recently dropped its Premium plan, which allowed users to subscribe to web-only streaming. This leaves Deezer with two subscription tiers: Free and Premium+.

Sound Exchange! During the past decade, digital radio (including satellite radio and non-interactive streaming) has grown into a substantial revenue source for artists and record labels alike. Data released by the RIAA reveals the rapid growth and significance of Sound Exchange distributions. Specifically, Sound Exchange payments represented 8.4 percent of the total $7 billion in U.S. music industry revenues in 2013. That number is up from 6.7 percent in 2012, and was only 1.1 percent as recently as 2008. Our team works with SX on a daily basis, ensuring that your music is thoroughly formatted and protected from infringement & double claiming in over 35 countries around the world!  Contact us and we'll get you set up for collections and broadcast performances.

Nokia in China! Nokia is bringing MixRadio and its catalog of 30 million tracks to China, where more than 80% of internet users access the net through a mobile device.  We're on it!

Thanks for your time and interest.
We're here to help get you plugged-in to your Complete Distribution Portfolio,
Stevan Pasero
CEO/Founder

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Contact Info

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E-Mail: [email protected]
Web: https://sugomusic.com

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