Podcast appearances and mentions of penny fractions

This week? Heavy Hitters. As you may (or may not) have heard,  journalist/Daniel Ek tormenter/friend-of-the-pod Liz Pelly is making waves with her wonderful new book “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist.” It's easily the best thing yet written about the company at the center of modern music, insightfully reconstructing how Spotify's shifting interests and policies have remade how we listen, who we listen to, and what they get paid. To get a deeper perspective on both the book and the histories it emerges from, we also called up David Turner—of the late (lamented) Penny Fractions—pulling him out of retirement for one last big music + capitalism score. Together Liz, David, and Sam dive into everything from the economics of ghost artists and the aesthetics of vibes-based listening to the intentional destruction of cultural context in the streaming age. It's a conversation that helps clarify the singularity of Spotify culture—and allows us to better detach its operations from the meaning of digital music. Come for the playlists. Stay for what they've done to you.   Buy Liz Pelly's book "Mood Machine" Subscribe to our Newsletter!  

This time Sam and David Turner dig into the financially rocky patch in which Patreon—the name that launched a thousand podcasts—has recently found itself. Looking at the longer trajectory of the fan-funding platform, they try to piece together how it moved from a replacement for YouTube ads to a supposed panacea for the value collapse of musical (and cultural) production—and try to understand the broader implications of the division it (implicitly) draws between the filthy-lucre of commerce and the pure connection of community. Come for Sam not knowing the basics of indy-streamer cultology. Stay for the fundamental question of whether fandom is a zero-sum game.    Subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!   Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

Over the summer, New York's premier EDM festival Electric Zoo descended deep into the Fyre Fest zone—that magical place combining blatant rip-off and profoundly unsafe conditions. Purchased by by owners of Brooklyn mega-club Avant Gardner the previous year, the latest edition of the three-day rave took the Bold and Forward Thinking step of mixing abrupt cancellations and incredibly poor crowd control with rampant overselling, producing a potentially deadly crowd-crush and an NYPD investigation. Fascinated and horrified, we decided to dig a bit deeper to figure out…who ARE these guys? And what in the name of Frankie Knuckles is their deal? As we dug into the often insane specifics (Superfund Halloween Rave, Best Friends With Mayoral Staffers, Etc.), we realized that the question shed light on a deeper issue: as dance music and nightlife become big business, how do are events and venues balancing the desire for profits and the demand for safety? And could the finance money pouring into the space change things for the worse? Read:  Clubbing is Becoming Big Business. What Does This Mean for Dance Music?  - Resident Advisor    Subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!   Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

Hi folks! As part of our collaboration with Penny Fractions, we are bringing you the first episode of a new format—David, Saxon, and Sam, thinking through our moment in an off-the-cuff convo about current events. We hope you like it!  The music industry was recently shaken by news around beloved marketplace/web-magazine Bandcamp, where half of the staff was recently let go (or, as press release from definitely-not-shady new owners Songtradr put it "After a comprehensive evaluation...50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr”). It's…not great. Unfortunately, it's also not entirely unexpected. To try to get our heads around what's happening, we talk union-busting, the decline of music criticism, the death of tech optimism, the rise of the influencer economy, the zombie-like survival of grifting, and what the future might hold for a synch-happy tech-bro Bandcamp. Somedays, it feels like it's their world, and we just live in it. Today might be one of those days.  Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

First off—big news in Money 4 Nothing-land. We've just OFFICIALLY joined forces with the amazing Penny Fractions newsletter to create a new and almighty Voltron (Sailors Moon?) of critical coverage on the music industry. We'll be rolling out exciting new projects over the next few months, so please stay tuned! And now, on with the show…    When news broke that a wave of Scott “Scooter" Braun's clients were leaving him—including mega-names like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber—it seemed like it might be the beginning of the end for the most successful music manager of the 2010s. But…who is Scooter exactly? And why should anyone care?   While most know Braun for his era-defining beef with Taylor Swift, we decided to go a bit deeper, exploring his remarkable ascent amid the shell-shocked chaos of the music biz during the early Obama Era. As we dug in, we realized that Scooter's success actually provided a fascinating vantage-point through which to understand the distinctive era that ran from early Youtube to the launch of Tik Tok—a moment of disruption, change, and platform power that we might just be coming out of. Come for the Asher Roth (yeah, THAT Asher Roth). Stay for the T-Swift conspiracies.    Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

In this week's episode, Tristra Newyear Yeager sits down with David Turner, founder of Penny Fractions,a music business newsletter covering topics from music streaming, the history of major labels, catalog sales and much more.  Hear David's perspective on the relationship between music and social media,Royalty distribution models for streaming and more.  Tune in this week for insight on some of the hot topics in the music industry today.  The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit MusicTectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!  

Little known fact: only 3% of artists on Spotify make more than one thousand dollars. And the people who work on albums who aren't top-billed artists, like backup singers and songwriters, make even less. In fact, most artists make fractions of a penny per stream. So where does all that cash go?  Show Notes Read Blake Morgan's article about his meeting with Spotify execs: Spotify's Fatal Flaw Exposed: How My Closed-Door Meeting with Execs Ended in a Shouting Match Learn more about Kaydence and her impactful work with the 100 Percenters here. David Turner writes a weekly blog called Penny Fractions ‘as a way to think through various record industry topics'. This episode uses the following tracks from FMA under a Creative Commons Attribution License: "What Dreams Become" by Audiobinger, "Moonlove Funk" by Cullah, "Ugly Truth" by HoliznaCC0, "Leave The Country (Instrumental)" by Anthem of Rain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OK opens this panel by accosting the Nowadays crowd, a necessary struggle session to ground the conversation physically to art venues’ position to PR, finance, and real estate. We then discuss strategies and wins from music worker organizing with members of Union of Musicians and Allied Workers and Music Workers Alliance. We are honored to … Continue reading "178 – Music & Labor Penny Fractions Panel w/ David Turner, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, and Phillip Golub"

Our good friend David Turner celebrated five years of Penny Fractions earlier this month with a live show at Nowadays. On stage, David was joined by our very own Sam Backer along side heavy-hitters Liz Pelly and Cherie Hu. Enjoy this live recording from the show as the crew run through everything you'd expect from a M4N discussion on the current state of the music industry: criticisms, hot takes, laughs, shade, shout-outs...oh and lollipops. Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

David Turner shares some of the most insightful and thorough analyses on the music industry through his Penny Fractions newsletter. We link up to discuss the current state of streaming, his skepticism about much of crypto, and his positive perspective on the regular recycling of the 20th century in popular culture.Sub to Penny Fractions: https://pennyfractions.ghost.io/Follow Penny Fractions: https://twitter.com/pennyfractions 

Music business criticism expert, creator of the fantastic Penny Fractions newsletter, and honorary co-host David Turner is back to discuss the depressing merger of Bandcamp and Epic Games. Can companies maintain consciousness? What role does giant multinational corporations like Tencent and Apple play in the geopolitical sphere? Are Fortnite dances going to overtake the petrodollar … Continue reading "157 – Tim Epic’s Bandcamp w/ David Turner"

Music business criticism expert, creator of the fantastic Penny Fractions newsletter, and honorary co-host David Turner is back to discuss the depressing merger of Bandcamp and Epic Games. Can companies maintain consciousness? What role does giant multinational corporations like Tencent and Apple play in the geopolitical sphere? Are Fortnite dances going to overtake the petrodollar … Continue reading "157 – Tim Epic’s Bandcamp w/ David Turner"

New money is pouring into the music industry: giant alternative asset management companies like Blackstone and KKR, are partnering with the likes of Hipgnosis and BMG to purchase music catalogue at great expense. But... why? Are they suddenly interested in buying some cool rock songs for some reason? Have they run out of other places to invest money in times of very low interest rates? Or have they spotted that music is undervalued? Music Ally's Joe Sparrow chats to journalist and analyst David Turner of music industry newsletter Penny Fractions, and he talks in depth about why on earth are these companies are suddenly pouring billions of dollars into music. David has some fascinating theories, and brings insight that has resulted from years of his own research. Penny Fractions: https://pennyfractions.ghost.io (Plus, a fishy world record) BTW – if you are interested in this topic, be sure to check out Focus Episode #38 (one of our most popular podcasts of 2021) where I discussed investments into music rights with music-tech strategist Dan Fowler, and how these giant investments could eventually buy enough catalogue to challenge traditional publishers.

While the boom and busts have come and gone, NFTs haven't disappeared. A set of crypto based technologies, and speculatively disruptive companies are still out there, working to create a new, on-chain future. We have thoughts. Especially when it comes to how music intersects (or doesn't). And to try to make sense of them, we have on David Turner of Penny Fractions. Moving from specific projects, and working theories to broad-based analysis of tech ideology we... go out there. But to create a future we want to see, you have to start by imagining what you want—and what you don't.  Subscribe to our monthly newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to Penny Fractions! Re-listen:  NF(t) DOOM or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blockchain

David Turner of Penny Fractions joins me to talk about music business, the business of Kpop, and the ways fans can misinterpret both. We pick apart the big question: What are the Big Three, really?

Welcome to the Garden of Theory and Praxis, the Graveyard of the Vibes, the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth, it's Art and Labor! Joined by champions of the pod David Turner of Penny Fractions and Liz Ryerson of The Blood Zone, we reckon with teleology and … Continue reading "148 – Pivot to Metaverse w/ David Turner and Liz Ryerson"

Welcome to the Garden of Theory and Praxis, the Graveyard of the Vibes, the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth, it's Art and Labor! Joined by champions of the pod David Turner of Penny Fractions and Liz Ryerson of The Blood Zone, we reckon with teleology and … Continue reading "148 – Pivot to Metaverse w/ David Turner and Liz Ryerson"

David Turner speaks to Nick about his newsletter Penny Fractions, an overview of the music market as it stands near the end of 2021, the UK Parliamentary inquiry into the major labels and other things affecting the global music streaming ecosystem and creators. Thanks for listening! Tune in next week and don't forget to take a minute to review the podcast. In this incredibly competitive podcasting world, every piece of feedback helps. Follow our social media channels for last-minute announcements and guest reveals @theradicalpod on Instagram and Facebook. Find out more about today's guest, David Turner Find out more about your host, Nick Terzo

What would happen if a government took a serious look at the music industry and decided everything wasn't alright? To our surprise, the UK Parliament has done just that, issuing a blistering report on label consolidation, monopolistic abuses, and streaming payouts—and issuing some interesting suggestions about how things could change. To help us dig in, we're lucky to have David Turner of the must-read of the Penny Fractions newsletter back on the show. We talk about the potential benefits of payola, the systemic oppression of advances, the awe-inspiring power of government-backed research, and why it's so important to start music biz histories before the year 2000. As imperfect as they are, reports like this suggest a change might be coming. Figuring out what parts make sense—and what parts simply don't—is vital prep work for the future.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow Penny Fractions on Twitter!    

It’s easier than ever to listen to practically the entirety of recorded music. But for musicians, it’s harder than ever to make money. On Episode 31 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk about the economics of the industry with David Turner, who writes the newsletter Penny Fractions, and the English musician Tom Gray, who founded the #BrokenRecord campaign. Did streaming save music, or is it killing it? Should we blame Spotify or the record labels? And what should be done to make the music business more equitable?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support the Union of Musicians & Allied Workers (UMAW) Cuomo protest!! We’re joined by music journalist and DIY angel Liz Pelly and returning angel David Turner. We discuss their work including Liz’s new piece in Real Life “Socialized Streaming: A case for universal music access.” Plus, we each reveal the contents of our high school … Continue reading "Episode 114 – Music and Labor 2 w/ Liz Pelly and David Turner"

Support the Union of Musicians & Allied Workers (UMAW) Cuomo protest!! We’re joined by music journalist and DIY angel Liz Pelly and returning angel David Turner. We discuss their work including Liz’s new piece in Real Life “Socialized Streaming: A case for universal music access.” Plus, we each reveal the contents of our high school … Continue reading "Episode 114 – Music and Labor 2 with Liz Pelly and David Turner"

When we first covered the vast amounts of cash that companies like Hipgnosis were throwing into the music publishing market, we thought things had hit some sort of insane peak. Well were we VERY wrong. In the months since, the press has been filled with one enormous deal after another, peaking (at least for now) in the reported sale of Dylan’s entire catalog for 300+ million dollars. But does…any of this make business sense? Or is it just rank speculation? And how will it shape the future of music?  To sort things out, we got together a dream team—Cherie Hu of Water & Music and David Turner of Penny Fractions—to talk through what’s happening and what might come next. Sign-up for our newsletter to receive bonus content! 

David Turner of Penny Fractions joins the show to make a case against the popular narrative that Napster, led by the precocious teen tech-head Shawn Fanning, single-handedly took down the record industry in the early aughts. Turner explains that what caused the music industry bubble to burst was actually a much more complex series of factors including record labels a little too high on its own supply. Also, those $19.99 CDs prices sure didn't help.   

In this episode we welcome David Turner, writer and founder of the Penny Fractions newsletter, which holds a critical and often political lens to the latest developments in the music industry.In this episode we discuss the music industry response to Black Lives Matter, positive infrastructural proposals that could lead to long lasting and meaningful diversification, the meme music economy, lessons from ad hoc protest gatherings and sitting on a small plane with Radiohead and Silento.David is a deeply thoughtful and fun guest, we hope you enjoy this one!LINKS:Penny Fractions newsletter (sign up!): https://www.getrevue.co/profile/pennyfractions/issues/penny-fractions-why-did-we-pause-the-show-255631Black Teens are Breaking the Internet and Seeing None of The Profits by Doreen St.Felix:https://www.thefader.com/2015/12/03/on-fleek-peaches-monroee-meechie-viral-vinesMusic Workers Alliance: https://musicworkersalliance.org/Aziz Mian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX9SsfK6B24Silentó - Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjW8wmF5VWc

Billie Eilish is on top of the world right now. The 18-year-old recently swept the board at the Grammys, winning five awards including best new artist and song of the year. She also replaced Taylor Swift as the youngest person ever to win album of the year. She’s just performed at the Brit Awards and has written the theme for the upcoming James Bond film No Time To Die. She seems to be a rare example of organic streaming success in the music industry, having had her big break after uploading a song on SoundCloud. But if you dig a little deeper there’s more than meets the eye. In this episode David Turner, who writes the weekly streaming newsletter Penny Fractions and works for SoundCloud, says Billie Eilish’s story is one of an industry trying to make a criticised model appear well-functioning. We also speak to the music journalist Paula Mejia about how streaming has changed our relationship with music. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Turns our those rebellious rock ‘n’ rollers were scabbing the classical nerds?! Hello everyone! You’re in for a treat! David Turner (@pennyfractions) joins us to discuss the history of musician unions in the United States. David’s newsletter Penny Fractions covers the contemporary music industry and the troubled landscape of streaming platforms, algorithms, and promotion. Please … Continue reading "Episode 58 – Music and Labor with David Turner"

And introducing…….ORGANIZED LABOR! From the 1940’s through 1960’s, as the music industry was fracturing and reforming around selling recordings of Jazz, Classical, Country and a new thing called Rock n’ Roll, a group of valiant musicians attempted to represent their own interests, in a Musicians’ Union. Today we're joined by music writer David Turner to learn all about Organized Labor in the music industry, the origins of modern commercial music, and the foundation of rock and roll through Michael James Roberts book “Tell Tchaikovsky the News". SONGS: Louis Jordan - Ration Blues Hank Williams - I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On The Beatles - Twist & Shout - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 2/23/64 Lil’ Pump - Gucci Gang Subscribe to Penny Fractions: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/pennyfractions Read more of David's writing on this: https://reallifemag.com/the-last-format/

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser are joined once again by their Slate colleague Mark Joseph Stern to make sense of a what a Kavanaugh-court might mean for the internet going forward. They are also joined by music and technology writer David Turner, who pens the weekly newsletter Penny Fractions, which is all about the economics and culture of music streaming. They’ll talk to him about how streaming works for artists and if there’s anything they can do to push back against the streaming giants like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. And they’ll also talk about some of the surprising ways in which streaming is changing music itself. 13:24 - Interview with David Turner33:57 - Don’t Close My Tabs Don’t Close My Tabs: The New York Times: How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were Born BuzzFeed News: How Duterte Used Facebook to Fuel the Philippine Drug War The New Yorker: The Shaming of Geoffrey Owens and the Inability to See Actors as Laborers Too Podcast production by Max Jacobs If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com. If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser are joined once again by their Slate colleague Mark Joseph Stern to make sense of a what a Kavanaugh-court might mean for the internet going forward. They are also joined by music and technology writer David Turner, who pens the weekly newsletter Penny Fractions, which is all about the economics and culture of music streaming. They’ll talk to him about how streaming works for artists and if there’s anything they can do to push back against the streaming giants like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. And they’ll also talk about some of the surprising ways in which streaming is changing music itself. 13:24 - Interview with David Turner33:57 - Don’t Close My Tabs Don’t Close My Tabs: The New York Times: How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were Born BuzzFeed News: How Duterte Used Facebook to Fuel the Philippine Drug War The New Yorker: The Shaming of Geoffrey Owens and the Inability to See Actors as Laborers Too Podcast production by Max Jacobs If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com. If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices