A Little Knowledge… #34

Welcome to A Little Knowledge #34 – our free weekly LinkedIn newsletter.

?? BULLETIN NEWS: Live Nation clubs will stop taking merchandise cuts in the US

Live Nation has been the subject of a fair few negative headlines this year amid the US debate on ticketing. However, its latest move has received a warm welcome from musicians.?

• It's a program called 'On The Road Again' that has been launched this week with country icon Willie Nelson. The key promise: "Clubs will charge no merchandise selling fees, so artists keep 100% of merch profits for each show."
• This covers Live Nation's smaller club venues in the US, and addresses a complaint that musicians have been increasingly vocal about since Covid-19 lockdowns eased.
• The Featured Artist Coalition's '100% Venues' campaign in the UK has signed up a number of venues, and led to?a similar '#MyMerch' campaign in the US?with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW).
• The union?welcomed the news in a tweet, although one of its key organisers, musician Damon Krukowski,?noted in a follow-up?that the #MyMerch campaign "already has twice the number of participating venues than Live Nation just announced" and encouraged more to sign up.
• Live Nation's program has other aspects too: an extra $1.5k per show in petrol and travel cash for headliners and openers; a new $5m donation to the company's Crew Nation relief fund; and new bonuses for tour, promoter and venue staff.

?? Music Ally archive: Merch

Sandbox Music Marketing?Campaigns?Of?The?Year: Entries now open!

Entries are now open for the Music Ally Sandbox Music Marketing Campaigns Of The Year 2023. Each year, we highlight the best, the most original and the most impactful music marketing campaigns from around the world. It is not just about campaigns with the biggest budgets; it is more about the campaigns with the best ideas. The deadline for submissions is the end of your working day (whatever timezone you are in) on Friday 3 November. You can find?the?online form here, while?last?year's report is here?if you want to see how it looks. We're looking forward to seeing this year's entries!

???REGION PROFILE: East Africa: the digital music industry in East Africa is growing?– should the global music industry be paying more attention?

Country?Profiles?are?one of our most popular and data- and insight-rich resources. Our reports are based on speaking to?the?people on?the?ground, and are packed with info you need to know.

The combination of increased smartphone penetration, improved internet connectivity and the rise in popularity of streaming platforms is helping the digital music industries of East Africa (for this purpose, the core markets of?Kenya,?Tanzania?and?Uganda, alongside?Burundi?and?Rwanda) to experience significant growth. Although the global music industry concentrates more on Nigeria and South Africa, this?region's rich musical heritage and?talent pool also bode well for the future. We take a look at key trends and data as the industry grows, slowly but surely.

???Music Ally?Subscribers?can read?the?East Africa region profile in full here.

??? Music Ally Jobs - The latest and best jobs for the global music business, trusted by both top music industry companies and experienced professionals on top of their game.

Are you looking for a job? Click here to see the full list of vacancies!

?? A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...

?And finally… our daily Bulletin newsletter is loved by subscribers for its instant industry analysis - but secretly, the part they like most is the ‘A Little Something Extra’ section at the bottom of the email. Here's a few of the best recent links:

• The Legend of Zelda meets Adventure Time meets Studio Ghibli meets Dungeons & Dragons??Count us in.
• Everything is getting AI'd up the wazoo nowadays:?even physical board game Pictionary.
• One of?the most blistering takes we've seen so far (and we've seen a few) on the NFTs market. Probably best not to read it if you like Crocs shoes, also.

This is only a glimpse into this week's The Knowledge newsletter. INSIDER TIP: this week subscribers will get free access to one of our short video courses for one week only!) – subscribe for FREE?and every Friday it’ll arrive in your inbox with:

?? Exclusive access to selected courses in our LEARNING HUB, ????The best new platforms in TOOLS,??? Highlights from our latest COUNTRY PROFILE REPORTS ?? ???Some great and/or strange music in SOMETHING 4 THE WEEKEND, ?? A look back in TIME MACHINE, ?? The Music Ally Focus PODCAST, and????more links to our favourite unusual stuff in A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA.