Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Jeeni crowdfunder success!

/ By Shena Mitchell
Jeeni crowdfunder success!

Fantastic news! Jeeni has reached its funding target and is now fully funded.

Thank you to all our investors for helping fund the wonderful artists! We are delighted that so many investors share our vision.

It's been a very happy, valuable experience, and our heartfelt thanks goes out to every one of our investors for making it such a success. You have been brilliant.

Thanks too to Crowdcube for all their help. As for Team Jeeni, we've been working seven days a week since the start of the campaign, so tomorrow is a day of rest.

First thing Monday morning our expansion and scaling up begins, on plan, on budget and on schedule.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm, your sanity checks, your due diligence, your discussions, your pledges and your support in helping us make it happen!

Here’s to a better future for online entertainment,

Mel Croucher and Shena Mitchell, Co-Founders, Jeeni

05
Jun

6 of the best music related sites and blogs

We have been scanning the internet and asking members what they think are the very best music-related sites and blogs. Basically, what's hot and what's not! Our choices may well differ from yours, so let's have the debate. Many things have changed in recent years and will change at an even greater pace now. With online streaming services we can enjoy our music for free or a low cost. So let's get started with the ones we love. We love Vampr. Vampr is an app that helps you discover, connect and collaborate with fellow musicians, the music industry and music lovers alike. Vampr stats show 33,798,736 swipes and 5,017,135 connections made in 198 countries worldwide. Pretty impressive stuff, so check them out here. https://vampr.me/ We also love Pitchfork. Pitchfork has some awesome features such as best new music, and we really like the music reviews. The writers seem to be in the know and very much "thought leaders" in the music industry. They are continually updating the website with the latest information related to the music industry. Unfortunately one of Pitchfork's main features is that they have their own music festival, this year to be held in Berlin which would have hosted over 40 bands across three different stages, but now cancelled. Check out Pitchfork here: https://pitchfork.com/ We also love Hypebot. Hypebot is one of the most well-known online music sites in the industry, and there is good reason for that! This site is updated very regularly so you know you are getting all the latest information possible. They also cover other areas such as “Music Tech”, “DIY” and “Charts”. You can also sign up to the Hypebot newsletter to get the daily lowdown on everything happening straight to your inbox! Hypebot covers a wide variety of topics in the music industry, so no matter what you are looking for, you’ll probably be able to find it here. They also have a charts section where you can filter by “emerging artists” or “established artists” as well as the country and city. And of course you can play artist tracks. Check out Hypebot here: https://www.hypebot.com/ Our next site is Your EDM, dedicated to Electronic Dance Music. Everything you need to stay up to date with the latest in this music genre can be found here. This includes all the latest news as well as featured articles and sub-sections/ genres of EDM, like house and bass. On this site you even have the ability to download free songs, from a variety of different artists trying to make a name for themselves in the industry. All the different sub-genres are listed on the site as well, so even if your taste is really narrow in EDM, you can still find some great information. New info is updated almost daily. Make sure you follow them on social media as well, so it is even easier to get updated on the latest information. Check out Your EDM here: https://www.youredm.com/ Next on our it's-gotta-be-hot list is All Music. All Music doesn’t really have as much news on the music industry as the others listed here, but their focus is mainly on providing information in new music and helping visitors discover their next obsession. They also provide recommendations if you create an account, and once you have rated albums, you will get recommendations on what to listen to next. They cover music from all common genres including pop, rap, electronic, classical, blues, country and more. They provide an in-depth review of all the latest albums and give options on how to stream the tunes, if you want to. There are three different ratings available to view, “All Music Rating”, “User Ratings” and “Your Rating” so you can have a more detailed view on what people think about a particular album. Check out All Music here: https://www.allmusic.com/ Last but not least we love Jeeni. Jeeni is a new platform that we are developing for Independent Musicians and Performers and is in beta testing phase. JEENI is a multi-channel streaming service for original and unsigned talent. Jeeni provides a showcase for musicians and performers to put their talent in the spotlight, giving superfans the power to make them stars. The Jeeni promise is to treat their creative talent ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Most importantly Jeeni is committed to – No hype. No adverts. No rip-offs. No Fakes, and making sure that the artists get 100% of their direct sales. Jeeni is presently looking for beta-testers to help us improve the site. A beta-tester simply registers for a FREE account, then designs their own showcase by uploading their music and videos and give us feedback on their user experience. Please contact Shena@jeeni.com or call 07703567196 if you are interested and want to find out more. Check out Jeeni today: https://jeeni.com/ That's all Folks!

29
Oct

Weekly Round-up #3

Jeeni's weekly round-up of music and entertainment news. Spotify Free Users Are Growing Faster Than Paid Subscribers A report from eMarkerter suggests that Spotify will hit 41.5 million free users in the US this year. That’s an increase of 9.7% over 2020, and part of a trend that finds ad-supported listeners making up an increased share of Spotify’s platform. If that trend continues, Spotify is expected to have as many as 52 million US-based ad-supported listeners by 2025. Spotify's subscriber base has also grown by 19% year-on-year to 172 million. "Looking ahead: Spotify will hit 52.0 million ad-supported US listeners and 52.2 million paid US listeners in 2025, totaling over 100 million." Radiohead’s Entire Catalog Is Now Available on Bandcamp On Oct. 21, Radiohead’s entire catalog became available to stream and or purchase on Bandcamp. The collection includes Radiohead’s nine studio albums also offers the band’s live album from 2001 I Might Be Wrong, disc two of In Rainbows, TKOL RMX 1234567, OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017 and the upcoming Kid A Mnesia collection. “Today, Bandcamp is thrilled to announce that the full studio discography of pioneering UK band Radiohead has come to Bandcamp. Radiohead have forged a career built on constant change, dreaming themselves up anew with each record, but never getting so lost in innovation that they forget to instill every one of their songs with genuine human pathos.” The announcement by Bandcamp stated Radiohead pulled all their music from Spotify in 2013 “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse.” said Thom Yorke. Although their music returned to Spotify in the following years. What Spotify, Apple and other streaming services want to pay songwriters from 2023 onwards Music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple, Pandora and Google are reportedly proposing lower royalty rates for songwriters to the US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) for five years between 2023 and 2027. Although not released to the public the rates proposed are said to be the lowest ever seen in streaming history, these companies are now coming under fire for disproportionate royalties. CEO of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), David Israelite told Music Business Worldwide “We will be fighting to raise significantly what streaming services pay songwriters, and we will now see with full transparency to what degree Spotify, Amazon, Apple, YouTube and Pandora are trying to cut what little they currently pay,” Music industry 'should support struggling small gig venues'  Greater Manchester mayor and Former culture secretary Andy Burnham, called on the "big players" in music to pay a levy, just as football clubs contribute to grassroots facilities. The Music Venue Trust says 30 venues are at imminent risk of permanent closure because of the pandemic, with hundreds more in trouble. Burnham has said that the music industry should help bail out small music venues that are struggling in a panel with Independent Venue Week. Burnham suggested the music industry adopts a system like Football Foundation. The FA and Government's charity which he helped set up, helps communities improve their local football facilities through football grants. The Premier League and Football Association gave £53m last year, with another £18m contributed by the government. "The industry needs to step up for you, and I think we should be mounting a case to say, the industry has to pay a levy to support grassroots venues, because that is their talent production ground. They are the junior football clubs of the country. That's where the talent comes through." In Jeeni News Jeeni is Hiring! We are currently recruiting for the following roles: • Role 1: Marketing Assistant• Role 2: Marketing Executive (Digital Marketing)• Role 3: Marketing Executive (Public Relations)• Role 4: Jnr Developer• Role 5: Jnr Developer• Role 6: WordPress Specialist• Role 7: Senior Developer• Role 8: Senior Developer• Role 9: Sales Executive• Role 10: Sales Executive• Role 11: Partnership Co-ordinator These are Kickstarter Scheme positions (candidate must be aged between 16-24 and on, or have applied for, Universal Credit. If you'd like to apply for any of the above roles please send your resume to shena@jeeni.com Jeeni's Pick of the Week Our Pick of the Week is Colectiva a nine-piece ensemble exploring the spaces between Afro-Latin music and jazz while reflecting on themes of sisterhood and female empowerment. Exploring the boundaries between Afro-Latin music and Jazz, Colectiva are a unique voice on the UK scene.Read our blog here: https://lnkd.in/en7sSa2CCheck out Colectiva's showcase on Jeeni https://lnkd.in/en7sSa2C New Music Friday In our New Music Friday segment we've chosen to showcase Glasgow based Alt-rock band Respite. Respite blends elements of punk, post-hardcore and pop music, with lyrics and vocals heavily inspired by pop-punk and emo. Having supported acts such as Hawthorne Heights, Trophy Eyes and Like Pacific, the band released their first single “Chemical Sleep” on the 3rd of October and dropped their debut EP “Vol. 1” on 29th of October. Available to stream everywhere right now! Check out their showcase on Jeeni https://jeeni.com/showcase/respite-band/

04
Jun

A $0.003 reward?! We’re Twitching at the thought!

Twitch has always been popular amongst the gaming community. It was created initially in 2011 as a platform for gamers to use in order to live stream as well as broadcast live Esports events and competitions and has since retained on average 15million daily users.  With so much more of our time spent online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Twitch has expanded in regard to what they broadcast and live stream: talk shows are growing in popularity as well as live streamed music to name but a couple.  As the date for the resumption of normality approaches and with it the reopening of concert halls and live shows, one can speculate as to what will happen to those artists that have decided to make use of these live streaming platforms as a source of income.  Twitch users reportedly spend three times as much time on the platform as on Sportify and YouTube so the potential for it to be a very lucrative platform for music makers and artists is what has been looked into by Will Page, an economist who runs Tarzan Economics. He worked alongside various teams in order to understand how live streaming and live music may co-exist in the future. “Live streaming won’t go away when live music returns.” -Will Page In 2002, one of the first music streaming services Rhapsody, offered a $9.99 monthly price which is the same as what we see today for similar music streaming services.  What is provided is also pretty much the same as what was offered in 2002; fans remain largely disconnected from their favourite artists, they are unable to offer direct compensation to creators, and ‘cross-usage’ occurs frequently as a listener is often subscribed to multiple platforms.  “None of the on-demand streaming services that have since sprung up enable immediate engagement, this is a relic of the music industry of old.” -Will Page User engagement is something that both Twitch and Jeeni offer, and not only does it allow the fans to be more involved with the artists they love, but it allows the artists to be fairly compensated, a huge issue which is now being petitioned against by the Broken Record Campaign. See our last blog post for more information and ways that you can support the campaign.  According to Will Page, the typical music streaming model has approached the way in which artist are compensated in one way:  “the platform aggregates all the streaming data and revenues from a specific market and product over a specific time period, divides an artist’s share by that sum, and allocates revenues proportionately. Get 1% of all the streams, and you’ll get 1% of all the money. This has spurred much debate within the industry, as heavy streamers are effectively subsidised by light streamers, or as Quartz controversially put it: Your Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions pay artists you never listen to.” In essence, the modelling simply just isn’t fair, and neither rewards the artists or their fans for supporting them.  The way in which Twitch brings in money, however, varies across three methods similar to Jeeni: Creator Channel Subscriptions, Bits allow users to support creators directly on the service, and advertising.  Will Page made a comparison between creator earnings on Twitch, which average at $0.15 per-hour-per-user, with that of global streaming services at which the rate per-stream is set at roughly $0.003.  By taking the $0.003 per stream and multiplying by 17 (assuming a song lasts 3 minutes this equates to an hour of listening time), then applying an average 20% royalty rate, this results in a creator’s “revenue-per-hour listened” at just $0.01.  My jaw dropped, did yours?  Twitch has proved it can monetise over 10 times better than music streaming, however this only applies to creators’ most loyal fans that tune in on a regular basis.  "If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year." -Kevin Kelly, The Technium, 2008 Do you want to spend hours watching your favourite gamer and at the same time, fairly compensate and reward them for their time and effort? Well of course. What Twitch does for gamers, we want to do for music makers and artists here at Jeeni.  Look out Twitch, we’ll meet you at the finish line.