The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing.

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The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has come under fire for claiming that musicians should be “recording and releasing music nonstop to make ends meet.” The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing on the streaming giant. Many major artists have criticized the unfair revenue share, infamously Taylor Swift pulled all her music from the platform demanding better support and pay for musicians in 2014. Since more and more are expressing their views on the unfair treatment of artists on major streaming services.

Pink Floyd said this about Spotify, “those services (Spotify and other streaming services) should fairly pay the artists and creators who make the music at the core of their businesses. For almost all working musicians, it's also a question of economic survival."

Beck said, “What Spotify pays me is not even enough to pay the musicians playing with me or the people working on the discs, It's not working. Something is going to have to give."

Tim Burgess, lead singer of the Charlatans tweeted “So many artists forced to take second jobs, give up flats because they can’t pay their rent all while getting decent numbers of plays on spotify – yet the owner has enough to bid for a premier league team. It just doesn’t seem ethical to me”

Music fans added "That is the state of play in the world, the artist, creators & writers can only go through these global corporates and get paid next to nothing and they get paid the most. It is true with the statement someone said. "Billionaires don't make a billion, they take a billion"

Here at Jeeni we're working hard to do everything opposite to these streaming services, by offering an ethical alternative where artists are supported and treated fairly all while keeping 100% of everything they make on our platform. That's why we have taken to Crowdcube so we can scale up and continue supporting artists and performers. Join our fast-growing family of investors, and grab your rewards as you help us reach our target! Check out our pitch here. https://bit.ly/3BhEeia

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03
Dec

Weekly Round-Up # 5

The latest news on all things Jeeni, music and entertainment. BRITs announce the shortlist for the ‘2022 Rising Star Award’ Last year, the shortlist saw a vibrant and colourful shortlist consisting of Coventry rapper Pa Salieu, experimental electropop sensation, Rina Sawayama and finally the victor, Griff, a master in emotive pop songwriting. This year, a trio of female powerhouses makes up the shortlist, each with a distinct and remarkable display of strengths; Lola Young tends to leave space in her compositions for the raw power and emotional impact of her voice to shine first and foremost, whereas, Bree Runway takes a more bombastic, loud-and-proud approach with her floor-filling hip-hop bangers. Holly Humberstone, perhaps the most known here, seems to combine parts of both Lola’s vocal precedence and Bree’s grandiose and full instrumentals to make well-rounded pop hits. An exciting and promising collection of British artists, one of which are destined to join the ranks of previous prestigious winners including Adele, Florence + The Machine and Sam Smith. 64th Grammy Nominees Announced Speaking of nominees, the Grammy 2022 nominations were announced last week, featuring both safe and some daring inclusions. Jon Batise featured all over this year’s nominations list for his uplifting and soulful RnB sound. From record and album of the year to Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Batiste was in total nominated 11 times. At Jeeni, Keithian features a similar sense of joy and jubilation in his RnB style. Check out Keithian’s page on Jeeni: https://jeeni.com/?s=keithian Billie Eilish and her producer brother, Finneas also featured across many of the categories this year for their album ‘Happier Than Ever’. Other pop album nominees include Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande and Brandi Charlie. Finneas also found himself on the ‘Best New Artist’ category along-side Mercury Award winner, Arlo Parks and cousin of Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem. If Jeeni were included on the decision-making process, Ariana May, Marley Blandford and Olivia King would certainly be up for some of the year’s best pop performances and releases. Check out Jeeni’s pop channel: https://jeeni.com/channel/all-channels/pop/ Jazz legend, Tony Bennett features several times for his and Lady Gaga’s moving and nostalgic swing album, ‘Love For Sale’ as a respectable nod from The Recording Academy. Record, album and music video of the year are just a few of Bennett and Lady Gaga’s acknowledgments in the 64th Grammys. Check out Jeeni’s jazz channel: https://jeeni.com/channel/all-channels/jazz/ Licensing Leaders PPl and PRS Make Promising Action to Improve Progress on Diversity and Recruitment in The Music Industry Tomi Oyewumi has been enlisted as PPL’s equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) partner as a step in the right direction to influence the industry towards a more diverse and inclusive future. Tomi explains the meaning of true diversity and the impact PPL could potentially make. “That’s not just for race and gender, but looking at other areas such as social mobility. It’s about how that has an impact on what we do at PPL, but also how we can then use that to influence the wider music industry as well.” PRS hired Colin Campbell-Austin as head of inclusion and employee experience in October. This position is responsible for recruitment, engagement and talent development in PRS. On the PRS website they had this to say about Campbell-Austin, “Throughout his career, Colin has ensured recruitment of diverse talent from all social backgrounds, created first-class inclusive recruitment processes, talent development strategies and leadership and development programmes, with a focus on people, diversity, and inclusion.” More diversity means more representation and experiences expressed in the industry from all corners, resulting in a more colourful and expressive world of music. An exciting development for the industry indeed. Splendour in the Grass, Truck and Download; Just a Few of the Recently Announced Summer Festival Lineups Although governments worldwide are currently assessing the risks of COVID-19 making a much un-welcomed potential come-back, it’s hard not to get excited for the potential wave of epic festivals that we could enjoy in the coming Summer of 2022. Australian festival giant, ‘Splendour in the Grass’ cautiously released their lineup after many reschedules and cancellations due to COVID. ‘Splendour in the Park’ typically showcases homegrown Aussie talent with UK and USA headliners. For 2022, the UK corner, features the previously mentioned Holly Humberstone, Liam Gallagher, Tom Misch and headlining the first evening of the weekend is the all-genre virtual sensation, Gorillaz. The American talent includes SITP veterans, ‘Yeah Yeah Yeahs’, New York rock icons, The Strokes and Tyler, The Creator. Australia’s representatives include the new and promising Genesis Owusu, Tim Minchin and Alice Ivy. Oxfordshire’s ‘Truck Festival’ also announced a star-studded (albeit slightly less varied) lineup for their big weekend in July 2022. Typically featuring an exhibit of the biggest current indie acts with varying levels of something a little harder for those that want it and next year will be no different. The festival promises the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Blossoms and Sam Fender alongside the heavier Kasabian, Shame and Dinosaur Pile Up not to mention indie legends, The Kooks. Continuing the increase in heaviness, another massive festival lineup announcement comes from the legendary Donington Park ‘Download Festival’. Headliners, Kiss, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro are joined by heavy rock and metal peers such as Korn, Deftones, Megadeth and Black Label Society in a collaboration to deafen the entirety of Leicestershire next June 10th weekend. Jeeni News: Kissing The Flint’s New ‘100 Or Less’ Music Video Success On the weekend, folk-rock act, Kissing The Flint released a dynamic and spirited music video for their equally feisty and powerful new single, ‘100 Or Less’. The video matches the emotional and hopeful message the single holds regarding covid and the arts not getting enough funding. Check out the video now, on Jeeni: https://jeeni.com/100-or-less-kissing-the-flint-official-music-video/ And check out the review of ‘100 Or Less’ here: https://jeeni.com/blog/kissing-the-flint-single-review/ Brand New DarkStarGraver Single Out today, ‘Gohan’ is the newest single from rising Portsmouth rapper, singer and poet, DarkStarGraver. Catchy and bouncy, DSG's newest track is textbook melodic hip-hop. Check it out now. Find out more about DarkStarGraver with our Artist Focus here: https://jeeni.com/blog/darkstargraver-rapper-singer-poet/ Jeeni PCs Still Available after Black Friday Sale! Jeeni has partnered with Chillblast to bring customers exclusive branded PCs designed for musicians and creatives. Chillblast is the UK’s Most Awarded PC Manufacturer. Find out more about Chillblast here, and discover why Jeeni has partnered with Chillblast to bring Special Edition music PCs with exclusive Jeeni branding. As well as a year’s subscription to the Jeeni Platform with each order worth £85. Chillblast Jeeni PCs are perfect for all musicians and creatives, whether you’re an independent bedroom pop artist or a music producer working on the next number 1 one single. Get the best deal on music PCs with our black Friday 2021 offer. Buy your Jeeni Music PC built and warrantied by the UK’s most awarded PC manufacturer here: https://www.chillblast.com/celebrity-pcs/jeeni-pcs. Jeeni Is Looking for You to Join Our Team! We are currently offering the roles of Sales Executive and Senior Developer as a part of the governmental Kickstart scheme and these roles are for ages 16-24 and on Universal Credit. We are also offering a sales internship for university students trying to get experience during their education. For more information, visit: https://uk.indeed.com/jobs?q=jeeni&l&vjk=a9b44f31a3321877 We look forward to hearing from you!

10
Jun

Top 5 Acoustic Guitar Brands

Here at Jeeni.com we celebrate and support all musicians and performers to showcase their work and earn 100% of their sales, ticketing, merchandise and donations. Last week Jeeni returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. We have been very encouraged with the positive response as we reached our target in just 6 days and are now overfunding. If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Here is a really interesting blog by Bree Noble. Who produces the best acoustic guitars in the world? What brand is great for beginners? What price range fits me well? The answer to these questions can be subjective. Everybody has their parameters to judge the quality of the instruments. To be purely objective, we will be looking at overall instrument quality, brand reputation, and popularity. With these parameters, it’s possible for us to at least come up with a list of the best acoustic guitar brands. We’ve included a range of brands–some are known for making some of the world’s best-sounding guitars, and others are known for making economically priced guitars that swing well above their weight class in terms of build quality, tone and playability, Here are our top picks: #5. Yamaha–The Best Value Guitars You probably weren’t expecting to see Yamaha as our 5th pick on a list of top acoustic guitar brands. However, Yamaha is a brand that’s been praised for consistent quality and economical price range, allowing them to provide the best value for money. Most leading manufacturers have an economical line of guitars that caters to all budgets. Still, you often end up paying more for the brand itself rather than paying for the quality of the instrument. And like us, if you ever played a poorly-made acoustic while learning, you know just how frustrating the endeavour can get. However, while Yamaha guitars are recognised for value, many influential and legendary musicians have performed with Yamaha instruments, especially in the 70s such as John Lennon, John Denver, Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana. Today, it can be quite rare to see experts playing Yamaha acoustics, but the brand remains an excellent choice for those looking out for quality construction at an affordable price. You also can find some of the high-end Yamaha acoustics at most major music stores. #4. Gibson–For Players Who Want A Piece Of History Most novices and regular people have likely heard of Gibson–it’s a brand name seen on stages and in studios around the world. Gibson has been making quality guitars for over 100 years. Professional & expert musicians widely use both their acoustic-guitars and their electric guitars. Most Gibson acoustic-guitars are made of all solid wood, and even though Gibson is a large corporation, their acoustics are all still made by hand at their factory in Montana rather than a cheap, mass-produced guitar. The difference between a high-end, handmade one and factory mass-produced one can be significant. #3. Guild–For Those Looking For A Player’s Guitar Guild has been making and producing quality guitars since the 1950s. The guild as a brand, unfortunately, doesn’t have the mainstream popularity of Gibson or Fender yet, it’s still the preferred instrument of many professionals such as legendary musician Doyle Dykes who plays a Guild guitar and has his signature model, a stunning grand orchestra guitar launched in 2012. Guild guitars are frequently described as having a unique ‘sound’. To us, they have a brilliant sort of clarity about them, with punchy and natural-sounding bass. Guild is a company that has been bought out several times, and its tumultuous history may explain why it isn’t as well known or as mainstream as Martin or Taylor. The company was also famous for producing electric archtop guitars during the 1950s and 1960s. As archtops fell out of favour, the guild began moving back to creating acoustics. The company’s focus on excellent build quality and top-class materials means that their guitars are a pure joy to play. #2. Martin–Classic Tone, Classic Style Martin is the manufacturer responsible for introducing the dreadnought body shape, X bracing, and other key innovations to the world of acoustic guitars. Their amazingly responsive dreadnoughts are often used as bluegrass instruments, and they sound great when being played fingerstyle, too. However, their rich tone lends itself well to just about any musical style. The best-known Martin guitar is probably the D-28. This all solid spruce and rosewood dreadnought has both deep bass response and the sparkling nuances of rosewood. From the body shape to the tonewood configuration, it’s what a lot of people would consider the classical acoustic guitar. Martin is a brand steeped in history, but their guitars aren’t without modern touches–acoustic-electric models have sophisticated electronics (usually by Fishman), and the brand has a connection to pop superstar Ed Sheeran. Because Sheeran often played Little Martins onstage, he collaborated with Martin to produce his signature, Little Martins. #1. Taylor–Nuanced, Modern Sound Taylor produces almost every conceivable type of acoustic guitar you could ask for. From ornately-inlaid limited editions to affordable, durable instruments, you can find something that’s perfect for most budgets and playing styles. They’re also refreshing to listen to. To our ears, Taylor guitars have a light, almost airy sound that suits modern singer-songwriters exceptionally well. One thing that really sets a Taylor guitar apart is the Expression System pickups on acoustic-electric models. The pickup system sits behind the saddle (rather than under it). The pickup isn’t compressed like a standard under-saddle pickup; the sound ends up being more natural. Taylor has also pioneered a new bracing style, which experts believe is a step up from traditional X bracing. Taylor’s V-class bracing is designed to let the soundboard vibrate more freely, resulting in improved sound and sustain. This video offers a demo of some of V-class Taylor guitars. Whether you’re in search of a fast-playing bluegrass guitar or something to play relaxing slow songs on, one of these brands offers it. Let us know who your top picks/brands are? Add your thoughts in the comments section, and please share this article if you liked it! Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

03
Sep

Interview with Opera Star Joy Tamayo, Inside Story at Jeeni

Kate Stewart’s Inside Story interview with the great opera soprano Joy Tamayo, star of Spring Street, global premiere on Jeeni.com Spring Street is an opera that was created by one of Jeeni’s biggest supporters Pete Wyer. How did he approach you to take part? With Pete we worked together back in 2019 for the Twilight Chorus, we performed this at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. But we weren’t actually introduced then. In 2020 January I wrote him an email, inviting him to an opera that I wrote which we turned into a film. He wrote me back and said “WOW! You guys are making something”, and so we started talking about projects and he sent me a song and he said, “a soprano is doing this, what do you think of it?” And that just started the ball rolling so to speak for this project. What did you think of the project once Pete described it to you? His music really excited me; the Twilight Chorus resonated with me well. And with this project when I first looked at the music, I thought it was beautiful that he found a way to commemorate his friends. This is something I love doing as well with my group, it’s storytelling and its wonderful music. So I immediately said yes, before he started giving me the music. And without even knowing the rest of the performers. You have been performing since around the age of three, what made you choose opera over other genres of music? I don’t think I chose opera, at three I was mostly singing with my dad, my parents really inculcated this love for music at such a young age. And I remember my dad would play the guitar and I would sing with him. So, this love for singing in particular I think brought me to the realisation that I love to do music. I got into the Philippines high school for the arts when I was 12 and it was just a normal progression from a love for music and focusing on opera. Because that was the type of music that the school was also teaching. In retrospect, I love other types of singing as well. And the pandemic has allowed me to explore other types of music. Also realising that you can just sing in your living room and have a setup, your microphone, your preamp and file-sharing as we did with Pete’s work, it was all online. So back to the question, I didn’t choose opera, I just thought music was wonderful. And I had an easy time expressing myself through music and opera. And now I’m exploring with singing and not really minding the boundaries and structures. I really love the discipline and rigour that comes with opera singing. So I still bring that with me even with other types of music that I’m exploring right now. You haven’t actually been able to meet many of the other cast members in person yet. So has it been strange working on a brand-new opera in a global pandemic? Yes, to say the least, New York being silent, for fourteen months or so, it’s been odd. I met Heday one of the performers this year, we did a video. But I was just going around with them, I didn’t have a big part in the video. But I was able to say Hi to Maren and Heday. It’s been strange but you make the best of the situation and it’s been really exciting and fun. So, Spring Street is based in Manhattan and you’re based in Brooklyn but as you said you are originally from the Philippines. So how did that relocation come about? I got a scholarship at Crane School of Music, in upstate New York and so followed the American dream and moved here. It’s been a wild ride! For us in the Philippines your always thinking of the next step and for me being offered a scholarship, exploring another country, and also making sure that I do my best at the particular genre that I was exploring at that time, which was opera, it felt like the best move for me at that point. So, I moved to upstate New York and then I ended up here in Brooklyn and it's where I’ve been since 2014. So, Joy as well as being an amazing singer your also an actress and I’ve seen clips of the opera and your facial expressions in Spring Street are well, full of Joy I guess. It looks like you had a lot of fun with it, did you enjoy taking part? Yes, that was super fun! I remember it was around probably the end of winter when we shot some of the videos, and as you can imagine we were stuck at home for the longest time. So to be able to go outside and shoot some videos, was really fun. And to leave the living room, you know most of the videos were shot in the living room. And I remember I would send some videos to Pete, and he would say “you know what we could use this for this part” just like a collaboration back and forth. Your performance in spring street is going to be streamed worldwide on Jeeni.com in a couple of months too, a far bigger audience that could fit in an opera house. How do you feel about that? It’s hard to wrap my head around that, I haven't really contemplated the meaning of that big of a project. Now everything is online, a cat video can have millions of views, more than for example the Mets latest opera. But it’s certainly exciting. With this pandemic it seems like all of us are doing things; making art, making music, building communities in the living room, so it’s about file sharing, “oh watch this” or “have you seen my latest video”. There’s so much stuff online so I’m very excited about doing a similar thing. To finish today, Joy you’re a soprano which means that you have the highest vocal range of all of the vocal types. So I don’t suppose you could give us a little tiny demonstration? Although it is early morning in New York, so she hasn’t had the chance to warm up Joy complies happily. “No pressure” she laughs and proceeds to demonstrate her amazing vocal skills. You can watch the Inside Story Interview with Joy Tamayo by clicking here: Joy Tamayo Inside Story Spring Street Opera Joy Tamayo will be performing in the exclusive world première of Spring Street and the full performance can be watched Saturday 24th July 2021 on https://jeeni.com/springstreet/ Inspired by life on Spring Street, Manhattan – setting the poetry of Steve Dalachinsky and Yuko Otomo to music by Pete Wyer – wildly eclectic like the street itself.

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