Melissa B. Released Her New Hit Single, "Physical"

Verified Artist Melissa B. releases her new single, ‘Physical’, on all platforms and Beatify.

“PHYSICAL” is the new song written by B. Howard, produced by B. Howard, Kyle Beatz & engineered by Grammy recipient Michael Ashby who was responsible for recording Cardi B.’s song “Bodak Yellow”. “PHYSICAL” is a straight-up R&B cut with a smooth dance groove in which Melissa B. is giving you that feel good R&B tune. This R&B tune is about connecting with your lover, giving her the love and attention she deserves. This song is a combination of mechanical instruments and Melissa's beautiful, melodic voice.

“Physical” is available on all digital platforms released through Amada Records and Beatify, the first fair-trade blockchain streaming platform.

Be sure to purchase “Physical” on SongWhip, and visit her Website.

A Life Connected: Peter Dante on his New Music Release and Connecting with his Fans

Peter Dante is never afraid to go with the flow, as proven with his newest release, “Dimes, Nickels and Pennies.” With the song set to release soon, he finds himself in unfamiliar places with some very familiar friends.

The frequent and notable collaborator once again brings together some of the best in the industry with the single he describes as pop-rock, reminiscent of early Train. With unobtrusive yet powerful lyrics and a melodic hook, Dante said the song is really a reflection of himself.

“Dimes, Nickels and Pennies is a real anthem about my life,” he said. As those that have seen Dante perform can attest his shows are frequently a haven of love and improvisation, both lyrical and not, but always entertaining and from the heart.

“Every song that I write, every song that I sing, and every different night, I sing them differently,” Dante said. “I freestyle a lot and write about them, where I'm at, what venue, what I'm feeling from the crowd, about my band, about the band I'm touring with, about whoever and about whatever band that's just opening that night.” He hopes his connection with people is conveyed in the new song as well, along with his positive outlook on life and collaboration.

“I’m a 53-year-old guy that loves recording and writing music, and especially if I can help those around me,” Dante said. “It's a bonus, you know, and if we can go to the pick of the top, then God bless it, take it to the top.”

Top of the charts or not, Dante said he lives off the warm feedback and connection from his fans.

“You lay it out there on the line and you tell people the story of why you wrote it, when you wrote it, what you wrote about, or to just, in general, connect. It's an astounding feeling the response, you get back from humans.”

That improvisational and collaborative nature of Dante’s act bleeds heavily into his artistic process. As he listens to others play, he said he is always watching and ready to build and connect on what he hears.

“I literally start writing, with immediacy within the first probably eight to 12 bars of the song. And then I'll run it back right away, just to start it over,” Dante said. “The creative process to me is, it's a dream and a belief in what I've experienced.”

“And, or they can just conquer things, just by loving themselves, to learning how to love others, be accepting of others, and have compassion, but yet have complete passion.”

In regard to aspiring musicians, Dante states collaboration is a necessary and integral part of success.

The actor/musician with a heart of gold’s love for people shines through his music. “Disappear with me, my heart and soul you’ll see…How far and deep, and how far I’ll go no matter what with my heart and soul said…we’ll rise above, we’ll love.”

Music Streaming Profits Spotlights How NFTs Empower Content Creators

With the dramatically expanding creator economy, NFTs and Web3 are becoming the tools for giving artists and musicians more financial stability and control.

The music sector hit record revenues at $25.9 billion in 2021, which amounts to an 18.5% growth from 2020, according to IFPI’s “Global Music Report.” Of these nearly $26 billion, streaming drove the bulk of the growth, with a 24.3% increase relative to 2020. These patterns constitute great news for the emerging class of NFT musicians and highlight the demand for audio and video content.

Even if the way that streaming is done changes — moving from centralized platforms, like Spotify to decentralized NFT marketplaces — streaming is here to stay. The rise in streaming is part of a broader transformation in media and entertainment towards digital content — print media is quickly fading. Digital media began replacing print media years ago with profound effects on the sector. Economists find that the move toward national digital media is linked with the decline in local newspapers and partially explains the focus on national topics and heightened politicization. 

But, we have the opportunity to do things differently in the emerging Web3 era. We now are starting to see the emergence of individual musicians minting their own NFTs and marketing them — and keeping the bulk of the revenues, rather than cedeing them to record labels or other intermediaries.

Building community

Many commentators have already pointed out that community-building is important for successful NFT projects. Absent a centralized platform that helps disseminate content at scale, NFT artists have to rely on their own networks and personal connections to get the word out. In many ways, that requires a different set of skills than the production of the music, namely many soft skills and some financial shrewdness — at least enough to know when to say yes versus no to an opportunity. 

However, such skills are not taught in traditional music programs. Instead, they focus heavily on voice technique and music history, which are useful to varying extents, but not alone sufficient for a successful career as a musician. That’s part of the reason record labels and centralized entities were so useful — they helped fill a lack that many musicians had through no fault of their own.

But, community-building is not just a means toward the end of selling NFTs — it’s also a highly interactive and dynamic process that feeds into an artist’s underlying art. Unfortunately, the usual centralized model for media and entertainment not only requires musicians to part with the bulk of their potential revenues, but also their rights and governance. They cannot even make decisions governing their own music without getting approval from their controlling entity.

While some people might still be okay with that, artists across the board loathe giving up that sort of creative autonomy and control — especially when they are not compensated well for it. Wages for performing artists are projected to experience limited growth over the next several years, suggesting that little is going to change unless we shift from the current trajectory.

Music was never designed for centralization. Artists create experiences for others to enjoy with others. Although record companies talk about building community, the proof is in the pudding — musicians across the board struggle, and often not due to a lack of talent, but rather a lack of financial and business expertise that leads them into contracts with record labels that do not serve their interests. Fortunately, we’re seeing an emergence of decentralized options, including most recently the announcement of MuseDAO, which aims to bring classical musicians together and spearhead local meetups and get togethers with the goal of enjoying and growing culture.

Immersive digital experiences

Prior coverage from Cointelegraph has already highlighted the financial benefits that music NFTs offer artists through the initial sale. We don’t need to look too far to see the windfall that talented musicians have brought home, most notably Justin Blau, known under his performing name 3LAU, as one of the early movers through his Ultraviolet NFT drop last year.

However, what the latest numbers on streaming highlight is that there is a growing audience for music NFTs beyond just streaming — if that was all that there was, then we would expect to see steady, not exponential, growth. Instead, we saw continued momentum as consumers look for more audio and video content to consume and enrich their lives in place of traditional print media.

NFTs have the potential to unlock an incredibly exciting and new market in the creative economy. If we think of artists — and content creators more broadly — as people who help build experiences for others, then NFTs become the vehicle to transmit and authenticate unique artistic content.

Read more here.

Grindweekly Magazine Interview with Entrepreneur and Rap Artist ColbyDinero

Hi ColbyDinero! How are you?

I’m doin great. What’s goin dine?

Where are you from?

I’m from Houston, Texas

Why don’t you give us some details about the work you do? What do you specialize in?

I’m an entrepreneur and an artist. I specialize in graphic arts and creative media. I own my own clothing line called AWOL Clothing (@officialawolclothing on Instagram) and I have a TV show on YouTube called AWOLTV. I like to CREATE. I’m big on inspiration and I draw most of it from art.

When did you start music?

I started music back in 2009 in high school. Me and my boys use to freestyle but my best art comes from writing. I even created my own music in my room on an old Dell laptop using Mixcraft with a webcam as my microphone.

How did you get into music?

Music was always something I was drawn to. All my life I’ve been listening to all kinds of music. Seeing different artist like Lil Wayne, T-Pain, 50 Cent, Ludacris, etc. as a kid made me wanna have fun with music. Rap doesn’t have to be just about being gangsta and catching bodies all the time. You gotta know how to be versatile and we genuine with your craft. But I understand it’s a difference between making money and doing something you love.

Who inspires you the most musically?

I’m inspired by artist who make music with meaning and a strategic mindset behind it. Future, Lil Wayne, and Drake are a few artist who I can say are strategic with the music they make and bring more than just the music to a track.

Who is one artist you wish you could work with?

Larry June is one artist I would definitely work with.

What are the challenges of being an artist?

The most challenging part about being and artist is finding the time and space for the unlimited amount of creativity I have in my head. I have so many ideas and it’s hard to organize them as a collective so it’s no telling what imma come with next.

Anything else you want the audience to know about you?

Go check out my two new homemade videos I just created all my platforms. AWOL Entertainment on YouTube. @therealcolbydinero on Instagram. And @Colbydinerolive on Twitter.

Spotify CEO defends Joe Rogan deal amid growing backlash

“We don’t change our policies based on one creator nor do we change it based on any media cycle or call from anyone else," Daniel Ek said during a call.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed the backlash against Joe Rogan on Wednesday after a growing list of artists said they were pulling their music from the platform over its failure to take action against Covid-19 misinformation.

“We don’t change our policies based on one creator nor do we change it based on any media cycle or call from anyone else,” Ek said during the company’s earnings call. “I do believe they’re right for our platform. And while Joe has a massive audience — he is actually the number one podcast in more than 90 markets — he also has to abide by those policies.”

Rogan — who signed a $100 million deal giving Spotify exclusive rights to his show in 2020 — has been at the center of growing backlash for repeatedly sharing and providing a platform for misinformation around the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines.

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Ek's comments came after the streaming music platform announced Sunday it would add content advisories to any podcast episodes discussing Covid-19 — a move that came after several musicians, led by Neil Young, said they were pulling their music from the platform for providing an unchecked platform for Covid-19 misinformation.

In response to Spotify's announcement, Rogan defended himself on Sunday in a 10-minute video posted on Instagram, but vowed to "try harder" to offer more balance on his show, which reaches an estimated 11 million listeners per episode.

“I’m not trying to promote misinformation. I’m not trying to be controversial,” he said. “I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations.”

Young demanded his music be removed from the service last week over the growing controversy, saying Spotify “can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” in an open letter on Jan. 24 that was later deleted from his official website, according to Rolling Stone. On Jan. 26, Spotify said it agreed to remove Young’s music.

Other artists, including Canadian musician Joni Mitchell, India Arie, Nils Lofgren and Young's former bandmates, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, have since sought to follow suit.

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Spotify reported an increase of 8 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2021, but the company's stock saw a significant immediate drop as much as 22 percent after hours on Wednesday, Variety reported.

During the earnings call, Ek said the past several weeks have provided a "number of learning opportunity for the company," adding that "there's still work to be done."

In an appearance on CNBC Wednesday, Ek said the company is trying to achieve a "big balancing act" which involves "balancing creative expression with, of course ... the safety of our users."

We should have published our policies earlier, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says amid controversy over Joe Rogan’s podcast. “That’s on me.” https://t.co/wfILwYbrUZ pic.twitter.com/ifJHCrDrVv

— CNBC (@CNBC) February 3, 2022

That's why the company decided to recently publish its policies for the first time, Ek said, noting it should have been done earlier.

“That’s on me," he said. "But we have them out there now, so that everyone can look at these policies and understand what goes on our platform. Our goal obviously is to have as much content as we can. We're going to try and do everything we can to build the best possible experience for creators where they can interact and engage with their fans and monetize those relationships."