Failure is a part of every entrepreneur’s journey, and Cody DeLong experienced his share early.

At 16, he began booking and promoting local heavy metal and punk concerts where he grew up in Fremont, New Hampshire. He walked into school one morning after pocketing $1,000 from a successful concert the night before, thinking he had a pretty sweet gig. But it didn’t always turn out so well. At 18, he found himself several thousand dollars in the hole after a show he booked in Exeter, New Hampshire, bombed. He borrowed the $3,000 from his mom to make up the difference.

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Whether it’s as simple as a band recording a new album, raising funds for musicians to head overseas to tour, or simply a great music-related initiative, the likes of Kickstarter, Pozible, Pledge Music, IndieGoGo and their online brethren are helping to realise the previously unattainable dreams of musicians the world over. Here, we’ve once again handpicked a few of the latest to cross our paths that we think you should totally consider supporting.

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A pair of legislators this week introduced a bill that would require online music services to pay copyright fees for pre-1972 recordings.

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The Future of Music Coalition said it was pleased Congress at least was recognizing the importance of compensating artists, but said that, unfortunately, the bill “doesn’t offer performers the full suite of rights afforded to artists who made recordings after February 15, 1972.” The group called the bill a step in the right direction, but added that “adding scaffolding to an already unwieldy structure may not be the best way to ensure artist compensation across the board.”

With news of Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics breaking today, Billboard reached out to prominent executives and thinkers from across the music industry to get their thoughts on the deal. 

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Everyone’s vying to turn streaming into something that will be profitable, but for the winner, revenue may not come to a music service alone. Apple is fundamentally a lifestyle hardware company. Beats Electronics is a powerful lifestyle brand. The downturn in download sales means Apple has a brief window of opportunity to get into the streaming market with a service that can be easily integrated into their OS. It’s still a walled garden, but there may be more walls. read more

The music industry is in a strange place right now

Music sales, both physical and digital, are in a death spiral, and the era of streaming-music platforms—be they financed by subscriptions or ads—is clearly upon us.

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