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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

IC NEWSLETTER #80 ROUNDUP 💬 The subscriber chat is now open, starting with an AMA thread 🎶 Quick look at Cantilever Music, a ray of sunshine in streaming's Dark Forest 💸 Deep dive into how AI music platforms mainly sell lottery tickets (or enable fraud) infinitecatalog.substack.com

infinitecatalog.substack.com

Infinite Catalog Newsletter | Hunter Giles | Substack

Music industry news, company/community updates, new music and more courtesy the royalty nerds at Infinite Catalog. Click to read Infinite Catalog Newsletter, by Hunter Giles, a Substack publication wi...

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Music Biz Association members, join us for the first exciting webinar in internet history "Do Your Royalties! (With Our Help)" Register -> us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Staying on brand. They should have learned from Spotify by now that it’s much easier to just do fake artists and payola

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

“Everything worthwhile is done with other people.” - Mariame Kaba

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

We've added support for a new income source, and that source is ETSY Shoutout everyone slinging vinyl records AND yarn slipmats

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

It used to be fun ignoring emails from VCs, now they're all just AI 😢

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

more like Infinite Calculator, am I rite

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Indies using major (or about to be major) distribution: your margin is now their opportunity.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Quite like how a retailer on Amazon is always being analyzed, and if Amazon sees an opportunity to replicate its products and devastate that business, they take it. As Bezos once said, "your margin is my opportunity."

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Universal is trying to do the same with their attempted Downtown / FUGA acquisition.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Sony is openly bragging to investors about using data from The Orchard and AWAL to compete against the very indies the latter are meant to be serving.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

The Amazonification of the music industry is here.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Either way, I’m taking Ek’s words with a big grain of salt. -mark

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Personal take (bc I don’t think we can know how this plays out without much more transparency), but it seems like a red herring to me. If we took money away from fraudulent songs, logically it would seem that the royalties going to real music would increase.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Platforms are shifting toward user-centric and artist-centric payment models, which should benefit the independent community. But there’s still work to do on transparency and fair payment thresholds – areas where technical solutions and industry coordination can make a real difference.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

AI came up in every conversation (shocking). The most promising applications focus on audio processing, operations, and rights management. But AI-generated tracks are flooding platforms, with an estimated 18% of submitted tracks being fully synthetic.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

The majors’ acquisition spree continues. Life-of-copyright deals are on the decline as savvy artists retain their rights. Organizations like the Music Fight Fraud Alliance and ORCA are providing collective strength to tackle shared challenges across distribution, platforms, and rights holders.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Greetings from Indie Week! Day 1 served up some fascinating (if unsurprising) themes that really hit home for anyone working in the independent music space…

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

3. Indies should organize around copyright ownership rather than distribution to maintain leverage. Organizations like ORCA represent an opportunity for premium independent rights holders to have a unified voice

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

2. Don't fear AI - focus on developing artists who move culture and emotions. This will ultimately become more valuable than AI-generated content.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Three takeaways from Tim Ingham of MBW: 1. Rights ownership is becoming more powerful than distribution. Majors are evolving into global service companies that primarily serve independent rights holders

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Our Summer Special is on! If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading your royalty situation, now’s the time. You can try IC free for 14 days and get 20% off with code SUMMER.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Doing royalties and listening to the great Richard Sen on doyou.world

doyou.world

Do!!You!!! World!

Do!! You!!! Radio

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

According to Spotify's latest Loud & Clear Report "The system we've built together is working". According to the data in that report: - the rich artists are getting richer at direct expense of the less well off artists - upward mobility is getting harder - artist income growth is slowing

docs.google.com

Spotify Payouts by Tier, According to Spotify

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Doing royalties and listening to Manuel Göttsching's 1981 masterpiece, E2-E4 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq-k...

youtube.com

Manuel Göttsching — E2-E4 (1981/Full album)

YouTube video by 12edit

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

IC Full Service: we're OCD so you don't have to be

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

What we accomplished at work last week

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Shoutout @subvert.fm, a true inspiration and something we're dying to see IC catalogs jump into This post is brought to you by the recent layoffs at #Bandcamp

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

vibe goal for IC Full Service offering is basically "what if Mary Poppins did your royalty accounting"

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Doing royalties and listening to Little Simz as usual

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

@stuartdredge.bsky.social at @musically.com details Warner Music Group's strategic shuffle: fresh streaming deals and a $450m Tempo Music purchase can't mask a 5% revenue decline. But with profits up 25%, CEO Robert Kyncl's efficiency drive seems to be working. musically.com/2025/02/07/w...

musically.com

WMG strikes Spotify, Amazon Music deals and buys Tempo stake

Discover how Warner Music Group is strategically increasing market share and value with licensing-deal renewals and acquisitions.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Meanwhile, the National Music Publishers Association is going nuclear on Spotify, launching more than 2,500 takedown notices over unlicensed music in podcasts. Spotify yawned and called it a "press stunt" after winning their MLC suit. www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/nmpa-hits-sp...

musicbusinessworldwide.com

NMPA hits Spotify with ‘extensive’ takedown action over alleged unlicensed songs in podcasts - Music Business Worldwide

The publishers’ group says Spotify has known ‘for years’ about widespread violations of music copyrights on the podcasts it hosts.

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

The MLC's attempt to stop Spotify from using audiobooks as an excuse to cut their mechanicals rate went down in flames, reports MBW. The judge bought the argument that including 15 hours of audiobooks makes it chill to pay artists less. www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-wins...

musicbusinessworldwide.com

Spotify wins ‘bundling’ lawsuit, as court dismisses legal action brought by the MLC - Music Business Worldwide

Court grants Spotify’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit…

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

@tedgioia.bsky.social capped off his Substack-published book over at The Honest Broker with a critique of the music industry's myopic focus on short songs and streaming metrics www.honest-broker.com/p/what-can-m...

honest-broker.com

What Can Music Do Today?

Here's the final chapter of my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead'

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Infinite Catalog @infinitecatalog.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Indie intel from the latest IC Community Newsletter:

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