In this week's show, Steve and Stuart cover a lot of ground, including:

• Stu’s Big Number: it seems small (1000), but that’s how many days Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” has topped the Apple Music chart

• How do songwriters actually earn their money – a new report reveals the truth (part of which is that a lot of them are struggling)

• Which well-known bands are also performing as cover bands to make cash?

• Why Spotify are under investigation in Turkey – and what does it have to do with golden toilets?

• How fictional (but not AI!) bands from a Netflix K-Pop animation are getting lots of listeners on streaming platforms

• And much, much more (including Ozzy Osbourne’s chimpanzee collaboration)

And in the special post-show section just for our Patreon Superfans, Steve and Stu chat about:

• Steve’s latest new band tip,

• Unusual merch (including poorly-timed mug purchases, and expensive AA batteries),

• Steve’s Noel Gallagher spoon-in-a-champagne-bottle anecdote origin story,

• The duo pitch for podcast sponsorship from the Milk Marketing Board,

• Dad-dancing at gigs, and more…

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

Steve and Stuart are back in the new and - oh yes - improved The Price of Music!

In this episode:

• The Velvet Sundown are a fully-AI-generated band that have over a million listeners on Spotify – is this a tipping point – and should human artists worry?

• Oasis are back – so how much money did each show make (and how much of it is VAT?

• The band Deerhoof have pulled their music from Spotify in protest at co-founder Daniel Ek's investments into a weapons startup

• The proposed takeover of indie conglomerate Downtown Music by Universal Music is starting to get tetchy...

• Steve wonders: who owns your songs if your record label goes bust?

• and more!

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any niggling questions you might have about how the music biz works that Steve and Stuart can answer.

Email us: thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com

Steve and Stuart

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Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship, email - joe@musically.com

The Price of Music is a Music Ally production:

https://musically.com

The Price of Music is returning on Wednesday 9th July 2025– and each week we’ll be exploring some of the big music stories of the past seven days. Steve and Stuart will be finding out where the money’s going and attempting to explain how the industry works.

We'll bring you the headline figures, the hot topics of the week; and discussing what it all means for us as music fans.

So whether it's record deals or streaming royalties; ticket prices or technology, we’ll be helping to demystify what goes on behind the scenes and what makes the music industry tick.

We will also be answering your questions and interviewing key music biz people, from artists to A&R scouts; from managers to moguls.

Steve and Stuart look at Spotify's response to Kate Nash’s latest comments about streaming royalties, and discuss the news that Warner Music is in the final stages of testing its superfan app, with heavy involvement from Ed Sheeran.

Send in your questions for Stuart and Steve on thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic

For sponsorship, email - joe@musically.com

The Price of Music is a Music Ally production:

https://musically.com

Steve and Stuart discuss the news that PPL, the UK's music licensing company, has posted the highest annual revenues in its 90-year history, and find out why England captain Harry Kane has invested in a ticketing firm.

Send in your questions for Stuart and Steve on thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com

Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic

For sponsorship, email - joe@musically.com

The Price of Music is a Music Ally production:

https://musically.com