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PODCAST

The Price of Music

The Price of Music: your essential weekly music biz explainer – with Steve Lamacq and Stuart Dredge. Become a Price of Music Superfan and get extra content every week – at patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacqFollow Stuart on X - @stuartdredgeFollow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpodFor sponsorship email - joe@musically.comThe Price of Music is a Music Ally production:https://musically.com/joe@musically.com

music music commentary

All Episodes

00:19:40

“Managers do a lot more than they used to...” –...

The Price of Music ·

2026/02/18

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works: don't forget - you can become a ⁠⁠Superfan of the podcast for free – and access an extra 20 mins of show each week!⁠This week, it's time for another interview with one of the people who make it all happen. Steve speaks to Niamh Byrne, who managed Blur, Elastica, and Turin Brakes, before founding Eleven management, which works with artists like Damon Albarn and Gorillaz – and she’s also the chair of the Music Managers Forum, the global

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00:36:02

Why did Taylor Swift snub YouTube? Did Bad Bunny's...

The Price of Music ·

2026/02/11

Why did Taylor Swift snub YouTube? Did Bad Bunny's Superbowl show boost his streaming numbers?Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works: don't forget - you can become a ⁠Superfan of the podcast for free – and access an extra 20 mins of show each week!⁠This week, Steve and Stu get stuck into:Stu's big number is $60 billion... and it's how much money YouTube made in 2025. But how much of this goes to music makers?Taylor Swift’s new music video was deliberately delayed

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00:30:28

Have world tours stopped doing the "tour" part?;...

The Price of Music ·

2026/02/04

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works – and this week Steve and Stu grapple with Harry Styles, Bonnie Tyler and Bruno Mars...Don't forget - you can become a Superfan of the podcast for free – and access an extra 20 mins of show each week!Stu's big number is $11bn - and that’s ⁠how much Spotify paid out to the music industry in 2025⁠. But will that be enough to get its critics off its back?Apple Music ⁠identified up to 2 billion fraudulent streams on its service in 2025

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00:38:31

The battle to keep one of the UK's great grassroots...

The Price of Music ·

2026/01/28

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works – and this week they speak to Ricky Bates, head of booking and promotion at the Joiners in Southampton - one of the UK’s great grassroots venues. But first they chat about:Half a million pounds is being distributed in the UK to grassroots venues artists and events - and it’s money gathered from the levy on ticket sales in the UK. Steve and Stu discuss how this money is being spent – and how it will make a difference.Last week, Steve spoke to

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00:38:00

Over 50 million songs got zero streams in 2025 – and...

The Price of Music ·

2026/01/21

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works – and this week, Stu’s Big Number is also the Big Story – and here are some mind-boggling facts to bewilder your friends with: There are now 253 million tracks available on streaming sites… and 55.3 million songs were not played even once in 2025(And, over 100 million songs have been played less than 100 times)Over 50 million songs - 20% of all the music available on streaming – were uploaded in 2025106,000 songs were uploaded each day - that’s

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00:36:15

Elon Musk versus the music industry; AI slop vs human...

The Price of Music ·

2026/01/14

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works – and this week, it’s a Billionaire Special!Stu’s big figure has three commas: Beyonce is now worth a billion dollars – the fifth musician to do so, according to Forbes. (Experience being ultra-wealthy by listening to TPOM's extra content for FREE here: https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join)Elon Musk versus the music industry: the world’s richest man doesn’t like paying for musicThe head honcho of Universal Music has thoughts on how AI slop

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00:37:21

Looking ahead to 2026: Live music's pivotal year;...

The Price of Music ·

2026/01/07

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And it’s a bumper episode as Steve and Stu take a look ahead into 2026: what will the big stories be in the coming year? Here are their predictions:It’s a year of change for the UK record industry, and where the UK stands in terms of influence in a global context – including acts like Sleep Token who have broken through in the USA.And there’s been a lot of layoffs at UK major labels – why might that be good for indie artists? (BTW - get a free

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00:39:27

The Price of Music Christmas Quiz 2025!

The Price of Music ·

2025/12/17

Here it is! The long awaited, much feared Great Price of Music Christmas Quiz 2025 – which sees Steve pitted against Stu in a battle for the ages, as both vie to be crowned QUIZ CHAMP 2025.Our daring duo face questions about the show, band names, and each other – as well as especially tricky questions submitted by our Patreon Superfans, plus one question from a Very Special Indie Guest Star. Spoiler alert: it was a fiendishly tricky quiz, and a very close-run race.Look, the best thing to do is to

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00:45:34

Los Campesinos! share their streaming money data (and...

The Price of Music ·

2025/12/10

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu get stuck into a late-year flurry of big news:"This could be the death knell for small venues" – enormous increases in business rates are coming for UK venues – Steve has a lot to say about how a seemingly-innocuous business rates policy point in the recent UK budget may prove to have a devastating effect;UK band Los Campesinos! have laid bare their streaming royalties – by

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00:37:34

Spotify Wrapped is here (and why is it a big deal?);...

The Price of Music ·

2025/12/03

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu pull on their Santa hats and get stuck in to:Spotify Wrapped 2025 has just launched (and has now taken over your social feeds) But why is it such a big deal this year?Steve answers a great listener question: "why don’t more bands and venues do afternoon gigs for people who can't stay out late?"Olivia Dean is the breakout British star this year... and is now taking on

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00:29:34

Exploding toilet cancels gig - but will the band and...

The Price of Music ·

2025/11/26

Get more TPOM in the post-show "lock-in" – try it for FREE!: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/thepriceofmusic/membership⁠====Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu unwrap the week's music biz goings-on:An exploding toilet caused a gig cancellation – but what now for the band, fans and the venue?Stu’s Big Number is $2.45bn - it’s big, but why might it feel scary to artists and labels?Spotify might also put their

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00:35:16

Why don't venues advertise set times for gigs?;...

The Price of Music ·

2025/11/19

One more round? The post-show "lock-in" is just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠ - try it for FREE!: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/thepriceofmusic/membership====Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu pour a couple of foaming pints of:Stu’s Big Number is 10 million – but how does it relate to the premature jingling of Christmas bells?The UK government has announced that tickets will soon only be able to be resold at

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00:34:03

Why have The 1975 deleted a song? Can YOU tell the...

The Price of Music ·

2025/11/12

Have you heard the now-legendary post-show "lock-in" section, just for our ⁠Patreon Superfans⁠? Try it for FREE!: https://www.patreon.com/c/thepriceofmusic/membership=======Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, our dynamic duo Steve and Stu grapple with the following:Stu’s Big Number is 713 million – and you are quite possibly one of them. But what is it?Can YOU tell the difference between human-made music and AI-generated

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00:31:16

Major label Universal to make AI-music service with...

The Price of Music ·

2025/11/05

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And in this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu grapple with:Stu's Big Number is 11.5 million – but what does it have to do with Billie Eilish and a room full of billionaires?One AI-music company is working on a new service with the world’s biggest major label... so will be be able to create our own sound-a-like tracks?How Spotify is coming under fire in the US over controversial ICE ads running on its service.For the first

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00:39:21

Fans First: Lord Kevin Brennan on fixing live music...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/31

Bonus episode! Steve is joined by Lord Kevin Brennan, the ex-MP – and now member of the UK's House of Lords – who is also a musician, and has been described as “a writer of songs and a righter of wrongs.”He talks to Steve about his leadership of the UK parliament’s new fan-led review of live and electronic music, with the aim of improving the sustainability of grassroots live and electronic music to safeguard the success of the wider UK music industry.. You can take part in this review right now

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00:26:55

Steve & Stu answer listener's questions: Why do...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/29

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu dip into the postbag and answer some very astute listeners’ questions which get to the heart of music streaming and live music!Matt asks why ticket prices can vary so much at the same venue? And he has a good real-world example: Maximo Park and Suede are playing Cambridge Corn Exchange soon – and tickets for Maximo Park £36.50 and Suede’s are £45.50. If they both sell out, Suede will

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00:32:16

Spotify will launch an AI-music service... but what...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/22

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. In this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu crunch the numbers and figure out...Exactly how much does a Mercury prizewinner’s streams really go up after a win?Spotify is going to make a licensed AI music something – but what is it going to be? And will artists get paid?Is TPOM now a Baby Shark fan-podcast? Steve politely requests that Stu stops singing a mooted Peppa Pig/Baby Shark collaboration.In Australia, people are

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00:52:27

How difficult is it to put on a music festival these...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/16

A special episode for you this week - where TPOM wonders: just how hard is it to run a festival in 2025, anyway? Spoiler: it's tricky, but rewarding! To find out more, we spoke to John Rostron, who started in the festival world when he co-founded the award-winning multi-venue festival Sŵn in Cardiff in 2007.He's now CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals which represents over 150 independent UK Music Festivals – making it the single largest collective of festival audiences in the

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00:35:42

Coldplay's first single is now worth *how much*? The...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/09

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And in this week’s episode of The Price of Music, Steve and Stu wrap their minds around...How much would it cost to buy Coldplay’s very first single today?; Steve reveals the “best new band he’s seen in months”;A proper AI vs human band dust up!;Are the major labels about to sign deals with music-generating AI platforms?A splendidly indignant speech from RAYE;Major labels are buying up indie businesses – and now hundreds of indie labels are

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00:41:32

Steve reflects on working as a music journalist in...

The Price of Music ·

2025/10/01

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And goodness me, there's a lot in this week’s episode of The Price of Music for our dynamic duo to get stuck into...Listener Richard sent us a great question about music journalism – and Steve has a lot to say when answering: what’s changed about music journalism, whether music journalism is still important, where the music print media has gone, and what the future of music writing holds. (Plus - does Steve get paid when his 1991

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