<p><strong>Your easy weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. </strong><em>Become a </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠<em>⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</em><em><strong>Superfan of the podcast for free – and enjoy the exclusive weekly Lock-in bonus section!</strong></em><em>⁠</em>⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><strong>This week... Steve and Producer Joe grapple with some big numbers, mergers, and warnings about signing your rights away:</strong></p><ul><li><p>The UK government promised to ban ticket touting (scalping). But now the <a href="https://musically.com/2026/04/30/uks-ban-on-ticket-scalping-may-be-delayed-until-next-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ban may be delayed for a year</a> or so: and the industry (and Steve) is not happy....</p></li><li><p>The estates of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix&#39;s Experience bandmates, have <a href="https://musically.com/2026/04/29/sony-music-wins-legal-battle-over-jimi-hendrix-experience-rights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">lost a court case</a> in which they were seeking more money from the band&#39;s albums – but why did they lose?</p></li><li><p>The resurgence of vinyl isn’t all good: LPs aren’t the most climate-friendly product. But that could be changing, and <a href="https://musically.com/2026/04/29/indie-labels-team-up-on-campaign-promoting-recycled-vinyl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a group of independent labels wants to show how</a>…</p></li><li><p>761 million people are now using Spotify every month, <a href="https://musically.com/2026/04/28/spotify-added-10m-users-and-3m-subscribers-in-q1-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according to its latest financial results</a>.</p></li><li><p>Talking of Spotify, you may have seen a new ‘green tick’ badge on artist profiles to verify that they are human. <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-04-30/verified-by-spotify-badge-artist-details/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">What’s that all about?</a></p></li><li><p>The music industry’s latest mega-merger will see <a href="https://musically.com/2026/04/28/bmg-and-concord-reveal-plans-to-merge-under-bmg-name/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BMG and Concord coming together</a> - but who are these two businesses and why is this one so big - and meaningful for indie artists?</p></li><li><p>Have Taylor Swift or Rihanna tried to get you to sign up to an online service you’ve never heard of on TikTok? Here&#39;s why... </p></li><li><p>William Shatner has a full-length heavy metal album featuring 35 hand-picked collaborators from across the genre, including Dave Lombardo of Slayer, and Rob Halford of Judas Priest(!)</p></li></ul><p><strong>And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our </strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠<strong>Patreon Superfans</strong>⁠⁠</a><strong>, Steve and Stu prop themselves at the bar – and Steve&#39;s getting the first round in – as they discuss this week&#39;s bonus material:</strong> </p><ul><li><p>More thoughts from Steve on the UK government&#39;s pause on the touting ban</p></li><li><p>Apparently <a href="https://luminatedata.com/blog/meet-angine-de-poitrine-2026s-first-breakout-band/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Angine de Poitrine are ‘2026’s first breakout band’</a> according to the streaming stats. But what does Steve think about them? And what does Steve think of Dadaist Math Rock, anyway?</p></li><li><p>Plus: Grebo! Fraggle! Baggy! Which genre deserves (perhaps) a revival?</p></li></ul><p>===================================</p><p><strong>As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular</strong> – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!</p><p>Email us: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a></p><p>See you next week!</p><p>Steve and Stuart</p><p>======</p><p>TPOM online: <a href="http://tpom.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">http://tpom.uk/</a></p><p>Support The Price of Music on Patreon:</p><p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a><a href="https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠</a></p><p>Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq</p><p>Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge</p><p>Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod</p><p>For sponsorship opportunities, please email - <a href="mailto:⁠⁠[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠[email protected]</a></p><p><br></p>