Issue Nº 33Live · August 15, 2026Weekly · Tuesdays

The Brief.

A weekly dispatch on streaming, royalties, marketing and the music industry — written from real campaign data, not theory.

In the archive

331 dispatches

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5,000+ artists

All Streaming119 Marketing73 Business59 Touring16 Money44 Career20

A DJ desk at night: a Pioneer controller with headphones resting on it, a laptop showing a DJ library with waveforms, a phone propped against a studio monitor playing a music app, a handwritten gig setlist with two tracks crossed out and a sparkling water can.

★ Cover Story

01 / 12Issue Nº 33·Streaming

SoundCloud vs Spotify 2026: Price, Catalog, Verdict

SoundCloud vs Spotify in 2026: Spotify Premium is $12.99 with lossless audio and 100M tracks, SoundCloud Go+ is $11.99 with 400M+ uploads. Compared.

Marcus ValeAugust 9, 2026

13 min readRead the story

This Week

More dispatches

A phone on a small desk tripod showing a colorful year-in-review card mockup, ring light switched off beside it, an August wall calendar with an arrow drawn toward December and a launch-prep sticky note, and a content plan notebook with items half checked.

Streaming

In Depth

The long reads

A bedroom studio corner at dusk: a phone on a MIDI keyboard showing a blurred royalty dashboard, headphones on a mic arm, a notebook open to a handwritten pros and cons list, a basketball on the floor and sneakers on a shoebox by the wall.

Business

UnitedMasters Review 2026: Pricing, Payouts & Verdict

An honest UnitedMasters review for 2026: the free tier's 10% cut, $19.99 Debut+ and $59.99 Select plans, the brand deal reality, and who should skip it.

Daniel BrooksAugust 9, 2026 · 14 min read

An empty festival field under gray sky: a half-built main stage with loose banner corners, stacked crowd barriers on a flatbed trailer, a row of shrink-wrapped portable toilets, a printed notice zip-tied to the fence and muddy tire tracks across trampled grass.

Touring

Music Festival Cancellations 2026: Tracker + The Why

Music festival cancellations 2026 tracker: 20 UK festivals gone by June, Bluesfest in liquidation, 100+ lost worldwide in 2025, and five forces behind it.

Daniel BrooksAugust 9, 2026 · 12 min read

A kitchen table covered in visa paperwork: four passports from different countries fanned in a stack, a printed petition with sticky flags, a hand-labeled folder, a laptop showing a government form, and an October tour month circled on the wall calendar behind.

Touring

US Touring Visa Guide for Musicians 2026: Costs + Rules

US touring visa guide for musicians: what O-1B and P visas cost in 2026 after fee hikes, real timelines, ESTA showcase rules, and a 4-piece band budget.

Daniel BrooksAugust 9, 2026 · 13 min read

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