December
Spotify Artist Buttons on Kud.li Pages
You may have noticed a recent addition to the kud.li landing pages that, where applicable, are now automatically displaying a Spotify follow button for the artist of the release. This gives your fans an easy, one-click method to follow the artist – which will consequently notify them of new releases as well as helping to drive streaming activity on and around the release day. Spotify uses huge amounts of data analysis to manage both their algorithmic and curated playlists and when tracks are added to user libraries and playlists, these are strong indications to their systems that listeners like the music. So the more often this happens, the more likely it is that your tracks will be recommended to other Spotify users, helping to grow your audience (and therefore revenue) on this service.
November
Record Store Day
Record Store Day 2020 takes place on Saturday, 18th April. Our deadline for initial registration is 9th Dec, though final details and finished artwork will not be required until 10th January. Please see this recent mailout for details and for a link to the sign up form.
TikTok
We have recently partnered with TikTok and have been delivering catalogue through that is now live on the service. TikTok is an iOS and Android social media video app for creating and sharing short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. ByteDance, the Beijing-based startup behind TikTok, has amassed more than one billion monthly active users across its apps including TikTok, which was the most downloaded app in the US in October 2018. Read more here.
Kudos Xmas Opening Hours
We will be shutting up shop for the Xmas period on Friday 20th December (final UPS & Royal Mail collection will be around 4pm that day), blearily emerging back again Thursday 2nd January. This will be the final digest mailout of the year so on behalf of us all at Kudos we wish you & yours a pleasant & restful holiday and we will see you in the new year.
October
2019 Apple Music & iTunes Holiday Season Delivery Schedule
If you plan on releasing music on Apple Music and iTunes between November 22, 2019, and January 3, 2020, please check these delivery deadlines.
YouTube – New Subscription Territories Launch
YouTube has today announced the immediate launch of its premium subscription services, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
September
New Digital Services
Anghami: We’re pleased to announce that we now have an agreement in place with Anghami– one of the largest music platforms in the Middle East and North Africa. We know that many labels are eager to be represented on this service. The delivery feed is currently in the final testing stage so we expect to be fully up-and-running very soon.
Jaxsta: We recently began deliveries to Jaxsta – an Australian-based startup which is “on a mission to create the world’s most comprehensive database of official music credits”. Jaxsta will soon offer subscription packages and business-to-business data services which will generate revenue for contributors as well as referrals to third-party streaming and download sites. [more info]
New DJ Integrations on Beatport and SoundCloud
Beatport recently expanded their Beatport LINK service – adding integrations with rekordbox dj and VirtualDJ. Soundcloud’s DJ software integration now also supports EDJing. For more info about these services see the following knowledgebase articles which have been recently updated. [Beatport] [SoundCloud]
Kudos is Hiring
Kudos is currently looking for a part-time warehouse assistant. So if you know someone that may be interested in joining the Kudos team, please point them to the job description on our website here.
August
New Distribution Website
We were pleased to launch a brand new Kudos Distribution website this month with a clean, modern look that provides a much better platform for showcasing what we do and the partners we work with. We will continue to refine and add to the site over the coming months but we hope it already offers a much clearer explanation of the services we offer and what sets us apart from our competitors. Please take a look.
Apple Digital Masters
The Mastered for iTunes program as now been rebranded and extended to Apple Music (where it was previously a feature exclusive to the iTunes store). We’ve updated the knowledgebase to reflect this change and provide more detail on how the process works. If you’re interested to know more have a read here.
Genius Lyrics on Spotify
By popular request we’ve added a new article to the knowledgebase about Spotify’s interactive lyrics feature – powered by Genius.com. The article explains how to submit lyrics through Genius so that they are eligible for use in this feature and offers a guide to best practices. You can find it here.
Spotify Canvas
… Speaking of interactive features on Spotify … We have been asked to nominate more artists to try out the video looping feature “Canvas” which remains in beta testing. The tool is accessed via Spotify for Artists but is available only by invitation. For information about eligibility etc. please read this article on the knowledgebase and speak to your label manager if you’d like to request access for one of your artists.
July
Music Declares Emergency / AIM Climate Action Group
Alongside many other prominent UK music companies, Kudos has signed-up to the Music Declares Emergency (MDE) initiative. MDE is an independent group of industry professionals and organisations concerned at the lack of a cohesive, industry-wide response to the climate emergency. It recognises that the music industry – due to its unique challenges – needs its own group to drive this debate. You can read more about the organisation (and sign-up if you wish) here. As an active member of the Association of Independent Music (AIM) Kudos will be pleased to support and contribute to the work of the newly formed AIM Climate Action Group.
African Genre Additions
We recently added a specific section to our genre list for African music. New genres available in this list include Afro House, Afro Soul, Afrobeats, Benga, Bongo-Flava, Coupé-Décalé, Gqom, Kizomba, Kuduro, Kwaito, Maskandi, Mbalax, Ndombolo, Shangaan Electro, Taarab, Zouglou.
These options take advantage of a recent expansion in the sub-genres available on iTunes and Apple Music – allowing African music to be more accurately described on these services. If any of your existing releases may be more appropriately re-assigned to one of these sub-genres, we recommend submitting updates via the portal. For any bulk updates by artist or label, please speak to your label manager.
June
Tidal Smart URL
Another addition to our smartlink service list, Tidal. You are now able to link to albums & tracks available on the service and your fans will have the option to chose the service amongst others on release landing pages.
May
Instant Grat, Pre-Stream & Pre-orders
If you’re planning a digital album release you might want to consider using “Instant gratification tracks” and pre-orders as part of your pre-release campaign. We’ve added an explainer here:
Beatport Hype
Beatport recently launched a promotional platform for new and emerging labels called Beatport Hype. Labels who subscribe are eligible for special charts and reserved placement spots on their site. More info here:
Spotify Canvas
Spotify Canvas is a new video looping feature in the Spotify mobile app that’s currently in beta testing. Sound interesting? Read this:
April
Kudos Recent Additions
We recently welcomed a couple of new members to the Kudos team…
Chris joins our warehouse – managing order processing and customer service across our D2C site, Bandcamp and Discogs fulfilment. For more information about our fulfilment services click here.
Tom is our new Social Media & Marketing coordinator. Hopefully you will have noticed a lot more activity on our social channels in recent weeks. Please make sure that you are following us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram and help us promote your releases by engaging with our posts when we mention you and your artists. You can also help us by tagging Kudos in your own posts and letting your label manager know when you have articles, features, etc. that you’d like us to cover.
Beatport LINK DJ Software Integration
Beatport recently announced that they’ll be launching a premium streaming and cloud locker service – allowing their repertoire to be played directly from popular DJ software and hardware applications under a subscription model. Read more here:
Mixcloud
Mixcloud is a streaming platform for user uploaded, long-form audio content – such as radio shows, podcasts and DJ mixes. They recently launched a new service Select which allows users to pay for premium subscriptions to their favourite creator’s channels. Kudos have now integrated with Mixcloud under a new licensing agreement which splits this subscription revenue with rights-holders when their tracks are included in a mix.
March
Brexit Preparedness.
The UK seems to have successfully dodged the “No Deal Brexit Bullit” for now, but as our political system creaks and strains under the weight of trying to deliver the un-deliverable, Kudos has commenced our own “no deal” preparations.
We have made our application for “Transitional Simplified Procedure” for clearing goods sent to us from the EU (either from distributed labels or pressing plants).
Our EORI number GB538978281000.
EU labels and suppliers may need to include this on any shipping paperwork should the UK leave without a deal with no transition period,
Kudos already ships and receives goods to/from many territories outside the EU, so we are familiar with the paperwork requirements. Under WTO terms, Vinyl and CDs do not attract duty ( tariffs ), so the only real headaches for us will be having to pay VAT “up front” on receipt of goods from the EU (which we can claim back) and any additional ancillary costs and delays resulting from the inevitable border friction.
We will do our best to keep you informed on how any of this might affect the services we provide. Those of you based in the UK, please feel free to write to your MPs, sign petitions, attend marches etc…to persuade our elected representatives to either stop this madness, or at least mitigate the worst consequences by opting for the softest version of Brexit, where we remain in the Single Market.
Mailorder Discount Codes for Distributed Labels
As a Kudos distributed label, you are able to generate time-limited discount codes for use on https://kudosrecords.co.uk. Simply enter your code at checkout to receive 15% off the total cost of your order (not including P&P). We have added more details on this in our knowledgebase.
Boomkat Shortlink
We have added an addition to our kud.li smart-links repertoire, now with the ability to directly link to releases that have been delivered to Boomkat. These will automatically appear on both kud.li landing pages and the available on section of the mailorder release pages.
February
Mailorder Discount Codes for Distributed Labels
Distributed labels are now able to generate 15% off discount codes to be applied to any of our titles via our mailorder store. Simply generate a code here and then apply the code at the cart when ordering.
Juno Download Smart Link
We have also added a small addition to our kud.li smart-links, now with the ability to directly link to releases that have been delivered to Juno Download. These will automatically appear on both kud.li landing pages and the available on section of the mailorder release pages.
Marketing & Social Media Co-ordinator Job
Last call for any new applications for the Marketing & Social Media Co-ordinator role. If you have anyone in mind that would be a good fit, please pass them on to this link or give it a retweet.
January
Congratulations!
Congratulations are in order for First Word who were awarded Label of the Year at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards and also to Effyzie Music Group whose artist Yemi Alade recently passed 100 million views on YouTube for her video “Johnny” – becoming the first female African artist to pass this milestone.
Changes to Continuous Mix Policy
Apple recently announced that longform continuous mix tracks will no longer be accepted for sale on iTunes or Apple Music. From now on, if you have continuous DJ mixes that you’d like to be available on these services they will need to be delivered as “continuous mix albums”. We’ve updated the knowledgebase with the latest advice here.
Overstocks Reminder
A few weeks ago we sent out information about our new policy on storage of surplus stock and the associated charging structure. This information is now also available to reference on the knowledgebase here.
Digital Services News
This month we completed setup with Yandex.Music. Yandex is the most popular internet search engine in Russia. This new music streaming service joins a wide range of additional services on offer from this technology giant who are often referred to as the “Google of Russia”.
We were pleased to accept an invitation from SoundCloud this month to join a roundtable discussion about developments planned for their subscription service over the coming year. We’ve been at Facebook’s London HQ, learning more about musics use across Facebook and Instagram since acquiring licenses last year. We’ve also had a presentation from MixCloud in relation to the subscription services that they’re currently rolling out. Expect news to follow in the coming months for all of these.
We’re Hiring
Applications are still being accepted for the position of Social Media and Marketing Coordinator. If you know anyone who may be interested please point them here.
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