Quick Hits: Consent decree critiques, SoundCloud tips, and digital visualizations

Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:

Legal expert criticizes consent decree changes: We’ve heard lots of opinions and frustrations from the recording industry about the music’s challenging value proposition in the streaming economy. Here’s a take from the government perspective. David Balto – lawyer, consumer advocate, and former Federal Trade Commission policy director – wrote a guest post for Billboard about He opined that artists feel underpaid because of the many layers of licenses that also get paid out for a single track. He also advocated against allowing changes to consent decrees, which would allow publishers to selectively withhold their catalogs from ASCAP and BMI.

SoundCloud tips for new listeners: SoundCloud has seen a lot of changes in the past year, and given how much the company is now making headlines, more and more new listeners are checking out the service. For those newbies who find SoundCloud overwhelming and confusing at first glance, The Verge has advice for how to tackle the site’s wild west approach to music discovery.

Visualizing media’s digital upheaval: Finally, some eye candy. Billboard published a series of charts illustrating the seismic impact digital shifts have had on the media industry. Music is there, but also explanations about the changes for newspapers, books, and video games.

Anna Washenko