Merlin announced that it has hired three people for its member services and legal teams. It has been an active year for the independent label group and global digital rights agency, which now has global license deals with 25 digital music services. Continue Reading
SESAC has promoted Kelli Turner to the role of president and chief operating officer. Her previous post at the music rights organization was executive vice president of operations, corporate development, and chief financial officer. Continue Reading
Amazon announced that it has launched Prime Music in Australia. This music streaming service will be available for all new and ongoing Prime memberships in the market. Prime Music includes a library of more than 2 million songs alongside hundreds of curated playlists and stations for particular moods and genres. Continue Reading
SoundCloud announced that its paid tier will have the option to access better audio quality streaming. Subscribers to the SoundCloud Go+ tier can opt to listen to music in a lossless format when that file type has been uploaded by an artist. Continue Reading
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation released results from its third annual podcast survey during the OzPod event this week. The survey found that women are driving growth for listener engagement overall and for true crime shows in particular. Continue Reading
Soundtrack Your Brand, a B2B music provider for physical storefronts, commissioned a study from Nielsen Music into the financial impact of where businesses obtain background music. According to the study, rightsholders could be missing out on a total of $2.65 billion annually due to businesses using the personal streaming accounts of staff members rather than products designed for company and for-profit uses. Continue Reading
Spotify recently opened up a beta test where select indie artists could upload their songs directly to the streaming service. Now, the company announced that it is expanding that offering through an integration with DistroKid. Continue Reading
E.W. Scripps announced this morning that it has acquired Triton Digital, the leading ratings service for streaming audio and a global infrastructure service for digital audio delivery. The acquisition carries a price tag of $150-million, cash. Continue Reading
On Wednesday, November 7, in the BP Lecture Theatre of the British Museum, RAIN returns for the 7th annual RAIN Summit Europe. This exceptionally successful event is much anticipated by delegates in the U.K. and the continent, with over 250 registrations in 2017. Click through for this year’s features. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. First, Sony would consider its own streaming service one day. Second, Spotify celebrates its 10th birthday. Continue Reading
One of the oldest digital music operations is planning a reboot to reflect the streaming-centric times. Winamp began its life as an MP3 player. It has not been officially updated since 2013 and was acquired by Radionomy in 2014. Now, the company is working on relaunch for 2019 that will combine Winamp’s legacy as a platform for owned libraries with features that have become standard for modern music platforms. Continue Reading
Rocío Guerrero is departing her role as head of Latin music at Spotify. She joined the streaming service in 2011 and played a critical role in building the cultural cache of the platform’s Viva Latino and Baila Reggaeton playlists. Continue Reading