Independent label services company [PIAS] has acquired Inertia Music, another business within that indie niche. Inertia is an Australian company specializing in independent music sales, distribution, and label services. It also runs an in-house label, which has signed popular artists such as Sia, M83, and Robyn. Continue Reading
Sprint has purchased a stake in music streaming service Tidal. The telecom now owns a 33% share of the company, although in the announcement of the buy, Sprint said that Jay-Z and the other artist-owners of Tidal would continue to run the service. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has secured another partnership, this time from a radio company in South America. Cadena 3 Argentina, the country’s largest radio network, has signed on to use Triton tools for managing, measuring, and monetizing its digital audio content. Continue Reading
Tidal is facing allegations that it has inflated subscriber numbers. Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv claimed that it has obtained internal reports that show discrepancies in what Tidal has publicly stated about its audience. Continue Reading
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki penned a blog post wrapping up 2016 for the video platform. She summarized the many business developments YouTube embarked on last year and some plans for the current year. Continue Reading
Mobile analytics specialist App Annie has published its 2016 Retrospective. The report tracked another year of growth for the app industry, growth in worldwide downloads and time spent in app. Many other reports last year pointed to mobile as a key source of listeners for streaming music services, but this retrospective revealed that it can also be a big revenue driver. Continue Reading
MusicWatch sent RAIN News a pre-release note with results of its 2016 ‘Music Streaming Wars’ study, and found that Pandora was had the largest share of weekly music listening at 28%. YouTube took second place with a 27% share. Both of those figures include the audio companies’ free and paid tiers. Continue Reading
AdLarge has inked an exclusive ad sales agreement to represent the podcast Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine. The weekly show offers interviews with celebrities such as Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, and Kristin Chenoweth. Continue Reading
German music association BVMI released its year-end report on the domestic industry. Germany’s music business grew 2.4% in 2016, a fourth year of upward progress. The key takeaway for last year was that streaming is holding a steady share in this country that has long favored physical formats. Continue Reading
UK music licensing groups PRS for Music and PPL have launched a joint license for the UK’s non-profit radio stations. The joint effort took effect on Jan. 1, 2017. Continue Reading
Tidal appears to be giving listeners an unusual new tool for adjusting their experience on the mobile app. “You can now edit the length and tempo of a track and save it to a playlist with the new Track Edit feature,” the update notes say. Continue Reading
Apple Music has made an addition to its live radio offerings. CBS Sports Radio will join the handful of live stations available only to paid Apple Music subscribers. Continue Reading