Popular British songstress Adele may be the latest major artist to be “pulling a Taylor.” Unnamed sources with knowledge of her upcoming release told The New York Times that the album “25” would not get a launch on streaming services. The Verge has a slightly different take on the situation. It reported that Adele’s camp was willing to put the album on Spotify, but only if it was restricted to paying listeners. Continue Reading
A new chapter has unfolded in the saga of SFX Entertainment, its CEO, and a quest for ownership. Robert F.X. Sillerman recently made a third attempt to buy back the remaining shares of his company for $3.25 a share, but withdrew the offer earlier this week. Continue Reading
Monday’s news that Rdio had declared bankruptcy, with Pandora purchasing the company’s remaining assets and making big future plans, turned the tech, business, and music media on its head. The major consolidation in the streaming music space sparked lots of features and think pieces. Here, we’ve collected some of the more useful and insightful writing on the subject. Continue Reading
Amazon has debuted its Prime Music streaming service in Japan,, the fifth market to receive access to the online retailer’s platform. The service will offer listeners in the country more than 1 million tracks, including music by Japanese artists. Continue Reading
Italian industry organization Aeranti-Corallo has created two new network operators to encourage the spread of DAB+ in the nation. Each of the operators collected 12 local radio broadcasters and will request the right to use available frequencies to broadcast their members’ programming with DAB+ technology in the region. Continue Reading
NextRadio announced a partnership with BLU, a manufacturer of unlocked Android and Windows phones that can be used with different carriers, or as prepaid phones using BLU’s coverage network. Starting in 2016, NextRadio will be the native FM tuner for all Android devices made by the company. Continue Reading
Bill Simmons is launching a new podcast network under HBO’s umbrella. The Bill Simmons Podcast Network has unveiled a new property dubbed Channel 33. Simmons began airing his own eponymous show in late September, a re-launch of his popular ESPN program. Continue Reading
Digital distributor TuneCore reported that in the third quarter of 2015, artist payments rose 6.1% to $34.7 million. The represented artists also had 3.6 billion streams and downloads during the period. In addition to the quarterly update, TuneCore announced that it is opening an office in Atlanta. Continue Reading
Merlin, a rights and licensing group representing indie music, announced the results of its board election, with representation joining its leadership from several sources. The board consists of 15 people who will guide the group’s strategy until 2017. Continue Reading
Spotify has unveiled a new tool for musicians and labels called Spotify Fan Insights. This dashboard will include demographic data about listeners, their location, their other listening preferences, and their level of fandom. Analysis of the listeners and fan base could help performers facilitate more growth and success on the platform. Continue Reading
T-Mobile has expanded its data-free music listening to customers on MetroPCS, its prepaid brand. Subscribers on certain plans can listen to 33 music services without the streaming counting against their high-speed data stores with this Music Unlimited program. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: More orchestras join Google’s Classical Live; data on teens, tweens, and media; BPI’s CEO delivers keynote speech. Continue Reading