Warner Music Group has attracted extra attention this quarterly earnings season with the announcement that its revenue from streaming music has surpassed revenue from downloads. CEO Stephen Cooper said that second-quarter revenue from streaming services increased 33%, while overall digital revenue rose only 7%. All other revenue streams aside from digital – including physical sales – declined for the label. Continue Reading
Vadio, a startup at the crossroads of music and video, made some major announcements today. First, it has added two new industry experts to its leadership. Former Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff has joined Vadio’s board of advisers and former Sony executive Yair Landau will serve as the company’s COO. Second, Vadio has received $7.5 million in Series A funding. Continue Reading
The RIAA and the BPI have issued their 200 millionth URL takedown request to Google. The RIAA has submitted 19,569 total requests and the BPI has made 295,730. These requests seek to remove pirated content from the web. The two record industry organizations for the U.S. and UK, respectively, have been pushing for the tech company to adopt stricter measures to prevent this type of music piracy. Continue Reading
Even in May, we’re still seeing some belated analyses of global music industry results from 2014. The latest data focuses on Singapore, where music sales rose 4.7% to S$17.2 million, the first increase following four years of losses. Digital music revenue for the city-state increased 34% from the year prior to S$9.5 million, according to the IFPI data. Continue Reading
Songkick has partnered with Rdio to pull in playlists from that streaming service and use them as a basis for live concert discovery. The service scans locally stored music as well as song choices from streaming platforms to recommend shows happening in the user’s vicinity. The two companies first announced a collaboration at SXSW, which saw Songkick’s database of tour information added to artist profiles on the streaming service. Continue Reading
National Public Radio announced the debut of the NPR One Developer Center. This move by the media organization opens up its API to outside developers and will allow them to create versions of the mobile NPR program for additional platforms. It’s an early step in making its personalized news service, which launched last summer, accessible to more listeners. Continue Reading
The early buzz about Apple’s redesigned take on Beats Music was that the service would have no free listening options. That made sense, especially with the ensuing rumors that Apple was potentially pushing for other streaming platforms to eliminate their freemium tiers. According to the latest reports from Re/Code, though, the no-free-listening approach may have a few exceptions. Continue Reading
Rhapsody posted a first-quarter net loss of $8.9 million, compared with a loss of $1.6 million in the year-ago period. Quarterly revenue totaled $46.3 million, up from $42 million in 2014. The SEC filing made by parent company RealNetworks, which detailed Rhapsody’s financials, did not give a reason for the higher loss during the quarter. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that David Byrne has joined its board of directors. Byrne fills the board spot previously held by Walter McDonough. He is the singer/songwriter who fronted the Talking Heads, and also embarked on a solo career and founded a label. Continue Reading
The Canadian government recently extended the term of copyright for sound recordings from 50 years to 70. However, CISAC is seeking even more drastic action in Canada’s rules to offer more support for compositions after death. Continue Reading
SoundCloud had two major events in its relationship development with labels and publishers. The online audio platform successfully inked a deal with the National Music Publishers’ Association. This arrangement allows independent publishers and composers to monetize content on the service… Continue Reading
Premium streaming service Tidal has signed on a new public relations and marketing firm. The company’s duties in that department will now be managed by MWW, which also represents online businesses Netflix and Eventbrite. Continue Reading