Since its A-lister relaunch, Tidal has been taking over the news headlines. Some of the buzz has been positive about the potential for artists to get more directly involved in the streaming music conversation. Some has been decidedly less positive about how closely Tidal’s design now resembles Spotify’s. But some of the most interesting news have come directly from the man at the center. Continue Reading
EMI Music has won a summary judgement against Grooveshark’s parent company on charges that the streaming platform infringed on its copyrights. There is a court date set for May 8 to determine the final damages, but they could end up being as high as $420 million for the 2,807 copyrighted tracks EMI found on the streaming service. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit against Muzak on charges that it is underpaying artists. The suit alleges that Muzak, a subsidiary of Mood Media Corporation, has used outdated music-licensing regulations to pay for recordings at below-market rates. Continue Reading
GlobalWebIndex released research into the online behavior of teenagers. The participants covered 16- to 19-year old Internet users in 32 different countries worldwide. Entertainment is a top online activity for this age group, with 60% reporting that they had listened to music on a streaming service in the past month. Continue Reading
Kids these days and their real-time, instant communication. Messaging and social apps have been seeing an increase in popularity, and several are experimenting with a musical angle. The latest is Rithm, a social music messaging service that officially launched its commercial listening platform today. Continue Reading
The goal with Dash Radio is to return to FM radio’s original music discovery roots, presenting playlists and personalities that felt they were being squeezed out by the dominant media companies taking control of the airwaves. These stations are on the digital air 24/7 and without commercial breaks, all for free. It also has a mobile component, with apps for both iOS and Android. It’s a bold plan and so far it’s bearing out well. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: 26 podcasts you should be listening to; NPR’s podcast strategy; BMG partners with Alibaba; Beatport launches an app; Tinder for music. Continue Reading
Spotify has entered into another telecommunications partnership. This one is with Rogers Communications and it brings a free subscription to the streaming service to Fido customers for an impressive 24 months. Spotify has engaged in several deals with telecoms across the globe, partnering with mobile and wireless carriers in France, Australia, and Ireland, but none have offered the subscriptions for as long as two years. Continue Reading
Tidal may still be a small player in subscriber numbers, but the high-res streaming platform is taking up a lion’s share of news in recent months. Today, we have more information about what Tidal will look like under the helm of Jay-Z and his business enterprise. The idea of being a streaming service for and by the artists is a fine one, but it still needs to make a pitch to listeners in order to stay afloat. Continue Reading
Jay-Z’s efforts to purchase streaming services Tidal and WiMP from Aspiro generated a bit of drama, but the hi-res streaming service is relaunching today with even more celebrity backing. Performers including Madonna, Kanye West, Deadmau5, and Beyonce took to social media to tout the platform with the #TIDALforALL hashtag. While the star power can certainly help raise the profile for business (it currently has just 17,000 paid subscribers), it’s unclear whether the service will be getting any changes to its features or design under the new management. Continue Reading
Sony has launched its new music service for PlayStation video game consoles, completing a previously announced integration of Spotify into the gaming console. The so-called PlayStation Music platform is a close collaboration between Sony and Spotify. Continue Reading
Yesterday we looked at the growing number of companies catering to the business needs of independent musicians. Another one appeared on the horizon today. Loudr’s niche is obtaining mechanical licenses for artists and labels that want to monetize song covers through online services. Its new platform for this service is called Loudr Licensing, and it is one of the only options that’s available to any artist interested in getting a mechanical license. Continue Reading