SoundCloud has hired Antonious Porch as its new general counsel. In this role, Porch will lead the legal affairs and public policy strategy for the audio company. He joins SoundCloud from Shazam, where he held the same post, and he also worked at Viacom for more than a decade. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Podcast trends from Infinite Dial. EU to rule on Apple/Shazam next month. Anchors aweigh for social podcast videos. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that it has paid out a cumulative $5 billion in royalty distributions since the company’s founding. The December 2017 payouts tipped the company past the milestone. Continue Reading
Panoply Media has entered a new partnership to provide distribution and monetization services for HowStuffWorks’ podcasts. HowStuffWorks will use Panoply’s Megaphone technology for publishing, distributing, and dynamically inserting ads into shows. Megaphone will also provide performance metrics for all episodes of HowStuffWorks’ shows. Continue Reading
Merlin has signed agreements with five music streaming services in China. The independent label network now has partnerships with NetEase Cloud Music, Ali Music Group’s Xiami, and Tencent’s QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo. As a result, Merlin’s members can now… Continue Reading
Lyor Cohen, YouTube global head of music, spoke at SXSW about the video platform’s previously reported plans to make a new subscription music service. “We know we’re late to the party,” he said. It’s okay.” Continue Reading
Independent label network Merlin has seen its earnings from Latin America increase five-fold in the past three years. Based on current growth rates, Merlin’s 2018 revenue from Latin America are projected to exceed $60 million. Streaming appears to be a key driver of that international growth. Continue Reading
Spotify is expanding the beta test of its self-serve advertising platform. After an initial launch in the United States in September, the streaming music company is opening the beta trial of Spotify Ad Studio to Canada and the UK. Continue Reading
Pandora has entered a deal with Linkfire, a music marketing platform, to improve music discovery for fans and marketing for artists. The agreement dubs Pandora the premiere streaming music data provider for Linkfire and it will provide its attribution data to the company. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The radio station operator, the biggest in the United States, has reached a deal with its creditors that will reduce its debt burden by about half to roughly $10 billion. It made the filing in the late hours on Wednesday, March 14, after several extensions and last-minute negotiations. Continue Reading
Accurate metadata is a critical component in streaming music. It’s how the correct people get paid the correct amounts, plus how listeners can find exactly what they want. Spotify has launched an effort to start crowd-sourcing some metadata from its listeners. Continue Reading
Apple Music for Artists is looking for more musicians to try out its analytics dashboard. The platform debuted in January with a limited beta test, and now Apple is looking for more performers to test the service. Continue Reading