After two years of negotiations, Spotify has broken through with a major label deal. The two companies had been operating on a month-to-month basis while working out a longer-term arrangement. They have been in on-again-off-again negotiations, but now they reportedly just need the sign-off from both CEOs to become official. Continue Reading
Cary Sherman will step down from his role as CEO and chairman of the RIAA at the end of 2018. Sherman has been with the industry group for more than four decades, beginning as an outside counsel and then climbing the ladder to the top post. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group has sold off digital distributor Zebralution back to its original founders. The major has owned the company for a decade, but has sold it off as part of a divestiture agreed to by WMG with indie music specialists IMPALA and Merlin. Continue Reading
Triton Digital’s latest partner is OMS, a major radio sales house in the Netherlands. OMS will use Triton’s Content Delivery Network for streaming of its radio and Internet music stations. The Triton Advertising Platform and a2x participation are also included in the deal. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Will Podcasting Save the News Media Industry? Pondering a potential Pandora purchase. How much does a Spotify playlist boost popularity? Continue Reading
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been a lightning rod for criticism from the music industry. There have been many calls to update the act, which took effect in 1999, to reflect the changes that have happened in the music industry over the past two decades. The most recent ammunition in the arsenal for those activists is an academic report from the Phoenix Center. Continue Reading
Apple has hired Shiva Rajaraman to guide its video content strategy. He will reportedly be working on several different projects for Apple, which has been testing the waters with many video concepts. Continue Reading
The RIAA report presents a snapshot of the U.S. recorded music market. For 2016, that photo puts streaming front and center. Streaming platforms generated the majority of the U.S. music industry’s revenue during the year, securing 51% of the industry total. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired another member for its London team. Jack Stephens has joined the company as its creator partnerships manager. He most recently worked at Songkick, and was previously at Crowdsurge (which merged with Songkick in 2015). Continue Reading
The Fair Play Fair Pay Act has been re-introduced to Congress. This legislation would levy a performance royalty for airplay on AM/FM radio. Stations already pay royalties for songwriters/publishers, and the Fair Play Fair Pay Act would add a payment to performers on top of that. Continue Reading
The latest outfit to take a data dive into the numbers behind streaming services is Verto Industries. Its streaming music index showed some unusual numbers, pointing toward a shocking takeaway with Apple Music beating out veterans Pandora and Spotify. However, there are a few important caveats to these results. Continue Reading
Spotify introduced a new video series called Traffic Jams. In this series, hip-hop producers and performers will create an original track over the course of a car ride. The creatives then perform their new work for a live audience at the end of the drive. Continue Reading