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
Slacker Radio unveiled a feature called Slacker Sound Bytes that expands its non-music programming. These items are special audio clips that will play based on a listener’s preferences. Continue Reading
Australia’s recorded music market pulled in annual revenue of A$352.2 million ($269 million) in 2016, up 5.5%. The data from industry group ARIA revealed a second consecutive year of growth. Continue Reading
VuHaus, a public media video platform, has announced another affiliate station that will contribute to its programming. WMOT 89.5 FM and World Cafe in Nashville have joined the service, which collects videos of music performances and other behind-the-scenes clips. Continue Reading
Japanese trade body RIAJ reported that the country’s music industry saw 0.42% growth in 2016 for total revenue of 230.593 billion yen ($2.09 billion). That result ran counter to the projections that Japan’s music market would shrink during the year. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has launched its subscription tiers in the Netherlands. SoundCloud Go and SoundCloud Go+ are now both available for listeners in that market. Continue Reading
Facebook is continuing a hiring spree focused on music, leading to increased speculation that the social media company will be branching beyond just status updates and Likes. There are three active job openings for Facebook. Continue Reading
One of SoundCloud’s earliest employees has departed the company. David Noël, who began as a community manager and evangelist then climbed the ladder to head of SoundCloud’s internal communications and evangelist, is leaving. He was one of the first seven… Continue Reading