YouTube rolls out mobile live streaming
YouTube has added live streaming to its mobile version. Creators with more than 10,000 subscribers can take advantage of this feature, although it will roll out to all users “soon.” Continue Reading
News
MIDiA Research report examines streaming pricing
MIDiA Research has frequently explored questions of pricing in the streaming economy. Its latest report is titled Streaming Music Pricing: Inelastic Stretching, and it examines the standard $9.99 price point for on-demand streaming. Continue Reading
Digital is nearly half of Warner’s Q1 revenue
Warner Music Group posted financial results for the first quarter, marking a strong start for streaming in the new fiscal year. At 48.4%, digital sources are now responsible for nearly half of Warner’s total revenue. Continue Reading
RIAA suing Spinrilla for copyright infringement
The RIAA often leads the industry charges in legal actions for the digital music space and it has ridden into the fray once more. It is suing a streaming website and app called Spinrilla on behalf of several major record labels. The RIAA said it found more than 21,000 copyrighted sound recordings uploaded to the platform. Continue Reading
Soundrop relaunches as digital distribution platform
Billing itself as a service for “the YouTube generation,” Soundrop has shifted to become a digital music distribution platform. The business is only distributing to five businesses to start: Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay, Amazon, and Deezer. Later in 2017, it expects to add Pandora and YouTube. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio’s 2017 focus on podcasting: Content, technology, and new leadership
iHeartRadio, the public-facing brand of the largest commercial radio group in America, is training its resources on the emerging podcast category with new content, technology partnerships, and in-house leadership. We spoke to Chris Peterson, iHeart’s new SVP of Podcasting. Continue Reading
Sirius XM posts strong Q4/FY 2016, still denies Pandora interest
Sirius XM reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2016 earnings. Sirius XM CEO James Meyer deflected questions about the company’s will-they-won’t-they interest in buying Pandora and discussed mobile listening. Continue Reading
Nielsen completes Gracenote acquisition
Nielsen has completed its acquisition of Gracenote. Nielsen has predicted that the Gracenote purchase will have a neutral impact on its 2017 financial results and will be slightly accretive in 2018. The buyout was first announced in December 2016. Continue Reading
Apple Music hires label relations expert away from Spotify
Apple Music has hired Steve Savoca, a former Spotify exec. Savoca was the vice president of content at Spotify and his responsibilities centered on label relations. He’ll be performing the same label-focused duties at Apple Music. Continue Reading
Rumor Fact(ory): Spotify IPO could be delayed to 2018
The timeline for Spotify’s long-anticipated IPO launch may have encountered another setback. Sources have told TechCrunch that the streaming company could push the IPO back to 2018. The unnamed sources said waiting yet another year would give Spotify time to have a stronger balance sheet and revamp its label licensing deals. Continue Reading
Another big year of streaming revenue growth for Sony
Sony Music Entertainment is seeing growth not just in its overall financial performance, but also in the bottom-line contributions from streaming. The company took in 40.65 billion yen ($372 million) from streaming in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 134.83 billion yen ($1.24 billion) for the whole fiscal year. Continue Reading
Spain’s music industry posts another year of growth bolstered by digital
Spain’s recorded music industry saw the digital business exceed the physical side for the first time in 2016. According to industry group Promusicae, digital holds a 61% share of the industry and the country has more than 1 million streaming subscribers. Continue Reading