Quick Hits: Forecasting a Spotify IPO; Musixmatch gets international flair
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Crunching the numbers on a Spotify IPO, and Musixmatch adds lyrics translations. Continue Reading
News
Warner’s distribution arm closes some smaller accounts
Warner distribution division has shut down several accounts for small retailers of physical music. According to Pitchfork, WEA is enforcing a policy that requires a minimum annual order of $10,000 for stores with direct accounts. Continue Reading
Social/live music company Magnifi set to close
Magnifi, a digital platform for live music discovery, will reportedly close on Aug. 1. The service offered a blend of free audio streaming, listings for live shows, and social interactions. Continue Reading
Streaming now counts for a quarter of Germany’s music market
Germany’s music industry body, BVMI, has released a mid-year report with positive results for streaming. During the first half of 2016, streaming secured a 24.4% share of the German music market, beating out the 14% share for downloads. Continue Reading
Deezer launches in the U.S.
Deezer has made its long-awaited full launch in the U.S. The on-demand streaming service’s Premium+ subscription – complete with its Flow personalized soundtrack feature, Channels for discovery, and lyrics display – is now directly available to all U.S. listeners. Continue Reading
Universal catalog lands on Russia’s vKontakte
In an important agreement that replaces music piracy with music industry revenue, Universal has inked a deal that will legally add its music to the Russian streaming music platform vKontakte. The agreement means that all of the major labels are working with the platform. Continue Reading
Apple pitches flat rate for on-demand songwriter royalties to CRB
Apple has proposed a new royalty structure for streaming music, one that would be simpler but could create a financial pinch for freemium services. In a proposal to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board, Apple recommended a system where all on-demand streaming services would pay songwriters a statutory rate of 9.1 cents per 100 plays. Continue Reading
On the Move: Two developments under the Sony umbrella
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. Today’s moves are both high-level personnel changes in Sony businesses. Continue Reading
New Naxos affiliate brings classical playlists to streaming
One of the common critiques of streaming is that those platforms favor the pop and rock charts to the detriment of niche genres. A new playlisting brand aims to improve the access to classical music on the top streaming services. It’s called unCLASSIFIED, at its goal is to create dynamic playlists based on mood or activity. Continue Reading
Spotify Free gains ground in U.K., new data released
Spotify For Brands, the company’s outreach division which promotes the free-listening service to advertisers, has released a new trove of data focused on brand awareness and listener profiling in the U.K. It is part of an ongoing The New Audio series, with survey work commissioned from TNS. Continue Reading
Test Drive: A new (but inconsistent) Vevo redesign
Less than a year after unveiling a major iOS redesign, Vevo is sprucing things up again. Whereas the November updates focused on aesthetics, the new changes center on discovery tools. I explored the changes on iOS. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Apple should offer free; counting radio toward the charts
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Today: Bob Lefsetz thinks Apple Music should have free access and Chris Price thinks singles charts should count radio play. Continue Reading