Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: A difficult road for Apple’s video plans. Behind the scenes at Sonos. Take your Spotify listening to the Upside Down. Continue Reading
The Country Music Association shared research into the potential for growth in streaming country music. The group’s findings suggested that country music fans are less satisfied with playlists created by streaming platforms. The results pointed to a need for access to more and newer titles in order to facilitate better discovery. Continue Reading
Auddly, based in Sweden, operates a songwriter database with information such as co-writer and producer details, split agreements, and credits. Auddly recently announced that it is expanding its pool to include data from music managers as well. Continue Reading
TuneIn has hired Holly Lim as its new CFO. Lim will finance, legal, HR, workplace and corporate development from TuneIn’s San Francisco office. She joins the team from SoundCloud, where she was appointed that audio company’s first CFO in September 2016. Continue Reading
Tidal’s recent charity concert raised $3.7 million for relief following multiple devastating natural disasters in North America. Tidal X: Brooklyn is the third charity performance hosted by the Jay-Z owned streaming service. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio announced the debut of another original podcast. Joshua David Stein hosts the weekly show dubbed The Fatherly Podcast, which will feature discussions about raising children and the men who take on that role. Stein is a journalist and children’s book author. Continue Reading
Stream ripping has been one of the most persistent trends in potential copyright infringement, topping reports from the IFPI, Muso, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Websites that allow stream ripping were a focus in the RIAA’s letter to the U.S. Trade Representative with information for the Notorious Markets List. Continue Reading
Investment bank (and Spotify investor) GP Bullhound released a new paper projecting that Spotify could be valued at $20 billion by the time the streaming service goes public. It also projected subscriber growth reaching 100 million by summer of 2018. As of July 2017, Spotify had 60 million subscribers. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Checking in on The LA Times’ Dirty John. Labels join the podcast game. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group announced two personnel developments. First, Kieron Donoghue is leaving the label. Second, Warner has hired Mark Baker as vice president of public policy and government affairs. Continue Reading
Several organizations within the music industry are making an effort to create a blanket mechanical license for digital music services. David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association, introduced the latest push at the monthly meeting of the Association of Independent Music Publishers. The proposed law would streamline the process of collecting mechanical royalties as well as revising the rate-setting process. Continue Reading
Independent record labels have a 38.4% share on the industry based on rights ownership, producing global revenue of $6 billion in 2016. That’s the top-line finding from the Worldwide Independent Network’s annual report on the financial state for indie music. Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research authored the report, based on a survey of 660 labels and distributors. Continue Reading