Jay-Z, a new album, and Spotify’s ongoing journey toward artist-friendly distribution

Posted on by Anna Washenko

For the release of his newest work, Jay-Z opted to gate the album to his Tidal streaming service for one week. But even after distributing the music to most other digital platforms, Spotify still does not have 4:44. That may not be a cheap decision for the artist, and it also shows that Spotify has still not shaken some long-held assumptions among A-list performers. Continue Reading →

Pandora stock rises on analyst thumbs-up; Pandora Premium said to be on “maintenance”

Posted on by Brad Hill

Pandora stock is benefitting today from two encouraging pieces of Wall Street news. As of this post, P stock is up three percent, to its highest level of July. One investor’s note to clients reveals how Pandora is re-allocating resources to favor the radio service, putting Pandora Premium in maintenance mode. Continue Reading →

Spotify reportedly close to Warner licensing deal

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Spotify has reportedly made progress toward securing a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. Reuters cited four unnamed sources in its exclusive report that the streaming company was moving closer to an agreement with the third major label. The specifics of this alleged arrangement are still being hammered out, but the sources told Reuters that the parties had already agreed to Spotify paying a smaller share of revenue to Warner in exchange for the label’s artists to window their work to paid subscribers for a period. Continue Reading →