Twitter has confirmed that it has made a capital investment in SoundCloud. Re/code is reporting anonymous sources who say the investment is worth about $70-million. So continues the long, unsteady relationship of micro-blogging service Twitter with music. Continue Reading
Pandora has released a little burst of data demonstrating that landing on a Pandora station gives an artist more exposure than landing on a terrestrial playlist — when the artist is up-and-coming but not there yet. The article is by Glenn Peoples, ex-Billboard columnist who recently took a position at Pandora. Continue Reading
Rhapsody surprised the industry with an un-forewarned announcement that it would consolidate around its subsidiary brand Napster, which it acquired in January, 2012. Napster has been the public-facing brand of the Rhapsody on-demand music service in non-U.S. markets. The announcement is bare-bones. Napster is a trademark with a rich history. Continue Reading
This week Spotify will release the newest edition of its ongoing consumer survey that seeks to measure listening reach — specifically how Spotify Free compares to local AM/FM radio. The results offer a view of radio listening that unites traditional broadcast with Spotify Free, the ad-supported listening tier. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Vickie Nauman is Principal and Owner of CrossBorderWorks Consulting & Advising, and was U.S. President of 7digital for two years. Here, she identifies five points of sustainability in the new music industry. Continue Reading
This year’s music news has been notable for debates and lawsuits about music licensing, rights ownership, and royalty payments. The underlying issue is a complex and inscrutable layering of music ownership. Because of the dense and dark music ownership tangle, digital services cannot always identify correct parties for payment when songs are streamed. An exceptionally broad coalition of institutions has announced an initiative to create a global solution. Continue Reading
Apple Music is one year old today. At Apple’s WorldWide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), the company announced that the music membership platform had accrued 15-million subscribers. That number is high or low, depending on perspective. ALSO: a much-needed redesign of the Apple Music experience. Continue Reading
TuneCore announced that its artists earned $42 million in Q1 2016, a 16% increase from the year-ago period. Streaming platforms posted steady growth in earnings in this quarterly update. Continue Reading
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, long an advocate of recording artists getting paid by terrestrial radio, blew some oxygen into that crusade with an OpEd column published online. The debate of this issue might seem simple, but has underlying complications. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in April continued its upward trajectory, growing by 2% compared to March, and notched a 16% rise year-over-year climb. These numbers courtesy of Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, released this morning. Continue Reading
Rhapsody/Napster is planning to make some cuts to its team as part of restructuring efforts. Hypebot received an emailed statement from the company’s CEO Mike Davis confirming the layoffs. Continue Reading
In recent months, we’ve seen some hints and rumors that Amazon might spin out its Prime Music streaming platform from under the umbrella of its broader Prime subscription. Unnamed sources told Reuters that Amazon is preparing to unveil a separate streaming music service in late summer or early fall. Continue Reading