Three European rights agencies have inked an agreement to form a joint venture and launch a hub for digital rights. The participants are PRS for Music in the UK, GEMA in Germany, and STIM in Sweden. The goal of this hub is to make digital rights management faster and more efficient for single- and multi-territory licenses. Continue Reading
9to5Mac has been surveying its readership to assess the crowd reactions to Apple Music. More than 17,400 people have weighed in to the poll so far. Although the responses are naturally skewed with a strong predilection for Apple, the breakdown of where new customers are coming from is insightful. Continue Reading
Steve Goldstein started Amplifi Media in March, leaving a 30-year executive career at Saga Communications to apply his knowledge of content and production to on-demand audio. This week his team drew up an infographic snapshot of podcasting’s scope and demographics. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: IAB study of programmatic advertising; Alibaba expands music ventures in China. Continue Reading
The headline isn’t breaking news, but a new research report by Clammr quantifies a couple of realities of the podcast industry. Apple’s apps drive a majority of mobile (and probably all) podcast listening. Continue Reading
As we reported last month, famed radio host Art Bell is returning to the air tonight, with a new talk program called Midnight in the Desert. We spoke with the famed radio personality on the phone about his imminent return to radio, and the newness of creating an Internet-first program. Continue Reading
Universal Music Publishing Group has made updates to its Royalty Window portal, a B2B tool offering transparency into royalty collection. The new features include balance updates as royalties are processed during a period and requests for advances against incoming royalties without any additional fee. Continue Reading
Spotify has launched a new feature called Discover Weekly. This is a two-hour playlist personalized to each individual listener. The song choices for the Discover Weekly list stem from your particular music taste and what other similar fans are listening to. Spotify is billing it as a custom-made mixtape delivered each Monday morning. So how good are the recommendations? Pretty solid. Continue Reading
Worthy news items and interesting reads from around the web. Today: Analyzing Pandora programmatic; YouTube is bigger than cable; inside Spotify’s new playlist. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Neil Young exaggerates; FTC and Apple; how do high-schoolers listen? Continue Reading
Italy’s music sector grew 22% to €65.5 million in the first half of 2015, according to the Italian Music Industry Federation. Audio and video streaming secured 26% of the total market. Both types of streaming generated €17.3 million in the half, up 37% from the year-ago period. Continue Reading
Tidal is in the midst of a lawsuit regarding rapper Lil Wayne, who launched the “Free Weezy Album” on the streaming platform as an exclusive earlier this month. Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne’s longtime label, is suing Tidal for $50 million on allegations that it still has exclusive rights to Lil Wayne’s music. Continue Reading