Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Behind the scenes with Amazon’s digital music exec: Billboard interviewed Steve Boom, vice president of digital music for Amazon, about the company’s strategy for the streaming market. Boom explained that, as part of Amazon’s premium subscriber package, Prime Music had to be a premium product. “So we wanted to make sure we talked to customers about their biggest pain points in consuming digital music,” he said. “The things we heard were really about the functionality; no advertising, full access on your mobile device, being able to take it offline on your mobile phone, and when you’re listening to stations, having the ability to have unlimited skips and rewind.” He also shared some insights into programming, label negotiations, and audience growth.
Bandcamp CEO talks new payment policy: In recent months, Bandcamp has made changes in how it approaches payments. Although it build its reputation offering a direct fan-to-artist line, Bandcamp is now funnelling payments through its service rather than directly to performers. Some artists have decried the change, but CEO Ethan Diamond talked to Billboard about the reasons for that shift. He also clarified that Bandcamp’s revenue share has not changed with this processing update.
Internet radio copyright explainer: Hot on the heels of the latest news about Pandora and pre-1972 copyright royalties, Motherboard published an explainer on navigating Internet radio copyright. It’s a good refresher (or introduction, as the case may be,) with simple language and helpful charts.