Quick Hits: Beats/Spotify royalty throwdown; future of car radio; UMG settlement

Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:

Beats paying high per-stream royalties than Spotify?: That’s the conclusion of recording artist David Harrell, who shared details of his December streaming revenue statement from distributor CD Baby. Beats Music reportedly pays higher per-stream royalties because it is subscription-only, unlike Spotify’s two-tier model. Beats Music says, “We have no free version of our service that we have to subsidize.”

The future of radio in the car: Not an easy prediction. But an analysis by an Australian consulting company, predicting gradual loss of radio’s share of auto listening, has radio execs playing rhetorical defense. A NY Post article describes the basic findings. See some responses here.

Universal Music reportedly settling with artists over sales/licensing controversy: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Music is nearing settlement with recording artists who litigated in a class action against the label’s purported contracting of iTunes Music Store downloads as sales, rather than licenses. Either side can be argued, but legal precedent favors the artists’ case. Financial details not yet known.

Brad Hill