Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Jason Aldean back on Spotify: At the same time as Taylor Swift made her big exit from Spotify in 2014, country performer Jason Aldean also pulled his most recent album from the streaming service. A year later, Aldean has changed his stance and made the album “Old Boots, New Dirt” available on Spotify once more. In social media posts, he said the switch was motivated by fans who wanted to be able to stream the songs.
Another public radio addition to VuHaus: VuHaus, the nonprofit music discovery app, has added another public radio station to its membership. Oregon Public Broadcasting’s opbmusic has joined the team, which already included public radio stations from Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, and more. “At VuHaus, our mission is to introduce our audience to new and emerging artists, and there is no one better than opbmusic to uncover the very best of Portland’s music scene,” VuHaus President Erik Langner said.
Mixcloud positioning itself for DJ value: Financial Times ran a profile on Mixcloud, detailing the service’s efforts to position itself as a rival to SoundCloud and a resource for DJs. Online music magazine FACT told FT that it started uploading weekly DJ mixes to Mixcloud because “it’s not worth the risk” of using SoundCloud and having the account shut down. Mixcloud’s user base has grown by 30% over the past year and it is putting out feelers to VCs about a possible first investment in the company.