RAIN Notes: October 21

Jottings of note:

 

Closing The Circle

Notable music licensing platform Slipstream has announced the acquisition of Anthem Entertainment’s production music businesses, specifically US-based Jingle Punks and 5 Alarm Music, and UK-based Cavendish Music. The acquisition adds up to more than 650,000 tracks, together with music production capabilities. Slipstream now positions itself as the largest global independent music licensing platform. Slipstream was founded in 2021 by Dan Demole, co-founder of Jingle Punks and former President of Anthem Production Music Group, and Jesse Korwin, former Managing Director of Jingle Punks. With this new acquisition, they are reclaiming their previous businesses, marking what they call “a full-circle moment.” Slipstream’s public aspiration is to redefine music licensing across TV, film, advertising, gaming, social media, and brands.

 

A Need

The Hollywood Reporter carries an interview with Alex Cooper, host of Call Her Daddy and the most popular (and highest paid) podcaster in the world. The piece carries some new information about Cooper’s Kamala Harris interview, and the key reason she left Spotify forSiriusXM … it was more about creative freedom than money. But also money. She says that Sirius told her, “We want people to think of Alex Cooper when they think of SiriusXM.” That’s a pitch for sure. Answering a question about potential collabs with Howard Stern, she is non-specific but enthusiastic: “Yes, we need to do something.”

Soft Core Cheating

Several weeks ago we reported on Damien Williams, a North Carolina musician who fraudulently collected millions of dollars in Spotify royalties based on thousands of AI-created songs continually auto-streamed on the service. He was caught, and potentially faces decades of prison time. Today we learn in Hearing Things (from Podnews) about a new kind of Spotify mischief: a folk-pop creator who has collected hundreds of thousands of streams by giving his songs titles that resemble (or copy) playlist titles — “Chill Music” and “My Discover Weekly” are noted.  In this case the music is genuine, if not accoladed. The clever fellow (whose professional name is Catbreath, truly) started with a playlist called My Liked Songs, and confesses that he gets hate mail for the resulting confusion. His unapologetic rationale for this gambit? “Streaming is messed up.” Read the interview HERE.

October 21, 2024


Brad Hill