Thought leader and guest contributor Mark Mulligan looks at just-launched YouTube Music Key, and digs into a series of questions about artist response, the fate of music video service Vevo, the potentially changing price point of music subscription, and a YouTube identity crisis. Continue Reading
After over a year of rumors, hints, announcements, delays, and public wrangles with labels, Google’s YouTube platform has unveiled Music Key, the new music service. The launch is partial, and Music Key is more complicated than expected. Continue Reading
App Annie has launched a new Index for Music that tracks statistics for musical mobile software. The index combines data from both the iOS App Store and the Android Google Play marketplace for a look at the programs that are most downloaded and generate the most revenue across four subcategories: music listening, music creation, artists and information, and other. Continue Reading
Pandora has launched a new online service that delivers audience analytics to musicians and their managers. Called Pandora AMP, the “Artist Marketing Program” includes data pulled from the many billions of hours people spend listening to the online radio platform. Any artists currently playing on Pandora can sign up for the free service at the AMP website. This initiative marks the first time pandora has turned its data firehose toward musicians. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Neil Young takes the stage … but no details on a release date for Pono Music. A NY Times columnist explores the social effect of streaming. Google’s music service might be undergoing a makeover. Continue Reading
Samsung’s Milk Music streaming service quickly rose to the top of the app charts after launching in South Korea. Within six days of launching in the company’s home country, Milk reached the top of the Google Play free app category with more than 500,000 downloads. Continue Reading
We’ve been looking for signs that YouTube and Google are making progress with a long-awaited music subscription service, and today Reuters has what seems to be a legit update. Reuters interviewed Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s vice president of digital content, about the company’s plans and learned that its music services are expected to see updates in the near future. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worth reads from around the web. TODAY: Samsung partners with Google streaming music; digital radio in France, a streaming hit in the U.K. Continue Reading
Data from App Annie revealed that music services are among the top performers for in-app purchases in August. The analytics firm found that Spotify, Pandora, and Apple’s music apps were among the leaders for in-app revenue. All three ranked in the top 10 revenue generators for non-game apps. Continue Reading
For anyone falling under the ‘content creator’ umbrella at YouTube, the sole path to making money has been to allow ads on your channel and hope for a massive viewership. That could change with a new feature that allows channels to operate a digital tip jar. The new crowd funding feature has reportedly rolled out in a handful of markets — Australia, Japan, Mexico, and the U.S. Continue Reading
After several high-profile exits, YouTube has snagged a music industry pro to join the team under its umbrella. Brian Felsen, who was the president at CD Baby, will now serve in the same role at AdRev, a YouTube network partner that operates a music monetization service, a licensing platform, and multi-channel network. Continue Reading
T-Mobile today announced an expansion of its Music Freedom plan, in which smartphone subscribers get unmetered data streaming of music from partner sources. Six new services have been added to the original slate of services, announced in June. The newly added partners are AccuRadio, Black Planet, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza. Detractors still wish for global access to data-free online music from any source. Continue Reading