Universal Music Group (UMG), Capitol Records, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive. The heart of this confrontation is a branded section of the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project, a streaming database of 400,000 streaming, downloadable, and shareable recordings. Click through for the whole story. Continue Reading
Music library platform Slip.stream, which contains over 100,000 tracks and sound effects, has obtained $7.5-million in Series A financing led by Sony Music Entertainment, Third Prime, and Lightshed Ventures. Slip.stream joins an industry segment of music libraries in an addressable market of 22-million YouTube creators and 30-million independent creators who need audio assets for their creations. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment announced yet another partnership in the podcast space. The major label has invested in Neon Hum, a production house founded by Jonathan Hirsch. The amount of Sony’s investment was not disclosed. Continue Reading
Sony has been making deals in the podcast space, and it has spent the past several months assembling a team to help drive those partnerships. A leaked internal memo introduced four executives for the Sony Music Entertainment offices in New York who will focus on the company’s efforts in podcasting. Continue Reading
Sony has secured a licensing deal with Boomplay Music, a Chinese-owned music platform operating in Africa. This means that Boomplay now has agreements with all three of the major labels to bring their catalogs to its streaming and download platform. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment is entering another partnership for original podcast creation. The label has teamed with satirical news brand The Onion to make podcasts. The first show under this collaboration is called The Topical. Continue Reading
Rhapsody and Sony Music Entertainment Japan have officially launched their mora qualitas streaming service in Japan. The platform, initially unveiled in December 2018, offers high-resolution music from the Sony catalog, as well as libraries from other labels and distributors. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment is launching a new podcast joint venture. The company is collaborating with UK-based podcast producer Renay Richardson for a business called Broccoli Content. Continue Reading
Sony Music will roll out two new features for royalty payments on its artist portal this autumn. First is Real-Time Royalties, which will provide immediate updates about a performer’s global earnings and account balances. The second feature is Cash Out. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment is making a new move into podcasting. The major label has entered a joint venture with two podcast veterans — Laura Mayer and Adam Davidson — to find and develop original programming and talent. The as-yet-unnamed company will create and distribute original podcasts. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment and Rhapsody International have partnered to launch a streaming service in Japan. The platform, called mora qualitas, will offer high-resolution lossless FLAC audio at CD quality. It is built on Rhapsody’s Powered By Napster platform. Continue Reading
Sony has released its latest quarterly earnings. In its fiscal Q1 (calendar Q2), Sony’s revenue from recorded music and music publishing reached 121.3 billion yen ($1.11 billion), with operating income of 32.1 billion yen ($294.3 million). Continue Reading