Apple has proposed a new royalty structure for streaming music, one that would be simpler but could create a financial pinch for freemium services. In a proposal to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board, Apple recommended a system where all on-demand streaming services would pay songwriters a statutory rate of 9.1 cents per 100 plays. Continue Reading
Spotify For Brands, the company’s outreach division which promotes the free-listening service to advertisers, has released a new trove of data focused on brand awareness and listener profiling in the U.K. It is part of an ongoing The New Audio series, with survey work commissioned from TNS. Continue Reading
Spotify is a hit with Mexican listeners, according to data from The Competitive Intelligence Unit. More than 60% of Mexicans who use streaming platforms listen to Spotify. The next closest service is Google Play at just 12.3%. Continue Reading
The National Music Publishers’ Association said that a large number of its members have signed on to participate in the $30 million settlement with Spotify over publishing royalties. “The vast majority of our members have opted into our settlement,” President and CEO David Israelite said of the arrangement. Continue Reading
Mobile game Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm. Spotify announced today that the game has triggered a spike in listening too, with more than triple the streams of Pokemon songs logged in the past week. Continue Reading
New research from Cowen explores the current state of the streaming music industry and gave forecasts for its future. Spotify and Amazon emerged as two of the top brands to watch. The data predicted a compound annual growth rate of 4% for the 2016-2021 period, with on-demand music services expected to double revenue and secure a 40% share of the industry by 2021. Continue Reading
Spotify has been putting up big numbers in recent months as it grows a subscriber base. Now, sources say that the streaming service reportedly has expanded to about 37 million paying subscribers. The company has not confirmed that number, but given its recent rates of listener acquisition, the reports aren’t much of a surprise. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: A Discover Weekly data dive; Rdio accuses Sony of antitrust activity; UK report finds piracy on continued decline. Continue Reading
Following on yesterday’s barbs, Spotify is making another, more aggressive attack against Apple Music. A lawyer from Spotify sent a letter to the rival streaming service stating that Apple Music is causing harm to Spotify and its customers by rejecting an iOS update to its app. [Update: Apple responds.] Continue Reading
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gave a speech about business competition with some pointed remarks about three of the top tech companies in the U.S. She criticized Google, Apple, and Amazon for using their size and clout to limit inroads from other companies, particularly smaller upstarts. Continue Reading
Spotify and iHeartMedia have been sued on allegations that they are infringing on a patent for sharing and retrieving playlist information online. Post Media Systems is the plaintiff, representing Alan Bartholomew of SoniClear. The central patent is titled “System and Method for Creating and Posting Media Lists for Purposes of Subsequent Playback.” Continue Reading
Is music discovery important in a society where most of the stardom and audience are concentrated in a few top acts? Research tells us it is, and new music discovery products tell us that major online music services know it. Music discovery initiatives from Spotify, Pandora, and SoundCloud are bringing music discovery into an era of personalized delivery. Continue Reading