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
YouTube has reportedly reached an agreement with indie music rights agency Merlin for its subscription music service, according to Financial Times. If the news is confirmed, this would be a major win for the video network. Merlin represents some 20,000 indie labels, and an agreement with that group helps to round out YouTube’s alliances with the top record labels; it already has arrangements with Universal, Sony, and Warner. Continue Reading
Several leaders from the music industry spoke last week at the Web Summit in Dublin about the role of streaming for musicians and listeners. One panel included several managers discussing the current environment for music. Jonathan Dickins, who represents popular singer Adele, spoke favorably about the role of streaming. Another panel from the Summit focused on Music and Movies in the 21st Century. At that discussion, U2’s Bono also spoke out in support of a streaming music economy. Continue Reading
Nordic nations have 8 million streaming music users. That’s one of the takeaways from a survey conducted by the Polaris Nordic Alliance, a coalition of music collecting societies. The poll covered the roughly 17.8 million Internet users between the ages of 15 and 65 in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. Continue Reading
TuneCore has added a new feature to its Artist Services program focused on incorporating YouTube into its monetization avenues. YouTube Money collects revenue for use of its customers’ music on the video channel for a one-time fee of $25. The FAQ for the service noted that display ads, overlay in-video ads, TrueView in-stream ads and non-skippable in-stream ads are all available for monetizing videos. Continue Reading
YouTube has made $1 billion in payouts from its ContentID system since it was implemented in 2007. This technology helps many of the video network’s content creators to control how their material is made available. The program has been especially helpful for musicians and music labels, since many YouTube users upload video with copyrighted audio material. The rights holders can either have infringing videos taken down or have ads placed in them to generate revenue. 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
Vevo has had an interesting summer, from looking for a buyer to not looking for a buyer. Now the video hosting platform has expanded into original content. Vevo has three new shows that spread its reach beyond music videos, but all of them are still centered around the music industry and artists. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Musicians should speak up about YouTube features; buy music and more from a tweet; Calvin Harris’ billion Spotify streams. Continue Reading
Most online music platforms have such a large volume of songs and listeners that they unintentionally make sharing difficult. With the days of the mixtape long gone, there are few ways for people to share that song stuck on loop in their head with their friends. Enter This is My Jam, a polished resharing and curating service. 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