Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Value vs price at SoundCloud; YouTube’s new live TV service; Ed Sheeran’s new album destroys records; Spotify’s rainy weather track. Continue Reading
Google is combining some of its separate music teams in a move that could signal changes for its many products down the line. The groups working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being joined. Continue Reading
YouTube has added live streaming to its mobile version. Creators with more than 10,000 subscribers can take advantage of this feature, although it will roll out to all users “soon.” Continue Reading
Facebook has been looking personnel to join its music efforts and now the social network has a leader. Tamara Hrivnak has joined Facebook to lead its global music strategy and business development. She most recently worked as director of music partnerships at YouTube and Google Play, and before that rose through the ranks at Warner Music Group. Continue Reading
YouTube is making contributions to the bottom line at parent company Alphabet, according to the tech firm’s fourth-quarter earnings report. “Our growth in the fourth quarter was exceptional — with revenues up 22% year on year and 24% on a constant currency basis,” CFO Ruth Porat said. “This performance was led by mobile search and YouTube.” eMarketer added its own assessment of the Alphabet numbers. Continue Reading
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki penned a blog post wrapping up 2016 for the video platform. She summarized the many business developments YouTube embarked on last year and some plans for the current year. Continue Reading
MusicWatch sent RAIN News a pre-release note with results of its 2016 ‘Music Streaming Wars’ study, and found that Pandora was had the largest share of weekly music listening at 28%. YouTube took second place with a 27% share. Both of those figures include the audio companies’ free and paid tiers. Continue Reading
BandPage announced several upcoming changes to its feature set as part of its acquisition by YouTube earlier this year. The video platform bought the direct-to-fan service in February. Starting March 1, 2017, several core features of the BandPage service will be discontinued, including Bandpage.com public-facing profiles and the BandPage store and events. Continue Reading
Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch discussed YouTube’s recently released figures about the revenue it puts into the music industry. He also covered several aspects of the ongoing value gap debate. Continue Reading
YouTube is collaborating with Elton John on a music video competition. Dubbed “Elton John: The Cut,” this program will end with fans making official music videos for one of three Elton John songs. Continue Reading
YouTube has reached an accord with the National Music Publishers Association about royalty payments for music with unknown ownership. The settlement potentially covers any unclaimed works that appeared between Aug. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2015. Continue Reading
Earlier this week, we reported on YouTube’s announcement that it made $1 billion in payouts to the music industry from advertising revenue alone during 2016. Although that seems like a striking metric, the news got an immediate response from the IFPI. Continue Reading