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Could the Taylor Swift publicity be good for Spotify?

Posted on by Brad Hill

When a global consumer service loses the most popular product in its catalog, it’s pretty bad news on the face of it. The seriousness of Taylor Swift’s much-publicized withdrawal from Spotify is perhaps reflected in the gravity and scope of founder Daniel Ek’s blog response yesterday. But crowd opinion, and thousands of news articles, might add up to good publicity. Spotify itself is uniquely asking Taylor Swift to return, with a “Come back, Taylor!” playlist. Continue Reading →

David Oxenford: Noncommercial Webcasters Royalty Rate Proposals for 2016-2020

Posted on by Brad Hill

Noncommercial webcasters are often forgotten in the discussion of the current proceeding to set Internet radio sound recording royalties. But, along with the royalties for commercial webcasters, the current Copyright Royalty Board proceeding will also set the rates for noncommercial webcasters. Broadcast attorney and frequent guest contributor David Oxenford explains everything. Continue Reading →

Bandcamp announces formal launch of artist-based subscriptions

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Bandcamp has rolled out an artist subscription for all musicians on its platform. CEO Ethan Diamond spoke with The Guardian about the new feature prior to the official announcement at the SF MusicTech Summit. “The whole motivation here is that when you get to a point that you love an artist – when you go from liking them to being a real true fan of theirs – at some point you just want everything they make,” he said. Continue Reading →

YouTube reaches deal with Merlin, paving way for new subscription service

Posted on by Anna Washenko

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 →

Edison Research: Share of ear in the car

Posted on by Brad Hill

Edison Research released a new piece of its landmark Share of Ear research, a large-scale survey first introduced in June. The latest component is an infographic detailing the percentage of listening to audio sources in the car. Share of Ear respondents indicate that AM/FM listening still dominates in the car, followed by satellite radio. Continue Reading →

adStream: Grand Marnier “mixes” with SoundHound in original branding campaign

Posted on by Brad Hill

Music-ID app SoundHound has created an intriguing brand integration with Grand Marnier, in which the DNA of certain songs is revealed — samples, remixes, and covers, mainly. The campaign is called “The DNA of Music,” and we spotted it surrounding a Kelly Clarkson song ID’d in SoundHound. We talked to Cheryl Lucanegro, VP of Sales at SoundHound, to get the back story of this campaign. Continue Reading →

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Composed, a new classical music streaming service, launches in UK

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Classical music fans in the UK are getting a new option for keeping up with their favorite symphonies and sonatas thanks to Classic FM and Decca. The companies have partnered to launch a classical music streaming service called Composed. The subscription-based model offers streaming based on mood, composer, or curated playlist, according to Music Week. Continue Reading →

Daniel Ek responds to Taylor Swift with comprehensive defense of Spotify

Posted on by Anna Washenko

The decision by Taylor Swift and her label, Big Machine, to remove her entire back catalog from Spotify sparked a wave of debates and arguments about the pros and cons of the streaming music economy. Swift herself said in an interview with Yahoo that the reason for her action was her skepticism about streaming platforms. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a lengthy blog post in an effort to clear up misunderstandings about the streaming ecosystem that have sparked many of the most vocal diabtribes. Continue Reading →

Rdio contributed most of Cumulus annual growth in digital ad revenue (earnings call recap)

Posted on by Brad Hill

Radio group Cumulus Media and online music service Rdio forged their partnership last September, so yesterday’s earnings call from publicly traded Cumulus could be approached as a one-year anniversary of the terrestrial/online hook-up. In year-over-year growth in ad revenue, digital led the way, and Rdio led digital. Continue Reading →