The passage of the Music Modernization Act marked the end of a years-long effort to enact changes to federal laws governing music licensing. But turning that page also marked the start of a new chapter, one where successes could prove equally challenging to find. Continue Reading
SoundCloud announced multiple deals this week, all centered on further raising the platform’s profile with DJs. First, the company announced integrations with several DJ applications. Second, it has secured a partnership with Dubset, a service for quickly licensing and distributing DJ mixes while managing all the appropriate royalties. Continue Reading
Sirius XM has entered a marketing partnership with Amazon to offer two potential deals in the crossover between satellite radio and smart speakers. The bundles are part of a major promotional initiative by Sirius XM called Bring Us Home, a campaign centered on encouraging listeners to use its satellite radio plans outside of cars. Continue Reading
Commercial Radio Australia has announced plans to form a podcast working group intended to help grow podcasting in the region. The group will help lead development of podcasting, as well as providing related advice to the radio industry about consumer promotion, audience measurement and reporting, market research, and education. Continue Reading
Spotify announced some minor updates to its Premium experience on mobile. Navigation is simplified, and finding content is more personalized. The updates begin rolling out globally across iOS and Android apps today. Continue Reading
Merlin announced that it has hired three people for its member services and legal teams. It has been an active year for the independent label group and global digital rights agency, which now has global license deals with 25 digital music services. Continue Reading
SESAC has promoted Kelli Turner to the role of president and chief operating officer. Her previous post at the music rights organization was executive vice president of operations, corporate development, and chief financial officer. Continue Reading
Amazon announced that it has launched Prime Music in Australia. This music streaming service will be available for all new and ongoing Prime memberships in the market. Prime Music includes a library of more than 2 million songs alongside hundreds of curated playlists and stations for particular moods and genres. Continue Reading
SoundCloud announced that its paid tier will have the option to access better audio quality streaming. Subscribers to the SoundCloud Go+ tier can opt to listen to music in a lossless format when that file type has been uploaded by an artist. Continue Reading
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation released results from its third annual podcast survey during the OzPod event this week. The survey found that women are driving growth for listener engagement overall and for true crime shows in particular. Continue Reading
Soundtrack Your Brand, a B2B music provider for physical storefronts, commissioned a study from Nielsen Music into the financial impact of where businesses obtain background music. According to the study, rightsholders could be missing out on a total of $2.65 billion annually due to businesses using the personal streaming accounts of staff members rather than products designed for company and for-profit uses. Continue Reading
Spotify recently opened up a beta test where select indie artists could upload their songs directly to the streaming service. Now, the company announced that it is expanding that offering through an integration with DistroKid. Continue Reading