Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
May 15, 2017
Is Part Of Universal Music Up For Sale?
Universal Music’s parent company Vivendi recently put a public price tag of $22 billion on the company, which seems odd since it hasn’t valued this asset before. In fact, the only good reason to do so is if Vivendi either wants to sell all or part of Universal or to take the company public to reap […]
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May 10, 2017
Spotify Tries To Bring Back The QR Code
The QR code feels so yesterday. For a year or so you found them everywhere, then they all seemed to disappear at once, at least on a retail level. Spotify thinks that they can be a quick way for sharing music though, and it’s trying to bring them back only in a different form. There’s […]
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May 8, 2017
Warner Music’s New Deal With YouTube Isn’t Great, But It Might Not Matter Anyway
All of the major labels have been out of contract and on a month-to-month basis in their licensing agreements with YouTube for some time now, but the first domino has fallen as Warner Music Group reported that it’s just completed a new deal with the video service. Even though no terms were announced, it’s easy to […]
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May 3, 2017
New Copyright Bill Passes The House
Virtually everyone in the music community has bee screaming for copyright reform, but there has been mostly talk but little movement until now. Copyright Bill H.R. 1695, “The Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act” passed the House of Representatives by 378-48 last week, which many hope is the beginning of larger reforms in the future. […]
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May 1, 2017
Facebook Rights Manager Now Lets Creators Make Money
One of the powers of YouTube is that it allows creators to make money from the platform either by uploading original content, or more powerfully, by monetizing the videos when others use your content. This is all based on the service’s Content ID system that allows tracking of content that lets the rights hold then […]
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April 26, 2017
IFPI Numbers Show How The Music Industry Is Getting Healthy Again
The annual IFPI revue of the music business confirms what all the other studies have shown – that music is truly on the comeback trail. After years of doom and gloom, the industry has seen its first double-digit rise in revenues in nearly 20 years, all thanks to streaming. The skeptics said it would never happen, […]
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April 24, 2017
Neil Young Tries It Again With New Hi-Res Streaming Service
To say that Neil Young’s Pono download service and dedicated audio player was a failure is an understatement. The service was very late to be introduced, and by the time it became available, downloads had been swept aside by streaming. Young also underestimated the consumer market’s attraction to high-resolution, especially when the prices are much higher […]
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April 20, 2017
The Importance Of Playlist Placement For Your Music To Be Discovered
While radio airplay used to be the lifeblood of a hit (and in some cases still is), today it’s the playlist that really sets the tone for listener discovery. If a track is added to a popular list, its streams will spike and listeners will add it to their personal playlists, which sometimes adds a […]
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April 19, 2017
With 32 Million Subscribers Apple Music Is Challenging Spotify As Streaming Leader
We keep reading about Spotify having more paid subscribers than just about any other service at 51 or so million, but it looks like Apple Music is not only catching up, but surpassing the service in many areas. A new survey from the media measurement company Verto Analytics actually puts Apple Music at the top […]
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April 17, 2017
TuneCore Direct Advance Offers Artists Automated Advances
It could be a sign that digital music aggregation has either grown up or is adopting a label model, but regardless of the reason, TuneCore has launched a program called TuneCore Direct Advance that offers automated advances to artists signed to distribution or publishing deals. This is certainly a first for this arm of the industry, and […]
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April 12, 2017
The Reason Why YouTube Pays Artists So Little
The recorded music business is rejoicing at the fact that after more than a decade, it finally has some strong revenue growth. The best part is that the growth looks like it will continue, as paying for streaming has finally gone mass market and listeners have seem the light of the benefit of paying at […]
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April 10, 2017
Would You Pull Your Music Off The Radio?
Almost from the beginning of the industry, recording artists have complained about not being compensated for radio airplay. Sure, songwriters get paid, but artists and labels never receive a dime. This is a phenomena unique to the United States, since in most other countries artist compensation has long been settled. While legislation to pay artists […]
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April 5, 2017
Spotify Gets A New Deal With Universal Music
As I’ve written in other posts, Spotify wants to do a public offering this year but won’t be able to do that until it signs new licensing agreements with each of the major labels. It looks like the first of those agreements has come to pass with the reported signing of Universal Music. The fact […]
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April 3, 2017
Happy Days – US Music Growth The Most In 20 Years
In record label executive offices across the U.S. there’s rejoicing as the latest RIAA numbers show a double digit increase in revenue for the first time in almost 20 years. The latest figures show that the recorded music market in 2016 brought in $7.7 billion, up a bit more 11% over the previous year. And […]
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March 29, 2017
Yes, Spotify Tiers Might Look Different Soon
As mentioned here before, Spotify’s licensing deals with the major labels is currently out of contract. This is a big deal since the company wants to go public this year, and that could be put in jeopardy if it doesn’t have its licensing house in order. But the labels are driving a hard bargain, not […]
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