Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
March 21, 2018
Spotify Makes A Move To Stop Playlist “Playola”
Way back when radio was the main channel for developing a hit, record labels tried to game the system by bribing radio station program directors with money and gifts to add a record to the station’s playlist, a process that became known as payola. Several scandals ensued and the practice became illegal, but labels and […]
Continue reading
March 19, 2018
Why Spotify’s Investors Seem To Have Little Confidence In Its Future
Spotify’s direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange is coming on April 3rd and there’s already been plenty written about this unusual tactic. Much of the reasoning for the move coming from the company seems to circle around the fact that underwriting a traditional IPO costs too much, so there will be considerable savings by avoiding […]
Continue reading
March 16, 2018
iHeartMedia Finally Files For Bankruptcy
It just goes to show the state that radio is in these days when iHeartMedia, the largest station group in the United States, needs to files for bankruptcy protection. The company formerly known as Clear Channel, which owns 858 stations as well as well as the iHeartRadio digital streaming venture, had been stymied under the […]
Continue reading
March 14, 2018
Social Media Usage Is Going Down In The U.S.
Have we reached peak social media? It’s beginning to look that way if the data from The Infinite Dial study is to be believed. The annual report is a collaboration between Edison Research and Triton Digital and takes a look at the digital and analog consumption habits of people in the U.S. This year’s version […]
Continue reading
March 12, 2018
The Music Album Is Dead, But Not Everyone’s Accepted It Yet
To many music artists and bands, making an album has always been the epitome of their art. This group of songs was a statement to their voice and current state of mind, not to mention a reflection of their social and physical environment. It was thought to be the highest form of recorded experience the […]
Continue reading
March 8, 2018
Good News! Major Labels To Share Spotify Stock Listing Windfall With Artists
With Spotify about to become listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a big question that has hung over the heads of major label execs is what will happen if they liquidate their shares in the company. Revenue windfalls like this in the past have found their way to the company’s bottom lines and not […]
Continue reading
March 7, 2018
Americans Listen To Over 200 Billion Minutes Of Audio A Week
Ever wonder how much we listen to audio programming in a given week. Nielsen Research actually keeps track of this and has some very interesting data that shows that Americans. listen to a tremendous amount of audio, but not all of it comes from the sources that you might think. With streaming at the forefront […]
Continue reading
March 5, 2018
Ireland About To Ban For-Profit Concert Ticket Resale
Don’t you feel ripped off when you try to buy a ticket to see your favorite artist and the only ones available are from a secondary ticket broker at an inflated cost? If you live in Ireland, those days may be gone soon as the government has thrown its support behind a bill outlawing the […]
Continue reading
March 2, 2018
The Top 10 Global Artists Of 2017
Sometimes your view of exactly what’s hot in music can be skewed by the country that you live in, but you get a dose of reality when you look at the IFPI global rankings for the top 10 artists last year. The IFPI’s rankings use ‘album equivalent’ units to combine measurements of downloads, physical sales and streams […]
Continue reading
February 28, 2018
Twitter Lost Its Shirt In Its SoundCloud Investment
In 2016 Twitter invested $70 million in SoundCloud, which looked to be a wise venture since the company was valued at around $700 million at the time. Things in the tech world change fast though, as in it’s 2017 annual report, Twitter indicated that it was forced to write off the entire investment because that […]
Continue reading
February 26, 2018
The Pros And Cons Of Spotify Becoming A Hardware Company
There have been a number of recent reports lately that Spotify is looking to launch its own series of branded streaming hardware products. This is supported by its search for an “Operations Manager – Hardware Product” as well as several listings for hardware related positions on its website. Let’s look at the pros and cons […]
Continue reading
February 23, 2018
Facebook Signs Another Music Licensing Deal
Facebook isn’t in the music streaming business yet, but it sure looks like it’s going that way. The platform recently signed another music licensing deal, this time with ICE Services, which is a licensing group and copyright database that represents PRS in the UK, STIM in Sweden and GEMA in Germany. The deal covers not only Facebook, but Instagram, Oculus and Messenger […]
Continue reading
February 22, 2018
Spotify Gets Legally Scammed From Bulgaria
It’s not everyday that you hear of a big tech company getting scammed, but when it’s done legally it’s especially unusual. A report in a recent Music Business News described how someone from Bulgaria used a pair of playlists to take as much as a million bucks in royalties from music tech giant Spotify. Here’s […]
Continue reading
February 21, 2018
You Won’t Believe The Prices For These Vinyl Records
The price of new vinyl albums is going through the roof these days and some industry execs think that we’re fast approaching buyer fatigue as a result. While you might find a few at $16, it’s not uncommon to see a premium release go for anywhere from $40 to $60, which can strain most collector’s […]
Continue reading
February 19, 2018
Universal Music Making Close To $18 Million A Day
The recorded music business is definitely feeling better these days as all the major labels have reported big increases in revenue recently. The latest of these is Universal Music Group, who reportedly saw an income stream of close to $18 million every day in 2017. This represents a sales increase of around 11% from the […]
Continue reading