Category Archives for "Music Industry News"
February 1, 2017
HMV To Close Over 100 Record Stores In Canada
On Friday HMV Canada was placed into receivership and outlined its intent to close its 102 record stores in that country. HMV stores in the UK are not affected. According to a report by the Financial Post, HMV owes its major suppliers, including music labels and movie studios, about $42.6 million as of Dec 31. If […]
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January 30, 2017
Most Billboard Album Charts To Now Include Streaming
After updating the Billboard 200 chart to reflect both streaming and track sales a few years ago, Billboard is now doing the same for most of it’s other genre-based album charts as well.  The following charts will now reflect the new measurement methodology starting this week: Top Country Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, plus: -R&B Albums -Rap Albums […]
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January 25, 2017
Jay-Z Gets Bailed Out As Sprint Invests In Tidal
Recently there’s been a lot of speculation on how long Tidal could financially hold on before it would have do something drastic. Today those fears are allayed with the news that telco Sprint has bought a 33% interest in the music streaming service for $200 million. Each of the company’s much celebrated two dozen artist-owners will remain […]
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January 23, 2017
Jack White Starting His Own Vinyl Pressing Plant
Frustrated with the long wait in to get records pressed, Jack White’s new Third Man Records pressing plant is scheduled to open in February in his native Detroit. The company has installed 8 new energy efficient presses capable of outputting up to 5,000 discs every 8 hours. The company also hopes to add 50 jobs […]
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January 19, 2017
Artist Sponsorship Is Today’s Payola
Payola has always been part of the music business and many insiders feel that it’s the reason that some artists become stars, and some stars become superstars. Without money or favors changing hands between the record label and the radio station/streaming service, a song might never gain the visibility it needs to become a hit. […]
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January 18, 2017
France’s SACEM Might Have Created The Copyright Management Technology Of The Future
For the most part, performance rights organizations use an antiquated system to determine the payouts to their members. For radio, it all depends on a survey at certain times of the year that looks at a cross-section of what stations are playing in order to determine the royalties. For streaming, it depends on the data they […]
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January 16, 2017
It’s True – Cassette Tapes Are Making A Comeback
It looks like everything that was old is new again. It may seem hard to believe, but cassette tape, that once reviled music delivery system of the 1970s, really is making a comeback. There’s a new coolness factor in the format for artists, bands and fans that no one could have predicted. Reports about the […]
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January 12, 2017
High-Resolution Streaming Might Be Getting Closer
I’ve been predicting for over a year that the streaming world would eventually move to high-resolution audio, and a recent announcement from a group of large industry players makes it look like things are finally moving in the right direction. All 3 major labels, Pandora, Rhapsody/Napster, HD Trax and the RIAA announced their support for […]
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January 11, 2017
Facebook To Start Running Mid-Video Ads
Content creators have been complaining about the fact that there’s no way to monetize their content on Facebook the way you can on YouTube. Those days look to be coming to an end, however, as industry insiders now say that Facebook will start testing mid-video ads soon. As with YouTube, the revenue from the ads will be […]
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January 9, 2017
Top Selling Albums Of 2016
Albums just aren’t selling like they used to, and that goes for physical and digital. The end-of-the-year Nielsen numbers are out and they show that only 4 albums made it to platinum-level last year, which is sales of 1 million or more. If you add in sales of digital albums, you get 3 more, which is […]
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January 5, 2017
Google Rumored To Be Buying SoundCloud
It’s been no secret that SoundCloud has been up for sale for some time. Both Twitter and Spotify reportedly looked into acquiring the service and decided against it over the last few years. Now the latest rumor has Google acquiring SoundCloud for around $500 million, which is about half of what it was going for […]
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January 2, 2017
Tidal Releases Some Year End Numbers, But Not The Right Ones
Out of all the music streaming networks, Tidal seems to get more than its fair share of publicity. No doubt that’s because it’s owned by a music celebrity (Jay-Z), but for a relatively small player in the streaming game, Tidal manages to punch above its weight. The company recently released some interesting numbers that covered […]
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December 29, 2016
Facebook Looking For An In-House Composer
It looks like you can expect a lot more from Facebook in 2017 in more ways than one. The company is advertising for an in-house composer to add to its in-house sound design team. According to the advert: The in-house Music Composer role requires 10+ years of professional experience in the music industry, plus experience […]
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December 28, 2016
5 Marketing Takeaways From Streaming Music
If you look closely, streaming is teaching us all some marketing lessons, according to analytics service Next Big Sound (now owned by Pandora), a company that looks at social, streaming and event data as well as the interaction between an artist and a fan. While many look at it as just a way to get their […]
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December 26, 2016
Billboard Buys Spin, Vibe And Stereogum
In an effort to “own the topic of music online,” the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group has acquired SpinMedia, whose assets include Spin, Vibe and Stereogum. This means that the company is now the world’s largest online music brand and its sites will see traffic of about 45 million per month as a result. It will […]
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