Universal Music Group revenue rose 18.6% on a constant currency basis (or 24% an actual basis) in the first 6 months of 2019, with streaming revenue growing an even more robust 25.5% using the same metric. Overall recorded music revenues hit a record high of $2.93 billion, up 16.9% on…
Author archives: Bruce Houghton
Music News Trending On Twitter Today: Lil Nas X, Big Sean, Gryffin, Halsey and More
Forget charts that are updated weekly! We want our music info to be up to the minute. Here is the music news trending on Twitter today. Lil Nas X Tweeted about taking over Jack Dorrsey’s job as CEO of Twitter for the day and visiting the New York office. Big…
Spotify Names Sulinna Ong Head of Music UK and Ireland
Spotify has appointed Sulinna Ong to the newly-created role of Head of Music in the UK and Ireland. Ong initially joined Spotify in April as Head of Artist & Label Services. She came to the streaming giant from Deezer, where she served as Global Vice President of Artist Marketing. I’m…
PledgeMusic says "All data has been preserved"
PledgeMusic pulled its web site offline Thursday leaving artists without the ability to access and download previous fan and order data. The shuttered service now says that all data has been preserved and will be made available soon. Overnight this line was added to PledgeMusic’s front page: "All data has…
Drake Strikes Creative Partnership with SiriusXM, Pandora
Satellite broadcaster SiriusXM announced that it has signed a wide-ranging creative partnership with Canadian rap legend Drake. The partnership includes a branded SiriusXM station that will feature a playlist of curated music from Drake, as well as special collaborations with other artists. Product rollouts are expected to begin later this…
Live Nation Q2 Report: It’s A GREAT Time To Be A Major Concert Promoter
Live Nation Entertainment has released its latest financial report showing continued strong revenue growth for the second fiscal quarter and first six months of 2019. Live Nation stock rose 2.34% in after-hours trading Thursday. The company recorded overall revenue of $3.157 billion for the quarter, up by 10% from the…
FRI. BRIEF: UMG Streams Earn $10M Daily • Live Nation Solid Q2 • Drake + SiriusXM + Pandora • Twitter Rebounds • More
FRIDAY 7.26.19
Music Business News From Around The Web
Updated continuously under the More News tab
PledgeMusic Takes Website Offline
PledgeMusic, which suspended operations in February, has all but shut down its website. "The company continues to work with outside counsel on the most appropriate next steps, and we will update you with those specifics as we get more information," reads the home page. Hundreds of musicians were left unpaid…
6 Tales From ‘Spotify Unknown’ Of Near Misses, Aborted Acquisitions and Steve Jobs’ Heavy Breathing
T’Spotify Untold’ offers a behind-the-scenes "character-driven story of Spotify’s rise from a tiny start-up to the biggest music streaming company in the world,” and the new book is filled with some juicy revelations. The book by Swedish journalists Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud, tech reporters for Stockholm-based Di Digital is…
QUICK HITS: Vevo • Merlin • Sweet • Kobalt • Warner Chappell Music
Vevo has hired Scott Anderson as its new SVP of Engineering & Product. Anderson brings with him over 25 years of technology experience and joins from startup Conversa Health, where he helped the healthcare provider through its first rounds of funding. Prior to that, he led mobile engineering at Walmart….