Author archives: Bruce Houghton

Spotify Dubbed Digital Predator By Top Radio Consultant

The potential disruptive impact of Spotify’s new "Your Daily Drive " playlist which mixes music, news and short podcasts, is starting to sink in at radio. Respected radio consultant Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media has now dubbed "Your Daily Drive" and short daily podcasts like the New York Times produced…

LyricFind Disputes Genius Lyric Theft Claim, Challenges WSJ Reporting

The blockbuster Wall Street journal piece in which lyric site Genius offered some pretty convincing proof that Google and its primary lyric providers like LyricFind had been stealing its lyrics is being strongly disputed by LyricFind. Here is the full statement (bold added: LyricFind Offers Corrections to Inaccuracies in Wall…

Spotify Invests $10M In Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency

Spotify has officially joined Facebook’s new Libra global cryptocurrency initiative. Spotify stands out as the only music or media company among 28 A-list players ranging from Visa to Uber to Andreessen Horowitz that each invested $10 million. Here’s of Techcrunch describes Libra: "Facebook wants to make Libra the evolution of…

Veteran UMG Exec Jeremy Erlich Joins Spotify As Head Of Music Strategy

Veteran UMG exec Jeremy Erlich has joined Spotify as Head of Music Strategy. His most recent post was as Interscope CFO and EVP Business Development. View this post on Instagram I’m very happy to announce that I’m joining Spotify as the Head of Music Strategy. I’ll be responsible for the…

Spotify To Back New Facebook Cryptocurrency [REPORT]

Labels, publishers and artists may soon have the option of receiving streaming royalties in cryptocurrency, as Spotify is reportedly one of the early backers of Facebook’s cryptocurrency initiative. Cryptocurrency could solve many of the issues that a company like Spotify has when paying tens of thousands of rights holders in…

KCRW MD and DJ Jason Bentley Is Exiting

Jason Bentley, the longtime Music Director of the influential Los Angeles radio station KRCW, announced that he was stepping down from the position and as host of the radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Bentley’s last show as host of Morning Becomes Eclectic will be August 30, 2019. KCRW will be…

NEVER Say This To Your Fans [Music Biz Weekly Podcast]

This week Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert of the Music Biz Weekly Podcast discuss an official statement from Vinnie Vincent, former KISS guitarist, and why you should NEVER post something like this. Plus why you should NEVER talk to your fans like this, and why you should have someone else…

Nashville College Students Get Credit For Bonnaroo

Some of the attendees at this weekend’s Bonnaroo music fest in Manchester, Tenn., will be getting college credit for attending. Students from Nashville’s Belmont University are on their way to nearby Manchester as part of the “Belmont at Bonnaroo” program, which provides academic immersion into festival culture while providing students…

Kickstarter Cancels Drip XOXO Artist Subscription Project: Serving Small Creators Is Unsustainable

XOXO, the Kickstarter backed successor the Drip artist and label subscription platform is shutting down before it launches. "Ultimately, we couldn’t find a way to make the business viable," the XOXO team wrote announcing the closure. Kickstarter acquired Drip in March of 2016 and experimented with several iterations of the…