2018 Was A Good Year To Be Spotify [Russ Crupnick]

While there has been much discussion of Spotify’s financial situation, another important metric to pay attention to is actual listeners. Here Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch breaks down some of the numbers on Spotify’s market share. _____________________________________ Guest post by Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch Spotify’s financial results are widely available and…

2019: The State Of Sampling

In this piece, the team at Tracklib took a deep dive into the state of sampling in 2019, breaking down who’s sampling what, the rationale behind it, what the preferred software (and hardware) is, plus some of the past year’s most prominent sampling moments. __________________________________ Guest post by Oskar of…

7digital, Juke End Partnership After $4.5M Settlement

UK-based 7digital has reached a settlement with Media Saturn’s Juke music streaming service to dissolve their partnership. Under the Agreement, 7digital will be released from all outstanding contracts with the Juke for an immediate payment by Juke of €4,000,000. Juke has aslo agreed to write off all interest payments and…

Teen Musician Rejects $3M Deal: No Need For Label Thanks To Internet

Billboard magazine recently released a profile of teenaged musician/rapper NLE Choppa, who handily turned down a $3 million label deal, opting instead to partner with a distribution company, UnitedMasters, and maintain all rights to his work. Kids these days! ______________________________ Guest post by Mike Masnick of Techdirt There’s a pretty…

Court Denies WMG Injunction, Clears Spotify India Launch

[UPDATED] A Mumbai court has failed to grant Warner Music Group and it’s Warner/Chappell Music publishing subsidy an injunction that would stop Spotify’s launch in India. Unable to reach a direct deal with Warner/Chappell, Spotify is preparing to launch under a blanket license previously used only by TV and radio….

New Study By Goldman Sachs Forecasts Double-Digit Growth For Music Biz

[Updated] The music business has had a tough go of it over the past decade, but in recent years things have taken a turn for the better, with industry business booming. Thankfully, this trend shows no signs of waning, according to recently published research from a team at Goldman Sachs….

SoundCloud Now Lets You Upload To Other Music Platforms

In what could be a major disruptor for the platform, SoundCloud recently dropped a new toolset in its Premier program which will give its users the option of sharing music to other major platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. _____________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 In what…

5 Music Startup Trends To Follow In 2019 [Cherie Hu]

In this piece, Cherie Hu look at five observable trends in the world of music industry tech startups, and what these inclinations suggest about the future of the music biz and the ways in which tech companies and their investors understand and relate to the music business. ___________________________ Guest post…

Amazon, Google & The Morality Of Driving Fans To Big Tech

While many artists have some serious moral quandaries about driving their fans to YouTube given Google’s suspect data practices, Chris Castle here looks at why Amazon is in fact a far guiltier culprit. ____________________________ Guest post by Chris Castle of Music Technology Policy When Hearst Artist Frederic Remington, cabled from…

25 Year Old Rock Song Mysteriously Tops Japanese Charts

Recently a twenty-five year old Dinorsaur Jr. song called "Over Your Shoulder" agitated musical waters when it mysteriously popped out of the blue ta #18 on the Japanese Billboard charts. Here we look at what exactly went on that earned this quarter-century old tune its renaissance. ____________________________ Guest post by…