It was a record-breaking year for BMI. The music rights management conglomerate reported that its annual revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019 was nearly $1.3 billion. This represents an increase of 7% from the preceding year. It was also a …
Category archives: Feature Story
Tool’s ‘Fear Inoculum’ Becomes the #1 Album In the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and Belgium
After a 13 year hiatus, Tool is topping the album charts on multiple continents. Just last week, Tool’s Fear Inoculum was drawing huge crowds at record stores across the U.S., with lines out the door at some shops. That was pretty shocking given that …
Vinyl Sales to Overtake CDs for the First Time Since 1986
Sales of vinyl records are likely to overtake CDs for the first time since 1986. Last week, we reported on a healthy boom in first-half streaming numbers for the U.S.-based recorded music industry. But digging deeper into the physical sales story, an …
Rhapsody Agrees to Release $10 Million In Unpaid Royalties — Here’s How to Get Paid
Rhapsody International has agreed to pay $10 million over unpaid streaming royalties to artists. The preliminary settlement follows years of litigation spearheaded by artist-activist David Lowery. The litigation, first initiated in March of 2016, alle…
A$AP Rocky’s Swedish Lawyer Brutally Attacked; Shot Multiple Times at Close Range
The Swedish lawyer who represented A$AP Rocky in his assault case was shot multiple times Friday morning in Stockholm. The secretary-general of the Swedish Bar Association confirmed that the victim is Henrik Olsson Lilja. Stockholm police are not conf…
VC Fund DBTH Capital Just Raised $38.4 Million to Invest in Music Rights Tech, AI + Blockchain
Now there’s even more capital for blockchain, AI, and music rights tech startups and initiatives. The latest beneficiary of this is DBTH Capital, which is a venture capital firm founded by longtime French music executive Virginie Berger. In a LinkedIn …
Jay-Z Wastes Little Time at the NFL — $400,000 Already Donated to Chicago At-Risk Youth Charities
Earlier, Jay-Z declared it was time to “get past kneeling” and focus on solutions. The partnership between Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and the NFL has drawn plenty of controversy, from many different directions. That included an attack from Colin Kaepernick, al…
Native Instruments Confirms 100 Layoffs In “Global Restructuring”
Native Instruments has confirmed that 100 employees have been laid off in a “global restructuring plan.” Last week, we first reported on rumors of issues at the Berlin-based DJ hardware manufacturer. Several ex-employee reviews on Glassdoor painted a …
Vampr CEO: “Everyone Wants to Know Why We Didn’t Go to VCs”
Vampr, the world’s biggest music networking app, opens up to everyday investors with an explosive equity crowdfunding debut, passing their minimum target in the first hour after launching. The following update comes from Vampr. As any “creative” doing …
800,000 Installs Later, FIX Music Rewards Introduces In-App E-Commerce
FIX is quietly amassing a serious crowd around music rewards. Now, the strategy is shifting towards in-app monetization. Over the summer, we first documented Toronto-based FIX, a music rewards app that quietly surpassed 600,000 app installs. Two month…