Taylor Swift’s Full Catalog Now On Spotify, Other Streamers As Apple Music Loses Key Exclusive

Taylor Swift has made her entire music catalog available for the first time on Spotify and other streaming services. After years of Apple-only availability, all five Swift albums can now be streamed on Tidal, Amazon, Pandora and other digital music services. Recently Spotify eliminated a key Taylor Swift objection to…

10 Red Flags In A Potential Record Deal

As an up and coming band, being offered your first record deal can feel like an amazing accomplishment, and something worth celebrating. While this may indeed be the case, not every record deal is necessarily what it seems, and a some suspicion is advised. Here we look at ten red…

Defiance On Display At One Love Manchester, As Ariana Grande’s Record Label Donates $500K

In the face of a growing number of violent terror attacks in the UK in recent weeks, Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert was wall-to-wall people. The concert, at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Sunday evening, was attended by more than 50,000 people after selling out in just a…

The Orchard Comes Out On Top As Sony Merges RED, Global Indie Distributors

Sony Music Entertainment will combine its regional independent distribution groups including Sony RED into The Orchard, and its various teams will unite as a single global team managed by The Orchard CEO Brad Navin. The unified company will offer local staff and services in more than 30 markets worldwide. In…

Universal Music Will Be Spun Off With An IPO "At The Right Moment," says Vivendi CEO

After months of speculation whether Vivendi will spin off Universal Music, Chairman and CEO Vincent Bolloré shared that an IPO of the world’s largest music group was all but inevitable. “The value of [UMG] increases every day, and it’s true that an IPO would be an interesting thing,” before adding,…

Internships: What They Mean For The Global Music Industry

Emily White looks at how she was able to achieve her dream of working in the music industry through interning, where interning fits in with the global music industry, and how interning in the music business varies from region to region. ______________________________ Guest post by Emily White of Midem I…

Sony Merges The Orchard and Red Essentials

Sony Music’s two independent artist and label services firms in the UK – The Orchard and Red Essentials – are merging. Could Sony Music, now under new leadership, be planning a similar combination for The Orchard and Sony RED in the United States; and if so, which company would come…

The Metadata Race: A Contest That Record Labels Can Win

It’s no industry secret that metadata, or more importantly a lack thereof, can negatively impact revenue when information gets lost in music’s journey from creator to consumer. Here we look at some things rightsholders can do to prevent such an unnecessary loss. _________________________ Guest post by Eddie Moses of The…

Will Digital Aggregators Lead Industry On Transparency With Spotify, Others? [Chris Castle]

After Spotify received some criticism for the somewhat opaque and mysterious nature of its deals with major labels, the question is being raised if perhaps digital aggregators like CD Baby, the Orchard, and Loudr should be the ones to lead the way on industry transparency. ________________________ Guest post by Chris…

Advance Look At MIDiA’s "State Of The Streaming Nation" 2017 Report [Mark Mulligan]

"Streaming was the lynchpin of 2016’s growth and will be even more important in 2017," says top industry analyst Mark Mulligan of MIDIA Research. As this transition from music sales to music access accelerates, some music services are becoming dominant players, according to Mulligan in an advance look at the…