Pandora’s New Direct Deals A Very Bad News For SoundExchange And Potentially For Artists

Hidden in the hoopla surrounding Pandora’s direct deals last week, and the resulting launch of the Pandora Plus interactive streaming service, was the major blow they dealt to SoundExchange; and the confusion that they are causing indie artists who are wondering how they will be getting paid in the future….

RIAA Gold and Platinum Awards August 2016

Last month the RIAA certified 71 Digital Single Awards and 34 Album Awards.Topping the list were Twenty One Pilots, Zach Brown, Blake Shelton, Kevin Gates and Mark Anthony. ____________________________ View Ot Download RIAA August 2016 Awards.PDF (2581.1K) Related articles 10 Things Artists Must Have To Succeed Today In The Music…

CHANGES @ Warner/Chappell Music • Nonesuch • Madison House • UMG • Motown Gospel

Warner/Chappell Music has promoted Eric Mackay to Vice President, Digital Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Mackay joined Warner/Chappell in April 2015 as Head of Digital, Europe. MORE: • Nonesuch Records has tapped industry vet Kris Chen as its new Senior Vice President. He comes to Nonesuch from Warner Music’s…

Universal Music Group To Launch ‘Sound Of Vinyl’ E-Commerce Site next Month

Major labels are jumping on the D2F fan bandwagon with initiatives that include their own budget streaming service and efforts to sell direct to fans including a new vinyl e-commerce site from UMG. ________________________________________ After a stint at Maker Studios, Jason Sptiz has joined Universal Music Group as Sr Director,…

Universal, Sony Team To Launch Low Cost Streaming Music Service

Sony and Universal Music have quietly teamed to launch their own budget streaming music service. Extending the popular NOW music compilation brand, Now That’s What I Call Music+ will offer streams of hit songs at a budget price. __________________________________ Universal Music Group and Sony Entertainment have team to launch a…

Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Is Now Streaming On Spotify, But They’re Doing Their Best To Bury It

Apple Music’s 2 week exclusive is over and Frank Ocean’s #1 album "Blonde" is now streaming on Spotify. But despite claims that it does not retaliate when artists give their competitors an exclusive, you won’t find the album in many of the places that Spotify usually uses to showcase new…

Streaming Music Exclusives: Is This Just The Beginning?

Yesterday, Cortney Harding declared that streaming music exclusives were over. But former Apple Music staffer, Sean Glass wonders if their just getting started, and takes a hard look at streaming in general. Guest Post by Sean Glass on Medium After hearing about Universal allegedly banning exclusives, I felt this crucial…

ITunes 69¢ Songs Section Offers Latest Opportunity For Labels To Game The Charts

Last month we learned that artists like Drake, Kayne West and Frank Ocean were releasing albums with 18 tracks or more to game the Billboard charts by taking advantage of rules that calculate album sales equivalents from digital streams. Now comes word of a new and yet very familiar way…

Like Access Industries, Liberty Media Is Building A Full Stack Music Company

By definition a full stack company offers "a complete, end-to-end product or service that bypasses incumbents and other competitors." Access Industries is clearly creating one for music. It owns Warner Music Group, has a major stake in Songkick and Shazam, and has just taken control of music streamer Deezer. Liberty…

The Company That Owns Warner Music Group Just Took Control Of Music Streamer Deezer

Access Industries has taken control of global music stream Deezer. The move advances the goal of the conglomerate, which also owns Warner Music Group and has made major investments in Songkick ($25M), Shazam ($9M) and in 2013-14 Beats ($120M million), to become an integrated full stack music company. ______________________________________ French…