Musicians Sue Universal Alleging $100M 2018 Fire Loss

A group of high-profile musicians and estates have filed a $100 million lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMPG) over the 2008 fire that destroyed thousands of archived master recordings. The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Federal District Court Friday (June 21) by the rock bands Soundgarden and Hole,…

Amazon Debuts ‘Handpicked’ Playlists with Katy Perry

Katy Perry has curated the inaugural playlist for Amazon’s new ‘Handpicked series. Perry’s twenty-one song playlist "Songs About Moving On" mixes a bit of her own music with Taylor Swift, Beyonce with Jack White, Ariana Grande and others. "My moving on songs," reads the tagline, "some are uplifting, while others…

Full List Of BET Award Winners 2019: Cardi, Childish, Beyonce, Bruno and More

Cardi B was the big winner at Sunday night’s 2019 BET Awards. Hosted by Regina Hall, the ceremony aired live from the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Cardi B led this year’s nominations with seven and took home awards for Album of The Year for Invasion of Privacy, as…

Is Classical Music Streaming’s Next Big Genre? [Mark Mulligan]

Streaming is introducing a larger and more diverse audience to classical music. "These new audiences bring with them new expectations about what classical music listening should be like and they present a major new opportunity for the classical market," writes Marl Mulligan. __________________________________ By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA and the…

Anti-Stream Manipulation Code Of Best Practice [FULL TEXT]

A coalition of companies and organizations ranging from Spotify to UMG and representing many corners of the music industry have signed a new code of conducted designed to combat streaming manipulation. (more here). Here is the full text of the Anti-Stream Manipulation Code Of Best Practice . ______________________________ More: Labels,…

UMG Fire Concerns Are ‘Just Noise,’ Says Vivendi Chair, As Music Group Sale Timetable Extended

Even as details emerge of a 2008 fire in a vault holding thousands of Universal Music Group recordings point to devastating destruction of historic masters, the chairperson of UMG corporate parent Vivendi is calling the concerns of artists and producers is "just noise." "It’s a credit to the leadership of…

Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ Sets Apple Music Pre-Add Record

Taylor Swift’s 7th studio album Lover isn’t out for 2 months, but it’s already broken the record for most the Apple Music pre-add (aka pre-save) album in a single day by a female artist. Clocking a whopping 178,600 pre-adds worldwide in its first day of availability (June 13) – that…

UMG’s Lucian Grainge Addresses Universal Fire

In a company wide memo, Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge responded to reports that a significant trove of the company’s master recordings were destroyed in a massive warehouse fire. Last week, the New York Times broke the story when they reported that hundreds of thousands of…

UMG’s Lucian Grainge Addresses Universal Fire In Internal Memo

In a company wide memo, Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge responded to reports that a significant trove of the company’s master recordings were destroyed in a fire. Last week, the New York Times broke the story when they reported that hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable master…

5 Reasons You Don’t Actually Want The Record Deal Of Your Dreams

The record industry, and consequently the record deal, have seen countless transformations over the decades, and while many artists may still be eager to sign the "contract of their dreams," the reality is that these agreements can often leave the artist in a less than ideal situation ______________________________ Guest post…