This chart from Statista shows the decline in digital music single downloaded sales in the United States from 2004 to 2017. Last year, 553.5 million digital music singles were downloaded in the U.S., down from 743 million a year earlier.
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Category archives: Major Labels
WMG Eyes Partnership With Exec It Fired For Cheating Musicians, Songwriters
Warner Music is reportedly in the final stages of negotiating a deal to distribute 12 Tone, the new label helmed by Doug Morris, the former CEO of WMG, Universal and most recently Sony. _____________________________________ When Warner Music Group fired Doug Morris in 1995, the their former chief executive filed a…
RIAA’s 2017 End Of Year Report: A Cynical Take [Op-Ed]
While the end of year numbers from the RIAA’s Revenue Stats may seem positive on their face, with talk of double digit growth. There is some suspicion on just how rosy these numbers actually are once you dig beneath the surface. By Faza, this first appeared on The Cynical Musician…
Charlie Walk Exits Republic Records After Multiple Sexual Harassment Allegations
Charlie Walk, record exec and judge on television show “The Four,” has parted was with Republic Records. Walk and the Universal Music Group label “have mutually agreed to part ways,” according to a statement from Republic obtained by Variety. Walk was accused of sexual harassment by five female employees of…
New Taylor Swift ‘Delicate’ Video Is Live On Spotify
[UPDATE 2] Taylor Swift’s second video for her single "Delicate" premiered overnight exclusively on Spotify, as part of a larger partnership with the streamer. The single take self-shot vertical video has been added to "This Is Taylor Swift" and select official Spotify playlists. It’s quite a turnaround for the multi-platinum…
Instrumental Raises $4M For TalentAI, WMG Buys Sodatone As Data Driven A&R Takes Center Stage
UK based A&R data platform Instrumental has added $4 million in funding and Warner Music Group announced it has acquired A&R insights startup Sodatone, as data and machine learning become primary drivers of who gets a deal and how label resources are allocated. Instrumental’s new round was led by London…
When To Consider Signing With A Label
While many artists struggling to make it in the music industry may be under the impression that signing with a label is their holy grail, the reality is that signing is only beneficial some of the time, and that having the backing of a label can sometimes do more harm…
Warner Music Group Acquires A&R Insight Tool Sodatone
Warner Music Group has acquired A&R insight startup Sodatone. The company will continue to be run by its founders, Arjun Bali and Jerry Zhang reporting to Vinnie Freda, WMG’s Chief Data Officer. No details of the acquisition were released. The 2016 startup was originally hosted at the ‘Music Den’ incubator…
DMX Wants To Stream His Playlist In Court Today
Defense attorneys for DMX have requested permission to play the rapper’s songs at his sentencing hearing Wednesday on tax-evasion charges. Made public on Monday, the letter to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff says DMX may be too emotional to speak so playing a selection of songs might allow the court…
Gunna, Band Of Heathens Enter Pandora Trendsetters Chart
Two new artists entered the Pandora Trendsetters Chart this week. The Band of Heathens and Gunna both make their Trendsetters debut after spikes in artist station adds and social media engagement. American Idol Boosts The Band of Heathens! Despite its up-and-down past, American Idol proved it is still has influential…