Universal Music Group revenue grew 10% last year driven by 35.4% growth in streaming revenue and new licencing deals that offset declines in download and physical goods sales. The news came as part of a positive financial report from parent corporation Vivendi. The highlights: Universal Music Group’s (UMG) revenues totaled…
Category archives: Major Labels
Radio Holds Key To Streaming Growth [Mark Mulligan]
Streaming use is growing and broadcast radio’s audience is shrinking. No surprise there. But what is of interest is the slow pace of the shift, which presents opportunities for streaming to reach a much broader audience and the time for radio to reinvent itself. _______________________________________________ By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA…
Twitter’s Music Industry Liaison Exits For Role At Republic Records
After 3 years as head of music talent at Twitter, Lance Turner has joined Universal Music Group’s Republic Records as SVP of marketing. The former Capital Music exec will be based out of the labels Los Angeles office. Republic is home to The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Florence + The Machine,…
Musical Tastes Solidify In Early Teens, says Study
The songs we listen to in our early teens form our musical taste as adults, according to a New York Times analysis of data from Spotify. The study also found that these influences were stronger for women than men; and were tied to the end of puberty for both. __________________________…
Lefsetz Hires Top Lawyers To Fight Charlie Walk Threats
Bob Lefsetz has hired top industry attorneys Howard E. King and Peter T. Paterno after a lawyer for Charlie Walk demanded the takedown posts by the popular music business commentator referring to the tarnished Republic Records executive’s alleged sexual misconduct and sudden departure from Fox TV’s "The Four." “We are…
YouTube Launches Official Artist Channels
For a long time official artist channels were found only on label-owned Vevo, but all that is about to change, much to the delight of Google-owned YouTube, which will now allows artists to upgrade their channels to "official" artist channels. _____________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Up…
Bowie Spotify Streams Jump 42% After Space X Launch
After Tuesday’s triumphant launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, David Bowie streams jumped 42% on Spotify globally. The launch of the rocket, which features a dummy sitting in a Tesla Roaster listening to David Bowie, prompted a surge in streams of the late singer’s space-themed repertoire:…
Pandora Data Journalist Emily Blake On Artist Development Trends [INTERVIEW]
Here data journalist and music curator Emily Blake of Next Big Sound shares her thoughts and insights on finding trends in music, as well as how artists can and should use data for leveraging success. _____________________________ Guest post from the Pandora Amp Playbook You would be hard-pressed to find an…
Arcade Fire Leads 2018 Juno Nominees [FULL LIST]
The Arcade Fire, Jessie Reyez and the late Gordon Downie were among the top nominees for the 2018 Juno Awards. Arcade Fire landed nods for album of the year and alternative album of the year for “Everything Now” and also picked up nominations for Single of the Year, Group of…
Charlie Walk’s Lawyer Tells Bob Lefsetz To Back Off
Respected music industry commentator Bob Lefestz suggested in a post that Charlie Walk "get bounced" as a judge on Fox’s The Four, after the accusations of a former staffer of sexual misconduct by the UMG Republic executive were published. Now, Walk’s lawyer is demanding a full retraction. ___________________________ Last week,…