YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Add 13 More Countries to Reach 63 Total — But Adoption Remains Weak

YouTube Premium and its sidekick YouTube Music are now available in 13 additional countries, more than a year after launch. That brings the total countries supported to 63 for Premium, and 62 for YouTube Music.  The odd man out is South Korea, which ha…

LINE Music Officially Launches In Taiwan; LINE Messaging App To Follow

Line Music expanded into a third market this week, with the service now available in Taiwan. The Japan-based streaming music service launched in Japan and Thailand in 2015. Line Music was one of the first streaming services available on the Japanese ma…

Japan’s Recording Industry Is Putting Pressure on Apple to Crack Down on Unauthorized Music Apps

Several Japanese music industry organizations and streaming providers are taking a hardline stance against unauthorized apps. They’re now asking Apple to do something about it. The Recording Industry Association of Japan, the Japan Association of Music…

A Third-Party Apple Music Web Player Has More Than 200,000 Users

  Students at the University of Kent have created a web-based Apple Music player, filling a need Apple has so far ignored. Musish launched five months ago, and since then, the web-based player has attracted over 200,000 users. Musish is careful to note…

FIX Delivers a Much-Needed Music Rewards System — With 600,000 Early Takers

FIX, from Toronto-based Fan Integrated Experiences LTD, has crossed the half-a-million mark on a reinvented music rewards concept. The problem — which is where a lot of entrepreneurs and investors begin — is that fan experiences remain fragmented in 20…

Looks Like Spotify Is Launching In Russia at Just $2.36 a Month

Spotify appears to be poking into the Russian market this summer with a price that beats Apple Music. The music streaming service was supposed to launch in Russia in 2015, before abruptly canceling those plans. Now Spotify will likely launch later this…

TikTok Outranks Instagram In Global App Downloads This Year — But Where’s the Revenue?

TikTok is taking the world by storm and leaving Instagram in the dust. A report looking at Q2 2019 shows TikTok still sits heartily above Instagram — at least when it comes to installs. TikTok ranked number 4 ahead of Instagram in downloads for Q2 2019…

Tidal Rolls Out Detailed Credits to Highlight Producers, Songwriters, Sound Engineers, and Musicians

TIDAL has launched a new interactive credit page to highlight various non-performing roles. Songwriters, producers, sound engineers, and session musicians can now be credited for their work.  That’s another step beyond the typical ‘artist, song, album’…

Guggenheim Partners Is Extremely Bullish on Spotify’s Podcast Expansion, Citing App Install Increases

While Spotify struggles to become a profitable company, a number of Wall Street analysts see podcasts as a safe bet. Spotify’s most recent financial results emphasized just how much of a focus podcasts will have in the company’s future. Spotify plans t…

Fake Streams Are Costing Artists $300 Million a Year, Indie Label Estimates

Streaming platforms are growing exponentially, but is all of that growth organic? Indie labels are increasingly worried about the legitimacy of their streaming numbers. Indie Week was held this past week and featured some interesting panels from artist…