Legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash recently gave an interview in which he decried how royalty payments have gotten worse because of music streaming, echoing recent comments from cellist Zoe Keating. In the interview, which was transcribed by Alter…
Category archives: music streaming
Spotify’s Startup Story Is Becoming a Netflix Original Series
It is being reported that Netflix will air a yet unnamed dramatic limited series about how Spotify became one of the world’s premiere music services. Per-Olav Sørensen, who was one of the directors of Quicksand, will helm the project. He called t…
Africa’s Boomplay Reaches 62 Million Users Major Labels + Merlin Now on Board
Boomplay, which is Africa’s largest music streaming platform, reached an important milestone by surpassing 60 million users on the continent. The news that the platform currently has 62 million users comes one month after it signed a licensing de…
Spotify Officially Adds Paul Vogel as a Director Ahead of CFO Transition
Spotify, in a recent British regulatory filing, appointed Paul Vogel as a director, in anticipation of him replacing Barry McCarthy as the company’s CFO early next year. Since June of 2016, Vogel has been the company’s head of financial pla…
Zoe Keating Offers More Evidence That Spotify Royalties Are Declining
Artist Zoe Keating has announced on Twitter just how much she is earning through Spotify, which appears to indicate that streaming royalty rates from the company are declining sharply. Keating indicated that she earned $753 from Spotify in September of…
Spotify’s ‘Pay-for-Play’ Advertising Program Has a Price Tag: $0.55 Per Click
It is being reported that Spotify has set a pay-per-click (PPC) rate for its controversial new ad program. According to Rolling Stone, which obtained a pitch deck for the new ad tool, it will be called Marquee and will cost labels and artists $0.55 per…
TuneIn’s Legal Battle With Sony Music, Warner Music Heading Toward Appeal
TuneIn announced that it has gotten approval to appeal last month’s decision in a U.K. court that found that it infringed on the copyrights of Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music U.K. On November 1, U.K. High Court Judge Colin Birss ruled t…
Mechanical Licensing Collective Hands a Juicy Contract to HFA — Critics Call the Deal Crooked
The newly-minted — and funded — Mechanical Licensing Collective has just awarded a plum contract to the Harry Fox Agency, owned by private equity firm the Blackstone Group. Critics are quickly pointing to a ‘no-bid contract’ based on polit…
California Court Dismisses Apple Music Data Privacy Lawsuit
The U.S. District Court for Northern California has dismissed a lawsuit against Apple Music filed by users who claimed that the company sold and exposed user data to third parties. In May of this year, three Apple Music users — Leigh Wheaton, Jill Paul…
Independent Labels Take a Firm Stance Against UMG-Tencent Deal
Independent music company coalition IMPALA is taking a firm stance against the impending deal between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Tencent, believing that it will hurt both competition and consumers. Tencent is currently in the process of closing a …