While She Sleeps has taken an unexpected step to bring attention to paltry Spotify royalties. While She Sleeps, a British metalcore band, has released a t-shirt that’s meant to spread awareness of their lackluster Spotify royalties — and, more broadly,…
Category archives: music streaming
Apple Revamps Its Hi-Res ‘Mastered for iTunes’ for Streaming — Introducing ‘Apple Digital Masters’
Apple Music has launched ‘Apple Digital Masters,’ a revamp of ‘Mastered for iTunes’ content. Apple recently killed off its iTunes umbrella in favor of separating its digital offerings. But that doesn’t spell death to Apple’s hi-res audio download ambit…
Radio Payola Is Alive and Well In the US, Investigatory Report Finds
Payola scandals in the radio industry are nothing new. Indeed, the practice of illegally paying a DJ or radio station money in exchange for playing a song is likely as old as the industry itself. Two separate scandals in the 1960s and the 2000s rocked …
Amazon Music Unlimited Drops to 99-Cents a Month for Prime Students
And the introductory streaming price war continues. What’s the price of a lifetime subscriber? Welcome to the high-stakes game being played by Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Google, and every other streaming platform hoping to lure consumers into lengthy, lo…
AT&T Offers a Free Spotify Subscription With Its Highest Paid Plan
As Spotify’s subscription growth rate lags, the streaming giant is seeking out new avenues for adding premium users. That includes striking partnerships with hardware and service companies. Spotify’s latest partnership with AT&T goes live on Tuesda…
It’s Official: Tool’s Catalog Is Now Live on Streaming Music Services
Tool’s full catalog finally debuted on all major streaming services today. The Los Angeles band has held off from releasing their catalog digitally for years. The band confirmed the news on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this week. Maynard James Keenan jo…
Amazon’s Ad-Supported ‘Free’ Service Launches in the UK
Last April, Amazon quietly introduced an ad-supported music streaming service. Unrelated to Music Unlimited and Prime Music – which both require a subscription – the still-unnamed ‘freemium’ version allows users to listen to their favorite music on Ale…
SoundCloud Taps NLE Choppa to Kick off Its Mobile Editing Launch
SoundCloud introduced mobile profile editing in its iOS app today, with NLE Choppa unveiling the new feature. SoundCloud is now touting total mobile creativity, with iOS-based creators given the ability to update their profiles while on the go. Previo…
Mixcloud Says Ad-Supported Streaming Isn’t Paying the Bills, Introduces Paid Tiers
Mixcloud is changing the way users experience the service by introducing a new premium tier. These days, most labels and artists earn a majority of their recording revenues through streaming, which of course introduces some serious compensation problem…
Spotify’s Q2 2019 — The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Spotify has released its financial report for the second quarter of 2019 (Q2 2019). First, the good news. For the three months ended June 30th, 2019, the music streaming giant reported 232 million monthly active users (MAU), up 29% over the same period…