Moving Forward With Its Monetization and Distribution Program, SoundCloud Purchases Repost Network

SoundCloud has unveiled a new acquisition. The independent music streaming service has entered into a definitive agreement to completely acquire Repost Network, a rights management and distribution company. Speaking about the purchase, Michael Weissman…

Spotify’s Bitter War With Songwriters Claims Its First (But Not Its Last) Casualty — Adam Parness

Spotify’s decision to publicly oppose the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) 44% songwriter royalty increase has created a PR nightmare for the company. Top music industry executives, publishers, and songwriters have spared no words in slamming the music …

Following “Detected Suspicious Activity,” Spotify Resets the Passwords of an “Unspecified” Number of Accounts

Spotify has sent out a new e-mail to users. An “unspecified” number of users have received notifications the music streaming giant had reset their passwords. The e-mail told users the company made this change “due to detected suspicious activity.” Conf…

ByteDance’s Music Streaming Service Set to Launch as Soon as This Fall — Likely Without Licenses From the Big 3

Last month, amidst stalled negotiation talks with major labels over TikTok’s ‘Value Gap,’ parent company ByteDance quietly started work on a new music streaming app. According to sources, the Chinese conglomerate has over 100 people working on the app….

Spotify Confirms Public Test of Car Thing, Its First Official Hardware Product

Early last year, and prior to its non-IPO direct listing on Wall Street, Spotify posted three interesting job advertisements. Unveiling a shift away from its dependency on music streaming, the company sought an Operations Manager in Hardware Product al…

YouTube Music Now Available In 50 Countries — But Where Are the Subscribers?

YouTube Premium and YouTube Music are now available in seven new European countries.  But despite a 50-country spread, subscriber growth has flatlined. Google has spent the majority of 2019 bringing its paid music service to more countries.  India, Sou…

Spotify Unveils Soundtrap for Storytellers, a New Subscription Service for Podcasters

Doubling down on its strategy to gain more advertising revenue, Spotify unveiled three key acquisitions earlier this year. Shelling out over $340 million, the streaming music giant acquired both Gimlet Media and Anchor.  The company then spent an addit…

Tencent Music Posts a $175 Million in Profit With 28.4 Million Subscribers in Q1 2019

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) has released its financial report for the first quarter of 2019. In the three months ended March 31st, 2019, TME reported ¥5.74 billion ($855 million) in overall revenue.  This figure jumped 39.4% over the same period …

Taking a Page from Instagram and Snapchat, Spotify Introduces a New Test Feature — Storylines

Spotify has started testing its own version of Instagram and Snapchat’s immensely popular ‘Stories’ feature. Dubbed Storylines, the feature provides listeners with behind-the-scenes information from artists about their songs. Unlike the Genius-powered …

Snubbing Spotify, King Crimson Makes 13-Album Discography Available First on Apple Music

1960s English prog-rock group King Crimson is moving its entire catalog to online streaming music platforms — and making Spotify wait. The progressive band has made all 13 studio LPs – from 1969’s In the Court of the Crimson King to 2003’s The Power to…