African Digital Service Boomplay Secures $20 Million in Funding

Boomplay continues its rapid growth in Africa. Boomplay has remained pretty successful over in Africa. Late last year, the major African streaming music and download services unveiled a multi-year licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG).  …

TikTok Joins 21 Labels & Publishers to Announce ‘TikTok Spotlight’ In Japan and South Korea

TikTok has just announced the launch of ‘TikTok Spotlight,’ a new program to promote indie artists. TikTok will offer selected artists a special channel to submit their music for consideration. Once accepted, the music will be available to TikTok users…

Price War Breaks Out In India as Apple Music Undercuts Spotify’s Bottom-Scraping Prices

Apple Music launched in India four years ago, but the company is just now starting to compete. Just this morning, Apple slashed its music subscription fees to better compete with fresh entrants Spotify and YouTube Music. Previous rates for Apple Music …

Streaming Now Makes Up 71.4% of the Australian Music Market

Streaming continues to push up global recorded music revenue.  Now, Australia has revealed just how much the medium has driven up local recorded music revenue. Over the past few years, multiple music markets around the world have exploded – revenue-wis…

SiriusXM Unveils Pandora Now, Its First Cross-Platform Experience

SiriusXM is going all-in on its Pandora acquisition. SiriusXM has been busy following its acquisition of Pandora Radio. Several weeks ago, the satellite radio company unveiled an original content team at Pandora. Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s Chief Cont…

Spotify & Netflix: Are They Really In the Same Boat? — Our Latest Podcast

Both are stand-alone, dominant streaming platforms in their respective arenas, with more than 100 million subscribers each.  But Spotify and Netflix are ultimately similar fish swimming in very different ponds. What?  You’re not subscribed to the Digit…

SoundCloud Rolls Out a Brand-New iOS Profile Experience

SoundCloud has released an all-new profile experience for iOS users today. The new profile layout focuses more on SoundCloud’s social features, with profiles getting a major overhaul. A user’s identity, track uploads, likes, and reposts are now front a…

Paid Streaming Subscriptions Now Account for 37% of Global Recorded Music Revenue

This year, expect paid streaming music revenue to account for over half of all global recorded music revenue. According to the RIAA, paid subscription streaming in the US remained the largest driver of revenue for the American music industry.  Last yea…

Breaking: Google/Alphabet Acquiring Spotify In $43.4 Billion Cash, Equity Deal

Google/Alphabet is announcing its acquisition of Spotify in a deal valued at $43.4 billion in cash and equity. The acquisition, first reported by the Wall Street Journal with additional details supplied by Bloomberg, gives Google/Alphabet a much strong…

Spotify Offers Struggling Songwriters Free 3-Month Subscriptions — ‘We Hear You’

After a contentious and ugly battle over royalty rates, Spotify has developed an unexpected plan to compensate songwriters. The streaming giant, now acquired by Google/Alphabet for $43.4 billion, is planning to mend its relationships with songwriters w…