Like Chicago before it, Georgia wants to cash in with a serious tax on streaming services and digital purchases. Several years ago, in an attempt to cash in on the growing consumption of streaming technology, the city of Chicago passed a controversial …
Category archives: music streaming
Spotify, Deezer Demand ‘Fairness In the Platform Economy’ from European Lawmakers
Spotify and Deezer continue to flex their digital music muscle in the EU political arena. A little over a year ago, major streaming music services teamed up in Europe. Spotify, Deezer, and SoundCloud, among other music streamers, launched a new digital…
SoundCloud Is Getting Blocked In India – But Why?
Apparently, SoundCloud provides services deemed unethical by Indian ISPs. A little over three months ago, the Indian government started cracking down on websites it deems ‘unethical.’ Users found the government had blocked almost a thousand pornographi…
Tidal Joins Spotify by Allowing Users to Mute Artists
After Spotify received a huge backlash to its ‘hateful conduct’ policy, the company switched gears. Now, Tidal’s doing the same. News broke last month that Spotify was testing a way to mute specific artists across playlists, chart lists, and even radi…
Apple Music Unleashes a ‘Memoji’ Grammy Campaign Featuring Ariana Grande, Khalid, and Florida Georgia Line
Looks like Ariana Grande’s showing up to the Grammys after all — as an Apple ‘memoji’. Apple promoted its animoji technology during last year’s Grammys with characters lip-syncing Childish Gambino and Migos. This year, the tech company is broadening it…
Spotify Will Now Suspend and Terminate Accounts Which Use Ad Blockers
Will Spotify’s heavy-handed approach against ad blockers increase its ad-supported revenue, or ultimately drive some users away? Thinking about using an ad blocker to stream music for free on Spotify? Well, think again. According to a new report, Spoti…
A Google Play Music Bug Is Cutting Off Connected Speakers
Some Google Play Music users are reporting a new bug that prevents them from casting new music to their connected speakers. Songs released in 2019 are available on Google Play Music, but the songs won’t play on any connected device when asked. The bug …
Our Latest Podcast: Fraud In the Music Industry — How Big of a Problem Is This?
It’s a scary question — with a potentially horrifying answer. What? You’re not subscribed to the Digital Music News Podcast? We’re available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and pretty much everywhere else. Or, simply listen to the embed b…
Apple Music Plasters Los Angeles With Gigantic Grammy ‘Animojis’
The Grammy Awards are happening this Sunday and Apple Music has spiced up Los Angeles with several giant billboards. Apple Music is going gigantic ahead of this weekend’s Grammys event. The new billboards feature several Grammy-nominated artists as ‘…
U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) Officially Submits a 44% Songwriter Streaming Royalty Increase — Publishers Say a Spotify Challenge Would be ‘Declaring War’
The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has officially published a significant streaming royalty rate increase for songwriters and publishers. Will it be challenged? Last year, songwriters and publishers scored a major increase in streaming royalty rat…