WED. BRIEF: MelodyVR Accelerates • Deezer + Fnac • DeadMau vs Meowingtons • Ticketmaster Takes On Bots • More

Wednesday 3.15.17 Music Business News From Around The Web Is music virtual-reality startup MelodyVR the latest MusicNet or the new Spotify. Or for all you newbies, is it too early or well timed? Updated continuously under our More News tab

Now Amazon Wants To Commoditize Music Festivals

After successfully altering many aspects of consumer spending, Amazon is now looking extend its reach to the commoditization of music festivals. We’re not quite sure what that means yet, but they do claim they will never, ever get into secondary ticketing. _____________________________ Guest post by Chris Castle of Music Technology…

Pandora Not For Sale, Will Be Profitable This Year, Says Pandora CEO As Stock Falls [VIDEO]

Pandora founder and CEO Tom Westergren made some bold claims during a CNBC appearance Monday. Wall Street was unimpressed, pushing the stock -6.3% to $11.60 by midday Tuesday. __________________________________________ "We intend to be profitable this year," Pandora CEO Tim Westergren declared on CNBC’s "Squawk Alley" Monday. The bold claim came…

Piracy Is What Made Me, Says Ed Sheeran

While piracy is often demonized as an aspect of the industry which ruins careers before they’ve even really begun, the reality is that the illicit dissemination of music can in many ways help to grow an artist’s presencein the industry, as was the case with Ed Sheeran. ______________________ Guest post…

Songkick Announces Shazam Integration, New Stats

Songkick is now integrated within the hugely popular Shazam app. Songkick’s database of million concerts and events is being rolled out today to Shazam users worldwide. ____________________________ Teased late last year, the new Songkick integration allows Shazam users to access concert dates as part of the app’s recently launched “Discover”…

SoundCloud Responds To Cash Crunch, Fire-Sale Report

Reports of a SoundCloud cash crunch and sell-off at 40% below investor valuation surfaced yesterday, even as the music streamer expanded its Premier Platform. Now SoundCloud is pushing back, saying that news of its pending demise are greatly exaggerated. __________________________________ In a statement released later yesterday SoundCloud disputed reports that…

AM BRIEF: Sheeran, Chance Reveal Chart Flaws • Sony vs McCartney • New Spotify Podcast, Ad Partners • More

Tuesday 3.14.17 Music Business News From Around The Web How could music chart keepers have been so unprepared for streaming? Updated under our More News tab

39 Essential Music Tech Events At SXSW

As many Hypebot readers head off to SXSW, we wanted to again share a list the 39 essential music tech related meetups and sessions prepared by our friends at MusicTectonics and msuch and tech pr firm rock paper scissors. Yes, 39 is a lot to call essential, but this is…

DJs, Producers Can Now Join SoundCloud Premier And Get Paid

We’ve been skeptical of the speed at which SoundCloud has on-ramped artists to its Premier program that allows creators to share in revenue generated ON SoundCloud. Today, the financially challenged music service added DJs and Producers those who can join, though the criteria for acceptance still remains a mystery. ___________________________…

SoundCloud Cash Crunch Continues, 40% Of Valuation Fire-Sale Seen Likely [NEW REPORT]

New reports confirm what we’ve been reporting for several months: SoundCloud needs a lot of cash or it needs a buyer; and it needs one of them fast. So far, attempts at monetization have not been able to turn around the money losing music service. ________________________________ Since last summer, SoundCloud…