Spotify Passes 232M Monthly Users, 108M Subscribers

Spotify has passed 232 million monthly active users, up 29% since this time last year, including 108 million paid subscribers, up 31% YoY. The new stats were one of many strong new numbers shared by the streamer in a Q2 earnings report on Wednesday.

Pandora user base fell by 6.5m in Q2 – but parent SiriusXM posts record $2bn in quarterly revenues

SiriusXM’s radio platform ended Q2 with 29.3 million self-pay subscribers
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L7 Pledges Legal Action Against PledgeMusic

In an open letter to fans, indie band L7 summarized their own experience and those of other musicians: "in a nutshell, the funds that many bands and their supporters raised through the crowdfunding platform were absconded by the company with zero accountability and unreturned legal appeals." Thanks to help from…

Miss Anything? REWIND: The New Music Industry’s Last Week In Review

In this tick back through a busy week in the music industry, we revisit the shuttering of PledgeMusic’s website, Live Nation’s acquisition of Latin concert giant OCESA, the latest milestone by ‘Old Town Road,’ and more. PledgeMusic Takes Website Offline 6 Tales From ‘Spotify Unknown’ Of Near Misses, Aborted Acquisitions…

Drake Strikes Creative Partnership with SiriusXM, Pandora

Satellite broadcaster SiriusXM announced that it has signed a wide-ranging creative partnership with Canadian rap legend Drake. The partnership includes a branded SiriusXM station that will feature a playlist of curated music from Drake, as well as special collaborations with other artists. Product rollouts are expected to begin later this…

Come Together: Why The Music Industry Must Break Down Data Silos

In this article, Jeppe Faurfelt breaks down the different data silos which industry artists should be keeping track of, why the distinction between them is so important, and why everyone on an artist’s team should have access to all of them. _____________________________ Guest post by Jeppe Faurfelt, Co-Founder & CCO…

Pandora Adds Conversational Voice Mode For All Users ‘that sweeps the floor with anything else out there’

This morning, Pandora rolled out Voice Mode for all users. The advanced, conversational voice interface combines voice-recognition and Natural Language Processing with Pandora’s Music Genome Project personalization technology so that users can talk conversationally with Pandora as specific or vague as they want. Pandora is calling Voice Mode "the most…

Secrets For Digitally Advertising Around Your Next Tour

We have reached a point where artists can run digital advertising simultaneously across Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube with relative ease, but with your budget likely already tight, making every dollar spent on digital advertising go as far as possible is paramount. Here we look at some secrets for getting…

Can Major Labels Survive The Indie Music Revolution?

At the heart of the music business almost since its inception, major labels have successfully weathered multiple challenges to their industry dominance. But as music once again reinvents itself, can the major labels continue cling to power? ____________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Major record labels have…

Who Are Winners And Losers In The New Music Industry?

Regardless of who’s getting the money, it is undeniable that streaming has made the music industry lucrative again. Now, as the business works to reinvent itself, are historically downtrodden artists finally coming out on top, or are record labels and management siphoning off all of the profits? _______________________________ Guest post…