London Calling: What the US Can Learn From The UK About Defending Local Music And Arts Communities

The UK has earned a reputation as a musical powerhouse, churning out globally renowned groundbreaking artists, bands and DJs. But how? – with the backing of the government. At a time when the Trump administration is adamant on pulling public funding for local artists, community projects and public radio, McIntyre…

Spotify Ends Solid First Trading Day At $26.7B Valuation

Spotify stock ended its first day as a public company with a valuation of $26.7 billion. The stock closed at $149.95 as more than 3o million shares traded hands at between $148.26 to and $169. The closing price was 14% of the $132 reference price set by the New York…

Spotify [SPOT] Stock Trading At $161.24

Spotify stock was trading in the $161.24 per share range as of 1:30 PM ET on Tuesday, with bids reaching as high as $169 That’s well above the $132 reference price set by the New York Stock Exchange for the streamer’s opening day. If the price holds, it would value…

It’s D(PO)-Day For Spotify [SPOT] – Mark Mulligan

Today is the day that Spotify debuts on the New York Stock Exchange. Analysts expect a bumpy ride, but while top music industry analyst Mark Mulligan of MIDiA is interested in today, he’s also eying what happens next for the streamer and offers context for today’s media circus. By Mark…

Spotify [SPOT] $132 Reference Stock Price Set For Debut Today

UPDATED: The New York Stock Exchange has set a $132 reference price for today’s Spotify stock debut. More a guide then a rule, the actual opening price will be set just prior to today’s 9:30 AM bell, based on buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from brokers and…

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek On Todays’ Stock Offering: "We are only in the second inning."

UPDATE: As Spotify’s first public stock offering debuts, co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek is urging both excitement and caution. "Our focus isn’t on the initial splash," writes Ek in a blog post, "Instead, we will be working on trying to build, plan, and imagine for the long term." ______________________________________ Most…

What Analysts Are Saying About Spotify

[UPDATE 2, Spotify is madeits stock available to the public for the first time today in an unusual direct offering. While still an unprofitable company, Spotify has bested tech giants Apple, Amazon and Google to become the dominant player in music’s dominate format – streaming. But will that be enough…

Next Big Sound Adds Free Weekly Performance Insights

Pandora owned data music aggregator Next Big Sound has added Weekly Performance insights to its free analytics toolkit. It is designed to give artists context to their data including how they are performing compared to other artists with similar sized audiences on the same platforms. Next Big Sounds’ new Weekly…

Warner Music Group Acquires A&R Insight Tool Sodatone

Warner Music Group has acquired A&R insight startup Sodatone. The company will continue to be run by its founders, Arjun Bali and Jerry Zhang reporting to Vinnie Freda, WMG’s Chief Data Officer. No details of the acquisition were released. The 2016 startup was originally hosted at the ‘Music Den’ incubator…

Spotify 2018 Outlook: 200M Users, 96M Paid, $400M Loss

[UPDATED] Spotify shared its quarterly and yearly outlook in an SEC Monday. Highlights included a prediction of 198-208 million active users including 92-96 million paid, by the end of 2018. But along with 30%+ user growth comes lossed of $286 -$410 million USD. _______________________________ Spotify First Quarter 2018 Financial Outlook…