SoundCloud Slashes 3 Month Subscription To Just $1

[UPDATED] Despite admitting to investors that it could run out of cash within months, SoundCloud has dropped the price of its premium $9.99 per month SoundCloud Go+ streaming music service to just $1 total for 3 months. You can take advantage of this limited time offer here. Related articles A…

Spotify Shares Most "Emoji-ed" Artists

Spotify has over two billion user-generated playlists of which over 35 million have at least one emoji in their titles. The top ten most emoji-ed artists: Drake (Fire emoji) Justin Bieber (Heart Face emoji) One Direction (ID emoji) Rihanna (Crown emoji) The Weeknd (Sweat droplets) Ariana Grande Beyonce Ed Sheeran…

Why Spotify Wants Blockchain & How All The Music Industry’s Blockchain Dreams Can Come True

[UPDATED] During the course of its recent acquisition spree, Spotify bought Blockchain company Mediachain Labs, hoping that the company would be able to solve some of its wayward copyright issues. But there is evidence that both Spotify and the music industry may not fully understand how blockchain tech actually works,…

FCC Boss Reveals Nefarious Plan To Replace Net Neutrality Rules With Fluff, Nonsense

Having already made his general contempt for net neutrality, it appears current FCC boss Ajit Pai plans to replace current regulations surrounding net neutrality with ‘voluntary commitments’ from major telecom companies like AT&T and Comcast, leaving any residual regulations the strained FTC. _________________________ Guest post by Karl Bode of Techdirt…

Music Publishing Update 4.28.17: Spotify Invests In Blockchain

Spotify has acquired Mediachain Labs, the core team behind the open source Mediachain protocol, to develop a decentralized network for sharing data critical to getting songwriters paid – in other words, a blockchain. "Blockchain" has been a bit of a buzzword in the music industry lately, specifically within the publishing…

Musical.ly Syncs With Apple Music

[Updated] IT’S OFFICIAL: Musical.ly has partnered with Apple Music. In a rare outside partnership, Apple Music will be one of the services delivering songs to the popular short music video creation app. _______________________________ Starting today, Apple Music will begin delivering song snippets to popular music video app Musical.ly. As of…

Apple Music To Relaunch With More Video, Original Programming [REPORT]

When Apple introduces the next version of its iOS later this year, it will reportedly include an new Apple Music app designed to emphasize video. Recent announcements of several Apple exclusive video series would seem to confirm the shift. _______________________________ Apple Music honcho Jimmy Iovine is making deals to bring…

How Kendrick Lamar Achieves Mainstream Appeal Using A Complex, Innovative Approach

In this piece we take an in depth look at how Kendrick Lamar is able to craft tracks which have achieved such prominent mainstream appeal, while still remaining deeply personal and specific to Lamar’s personal experiences. ___________________________ Guest post by Sam Friedman of Soundfly’s Flypaper One of Kendrick Lamar’s greatest…

Streaming Income For TuneCore Artists grew 85% Last Year

New stats from TuneCore, shared as part of its launch today of SocialPro, show another year of sustained growth, with artist revenue up 32% to $188 million in 2016. Like the rest of the industry, streaming drove the revneue increase. Streaming revenue for TuneCore artists was up 85% with top…

IFPI Numbers Show How The Music Industry Is Getting Healthy Again

A recent revue by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has given further support that the music business is bouncing back, show its first double-digit uptick in twenty years, something for which we have streaming to thank. __________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0 The annual IFPI…