Soundcloud Names 2017 Top Tracks, Genres, Musicians and More

Despite a great deal of uncertainty surrounding its finances and future, 2017 was a big year musically for he platform and the artists that use it. To look back at the top achievements of the year, they’v broken down their achievements into 17 varied categories from hip-hop, pop, dance and…

How I Got Over A Quarter Million Plays On Soundcloud [Bas Grasmayer]

[UPDATED] In this article Bas Grasmayer recounts how sharing music online has changed and evolved over the years, looking at the rise and fall of his time as a net DJ, and the experiences and opportunities with which it provided him. _________________________ Guest post Bas Grasmayer of Music Tech Future…

Inside Music Analytics: Chris Stapleton Has More In Common With Etta James, Van Morrison, Otis Redding Than You Think

In this piece Glenn Peoples looks at the rise of Chris Stapleton’s cross genre success with is cover of "Tennessee Whiskey" and how the soulful country number has been able to capture the attention of audiences typically more focused on R&B/soul legends. ___________________________ Guest post by Glenn Peoples, Music Insights…

Merlin Elects New Board, Epitaph’s Dave Hansen To Chair

Global indie digital rights agency Merlin has announced results of its biennial board elections, including Dave Hansen, Epitaph’s SVP of Business Development, replacing Beggars Group founder Martin Mills as the new Chairman. This year saw the highest ever number of candidates standing for election, as well the highest ever percentage…

More Fans Are Creating Their Own Playlists, Just 29% Pay To Stream [Nielsen 360 Report]

While the prominence of playlists has already increased to become one of the dominant forms of music consumption, more listeners appear to be taking the reigns when it comes to curation, according to a recent study from Nielsen. _______________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Playlists are clearly…

Journalists ‘Hack’ Spotify With Fake Artist, 10,000 Paid-For Streams

Two journalists set out "hack" Spotify with a painfully bad track by a fictional artist boosted by plays purchased from a shady music "promotion" company. They not only succeeded, but found it surprisingly easy. ___________________________________________ A lack of musical talent should never keep you from recording a completely terrible song….

Streaming Grew Profits For Warner Music Group In 2017

Warner Music Group Corp. today announced its fourth-quarter, reporting growth in revenue, as well as, a net loss. “We’ve now had five consecutive years of global revenue growth in constant currency, and the last two were up double digits,” said Steve Cooper, WMG CEO. “Our momentum reflects the tremendous talent…

Spotify’s Most Streamed Artists, Songs Of 2017

Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) was the most streamed album of the year on Spotify worldwide in 2017 with 3.1 billion streams, and ‘Shape of You’ became the most streamed track of all time on Spotify, now with over 1.4 billion streams. In what was a landmark year for Latin music,…

Spotify’s ‘Today’s Top Hits" Has 12.3M Followers: Chartmetric Dives Into The Stats The Drive It

After well over a year of tracking the data coming out of Spotify’s ‘Today’s Top Hits’, Chartmetric has some revealing numbers concerning this incredibly popular playlist which, at 18.2 millions followers, has more than 7 million followers than its closest competitor. ____________________________ Guest post by Jason Joven and Sung Cho…

IDAGIO Raises $9.5M To Expand Classical Music Streaming Service

[UPDATED] Berlin based IDAGIO has raised a $9.5 million Series A round to expand its classical music focused streaming service. Investors Tengelmann Ventures led the round and previous investor b-to-v Partners expanded its position. "The new capital will help us further expand our technology leadership and increase our commitment to…