Just days after Billboard pulled rapper Lil Nas X’s hit “Old Town Road” from the Hot Country Songs chart for failing to contain enough elements to qualify as country music, it’s back, with a little help from Billy Ray Cyrus. After Billboard announced it was pulling the track from its…
Category archives: streaming
Songwriters Urge Users To #CancelSpotify
#cancelspotify A growing group of songwriters are taking to social media to urge users to #cancelspotify in protest of the streamer’s decision to challenge a US Copyright Royalty Board decision to raise streaming payments to songwriters 44% over the next 5 years. Yesterday dozens of top songwriters called out Spotify…
SoundExchange Sues Music Choice For Royalty Underpayment
SoundExchange today filed a lawsuit against cable music platform Music Choice over underpaid royalties. The action comes after an audit of Music Choice’s royalty statements. SoundExchange Senior Vice President and General Counsel Colin Rushing issued the following statement about the lawsuit: "Music Choice’s actions reflect a persistent effort to avoid…
YouTube Music Had 3X Better 1st Week Than Spotify In India
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and global head of music Lyor Cohen are in India to celebrate the launch of YouTube Music there and announce that the app was downloaded 3 million times in its first week. That’s 3 times more than Spotify, who had 1 million signups during its first…
Soundcloud Adds Virtual DJ Integration
Soundcloud has added Virtual DJ so that Soundcloud Go+ subscribers can use the streamer’s 200 million track catalog in their live DJ sets. Soundcloud announced a similar partnership with Serato’s DJ Pro 2.1 or DJ Lite 1.1. Here is how the new integration works. Download and log in to Virtual…
‘You Have Used Us,’ Spotify Secret Genius Songwriters Tell CEO Daniel Ek [Full Letter]
Nile Rogers, Frank Dukes, Teddy Geiger and Babyface Edwards were among the dozens Spotify Genius Award nominated songwriters who signed an open letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek over the streamer’s decision to challenge a US Copyright Royalty Board ruling that guaranteed songwriters a 44% increase in streaming royalties. Google,…
Despite Streaming’s Growth, Music Industry Remains Half The Size It Was In 1999
While paid streaming subscriptions have, in many circles, been billed as the savior of the music industry, the reality is that the business is still operating at a severely reduced capacity since the devastation visited on it in the early days of digital. __________________________ Guest post by James Shotwell of…
Major Labels Want Millions, But TikTok Says No
The three major label want millions in payments for the use of music on two hugely popular short music video apps, TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin. Deals between UMG, Sony, WMG and the Chinese owner of the apps, ByteDance, expire this spring, But after months of talks, the two…
Spotify Adds Streaming Conversion Metrics To Ad Studio
Spotify has added streaming conversion metrics to Ad Studio.The useful new metrics allow artists and labels to track how each listener responded when they hear ad on the streamer. Spotify Ad Studio launched in 2017. The self-service ad platform can target fans and fans of similar artists with a $250…
Spotify’s New Personalized Playlists May Impact Where Your Music Appears
Appearing on one of Spotify’s playlists has, in many ways, become the Holy Grail of the music industry for up and coming artists, but doing so could soon get harder, thanks to the platform’s rollout of its ‘personalized playlists’. Here, we look at the impact and how artists can work…