Songwriters Can’t Sue Without Copyright Certificate says U.S. Supreme Court, RIAA Cries Foul

In a rare unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that applying for a copyright is not enough to so sue someone for copyright infringement. It currently can take months to receive the formal certificate of registration. In the case between Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation and Wall-Street.com, the…

Streaming Playlist Innovation: What’s Next?

How streaming playlists have changed music creation and consumption is the subject of serious debate. Here, MIDiA’s Keith Jopling takes his own deep dive into the subject, along with a call for playlist innovation and hat tips to apps like Soundsgood, Stationhead and Lost. ___________________________________ By MIDiA Research’s Keith Jopling…

Childish Gambino Settles Legal Dispute With Glassnote

Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino filed a lawsuit against his former label Glassnote Records last year, alleging the indie label owed him more than $10,000 in streaming royalties. Now, Glover and Glassnote have settled the dispute. Gambino was on the label between 2011 to 2017, including the Grammy-winning “Awaken, My…

SoundCloud Go+ Adds $4.99 Student Subscriptions

SoundCloud is following the lead of its competitors with $4.99/€4.99 per month Student subscriptions to its G0+ premium ad-free on demand streaming music service. SoundCloud Go+ for Students launches in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada today, and in Germany, France and the Netherlands next week. Students…

Spotify India Passes 1M Users In 1st Week: Stunning Stats About Streaming in World’s Most Populous Country

Spotify announced that it has passed 1 million users in India just a week after launching there. It’s an impressive number until you remember that the country has a population of 1.34 billion, and that assuming that Spotify is following the same pattern as other streamers in India, only about…

7digital, Juke End Partnership After $4.5M Settlement

UK-based 7digital has reached a settlement with Media Saturn’s Juke music streaming service to dissolve their partnership. Under the Agreement, 7digital will be released from all outstanding contracts with the Juke for an immediate payment by Juke of €4,000,000. Juke has aslo agreed to write off all interest payments and…

How Smart Speakers Increase The Artist and Fan Divide

"Alexa (Siri, Google) play __________." With tens of millions of song requests being processed daily, what fills that blank matters. "Play That Funky Music" will net you the Wild Cherry hit. Hear that song once and you know the title. But while "Counting Blue Cars" may have been a big…

Hypebot Crashes The Music Biz Weekly Podcast: Streaming, PledgeMusic, Smart Speakers, More

The big three record labels earning $19 million a day from streaming, the ongoing PledgeMusic tragedy, how smart speakers are changing songwriting and the future of podcasting were all part of a wide ranging discussion between Bruce Houghton of Hypebot and the Skyline Artists Agency and Music Biz Weekly co-hosts…

Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book’ Passes 1.5B Spotify Streams

Three years after the release of ‘Coloring Book,’ Chance the Rapper surpassed 1.5 billion streams on Spotify as of March 1st. ‘Coloring Book’ was released in May of 2016 and became the first streaming-only album to chart the Billboard 200 and win a Grammy, according to Chart Data. I just…

Why Spotify Cares About India And Why it May Not Deliver

Spotify launched in India this week, despite a court action and very public dispute between the streamer and Warner Music,. MIDiA analyst Mark Mulligan looks a why India matters so much to Spotify and why it may end up being disappointed. By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA and the Music Industry…