CD Baby, SACM Partner To Empower Independent Mexican Artists and Composers

CD Baby has partnered with SACM, Mexico’s only Performance Rights Organization. As part of the alliance, SACM has named CD Baby as their “preferred” distributor, and CD Baby will offer free submissions for SACM members to all digital music services. photo (l-r): Arturo Peěrez Courtade (SACM), Heli Del Moral (CD…

Making Free Pay: The New Data Battle Ground [Mark Mulligan]

From Spotify to Xbox Live and the New York Times, 2018 is the year that paid subscriptions took hold. But the nasty truth is that most consumers still won’t pay, as evidence by the100M who prefer Spotify’s free tier. "This means ad-supported strategies are going to play a growing role…

Music Groups Use New Australian Copyright Law To Skewer Stream Ripping Sites

After Australia recently amended its copyright laws to feature some subtle but important language changes, there was immediately concern that this alterations would be a target for abuse. The new provisions are now being used by music groups to shut down stream ripping sites which, though it may seem good…

How To Cultivate More Spotify Follows

Any artist today is aware of the value of building followers on Spotify, as growing this base increases your chances of landing on a high-profile playlist. Here we look at some creative ways for artists to flip fans into followers. __________________________ Guest post by Tarryn Meyers from the Symphonic Blog…

Tencent Music (TME) Upgraded As Analyst Praises Streamer’s Unique, Profitable Revenue Model

Just weeks after Tencent Music’s belated IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, JPMorgan has given a strong endorsement to the Chinese Music streamer, moving it from hold to buy with a $16.00 target price. Tencent Music closed Friday trading at $14.35, up 10.6% on the news. JPMorgan analyst Alex…

German Music Streaming Up 40% In 2018

Germany streaming music grew by over 40% in 2018 to an all-time record high of 79.5 billion, according to German music industry association Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).While CD sales saw a 23% decline in the last year – a first for the format in the German music market – there was…

Spotify To Sell $100 In-Auto Voice Controlled Player, May Launch In India 1/31

Spotify is planning its first push into hardware with a long rumored voice controlled in-auto music player. It’s not clear who will buy the $100 device, since the streamer is already accessible via voice control using Alexa, Google Play and its own in-house Spotify Voice. Apple’s Siri voice control does…

Spotify Rolls Out #MuteRKelly Inspired Artist Blocking

Spotify is rolling out a feature that allows users to block an artist, including their automatically curated playlists like Discover Weekly and Daily Mix. The move comes as calls increase to #MuteRKelly and ban artists accused of sexual misconduct and hate speech. The new option removes blocked music from the…

Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings Shatters Spotify 24 Hour Record With 15 Million Streams of ‘7 Rings’

Ariana Grande has shattered Spotify’s record for the most plays within 24 hours. Grande’s single "7 Rings" clocked 14,966,544 streams in its first 24 hours after being released on Friday 18th. That’s 4 million more than the former record holder. The previous 24 hour record holder, holiday classic "All I…

Songs Are Getting Shorter and Streaming Is To Blame

Songs are getting shorter. The average length of a song on the Billboard Hot 100 fell from 3 minutes and 50 seconds to about 3 minutes and 30 seconds between 2013 and 2018. 6% percent of Hot 100 songs were 2 minutes 30 seconds or shorter in 2018, up from…