iHeartMedia Acquires Radio Tech Platform Jelli

iHeartMedia announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Jelli, the company behind the SoundPoint platform which enables programmatic buying and selling broadcast radio ad time. The acquisition, which is designed to help radio compete with the kind of targeted advertising that digital services offer, comes just…

Losses Grow At Live Music Streamer LiveXLive

Live music event streamer LiveXLive Media reported record revenue for their second fiscal quarter of 2019, but still missed Wall Street’s estimates. Revenue for the quarter came in at $7.97 million, up by 5% from the first quarter, when they cleared 7.62 million. However, the company missed the mark set…

Spotify Secret Genius Awards 2018 – Full Winners List

Spotify honored behind the scenes music makers at the Secret Genius Awards Friday evening in Los Angeles. Held at the Ace Theater, the award show was hosted by Ne-Yo. This year’s top honors went to Murda Beatz for Producer of the Year (Drake’s “Nice For What” and “Motorsport” by Migos…

Artists Gaining Fake Spotify Plays From Unexpected Source

Artists have been finding ways to game the system since the digital age began, often in the form of purchasing likes or subscriptions, but streaming isn’t immune either. Here we look at the tactics employed by some artists to dramatically boost their streaming numbers. ______________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski…

Millennials Are Changing The Music Industry: Here’s How

Millennials are thirsty for music and are constantly immersing themselves in at every opportunity, to the point where it is fundamentally altering the music industry, impacting both traditional retail sales of music and digital streaming. __________________ In this latest post from MusicThinkTank, Daniel Matthews explores the dramatic effect which millennials…

Ethical Streaming Royalties: More For Few Or Fewer For More

In an effort to improve the methods by which royalties are calculated, Chris Castle theorized something known as the "ethical pool". Here he takes a deeper dive, taking a look at a new study on the topic and how it compares more conventional royalty calculations. _____________________________ Guest post by Chris…

Spotify Alums Create Canopy App Offering Recommendations Without Stealing Your Data

Two Spotify alumni involved in the creation of Discovery Weekly, have raised a $4.5 million seed round from Matrix to release an app that offers music, film and other recommendations based on user preferences, but without sharing data with Spotify, Netflix, Facebook or anyone else. The Brooklyn based startup Canopy’s…

Pirate Studios Raises $20M For Self-Serve Music Studios

Pirate Studios has raised $20 million in new finding for its growing network of self-serve high tech music studios. Pirate operates 350 studios in 21 locations in London, New York and Berlin, with plans to grow internationally. The funding will be used to build more music studios in the US…

I Legally Purchased 16,000 SoundCloud Plays

Although typically skeptical of the idea of "buying" plays, Brian Hazard here reviews his experience with a fairly reputable marketing agency promising him 16k guaranteed plays of his material. __________________________ Guest post by Brian Hazard of Passive Promotion I would never buy fake plays, and I strongly suggest you don’t…