Shazam Removes Ads As Apple Completes Acquisition

Apple announced that it has completed its acquisition of music recognition app Shazam which is used by hundreds of millions globally. Along with the acquisition, Apple will make the app ad free. Shazam has been downloaded over 1 billion times and users identify songs using the Shazam app over 20…

Understanding The Music Modernization Act: Highlights And Benefits For Artists, Songwriters

A massive piece of legislation, the Music Modernization Act has, at long last, finally passed through both the House and the Senate. Here entertainment industry lawyer Wallace Collins looks at what some of highlights and benefits will be for artists and songwriters as the the bill takes effect. ________________________________ By…

What Will Spotify Direct Distribution Pay Artists? Less Than The Labels Get

Spotify opened the floodgates last week with a commitment to allow all artists to upload music to the streamer with no fees or commissions. But a look inside the offering shows that artists are being paid a bit less than the streamer pays both major and larger independent labels ________________________…

What Free Spotify Uploads Means For Soundcloud, Artists: Bruce Houghton, Michael Brandvold, Jay Gilbert Weigh In

Bruce Houghton from Hypebot and Skyline Artists sits down with music marketers Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert of the Music Biz Weekly podcast to discuss news that artists will be able to upload their music directly to Spotify without any fees. What does this mean for artists? What about Soundcloud,…

UMG Partners With 7digital

UPDATE: The UK’s City AM reported that Universal Music Group has entered into an agreement with streaming and download tech provider 7digital to launch streaming, download and merchandise portals for its most popular artists. 7 Digital has now issued a clarification According to City AM 7digital will power direct to…

SiriusXM Acquires Pandora For $3.5B and Why It Matters

[UPDATED] SiriusXM will acquire Pandora in an all stock transaction valued at $3.5 billion. The combined companies create what they are calling "the world’s largest audio entertainment company" with $7 billion in expected 2018 revenue. SiriusXM has been interested in Pandora for more than a year. Last summer, the satellite…

Spotify Tests Personalization Of Editor Curated Playlists

Spotify is testing the addition of individually personalized tracks to existing editor curated playlists, multiple sources tell Hypebot. In one example, tracks which Spotfy’s believes would fit the taste of a particular user were added to an official Spotify hand curated workout playlist. The test is rolling out to select…

This is how we should be measuring global streaming subscribers

Glenn Peoples on the fast-growing music subscription base – and where it goes next
The post This is how we should be measuring global streaming subscribers appeared first on Music Business Worldwide.

Amazon Alexa Adds New Music Skills, TIDAL

Amazon unveiled a slew of new and improved Alexa voice controlled devices on Monday, and with them came new music related services, features and skills. Here’s a roundup of new Alexa music services and skills: New Music Service – TIDAL Later this year, global music streaming platform TIDAL will be…

How To Sign Up For Spotify’s Free Music Distribution

Spotify has announced a new feature that allows almost any artist to upload music onto the service for free and collect royalties without any fees or going through a distributor or label. The streamer said that its expanding its beta program to more artists and will continue to add artists…