All The Best Music Streaming News

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IDAGIO Launches in North America

​IDAGIO is now available in North America.

To support the launch and further internationalisation, the Berlin based streaming service successfully secured an internal funding round of EUR 10 million with existing investors. With its North American launch, IDAGIO enters the most important market for audio streaming, accounting for nearly 40 percent of total global recorded music revenue.

Weekly Playlist | New Adventures In Spotify Volume 51

a weekly blend of deep tracks, hidden gems, classic tunes and new releases

Issue 507: SiriusXM Gets Pandora in $3.5B Streaming Push; Deezer’s AI Mood Detection Could Lead to Smarter Song Playlists

SiriusXM to buy Pandora in $3.5 billion streaming push
Satellite radio firm Sirius XM Holdings Inc will buy music streamer Pandora Media Inc in a $3.5 billion all-stock deal, as it seeks to build scale to battle heavyweight streaming rivals Spotify and Apple Music.US

Deezer's AI mood detection could lead to smarter song playlists — www.engadget.com
Astute listeners know that you can’t gauge a song’s mood solely through the instrumentation or the lyrics, but that’s often what AI has been asked to do — and…

Apple Completes Purchase of Shazam, Will Remove Ads — www.billboard.com
Apple has completed its acquisition of audio-recognition mobile app Shazam following approval earlier this month by European regulators.

10 of the Most Influential College Radio Stations in the US — flypaper.soundfly.com
College radio is one of the most effective and fun ways to promote your music to new audiences. Here are ten great stations currently serving indie artists.

Why Apple Music Needs To Sync Play Counts Between Devices, Stat — thefederalist.com
Apple Music, you’ve ruined my perfectly curated playlists. Isn’t information in the cloud supposed to be identical no matter where you access it?

Music Modernization Act & EU Copyright Directive: How the Music Business Came Together to Score Two Policy Wins — www.billboard.com
Tuesday evening, the music business scored a political victory that some executives couldn’t chew on until after Yom Kippur ended: The Senate passed the Music Modernization Act.

From creating metadata to producing music — www.asianage.com
The other fascinating session at ‘All About Music’ was a masterclass on audio production.

UCLA music school admin to speak on Orwellian power of streaming industry — dailybruin.com

Music streaming services like Spotify are watching you.

Spotify Tests Personalization Of Editor Curated Playlists — www.hypebot.com

Spotify is testing the addition of individually personalized tracks to existing editor curated playlists.

Is Podcasting In A Slump? — jacobsmedia.com
Several large players, including Audible, Panoply, and BuzzFeed, have exiting the podcast-creating business. Is podcasting dead or just in a slump?

Spotify becomes second-largest tenant at 4 WTC — www.crainsnewyork.com

Spotify is again expanding its Lower Manhattan office, home of its U.S. headquarters.

Issue 506: Are Led Zeppelin Launching a Concert Streaming Service?; Spotify Tests Adding Personalized Song Picks to Curated Playlists

Are Led Zeppelin launching a concert streaming service? — themusicnetwork.com

Led Zeppelin are apparently planning to launch a concert streaming service through which to release hundreds of archived live tapes.

Spotify Is Testing Adding Personalized Song Picks to Curated Playlists — www.billboard.com
This week Spotify began testing adding personalized song selections to its editor-curated playlists.

Bandsintown Manager first to enable artists to publish their tour dates on Amazon Alexa — medium.com
Amazon now lets users ask Alexa about concert dates, and we are proud to announce that we are making the events posted by our community of more than 470,000 registered artists searchable on Amazon…

This is how we should be measuring global streaming subscribers — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Quarterly growth has been remarkably steady for the last two years. Growth. Not growth rate.

Spotify’s Tencent Risk — musicindustryblog.wordpress.com

On Thursday (September 20th) Spotify grabbed the headlines with its announcement that it is launching a free-to-use direct upload service for artists.

RIAA's Mid-Year Revenue Numbers: Five Things to Know — www.billboard.com
The RIAA mid-year revenue numbers, released Thursday, show impressive growth of 10 percent to $4.6 billion in retail value compared to the first half of 2017. That continues a trend of double-digit growth, driven by subscription streaming, that began in 2016.

Hollywood Seeking a Foothold in $314M Podcast Industry — www.billboard.com

A series of traditional media moves into podcasting signal that the niche audio medium is poised to get a lot louder.

Gary Calamar Leaving KCRW After 25 Years — variety.com
Veteran music supervisor and radio DJ Gary Calamar is leaving KCRW after 25 years. Sunday, Sept. 23, is his final show.

How Personalization Drives Spotify Ads: Bertozzi — www.beet.tv

Music is inherently personal. And, when Daniel Ek co-founded Spotify a decade ago, it didn’t take long for the company to embed that fact in the software. Soon, playlists became the order of the day.

MTN Uganda bets on music streaming as voice business slows — www.reuters.com

Telecom firm MTN Uganda is betting on a new music streaming product to boost revenue and counter declining voice call sales, its chief marketing officer said in an interview.

Issue 505: Spotify Allows Artists to Upload Their Music Directly; Farm Aid to Live Stream Saturday’s Show

Spotify to Allow Indie Artists to Upload Music Directly to Service, bypassing Distributors — www.billboard.com
Beginning today (Sept. 20), Spotify will begin allowing a select group of independent artists the ability to upload their music directly onto the streaming platform through their Spotify For Artists account.

RIAA mid-year figures reveal 10% growth in US recorded-music market — musically.com
US industry body the RIAA has published its mid-year figures for 2018, outlining the growth in recorded-music revenues in the first half of this year.

Apple Music now works with Android Auto — www.theverge.com

Apple has just released an update for Apple Music on Android, and the biggest new addition is that it now supports Android Auto.

Privacy is Still a Concern for Smart Speakers and Streaming Music — www.digitaltrends.com
Consumer research firm MusicWatch has been digging into the habits of 5,000 smart speaker owners to see how they’re using devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home and the research indicates that users still have concerns about privacy while streaming music.

Farm Aid to Live Stream Show With Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Chris Stapleton — www.billboard.com
If you can’t make it to the sold-out 33rd edition of Farm Aid at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday (Sept. 22), take heart: the show will be available on a free webcast on the event’s YouTube page this year.

Amazon Alexa Adds New Music Skills, TIDAL — www.hypebot.com

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.

Cheaper smart-speakers are selling strongly in the US — musically.com
The latest research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) on the US smart-speaker market is making headlines for its views on Apple’s HomePod – but we think it highlights a bigger trend.

Indian offline music service Carvaan gets a premium version — musically.com
‘Offline’ music? That’s the raison d’etre of something called Carvaan in India: a portable music player launched by Saregama that is preloaded with 5,000 ‘evergreen’ songs in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi versions

Spotify Faces Stiff Competition as Music Streaming's Battle to Conquer the Car Heats Up — www.billboard.com
Streaming has helped the music industry dig itself out of nearly 20 years of economic decline — and with Spotify on the New York Stock Exchange, previously skeptical investors are now cashing in.

NZ classical artists feature on new international music streaming platform — www.radionz.co.nz
A number of high profile New Zealand classical music groups are featuring on a new streaming platform that allows classical music lovers to access millions of works from anywhere in the world.

Pandora AMP Adds Eventbrite Listings — www.hypebot.com

Eventbrite events will now be integrated into the free Pandora AMP artist marketing platform, making it easier to use AMP’s Promote Show feature and for Pandora to promote the live shows.

Issue 504: How Artists Change Songs to Optimize for Streaming; Qantas Nixes Music; Tidal Expands to Brazil

How artists are changing their songs to optimize for streaming. — slate.com
Spotify and Apple Music were supposed to connect artists with their fans. Instead, they’re making the record labels more powerful.

Qantas have axed music from in-flight entertainment — www.theindustryobserver.com.au
Radio stations, playlists and CD library collections have all been removed from the airlines domestic and some international entertainment services.

Tidal expands into Brazil via Vivo partnership – with subs costing less than $4 a month — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Tidal has signed a partnership to help it crack the Brazilian music market after agreeing a deal with local telecommunications company Vivo.

Apple Music Is Now Searchable By Lyrics — www.rollingstone.com

Apple’s streaming service is now easier to use than Spotify in one key way.

China's Tencent Music halves US IPO to US$2 billion, report — www.scmp.com
Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China’s biggest music-streaming company, has halved the amount it is seeking to raise in a US listing to about US$2 billion, according to three people close to the deal….

Spotify loses its second top marketing executive in a week — www.fastcompany.com
VP of brand creative Jackie Jantos is leaving the music streamer less than a week after chief marketing officer Seth Farbman’s exit.

Why you should consider buying music on vinyl, CD and music files — www.cnet.com
Yes, it’s 2018 and YouTube, Spotify and Pandora are pretty great, but hear me out.

Spotify says non-US country streaming-share is up 21% since 2015 — musically.com
One of the themes Music Ally explored in our recent report on country music was how streaming is helping the genre and its emerging artists find new audiences abroad

SoundCloud data added to UK and Ireland's Official Charts — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Licensed and monetized streams happening on SoundCloud will now be counted in the UK and Ireland’s Official Albums and Singles Charts.

Super Hi-Fi, Associated Press Team to Bring AI-Generated Audio Newscasts to Streaming Music Subscribers — platformandstream.wordpress.com

Super Hi-Fi today announced a collaboration with The Associated Press to transform AP’s daily global news content into audio-based stories that can be seamlessly embedded into any digital music service partner.

Apple Music Gains Popularity Worldwide, Spotify & Amazon Hold Market Shares: Study — www.billboard.com

Apple Music’s global market share grew 2 percent in the first half of the year, reaching 19 percent of worldwide streamers, according to a study by MIDiA.

Super Hi-Fi, Associated Press Team to Bring AI-Generated Audio Newscasts to Streaming Music Subscribers

Super Hi-Fi today announced a collaboration with The Associated Press to transform AP’s daily global news content into audio-based stories that can be seamlessly embedded into any digital music service partner. Using Super Hi-Fi’s AI platform bundled with a customer content license from AP, thousands of daily news headlines from the AP will be available in real time to streaming music services with the full production quality of a DJ’d broadcast.

Issue 503: Music Modernization Act Passed; How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music

Music Modernization Act Passed: Industry, Politicians Welcome 'The Most Important Piece Of Legislation In a Generation' — www.billboard.com
“This is the most important piece of legislation in a generation,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on the Senate floor after the bill was approved. “It makes sure songwriters get paid and get paid fairly.”

How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music — pitchfork.com
An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos

Spotify CFO on Apple: ‘It’s not a software culture: it’s a hardware culture’ — musically.com
Spotify’s chief financial officer Barry McCarthy delivered a blunt rejoinder to a question about the threat posed by big-tech rivals like Apple, during his interview at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference on Friday.

Bulls hear the music, make big bets on Pandora — www.cnbc.com
“Halftime Report” trader Pete Najarian spots unusual options activity in Pandora, as investors bet the stock’s record run will continue.

Bikini Kill Discography on Streaming Services — www.rollingstone.com

Nineties riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill uploaded their entire catalog on streaming services on Tuesday morning.

Steven Wilson: Streaming Services Made Genres Less Important. I Think That's a Good Thing — www.ultimate-guitar.com
‘I think you find now the kids just listen to whatever they want to listen to,’ the musician says.

Americans Listen to 151 Minutes of Music Each Day — www.digitalmusicnews.com
According to a new study from Music Biz and AudienceNet, Americans on average spend over 2 hours and a half each day listening to music.

Let's Push Things Forward: What Does the EU's Copyright Verdict Mean for the Music Industry? — www.synchtank.com
The European Parliament’s decision to accept a raft of digital reforms could have widespread ramifications for the music industry. Ben Gilbert investigates a significant story for artists, labels and copyright holders.

How Teens Influence Music Industry Trends in 2018 — flypaper.soundfly.com
Even if teens aren’t your target audience, their listening habits are transforming the music industry and changing how music is consumed. Pay attention.

5 Ways to Help Your Music Get Discovered in the New Digital Age — flypaper.soundfly.com
The way fans discover new music has done a 180 backflip in mid-air with the rise of digital streaming. Here’s some advice for bands trying to break through.

Ozuna's Sony Partnership for 'Odisea' Leads to Record Streaming Numbers & Sold-Out Tour Dates — www.billboard.com
Ozuna doesn’t have an agent. He doesn’t have major sponsorships. He doesn’t have deals in place with AEG Live or Live Nation. And although his music is distributed and marketed by Sony Music U.S. Latin, he is signed to Dimelo Vi, the independent label owned by his manager, Vicente Saavedra.

Google Assistant adds streaming support for Bugs Music — 9to5google.com
In addition to features like bilingual support, one way Google Assistant is improving its global footprint is by supporting local services. Over the…

Weekly Playlist | New Adventures In Spotify Volume 50

a weekly blend of deep tracks, hidden gems, classic tunes and new releases

Issue 502: Pandora Debuts New Playlist; Apple Music Gains Global Market Share, but Spotify Still Far Ahead

Pandora takes on Spotify’s Release Radar with its newest playlist, The Drop — techcrunch.com

Pandora is taking on Spotify with the launch of a new personalized playlist, The Drop, announced this morning. Similar to Spotify’s Release Radar, The Drop will also focus on new releases from artists its listeners care about. New tracks are added to the playlist on the day they’re released, the company says – that means Fridays, as with Release Radar.

How Streaming Is Erasing The History Of Mixtape Rap Producers Like DJ Drama — www.vinylmeplease.com
There are precious few people who knew what it was like to be in the room during Lil Wayne’s legendary mid-’00s opus years, and fewer still who had the privilege of personally offering up the beats for his consumption.

Apple Music Gains Global Market Share, but Spotify Is Still Far Ahead — variety.com
In the first half of 2018, music subscribers grew by 16% and Apple Music gained two points of market share while Spotify maintained its formidable global lead, according to mid-year data published Thursday by analysts Midia Research. According to the report, global subscribers climbed to 229.

iHeartMedia Acquires HowStuffWorks Podcast Parent for $55 Million — variety.com
iHeartMedia reached a deal to acquire Stuff Media, which includes the HowStuffWorks podcasting business and a slate of 25 podcast shows, for $55 million.

What Will Happen If the Music Modernization Act Doesn't Pass Soon — www.billboard.com
After years of planning, more than a year of hardcore lobbying, and months of final compromises, the Music Modernization Act could go to a hotline vote in the Senate later today.

Spotify and Dentsu Aegis launch audio planning tool — www.warc.com

Spotify, the Swedish music-streaming service, has joined forces with Dentsu Aegis Network’s media investment arm, Amplifi, to launch a new audio planning tool that will be rolled out across Asia-Pacific.

Plex is killing off its Cloud streaming service this November — thenextweb.com
Plex is shuttering its Cloud offering – which lets you stream content stored in your Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive storage – at the end of November.

Donald Glover Fires Back at Glassnote in Childish Gambino Royalties Row — www.billboard.com
Donald Glover says the indie label he signed with early in his music career owes him streaming royalties and has been miscalculating costs in breach of their licensing agreement, according to a countersuit filed Friday.

Prince: 10 Essential Late-Period Prince Songs You Can Stream Now — www.rollingstone.com

From a Kate Bush collaboration to a praise song to a hippie and a lot of sticky funk, here are some classic moments from a slept on period of his incredible career.

Spotify set to launch in the Middle East and North Africa in November — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Spotify’s next major global move is coming soon.

Issue 501: The End of the iPhone as a Serious Music Player?; Spotify Ups Offline Download Limits to 10,000 Songs

Could Apple's Decision To Axe The SE Mark The End Of The iPhone As A Serious Music Player?
Apple’s decision to axe the iPhone SE means that Apple no longer supports the conventional headphone jack. Owners of high-quality headphones and earphones must now rely on Apple’s $10 adapter if they want to use their headphones with any new iPhones.

How European Union Copyright Reform Could Change The Music Business For The Worse
The European Union just passed a major copyright reform bill that has pleased many in the music industry, but it may result in unintended consequences.

Spotify Lifts Its 3,333-Song Download Cap — www.rollingstone.com

Streaming service expands number of songs that can be downloaded for offline listening.

Why So Many Hip-Hop Producers Are Putting Business Before Beats — pitchfork.com
Shady deals, lack of credit, and messy data are forcing producers to be more vigilant in dealings with artists and labels.

Will Robots Replace Radio Jobs? — jacobsmedia.com
Robots are disrupting the workers in many job categories, but radio jobs are (mostly) safe.

Indians can't get enough of Bollywood music on YouTube, JioMusic — qz.com
Sports and food come second and third respectively.

NumberEight raises funding for AI tech that could help music-streaming services — musically.com
Artificial-intelligence startup NumberEight has raised a funding round after completing three trials of its technology with music-streaming companies.

Yandex Music to Launch in Israel — www.calcalistech.com
Yandex is also targeting the Israeli market for a possible launch of its ride-sharing service

The state of music streaming in 2018 — routenote.com
2018 has been the biggest year for music streaming yet as people all around the world sign up for limitless listening.

Spotify CMO to depart amid marketing reorganization — adage.com
The company’s CMO, Seth Farbman, leaves as Spotify reshuffles its in house marketing teams

Changes To Apple Music As iOS 12 Rolls Out — www.hypebot.com

The rollout of Apple’s newest operating system iOS 12 began yesterday and with it comes some significant changes and improvements to Apple Music.

Issue 500: The 500th Issue!; Spotify vs. Record Labels; Deezer Offers Free Trial for U.S. Users; Australia’s Music Biz on the Up

Spotify Is In Trouble With Record Labels Again

The Swedish streaming giant is dipping its toes into new business strategies that stir the music industry’s ire.

Deezer to Offer Free Trial For U.S. Users — www.billboard.com
Deezer has announced a new experience for music lovers. For the first time, new users can download the Deezer mobile app and try all the benefits of a paid Premium subscriber for free.

Making Music Social: What Drives Streaming Revenues — medium.com
Following many years of declining revenues, the music industry has finally started growing exponentially, with consumption in the first half of 2018 reaching the highest peak we’ve seen for the past…

Pandora CEO Roger Lynch Discusses Forthcoming Label Negotiations — variety.com
Previous management “didn’t do the right deals, and there’s a chance to improve our rates.”

Amazon to release exclusive Jack White documentary and live EP — musically.com
Amazon’s latest music ‘original’ comes from a partnership with artist Jack White, based around his Washington DC concert from May this year.

Australia’s Music Industry Posts Solid Growth — www.billboard.com
Australia’s music industry is on the up, with labels trade body ARIA and authors’ rights society APRA both reporting strong gains.

Music Metadata Can Get You Discovered in Music Libraries — blog.discmakers.com
Increasing your chances of being returned in search results in music libraries comes down to descriptive music metadata for the songs you upload.

The majors sweating over Spotify’s licensing deals have forgotten about Tencent — www.theindustryobserver.com.au
Spotify needs content, and the labels love Spotify. But does Spotify need the labels?

Spotify And Nielsen Deal Could Mean More Money For Artists — music3point0.com
Spotify and Nielsen have teamed up to get better data for the platform’s advertisers, which ultimately could mean more money in artist’s pockets.

Eminem's 'Lucky You' Marks Rapper's First No. 1 Debut on Streaming Songs Chart — www.billboard.com
The rapper previously ruled the chart with “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, in 2014.

Play Hotel Music, AI Powered Music Streaming Service Tailored for Hotels, to Launch on Sep 16 at The Hotel Show Dubai 2018 — platformandstream.wordpress.com

Play Hotel Music, a tailored music streaming service for hotels, is planned to be launched at The Hotel Show Dubai 2018. Play Hotel Music is powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence), developed using data acquired over the years of providing instore music.

Major Publishers Will Receive a $1.5 Billion In the First Year After the Music Modernization Act Passes — www.digitalmusicnews.com
Major music publishers are expected to reap a massive windfall if the Music Modernization Act (MMA) passes into law, according to sources.