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Issue 540: Can Podcasts Rescue Spotify?; Steve Stoute’s Music Startup Gets a Boost; Tidal App Now on Samsung Wearables

Can Podcasts Rescue Spotify?

Why is the streaming giant getting into podcasting, and what does it mean for the record business?

What Today's Fast-Rising Streaming Stars Are Missing: Practice on Stage — www.billboard.com
As artists blow up quicker than ever in the streaming era, labels are encountering an issue when it’s time to send their stars out on tour: some have never been on stage before.

Steve Stoute’s Music Startup Gets a Boost From the NBA — www.rollingstone.com

The Interscope/Sony music exec wants his company to be “the next iteration of what a record label should be”

How to stop illegal music downloads? Threaten people with surveillance — qz.com
More than a third of music consumer get their music through illegal means.

The Tidal app is now available on Samsung Wearable devices — www.theverge.com
Music streaming service Tidal has announced that it is launching its app on Samsung Wearable devices, which include the latest Galaxy Watch, Gear Sport, Gear S3, Gear S2, and fitness bands including Gear Fit2 Pro and Gear Fit2.

NetEase Streaming Service Raises Over $600 Million — www.caixinglobal.com

Watch out, Spotify.

Smart speakers drive streaming subs — www.brand-e.biz
Purchasing a smart speaker is the impetus for getting a streaming sub

Amazon Music partner with Music Week Women In Music Awards 2018 — www.musicweek.com
Amazon Music has partnered with the Music Week Women In Music Awards, with the digital company backing the Music Champion category at this year’s event.

90% of Nordic population stream music, but free services dominate — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Around 90% of the population in the Nordics stream music, but only 43% are premium subscribers.

iHeartMedia Revenue Ticks Slightly Upward in Q3, Down Overall This Year — www.billboard.com
iHeartMedia’s third quarter revenue was up $13.9 million over the same period in 2017 to $873.4 million, an increase of 1.6 percent, according to a filing this week with the SEC.

Spotify and Warner Bros. Created a Spot With 3D Sound to Promote A Star Is Born — www.adweek.com

New ad format hopes to break through the clutter.

This Is What Happens At A Cryptocurrency Music Festival — www.forbes.com
Party on the blockchain? Here’s how the kids get down.

Issue 539: Spotify Releases Analytics Tool for Music Publishers; Red Bull Radio Strikes Deal With Sonos

Spotify Releases Analytics Tool for Music Publishers — www.billboard.com
Following the success of its Spotify for Artists platform, Spotify has released a similar tool set for music publishers.

Red Bull Radio Strikes Deal With Sonos — variety.com
Red Bull Radio announced today that it has struck a deal to stream worldwide via the smart speaker brand, Sonos. The integration allows Sonos users to stream Red Bull Radio’s live on-air broadcast as well as its curated channels .

LANDR Artists Pass 2 Million As Platform Evolves — www.hypebot.com
LANDR announced that more than 2 million musicians have used its music creation platform. The 2 million milestone comes alongside the launch of an updated creative platform designed to build community and offer a toolkit of services. ince launching in 2014, LANDR has been used by artists from 190 countries…

YouTube Reports $1.8B Paid to Music Industry in Past Year — www.billboard.com
YouTube paid out over $1.8 billion in ad revenue to the music industry over the past year from October 2017 to September 2018, the video platform claims.

Spotify Connect opens to free users via a new SDK for hardware makers — venturebeat.com
Spotify Connect will soon be available to free users, now that Spotify has launched an SDK for hardware makers.

Nigeria: Mr. Eazi Generates $1 Million Through Music Streaming — allafrica.com
UK-based Nigerian musician, Mr. Eazi said he has generated over one million dollars in music streaming alone. He shared his joy via his twitter handle Monday.

Amazon Launches Alexa & Amazon Music in Mexico — www.billboard.com
Amazon announced Wednesday it has launched Amazon Music for Mexico. Both tiers of the company’s streaming service — Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music — are now available to customers.

Transsion’s Boomplay inks Universal Music deal in Africa — qz.com
Transsion Holdings’ strategy of pre-installing Boomplay on its phones has helped the streaming service build a base of 31 million users.

DStv subscribers can stream JOOX music at no additional cost — memeburn.com
DStv revealed the offer is open for up to four family members of Premium, Compact and Compact Plus customers at no extra cost.

Where can you stream Kenyan Music online — www.dignited.com
Kenyan music is a little hard to come by online. Luckily, these platforms make it a little bit easier to stream local music online. Waabeh, Mdundo, and Songa are just some of the viable sources online.

Issue 538: As Amazon Turns Up the Volume on Streaming, Spotify Should Shudder; Apple Music Taps CD Baby, The Orchard, Kontor for ‘Preferred Distribution Program’

Why Amazon and Other Tech Companies May Be Poised to Upend Spotify — www.digitaltrends.com
Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and others are all looking to capitalize on the popularity of streaming music. But, as Spotify’s quarterly revenue has shown, it’s nearly impossible to make a profit under the current structure. Could major tech companies like Amazon be primed for a streaming take-over?

Apple Music Taps CD Baby, The Orchard and Kontor For 'Apple Preferred Distribution Program' — www.billboard.com

This summer, Apple Music passed Spotify in U.S. subscribers, but it appears the former is taking a page out of the latter’s playbook with the launch of a new distribution initiative.

Spotify's connected device streaming is now open to free users — www.engadget.com
Spotify is giving non-paying users access to Connect audio streaming for supported speakers and devices — a feature previously limited to Premium members. You’…

Amazon Music Reveals Alexa-Powered New Release Notifications — www.digitalmusicnews.com
In another voice-enabled differentiation, Amazon Music has quietly released a feature that allows users to follow their favorite artists using Alexa.

Insta-Albums and Why It (Sort Of) Pays To Be Social — www.hypebot.com

The concept behind free samples has long proven itself to be successful in the world of retail, and now the marketing strategy has been adapted by artists for use on Instagram, making music more social and boosting sales.

Ask Trey Anastasio Of Phish Anything On SiriusXM Again — www.jambase.com
SiriusXM has put out a call for a second round of questions to ask Phish frontman Trey Anastasio for a future installment of “Ask Trey.”

And the biggest music-streaming service in the Nordics is… — musically.com
If you just completed that sentence with ‘Spotify’, sorry, that’s not the answer, according to a new survey from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

Daniel Ek: Spotify key to identifying "real fans" — www.iq-mag.net
The leading streaming platform is uniquely placed to enable artists to upsell their products to super-fans, Daniel Ek told Spotify investors.

Face the music: Explicit anti-piracy warnings are best deterrent — phys.org
STOP! This is illegal. You may be monitored and fined.

Vince Staples’s FM! is a counterpoint to bloated streaming era rap albums — www.thefader.com
Rap albums have gotten bloated in the streaming era, but Vince Staples FM! project is a remarkable work of precision.

MelodyVR CEO On Building a Global Music Business Out Of Virtual Reality — www.billboard.com
The London-based business is now the owner of the world’s largest library of virtual reality music content, has licence agreements in place with all three majors and a number of independents (Big Machine, Roc Nation) and has worked with over 650 international artists.

Issue 537: Spotify’s Q3 Confirm What We Already Know; Apple Wants Black Radio Listeners in Potential iHeartMedia Deal

Spotify's Q3 Results Confirm What We Already Know About The Streaming Service's Future
Spotify posted its Q3 2018 earnings results. Here’s what it can tell us about the music streaming service’s future and how it’s performing compared to its nearest rival Apple Music.

Apple Wants Black Radio Listeners in Potential iHeartMedia Deal
Apple could be attempting to build closer ties with black radio listeners by taking a stake in iHeartMedia, a network that’s extremely valuable to the music industry. They spend more time listening to the radio than any other ethnic group averaging more than 13 hours a week.

Boomplay and Universal Music Group Strike Distribution Deal in Africa — variety.com
Boomplay, Africa’s leading music streaming and download service, has struck a licensing agreement with Universal Music Group.

Spotify Sets Stock Buyback of up to $1 Billion — variety.com
Aiming to boost its flagging stock price, Spotify announced a plan Monday to repurchase up to $1 billion worth of shares.

Pandora Now Makes Close to 30% of Its Revenue With Paid Subscriptions — variety.com
The company’s latest earnings report shows that paid subscriptions are its strongest area of growth.

How the MMA Could Redistribute Music's Wealth From Labels to Publishers — and Impact Companies That Own Both — www.billboard.com
If the newly passed Music Modernization Act (MMA) delivers more streaming revenue to music publishers and songwriters, who will see their slice of the pie shrink?

AI-music startup Popgun evolves: 'We're gonna make hit pop songs…' — musically.com
In June 2017, Music Ally interviewed Stephen Phillips of startup Popgun about his company’s development of an artificial intelligence (AI) called ‘Alice’.

Spotify is giving away a free Google Home Mini with its family plan — qz.com
It’s a strategic partnership between Spotify and Google.

Pandora Adds Christine Colbert To Indie Relations Team — www.hypebot.com

Pandora has named Christine Colbert as Senior Manager, Industry Relations – Indie. She joins the streamer from Warp Records, where she was North American Project and Communications Manager, working with such artists as Brian Eno, Aphex Twin and Grizzly Bear.

Issue 536: The Spectacular Existential Crisis of Pandora; Are Personal Portable Player’s Days Numbered?

The Spectacular Existential Crisis of Pandora — www.rollingstone.com

How did Pandora go from music’s shining star to the cusp of bankruptcy — and then climb its way back up again?

Are Personal Portable Player's Days Numbered? — audiophilereview.com

Steven Stone muses about whether portable players will still be around in five years…

Spotify Made a Texas Voting Playlist — www.texasmonthly.com
The Sweden-based music streaming service wants to rev up Texans to do their civic duty with songs popular in the state.

Times Music COO is hopeful about future growth of streaming subscriptions — musically.com
Music Ally’s latest market profile focuses on India, including the question of whether the country can build a viable premium-subscriptions market for music-streaming, rather than just the ad-supported free model which currently dominates.

Why Are There So Many "Podcast Nevers?" — jacobsmedia.com
Despite the fact podcasting is going mainstream, there are still many consumers in commercial, public, and Christian radio who never tune in podcasts.

Spotify For Artists Has Plan To Charge For Some Services, says CEO Daniel Ek — www.hypebot.com
Spotify will charge for some Spotify For Artists products and services, CEO Daniel Ek stated during last week’s earnings call. While “unlikely” that the it will charge for data, this mark’s the first time that the streamer has said it will monetize any of the services that it has touted…

What the Sirius-Pandora Merger Will Mean — www.wsj.com
Jim Meyer, CEO of SiriusXM, on how the company will leverage having two different kinds of revenue streams.

Austin Public Library to stream select Austin music for free in 2019 — www.kxan.com
All of Austin will soon have more access to 50 local music artists thanks to a new project by the Austin Public Library. 

NEXTUNE Brings SESAC Music to Its Streaming Business Music App — platformandstream.wordpress.com

NEXTUNE Music now features SESAC music in its licensed music service for businesses. NEXTUNE Music, available in the Apple App Store since July, featured ASCAP-, BMI- and GMR-licensed music for restaurants, retail shops and many other public background music systems.

Lessons from Spotify's personalisation strategy — www.warc.com
Spotify’s popular Discovery Weekly feature exemplifies the personalisation that is the “beating heart” of the music streaming site’s growth strategy and is something other brand marketers can learn from, according to a leading executive.

NEXTUNE Brings SESAC Music to Its Streaming Business Music App

NEXTUNE Music, based in Bellevue, Washington, now features SESAC music in its licensed music service for businesses. NEXTUNE Music, available in the Apple App Store since July, featured ASCAP-, BMI- and GMR-licensed music for restaurants, retail shops and many other public background music systems.

Beginning in October, NEXTUNE’s music service will include music from SESAC’s more than 30,000 songwriters such as Adele, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and other popular artists. NEXTUNE’s iOS App offers business owners the best way to get the music they want without having to obtain separate public performance licenses from ASCAP, BMI, GMR, SOCAN and SESAC.

Weekly Playlist | New Adventures In Spotify Volume 55

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

Issue 536: China’s Massive Music Streaming Industry; JioMusic May Get Rebranded as JioSaavn

A look at China’s massive music streaming industry and how it differs from Spotify

China has 15 different audio streaming services with at least one million daily active users, including radio and karaoke services. For on-demand album streaming similar to Spotify, there are nine different services backed by large Chinese technology and telecom companies.

Coming to Waze: Streaming music choices — www.dallasnews.com
I think the smartphone app I use the most is Waze, the very handy crowd-sourced traffic and navigation app from Google.Enter your destination into…

JioMusic may soon get rebranded as JioSaavn with Jio users getting free 90-day subscriptio — telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com
With JioMusic and music streaming app Saavn merging, some Jio users have now started receiving 90 days of ‘Saavn Pro’ subscription when they regis..

SoundHound brings music recognition to Houndify platform — venturebeat.com
SoundHound today announced that it’ll provide developers using its Houndify platform access to its music recognition technology.

Sub Pop Relaunches Vinyl Singles Club After 10 Years — www.billboard.com
Sub Pop is relaunching its Singles Club for the fourth time following a 10-year hiatus, the seminal indie label announced on Thursday (Nov. 1).

'Baby Shark' Attacks the Streaming Songs Chart With 13 Million Streams — www.billboard.com
The viral track earned 13.1 million U.S. streams in the latest tracking week.

Creative Ways to Promote Your Spotify Tracks — blog.symphonicdistribution.com
Spotify is becoming increasingly popular among streaming users. We’ve discovered a few tips from IFTTT’s applets to help you promote your music on Spotify.

Deezer partners with RTL and Talpa for ‘The voice of Holland' — siliconcanals.nl
Deezer has announced to become the official music streaming partner of the ninth season of ‘The voice of Holland’ in the Netherlands.

Spotify Stock Down in Pre-Market Trading After 4Q Forecast — www.bloomberg.com
Spotify Technology SA is planning to boost spending in an effort to drive the next phase of growth, but Wall Street isn’t singing along to the tune.

YouTube's Lyor Cohen Warns Article 13 Will Have 'Severe Unintended Consequences' For Music Biz — www.billboard.com
As YouTube’s global head of music, Lyor Cohen has a deeper interest than most in how controversial changes to copyright law will impact on user generated content (UGC) services.

Juno Awards Sticking With Nielsen Music as Exclusive Data Source — www.billboard.com
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the industry organization behind the Juno Awards, will be using Nielsen Music for another two years as its exclusive data provider. The 48th annual Juno Awards are March 17, at London, Ontario’s Budweiser Gardens.

Issue 535: Spotify Partners with Google Home; Apple May Invest in iHeartMedia; Deezer Launches Direct Carrier Billing with Fortumo

Spotify Partners With Google Home to Give Away Smart Speakers With Premium Family Plans — www.billboard.com
Spotify is partnering with Google Home to give its U.S. subscribers with Premium for Family plans free Google Home Mini devices, the streaming service announced on Tuesday (Oct. 31).

Apple may invest in iHeartMedia to boost streaming service — mashable.com
The technology company is reportedly considering an investment in the radio company iHeartMedia, owner of iHeartRadio, for Apple Music.

Live Webcast: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis kicks off three-part salute to Miles Davis — wyntonmarsalis.org
Jazz at Lincoln Center announces the first show in its three-part salute to Miles Davis: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis plays Miles Davis, November 8–10, 2018 at 8pm, in Rose Theater.

Spotify Wades Deeper Into Politics With Midterm Playlists — www.rollingstone.com

Streaming giant rolls out state-specific playlists encouraging users to vote in midterms.

Will A Data Scientist Become The Next Member of Your Radio Programming Team? — jacobsmedia.com
Data and analytics are changing the way radio programmers view the music their stations play.

Spotify, Other European Tech Leaders Warn Against EU Digital Services Tax — www.billboard.com
Technology company chiefs have warned that a digital services tax proposed by the European Union would hinder innovation and hurt economic growth.

Spotify is on an original content talent recruitment drive — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

There’s no need to speculate about whether or not we’ll be seeing more original content from Spotify soon.

OTT Music Streaming Platform Deezer Launches Direct Carrier Billing with Fortumo — www.thefastmode.com

Fortumo and Deezer announce the launch of a new direct carrier billing partnership.

Apple iPad Pro Headphone Recommendations — time.com
Apple on Tuesday released new iPad Pro models without a headphone jack. Here are 5 solutions for music lovers.

Small business music streaming costing music makers billions — www.cultofmac.com
Music Streaming at small businesses is costing the music industry some $2 billion annually because owners don’t have a streaming license.

U.K. Music Biz Now Worth $5.8 Billion a Year — www.billboard.com
Global stars Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Rag’n’Bone Man helped grow the British music industry to record levels in 2017, according to a new report from umbrella organization UK Music.

Can Kobalt Disrupt the Label Game With AWAL? — www.billboard.com
Publishing maverick Kobalt raised $150 million to get into the label services game and snap up today’s rising stars. Can it support thousands of “middle class” acts without taking their copyrights?

PRS for Music extends partnership with Sony/ATV Publishing — www.m-magazine.co.uk

The agreement covers the management of pan-European licences for Sony/ATV, as well as EMI Music Publishing’s Anglo-American repertoire.

Issue 534: The Mythical Power of Streaming Playlists; Spotify Reports Modest Rise in Paid Users

The mythical power of streaming playlists: is it more hype than substance?

Suddenly, the music industry’s coolest job is becoming increasingly vacant.

Music Modernization Act Was Verse One — variety.com
Music Modernization Act was a big step forward, but there is still a long way to go, says SoundExchange president/CEO Michael Huppe.

Music streaming leader Spotify reports a modest rise in paid users — www.cnbc.com
Spotify reported a modest 5 percent rise in premium subscribers for its third quarter, while revenue and gross margins were roughly in line with market expectations.

Merlin Highlights Growth, Global Indie Trends at 15th Tokyo Music Market — www.billboard.com
The 15th Tokyo International Music Market was held Oct. 22-24 at the Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu in the bustling Shibuya district of Tokyo and the crystal edition proved to be one of the most successful yet.

What is FLAC? The high-def MP3 explained — www.cnet.com
CNET explains what FLAC is, where to buy music in the format, and how to play it on your phone, computer or hi-fi.

Waze for Android and iOS adding Audio Player integration w/ Pandora, more — 9to5google.com

Earlier this month, Google Maps added music streaming integration with a handful of popular services.

Smart Speakers Lead Consumer Trends in Audio — www.radioworld.com
CTA data gives insight into developments affecting radio and the broader CE business

Spotify Briefly Touches Record Low But Goldman Still Says Buy — www.bloomberg.com
Spotify Technology SA momentarily brushed up against a record low on Tuesday, following global technology stocks that were also briefly pummeled.

Music's $20M A Month Man: Spotify's Daniel Ek Shows Tim Westergren How It’s Done — www.hypebot.com

The industry gave a collective gasp of horror when founder Tim Westergren was pulling down $1,000,000 by selling of Pandora stock while simultaneously fighting artists with royalty loopholes.

NetEase Cloud Music Signs Copyright License Agreement with Loen Entertainment — platformandstream.wordpress.com

NetEase Cloud Music, the popular Chinese music streaming platform owned by leading Chinese internet company NetEase, Inc., announced the signing of a copyright licensing partnership with Loen Entertainment, one of the largest entertainment firms in South Korea.

Garmin adds Spotify to its Forerunner 654 music smartwatch — www.digitaltrends.com

Garmin fans looking to get Spotify on their fitness watch now have another option besides the Fenix 5 Plus series.

NetEase Cloud Music Signs Copyright License Agreement with Loen Entertainment

NetEase Cloud Music, the popular Chinese music streaming platform owned by leading Chinese internet company NetEase, Inc., announced the signing of a copyright licensing partnership with Loen Entertainment, one of the largest entertainment firms in South Korea.

With the signing, NetEase Cloud Music has been granted the license to the copyright of the firm’s music catalog, including a large collection of music as well as sought-after albums and tracks from popular performers, including IU, Apink, CNBLUE, GFriend, AOA and THE BOYZ.

Issue 533: How Streaming Reinvigorated Music; Tracking How Royalties Flow In the Digital Age

How streaming reinvigorated music — www.cnbc.com

Streaming services like Deezer, Apple Music and Spotify is helping the recorded music industry return to health according to IFPI’s David Price.

Canada's Leading Distributors of Indie Music Joining Forces — www.billboard.com
Two of Canada’s leading independent distributors, Toronto’s Outside Music and Montreal’s Distribution Select, the largest independent distributor of CDs and videos in Canada, are joining forces to strengthen and better serve the independent sector nationwide.

Introducing the Waze Audio Player, featuring Spotify, Pandora, Deezer + Podcasts — www.digitalmusicnews.com
Waze is now leveraging its commanding position on smartphone decks.  Introducing the Waze Audio Player, featuring Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, and podcasts.

YouTube Music in Nashville hires Rachel Whitney, Copeland Isaacson — www.tennessean.com
YouTube Music is bulking up its presence in Nashville, hiring two top executives from rival streaming companies to spearhead its effort to make inroads on Music Row.

Tracking How Royalties Flow In the Digital Age, And How the MMA Will Play a Role — www.billboard.com
A breakdown of how royalties flow to record labels, publishers and artists in the digital age, and how the Music Modernization Act might change — and help — that process.

Radio’s Money Problem — dicktaylorblog.com
For the radio listener, your next break is all that matters. Does it speak to your listener? Does it have relevance to your listener’s life right this second? How do you know? Homogenized America With the growth of fast food establishments, big box stores and online shopping, one might think that America is now homogenized.…

BBC Introducing is running a "festival of discovery" for people looking to get into the music industry — mixmag.net

BBC Introducing Live takes place at Tobacco Dock in November.

Hear John Carpenter's New Theme Music for Horror Streaming Service — www.thewrap.com
“Halloween” director John Carpenter, who previously wrote and performed the score for David Gordon Green’s remake, composes the theme for Shudder

Spotify Paid Premium Grows To 38% Of Users — www.hypebot.com

Spotify Premium subscriptions continue to grow, according a new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The research showed that 38% of all US Spotify subscribers now have a premium account, up from 36% three months ago.

The Future Of Search Is A Radio Commercial — radioink.com

The goal of successful advertising is to be known before you are needed. The biggest mistake in advertising is waiting to be found. In other words, there are two kinds advertising: active and passive.

Spotify returns to Roku streaming devices with OS 9 update — download.cnet.com

A big player in streamed entertainment returns to the equally big music service.