The single biggest impression one gets from the BitTorrent Artist Survey released Tuesday is how outrageously difficult it is to make a living as an artist in the 21st Century. Not that it was ever easy, but the always-on media cycle have colluded with an explosion of digital marketing and distribution options to make it much harder…

With its latest Billboard Hot 100 debut, One Direction bests the group’s British boy band ancestors the Beatles. As previously reported, One Direction roars onto the Hot 100 (dated Nov. 7) at No. 10 with new single “Perfect.” Fueling its start, it begins at No. 2 on the Digital Songs chart with 136,000 sold in its first week, according to Nielsen Music, and No….

  Spotify has announced a move into radio in an attempt to rival Apple Music’s Beats 1 station. Apple launched its “24/7 curated Internet radio station” Beats 1 in parallel to its new music streaming service in June. Since then, it has attracted guest hosts such as Drake, Pharrell Williams, Dr Dre, St Vincent, Ezra…

Deezer may be based in France and poised for a flashy IPO. But that has not stopped it’s number #1 competitor Spotify is achieving impressive growth there in paid subscribers thanks to a partnership with Bouygues Telecom….

  As detailed by Rhian Jones’ excellent blog for MBW, How To Completely Mess Up A Sync Deal, there’s ample potential for miscommunication between brands, agencies and music rights owners. All of whom speak a different language, operate in different worlds and work to different incentives. But there’s also some key steps to success. Or to…

YouTube claims to have paid more than $2bn to music rights-holders in the past few years. The news was broken this morning in a comment given by the service as it announced a global licensing agreement with Kobalt-owned collection society AMRA. YouTube’s Global Director of Music Partnerships, Christophe Muller said, “YouTube provides a global platform for…

  Justin Bieber dominated MTV’s European Music Awards last night with 5 wins. The show was broadcast on 60 channels globally. Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Rihanna, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Taylor Swift, and Shawn Mendes also each won EMAs, which are based on more than 500 million fan votes globally….

Barclays Center in Brooklyn has inked a name-in-title sponsorship deal with subscription streaming service Tidal that will see the arena’s theater configuration operate as the Tidal Theatre going forward, Billboard has learned….

Another week, another No. 1 for Taylor Swift. Swift scores a fifth No. 1 from her album 1989 on Billboard‘s radio-based Pop Songs airplay chart (dated Nov. 7), as “Wildest Dreams” lifts 2-1….

AMRA, the music rights organization acquired by Kobalt in June, has signed a global deal with YouTube to collect music royalties on videos on the site, covering more than 100 territories around the world….