Spotify represents an important piece of our music industry ecosystem, and the system is vulnerable. Competition is a fundamental part of a free market economy, of which we all reap the benefits. Spotify’s revenues increased 80% in 2015 to US $2.18bn (€1.95bn). However, its annual operating losses also jumped from €165m to €184m as it paid…
Inside the BRITs 2017 Album Of The Year nominees: Skepta, Konnichiwa
With the 2017 BRIT Awards almost upon us, Music Week is taking an in-depth look at this year’s BRITs Album Of The Year nominees. Up for the coveted award this year are David Bowie’s Blackstar, Kano’s Made In The Manor, Skepta’s Konnichiwa, Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate and The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep, For You…
Where Is Music Headed in 2017? Here’s A Peek
In this era of surprise album drops, left-field smashes fueled by unexpected viral dance clips (you can stop posing like a mannequin now) and short-lead releases, it’s hard to predict what will pop, what will flop and who will land on top. What we do have, however, is data — tons of numbers that can help…
Interview: Alex Da Kid
We sat down with Alex Da Kid early January in his flat in Knightsbridge. Alex had just spent Christmas in London, a day before he left for the states he invited Wrap Up to join him for an intimate chat on all things music. The Wrap-Up: As a U.K. producer how hard did you…
Universal Music and MQA Announce Hi-Res Streaming Collaboration
Who’s ready for an audio upgrade? Don’t look now, dear fatigued music consumer, but likely coming soon to a music platform near you is a new hi-resolution audio technology that promises better fidelity than all the cold digitally compressed CDs and MP3 hokum the music biz sold us in the 90s and aughts. This…
Facebook makes a play for music
Facebook is working on a broad licensing arrangement with the music industry that greenlights user-generated videos with songs — and potentially professional music content too, Bloomberg reports. This follows the recent news of Facebook hiring Tamara Hrivnak, a key music executive at YouTube, to lead its global music strategy and business development. Parties on both…
Why Music Ownership Matters
Imagine no possessions,” John Lennon asked in a famous song. Then wisely added: “I wonder if you can.” I note that Lennon was driving a 19-feet-long Rolls Royce when he composed the song “Imagine.” In fact, he didn’t really drive it; he had a couple of chauffeurs available for that. The former Beatle spent his…
The Rap Pact: How Jay Z and Hot 97 Combined Forces to Take Over Hip-Hop
Funkmaster Flex is a gifted storyteller. When asked about meeting Jay Z in the mid 1990s, the legendary Hot 97 DJ must first set the scene. “I want you to imagine Puff and Big and Bad Boy shining bright as hell, like nothing else moving,” Flex’s tale begins. “Roc-A-Fella, Dame Dash, and Jay Z were outcasts.” At the…
5 Reasons Small Music Blogs Can Have A Big Impact
Making music is about expressing yourself. It’s art. You want to tell your story in the most sonically interesting way possible. And unfortunately, many great artists struggle with how to great press and they all-too-often overlook smaller music blogs. In my case, I didn’t even know where to start. The majority of us immediately…
