For weeks, fans have been wondering what this 4:44 project TIdal’s been teasing is. Just the other day, we got confirmation it is some sort of Jay Z project. Now, Hov has officially announced he’s dropping his brand new 4:44 album on June 30 as an exclusive to postpaid and prepaid Sprint members and existing Tidal users. Tidal is sweetening…
Spotify Hits 140 Million Active Users, Promises Billions of Dollars to Record Labels
Spotify VP Brian Benedik announced Thursday morning that the streaming service has reached 140 million monthly active users (up from 126 million at the end of last year) and the company has seen a 50% increase in advertising revenues since 2016. Recode reports that Spotify pulled in $3.3 billion revenue last year, and promises to pay record labels…
APPLE MUSIC’S GROWTH IS GETTING FASTER… BUT IT CAN’T QUITE KEEP UP WITH SPOTIFY
Apple Music has confirmed that its paying subscriber base has now topped 27m people – with an encouraging 7m signing up over the past half-year. That marks the fastest six-month growth period in the platform’s short history, aside from its initial launch phase in the back end of 2015. Apple confirmed that Apple Music…
CONCORD’S $500M+ IMAGEM BUY MARKS THE BIRTH OF A MAJOR PLAYER IN MUSIC
Concord Bicycle Music’s buyout of Imagem is one of the biggest music business acquisitions in history, MBW can reveal – taking the US-born buyer into a whole new league of industry power. Sources close to the music copyright M+A market tell us that Imagem was likely sold for a multiple of 10-12 of its Net Publisher Share (NPS,…
The Relationship Between Brands And Music Needs To Evolve
Music is what anthropologists call a “cultural universal.” It’s one of the few constants across the diverse cultures of the world that is practiced and celebrated in every society. And while it manifests differently across a wide range of industries and cultural disciplines, there is no denying the huge role it plays in people’s…
Will Digital Aggregators Lead Industry On Transparency With Spotify, Others?
The Music Managers Forum UK have criticized the “secrecy” around Spotify’s deals with major labels. According to Complete Music Update: The UK’s Music Managers Forum yesterday welcomed the news that Spotify had reached a new deal with Universal Music. However, the trade body criticised the continued secrecy that surrounds the deals made between the major…
Major Labels Are Now Earning $9000 A Minute From Streaming
For those that said that streaming revenue would never replace that from CDs there’s this – According to a study done by Music Business Worldwide, the major labels made around $9000 every minute from streaming in the first quarter of 2017. To put it into perspective, that means $540,000 per hour and $12.5 million every day! If this trajectory…
JON PLATT HAILS WARNER/CHAPPELL SONGWRITERS AFTER BUMPER AWARDS SEASON
Earlier this month, the firm was named Pop Publisher of the Year by BMI, at a ceremony where Justin Tranter and Ross Golan were named Songwriters Of The Year. Then, at the Ivor Novellos in London on Thursday (May 18), Warner/Chappell signing Skepta won Songwriter of the Year and Best Contemporary Song for “Man”. Meanwhile, fellow…
YouTube Study Raises More Questions About Value to the Music Industry
Youtube Head of Global Music Lyor Cohen and Chance The Rapper attend GQ and Chance The Rapper Celebrate the Grammys in Partnership with YouTube at Chateau Marmont on Feb. 12, 2017 in Los Angeles. YouTube’s cold war with the labels is heating up again. As European Union legislators consider copyright legislation that could potentially constrain…
Spotify’s Troy Carter Concedes Artists Aren’t Being Paid Enough By Streaming Services
Troy Carter, Spotify’s global head of creator services, conceded in his keynote interview today’ at the Music Biz Convention, that artists aren’t being paid enough by streaming services. In a follow-up comment, however, he successfully evaded assigning blame to Spotify or any other streaming service or labels by saying, “We need to reconfigure the value…
