Linkfire boss talks smarter attribution and the death of cookies
Lars Ettrup, CEO of smart-links firm Linkfire, delivered a talk at Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit conference in London this week on “the joys of attribution”, and how music marketers can better track the journey music fans take from discovery through to consumption and purchase.
“With all the channels and influencers who can drive streams, how do you actually monitor the effect of that?” he asked.
Ettrup outlined what Linkfire is currently doing and what the company is trying to achieve as well as the marketing and data trends that it sees coming.
The post Linkfire boss talks smarter attribution and the death of cookies appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Privacy and music marketing: ‘Common sense should prevail’
The debate around digital privacy tends to focus on the biggest technology companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon.
Yet as internet users become more aware of the privacy debates around those companies’ services and devices, they’ll also be thinking more about how their personal information is being used in other ways. Including music marketing: from artist mailing lists to Spotify pre-saves and beyond.
A session at Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit conference in London yesterday explored some of these issues. The panel included Mulika Sannie, VP business affairs at Kobalt Music Group; Jessie Scoullar, managing director at Wicksteed Works; Duncan Byrne, marketing director at Anjunabeats; and Tom Packer, director at Motive Unknown.
The post Privacy and music marketing: ‘Common sense should prevail’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Music marketing on TikTok: ‘Give the audience the opportunity to be their own influencer’
As a platform, TikTok continues to generate strong opinions within the music industry regarding what kind of licensing deals it needs, and how much it could or should be paying rightsholders. But it’s also generating a lot of interest and activity from the marketing teams working with artists.
It’s certainly not the first platform to spark this dichotomy between revenue and promotion. At yesterday’s Sandbox Summit, a panel on TikTok focused on the latter aspect, for an audience of marketers keen to understand how it might be used to their artists’ benefit.
(Or rather: the fact that this conversation did not focus on licensing and copyright matters was a function of the audience: those issues are important, and Music Ally continues to cover them in our bulletins and reports.)
The post Music marketing on TikTok: ‘Give the audience the opportunity to be their own influencer’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
What ‘trigger cities’ really mean for music marketing
Music Ally has covered analytics firm Chartmetric’s concept of Trigger Cities before but at Sandbox Summit in London this week, we assembled a panel of marketing experts to talk about the idea in practice and how – or if – it is changing the architecture of their global campaigns.
Chaired by Isabelle Ljungqvist, digital marketing coordinator at Music Ally, it opened with Chaz Jenkins (partner and advisor at Chartmetric) walking the audience through the data and trends that led to the formation of the Trigger Cities idea.
The post What ‘trigger cities’ really mean for music marketing appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Domino wins Music Ally’s Campaign of the Year award for Hot Chip
Domino’s campaign for A Bath Full Of Ecstasy – the seventh studio album from Hot Chip – was named Campaign Of The Year at Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit in London yesterday (30th October).
It was one of five shortlisted campaigns that were put to an audience vote and it emerged as the clear winner. It was praised for the way in which it reawakened the band’s existing fanbase after a four-year gap from Why Make Sense?, their previous studio album. It also managed to position the band in front of a new Gen Z audience.
In our overview of the campaign, we said, “It worked on a mixture of traditional posts like playlists as well as fun artist posts. The attention to detail for all these activations was very strong throughout the campaign. This was a really ambitious campaign for Domino and they executed it really well.”
The post Domino wins Music Ally’s Campaign of the Year award for Hot Chip appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Jamie Oborne talks The 1975: ‘We still believe in albums!’
Jamie Oborne is the owner and CEO of Dirty Hit Records and All on Red Management, working with The 1975, Wolf Alice and Benjamin Francis Leftwich among other artists. He was also the opening speaker at Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit conference in London this morning, interviewed by our very own Eamonn Forde.
“Marketing is about setting up problems to solve, as much as it’s about communication,” he said. “The problem for a band in the modern landscape is how do we navigate a shrinking physical marketplace, which has always been the anchor point for an alternative artist, and how do we bridge into the digital DSPs, to streaming, to the modern music landscape?”
“Fortunately The 1975 have always streamed really well for a band. They have music that connects with people quite easily, so we didn’t face the same challenges that an artist like Idles or any guitar band you can think of would face, because our streaming has always been at the upper end of what a band would have. But we don’t really have radio hits: these conventional drivers that cause consumption. So the problem that I presented and I wanted to solve was how do we compete with pop and urban records on DSPs?”
The post Jamie Oborne talks The 1975: ‘We still believe in albums!’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify for Kids app launches in beta, starting in Ireland
Spotify now has 248 million monthly active users, but how many of them are children? We don’t know, and neither does Spotify: its minimum age varies across the world, but the lowest is 13 years old with parent or guardian consent.
Anecdotally, though, plenty of parents have ignored this stipulation and added under-13s to their family plan subscriptions – not least to keep their own recommendation algorithms free of any ‘Baby Shark’ or ‘Let It Go’ influence.
Today, Spotify is offering an official way for those children to listen to its service. It’s launching a new app called Spotify Kids, designed to be used by children aged three and up, as part of the existing Spotify Premium Family plan. The new app launches in beta in Ireland tomorrow, with plans to roll it out elsewhere soon.
The post Spotify for Kids app launches in beta, starting in Ireland appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Deezer launches dedicated app for 360 Reality Audio tracks
Deezer is one of the streaming services supporting Sony’s new 360 Reality Audio format. As it turns out, that support won’t just be playing out within Deezer’s existing mobile app. The company has launched a standalone app called 360 by Deezer for Android and iOS devices. It requires a paid subscription to work, and will play what […]
The post Deezer launches dedicated app for 360 Reality Audio tracks appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify now has 248m listeners including 113m premium subscribers
Spotify has announced its latest financial results, for the third quarter of 2019. The streaming service now has 248 million monthly active users (MAUs), up 30% year-on-year, having added 16 million in Q3.
113 million of those users are premium subscribers: 31% growth in the last year, with five million having been added during last quarter.
As for the actual financials, Spotify’s Q3 revenues grew by 28% year-on-year to €1.73bn, including 29% growth for its premium subscriptions (to €1.56bn) and 20% growth for its advertising revenues (to €170m). Subscriptions thus account for 90.2% of Spotify’s overall turnover.
The company reported an operating profit of €54m, compared to an operating loss of €6m in Q3 last year. Spotify also reported a quarterly net profit of €241m – if you’re startled at that, look to the line in Spotify’s filing where it reports ‘finance income’ of €226m, compared to €10m a year ago.
The post Spotify now has 248m listeners including 113m premium subscribers appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Will·I·Am’s tech company may have run into financial trouble
Artist, investor, tech entrepreneur and TV-talent-show judge at large: Will·I·Am wears a lot of hats, but one of them may be slipping: his i·am+ technology company appears to have run into financial trouble. The Verge has the details for a company that raised more than $117m in funding by 2017. The report claims that a partnership […]
The post Will·I·Am’s tech company may have run into financial trouble appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Nearly 1,000 musicians join protest against Amazon’s ICE contracts
Amazon recently announced plans to host its own festival in Las Vegas this December, called Intersect. It’s billed as “the place where music, technology, and art converge”, but the event is rousing some strong protests from musicians due to the involvement of Amazon’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud-technology division. Why? This article will fill you in on […]
The post Nearly 1,000 musicians join protest against Amazon’s ICE contracts appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Recording Academy launches ‘Behind The Record’ credits campaign
We referred to it in our story about Pandora adding full credits for songs last week, but now US music body the Recording Academy has officially launched its ‘Behind the Record’ campaign. It’s an initiative encouraging artists to credit all of the collaborators on their music. “Credits have been a casualty of the digital age, […]
The post Recording Academy launches ‘Behind The Record’ credits campaign appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Indian music-discovery app Flutin says it has 370k daily users
We’ve written a lot about the big music-streaming services in India like Gaana and JioSaavn, but this week brought news of an interesting-sounding music-discovery startup there. It’s called Flutin, and its schtick is building algorithmic playlists for users based on their musical preferences, activities, location and other data. The company says its app has been downloaded […]
The post Indian music-discovery app Flutin says it has 370k daily users appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Startup Pex can now scan Apple Podcasts for music clips
Pex isn’t a startup we’ve written much about for Music Ally thus far, but it’s one of the more interesting companies in the current music ecosystem – not just because of what it’s doing now, but for how its technology might be used in the future. The company’s business is “independent video and music analytics and […]
The post Startup Pex can now scan Apple Podcasts for music clips appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify tests sponsorship of full-screen album recommendations
For some time now, Spotify has been showing its mobile listeners full-screen recommendations of new albums from the artists that they like – ‘Brand new music for you!’ pop-ups with a ‘Go to Album’ button to tap.
Thus far, this has been a purely-editorial feature, but today Spotify is launching a test in the US to “let artist teams pay to sponsor these recommendations” – for Spotify’s free listeners and paying subscribers alike.
It’s the latest move in Spotify’s much-talked-about ‘two-sided marketplace’ strategy, although the streaming service is clearly aware that there will be sensitivities around the change.
The post Spotify tests sponsorship of full-screen album recommendations appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Could user-centric payouts also be applied to book publishing?
Spotify’s former chief economist Will Page is now reportedly writing a book – but he’s certainly writing for The Bookseller, the publishing-industry trade mag. He’s just penned a column exploring whether the user-centric payouts debate that’s currently happening in the music industry might have relevance for authors and book publishing too. “Just as the music […]
The post Could user-centric payouts also be applied to book publishing? appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Coldplay tease fans with digital Easter eggs for new album
There’s a new Coldplay double-album on the way next month, and it sounds like the band and their team are having fun with the announcement process. So far, the teaser campaign has included a typewritten letter sent to fans (“For the last 100 years or thereabouts, we have been working on a thing called Everyday […]
The post Coldplay tease fans with digital Easter eggs for new album appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Soundcharts launches new media-monitoring feature for artists
Music-analytics platform Soundcharts has a new feature: ‘Mentions’. It promises ‘global media and web monitoring’ for artists, tracking where they’re mentioned in three categories of media: ‘music media’, ‘verified media’ and ‘unverified sources’. Artists will be able to dig in to the data by country; traffic rankings; and sources like news sites, blogs and discussions. […]
The post Soundcharts launches new media-monitoring feature for artists appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Pandora hails strong growth for its Artist Marketing Platform
It’s five years since Pandora launched its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) tools for artists to market to listeners on the streaming service. The company is celebrating the anniversary with some new stats. “In the last 12 months alone, we’ve seen a 688% increase of monthly active creators on AMP,” announced Pandora in a blog post. There’s […]
The post Pandora hails strong growth for its Artist Marketing Platform appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sony Music’s Mora Qualitas hi-res streaming service launches in Japan
Sony Music Entertainment Japan has launched its Mora Qualitas hi-res streaming service, working with Rhapsody International (through its ‘Powered by Napster’ B2B business). Plans for the service were actually announced in December 2018, but it’s taken 10 months for the ‘formal’ launch of the service to happen. Mora Qualitas is offering FLAC-quality streaming, with Sony Music’s hi-res […]
The post Sony Music’s Mora Qualitas hi-res streaming service launches in Japan appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Rajar study claims UK has 17m premium on-demand music listeners
UK radio-measurement body Rajar has just published its data for the third quarter of 2019, and also its ‘Midas’ audio survey of British consumers. There are some useful stats on the music-streaming world. According to the latest Midas research, 17 million Brits now use ‘a premium on-demand music service’. However, according to Rajar, on-demand music still only […]
The post Rajar study claims UK has 17m premium on-demand music listeners appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Country Profile – Russia 2019
A significant 8m jump in users of streaming services in Russia in a single year illustrates how those platforms are engaging music consumers, while on social media, vKontakte’s vast popularity is helping to fuel the growth
The post Country Profile – Russia 2019 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Neil Young Archives website now has 25,000 subscribers
There have been several interviews with artist Neil Young recently, to promote his new book ‘To Feel the Music: A Songwriter’s Mission to Save High-Quality Audio’. The latest piece, from Wired, has some stats on how Young’s own subscription service is doing. Young is charging $1.99 a month for access to his Neil Young Archives website, […]
The post Neil Young Archives website now has 25,000 subscribers appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Marshmello now has 40m subscribers to his YouTube channel
Dance star Marshmello has hit a new milestone on YouTube: his channel now has more than 40 million subscribers. YouTube says that makes him the third most-subscribed-to musician on YouTube, behind Justin Bieber (47 million) and Ed Sheeran (42.5 million). At the time of writing, Marshmello is also 34th in YouTube’s global artists chart, with 73.2m weekly views […]
The post Marshmello now has 40m subscribers to his YouTube channel appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Liz Longley smashes Kickstarter total to buy album back from label
When crowdfunding platform Kickstarter first started making waves in the music industry in the early 2010s, the pitch from artists was often ‘help me to make my new album independently’. In 2019, in the case of artist Liz Longley, the pitch is ‘help me to buy my new album back from my label so I […]
The post Liz Longley smashes Kickstarter total to buy album back from label appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Tegan and Sara battle touts with ‘rush seating’ at their gigs
Tegan and Sara are excellent, so news of them playing to a half-empty venue is disheartening. But doubly so because it wasn’t the result of poor ticket sales: according to Billboard, the sparsely-attended gig on 30 September in San Diego was because touts had snaffled most of the tickets. The duo have fought back, however, by […]
The post Tegan and Sara battle touts with ‘rush seating’ at their gigs appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify expands US Google Home Mini giveaway to Premium subs
Last year, Spotify debuted its Google Home Mini smart-speaker giveaway, offering the device to its Spotify Premium for Family subscribers. Now the deal has returned in the US, but considerably expanded: now it’s any Spotify Premium Individual subscriber who can bag a free speaker. It’s the latest salvo in the now-traditional scramble for end-of-year signups among […]
The post Spotify expands US Google Home Mini giveaway to Premium subs appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Viral post exposes fake-data problem in China’s KOL advertising
On 17 October, a Chinese tech-startup owner posted an article on his WeChat account about a controversial aspect of China’s KOL (Key Opinion Leaders – known as influencers in the west) advertising scene. The article now has more than 100k views, as well as countless reposts by other notable accounts and individuals.
It concerned a deal between the tech startup and Bee Group Media, one of China’s leading multi-channel network (MCN) companies, which was intended to generate 1m impressions for the company’s new product – designed to use photon efficacy to promote blood circulation and help to prevent or reduce painful periods – by working with fashion vlogger YuHan (Weibo: @张雨晗YuHan) who had 3.8 million Weibo followers.
The post Viral post exposes fake-data problem in China’s KOL advertising appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Security fears raised around Amazon and Google smart speakers
We’ve written about this before: the music industry may be excited about the growth in sales of smart speakers, but privacy campaigners have their concerns about this device category. Those concerns are relevant to our industry too: so here’s news of a new experiment conducted by Security Research Labs that’s making headlines. It developed skills for Amazon’s […]
The post Security fears raised around Amazon and Google smart speakers appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Synaesthetic to blend classical music, AI and AR technologies
Fans of music/tech startups that sound a little… out-there will enjoy Synaesthetic’s ambitions. “While listening to music is great, we have evolved to look for things we hear and want visually-enhanced musical experiences, like concerts and music videos,” is how the Boston-based company’s website explains its plans. “We are developing a new musical medium, that is […]
The post Synaesthetic to blend classical music, AI and AR technologies appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Five music/tech startups to pitch in Web Summit contest
Startup pitch contests at conferences around the world have become a useful window into new music/tech firms. The latest contest will take place at the Web Summit in Lisbon on 7 November. In a session dubbed the ‘Music Innovation Prize 2019’, five startups will be pitching to a jury of “industry heavyweights, influential investors, and big-name artists”. […]
The post Five music/tech startups to pitch in Web Summit contest appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
US digital audio advertising grew by 30% in first half of 2019
Advertising-industry body the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has published its mid-year report on digital ad revenues in the US. The big figure is $57.9bn: that’s how much money was spent on digital advertising in the US in the first half of 2019. That’s 17% growth year-on-year, and the highest ever first-half total for this category. Trebles all […]
The post US digital audio advertising grew by 30% in first half of 2019 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Head of Music – Manchester International Festival – Manchester
Manchester International Festival (MIF) is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events, staged every two years in Manchester, UK. MIF launched in 2007 as an artist-led festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture. We aim to embody the values implicit in our name: […]
The post Head of Music – Manchester International Festival – Manchester appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Pandora and TikTok ads found on video-piracy service TeaTV
There is no suggestion that Pandora or TikTok are knowingly funding a TV-piracy service called TeaTV. But ads for these and other legitimate digital services have been found within that website, in an investigation published by CNBC. “The online service offers a wide swath of pirated movies from major networks such as HBO and streaming services […]
The post Pandora and TikTok ads found on video-piracy service TeaTV appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Secret Chord Laboratories raises $315k for music-analysis tool
Algorithmic A&R continues to be a touchy subject in some quarters of the music industry, where there is distrust (and/or existential fears) of the prospect of big data encroaching onto the traditional territory of humans’ ears and guts. That’s even more the case when the algorithms are tracking not the momentum of an artist in […]
The post Secret Chord Laboratories raises $315k for music-analysis tool appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
The Chainsmokers co-found blockchain-ticketing startup Yellowheart
If you ever want to feel sympathy for the challenges that music/tech journalists face, read our 2018 report that included an ‘A to Z of Blockchain Music Startups’ and see our valiant efforts to find different ways of writing ‘X is a blockchain ticketing startup promising to beat touting and enable tickets to be transferred legally’. There […]
The post The Chainsmokers co-found blockchain-ticketing startup Yellowheart appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Internet firm Cloudflare hits back over piracy accusations
Cloudflare is one of the biggest content delivery networks (CDNs) in the world: CDNs being companies providing services to websites and digital services to help their content be delivered faster and more reliably, while reducing bandwidth costs. It’s also a controversial company in the eyes of music and film rightsholders, because some of the websites […]
The post Internet firm Cloudflare hits back over piracy accusations appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Apple Music’s ‘Rap Life’ playlist spawns a Beats 1 radio show
Earlier this month, we reported on suggestions from Apple that there will be more Beats 1 radio shows based on Apple Music’s flagship playlists. Lo and behold, one launched on Friday. ‘Rap Life With Ebro Darden’ is based on the recently-rebranded ‘Rap Life’ hip-hop playlist, and is hosted by Apple Music’s global editorial head of hip-hop and […]
The post Apple Music’s ‘Rap Life’ playlist spawns a Beats 1 radio show appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg sets out stall on ‘free expression’
He may not have mentioned music, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s speech at Georgetown University yesterday is essential reading for anyone who’s interested in how the social network’s upper echelons view the world. Titled ‘Standing For Voice and Free Expression’, it focuses on some of the many controversies around what kind of free speech Facebook […]
The post Facebook CEO Zuckerberg sets out stall on ‘free expression’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
UMG expands its college-marketing program into °1824 team
Universal Music Group is shaking up its ‘college lifestyle marketing program’ in the US, with a new team, and brand, called °1824. The label describes it as “a new marketing, content and experiences team powered by university students and young creatives from around the world”. It’s partly about finding new creative talent to place in […]
The post UMG expands its college-marketing program into °1824 team appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
WMG pushes back at reports that Stormzy triggered Ben Cook resignation
You’ve likely read the news earlier this week that Atlantic Records UK president Ben Cook was stepping down, as the result of an incident seven years ago when he went to a party dressed as a member of Run DMC. Cook was disciplined for the incident last year, but has only now stepped down, which […]
The post WMG pushes back at reports that Stormzy triggered Ben Cook resignation appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Lyor Cohen keen to avoid algorithmic echo chambers on YouTube
The headline for newspaper The Times’ interview with YouTube Music boss Lyor Cohen may be over-egging the pudding a bit. ‘Whip Spotify’s ass? The answer is emphatically yes’, it turns out, refers to a section of the interview where the startling wording appears to come from the journalist in a question: Cohen agrees (“The answer is emphatically […]
The post Lyor Cohen keen to avoid algorithmic echo chambers on YouTube appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
The Economist takes aim at ‘the meaningless of music charts’
The Economist has published an article criticising the proliferation of music charts in the streaming era, and questioning whether when considered together, they are confusing. “It used to be easy to know who the champions of pop were: it was whoever was number one in the singles chart and number one in the albums chart. But pop […]
The post The Economist takes aim at ‘the meaningless of music charts’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Tencent Music’s Andy Ng talks AI recommendations and karaoke expansion
In a keynote interview at the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) conference in Amsterdam, Tencent Music’s Andy Ng outlined his role in combatting piracy in China, building a legal streaming market there and why he and his employers are betting heavy on the EDM boom. Ng stepped back from his role as group VP at Tencent […]
The post Tencent Music’s Andy Ng talks AI recommendations and karaoke expansion appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sandbox Issue 238: Remixes Hit Saturation Point
Lead: Lil Nas X might have broken on TikTok but it was his deft use of multiple remixes (and collaborations) that kept ‘Old Town Road’ in the air throughout most of 2019. He claims he has 25 remixes of follow-up track ‘Panini’ ready to go, although this might prove to be the most high-profile case […]
The post Sandbox Issue 238: Remixes Hit Saturation Point appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Introducing The Music Ally Learning Hub
We’re delighted to announce the launch of our brand new Learning Hub for the global music industry! What is this special place? The Music Ally Learning Hub is a new dedicated e-learning platform for the modern music business. Our team has been hard at work behind the scenes to build a resource that will become the new […]
The post Introducing The Music Ally Learning Hub appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Netflix sees ‘modest headwind’ created by new streaming rivals
Shares in video-streaming service Netflix rose last night, after the company announced its latest financial results. This, despite actually missing one of its key targets for the third quarter of 2019. “In Q3, we grew to $5.2 billion in revenue, up 31% over the prior year, and operating income doubled to $1.0 billion. Paid net […]
The post Netflix sees ‘modest headwind’ created by new streaming rivals appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Industry-connecting startup Rostr launches its service in beta
In February, Music Ally spotted plans by former Spotify global head of artist and industry partnerships Mark Williamson to launch a new startup called Rostr. It was tagged as “AngelList for the music industry” – a reference to the popular website cataloguing startups for investors. This week, Rostr has launched in beta. “The industry is really exciting […]
The post Industry-connecting startup Rostr launches its service in beta appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Primavera Sound goes ticketless as Dice expands to Spain
Spanish live firm Primavera Sound is going to take its events ticketless, including its flagship festival in Barcelona. The company is doing it via an exclusive multi-year partnership with ticketing startup Dice, which will be powering mobile tickets for the company’s events. Dice reckons this will make Primavera Sound in Barcelona the world’s ‘biggest mobile-only […]
The post Primavera Sound goes ticketless as Dice expands to Spain appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
MelodyVR strikes exclusive 5G deal with UK telco O2
Virtual-reality music startup MelodyVR has announced its latest partnership: telco Telefonica UK, and its O2 operator. It’s all relating to the launch of its faster 5G network. MelodyVR has been signed on as “the exclusive music partner of O2’s 5G UK launch”, with customers getting a 12-month subscription to MelodyVR bundled into their contracts. Note: […]
The post MelodyVR strikes exclusive 5G deal with UK telco O2 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify teams up with Snapchat for Diwali promotion in India
Snap and Spotify have teamed up in an interesting way for a promotion in India around the Diwali festive season. The Snapchat app has a new augmented-reality lens designed to be used in a specific location: the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai. “The Spotify lens adds some unique AR experiences with special 3D effects, […]
The post Spotify teams up with Snapchat for Diwali promotion in India appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
YouTube launches Merchbar partnership for artist merchandise
YouTube is rolling out another feature for musicians with ‘Official Artist Channels’ on its platform. The company has signed a deal with Merchbar which will see artists able to “surface their official merchandise and vinyl alongside their videos… Fans watching videos from their favorite artists on their YouTube Official Artist Channels can now see a shelf with […]
The post YouTube launches Merchbar partnership for artist merchandise appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify trumpets its role in global success of Tones and I
Australian artist Toni Watson – aka Tones and I – is riding high with her track ‘Dance Monkey’, which started as a viral buzz track but has flowered into a bona-fide global hit. In fact, at the time of writing it’s top of Spotify’s Global Top 50 chart, with 5.6m daily plays. Spotify is keen […]
The post Spotify trumpets its role in global success of Tones and I appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Replica raises $2.5m funding for its ‘expressive voiceovers’
Music Ally wrote about Australian startup Replica earlier this year, following its participation in the Techstars Music accelerator. The company is using AI to create ‘Replica voice actors on demand” – taking recordings of someone talking, and creating a ‘replica’ voice capable of reading any text fed to it. For musicians, the company pitched the tech as providing “the […]
The post Replica raises $2.5m funding for its ‘expressive voiceovers’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Stem promises to check label / distro deals for artists
Stem has been helping artists to release their music as a distributor for some time. Now it’s launching a new feature, ‘Stem Check’, which it clearly hopes will win some artists over to its platform. “Think you’ve just been offered an ‘artist-friendly’ deal? Let us run the numbers for you,” is how the company introduced it yesterday. […]
The post Stem promises to check label / distro deals for artists appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sony 360 Reality Audio will launch with four streaming services
Technology firm Sony has revealed more of the plans for its 360 Reality Audio format, which was announced earlier this year. From late autumn, there will be around 1,000 songs available in the format through four streaming partners: Amazon Music HD, Deezer, Tidal and Nugs·net. All three major labels are working with Sony to provide content, although […]
The post Sony 360 Reality Audio will launch with four streaming services appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Mixcloud posted revenues of £2.4m in 2018 – and a £3m loss
Audio-streaming service Mixcloud has published its financial results for 2018 through Companies House in the UK: and unlike in previous years, the accounts have been published without a small-company exemption, thus giving us an insight into the firm’s growth and profitability.
The key figures: Mixcloud’s revenues in 2018 were £2.44m (around $3.1m), which was growth of 45.7% from 2017’s revenues of £1.68m. However, the company’s losses also increased: from £884.8k in 2017 to £3.04m in 2018. Why? Mixcloud’s cost of sales grew from £1.44m to £1.83m, but its administrative expenses nearly quadrupled: from £1.07m to £4.02m.
The post Mixcloud posted revenues of £2.4m in 2018 – and a £3m loss appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Lessons from game streaming: the platform, not the gamer, rules all
The State Of The Stream report from Stream Elements covering Q3 2019 has been published and offers plenty of insights into the game-streaming world. Unsurprisingly, Twitch is the dominant platform here, accounting for 75.6% of hours watched in the period. What is perhaps most interesting is the fact that gaming giant Ninja recently defected from Twitch […]
The post Lessons from game streaming: the platform, not the gamer, rules all appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Bring Me The Horizon create “Spotify-powered T-shirts”
Sony Music/RCA Records UK act Bring Me The Horizon are using their fans’ Spotify listening data to shape the T-shirt design that they can then buy – all as part of the promotion for their amo album from January. By going to a dedicated web page, they log in with their Spotify details and then […]
The post Bring Me The Horizon create “Spotify-powered T-shirts” appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Everyone is getting sucked into the Fortnite black hole
If you are parents to children of a certain age, the pain of the last few days will have been immense. “Is it back yet? Is it working again? WHY?” Fortnite’s servers have been down since Sunday as it wrapped up its 10th season. Instead of the normal game play, users were presented with a swirling black […]
The post Everyone is getting sucked into the Fortnite black hole appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Dutch hip-hop sees streaming-powered domestic boom but export is still the nut to crack
Our latest country profile (available to Music Ally subscribers) is now online and looks at the Netherlands. The country was ranked number 11 globally in 2018 by IFPI and streaming now makes up 51% of the recorded music market there. Its biggest album of last year was Hella Cash by Josylvio, a local rapper, which outsold […]
The post Dutch hip-hop sees streaming-powered domestic boom but export is still the nut to crack appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Country Profile – Netherlands 2019
Homegrown acts and local hip-hop artists have driven a surge in streaming in the Netherlands over the past four years. There are signs this trend is slowing but industry figures are positive there’s room for more growth
The post Country Profile – Netherlands 2019 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Major payment companies back out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency
Back in June, Facebook announced that it was going to launch its own cryptocurrency – Libra. The news resulted in the classic mixed results. Some focused on the fact that it would change the financial shape of markets where bank accounts and traditional payments systems are not the norm. Some, notably the FT, picked apart its […]
The post Major payment companies back out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
SuperM create UGC-powered Canvases on Spotify
On Friday, we covered Spotify starting to slowly open up its Canvas feature to more acts and posting a related blog that gives tips on how those using it can get the most out of its assorted features. One of the tips was “try creating a theme or narrative that crosses an entire album” such as […]
The post SuperM create UGC-powered Canvases on Spotify appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
DJ Zedd faces China ban over liking South Park tweet
South Park has long been a critic of, well, just about everything. But the show has often aimed its satirical powers at China and now DJ Zedd claims he has been banned from China for liking a tweet on South Park’s Twitter account marking its 300th episode. “I just got permanently banned from China because […]
The post DJ Zedd faces China ban over liking South Park tweet appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Zya’s Ditty music app is shutting down this week
Music Ally first wrote about Zya in November 2011: it was a “cloud-based music platform that empowers everyone – regardless of ability or musical preference – to make music in a revolutionary 3D environment”. It went on to make a splash at SXSW 2012 with the added spin of incorporating licensed tracks. In April 2013, the company behind Zya […]
The post Zya’s Ditty music app is shutting down this week appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Entertainment One’s pre-tax losses grow to £43.9m
Entertainment One (eOne), which owns Peppa Pig among other media properties, has reported that its pre-tax losses for the first fiscal quarter grew to £43.9m – significantly up from £6.8m a year earlier. Revenues dropped 7% to £173.1m and the company stated that this slip was due in part to “lower Film, Television and Music [unit […]
The post Entertainment One’s pre-tax losses grow to £43.9m appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
BTS are top-ups of the pop-ups
The idea of the pop-up tied into an album release is hardly new and often involves taking over a small and recently vacated shop (or the site of a different pop-up from the previous week) and selling a few T-shirts and posters from it, hoping the pop stars themselves show up to gain a bit […]
The post BTS are top-ups of the pop-ups appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Billboard launches new live charts with Bandsintown
Who ordered a new chart? Anyone? Bueller? Hold up – this one is slightly different. After Rolling Stone put the Billboard charts in its crosshairs with the launch of a daily chart in July, some began to wonder if we’d hit Peak Charts for singles and albums. Thankfully the latest chart from Billboard is based around Bandsintown […]
The post Billboard launches new live charts with Bandsintown appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
UGC is the key success metric on TikTok says Fanbytes founder
MBW has an interview with Timothy Armoo, founder and CEO of Fanbytes, where he talks about the TikTok campaign for Decca-signed act Aurora based around her track ‘The River’ which was about sending out “a positive message promoting mental health awareness”. For the #youcancrychallenge, they focused on 13 well-known TikTok users to get things rolling by […]
The post UGC is the key success metric on TikTok says Fanbytes founder appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
TuneCore and CD Baby move into China with Tencent deal
Acts distributed by TuneCore and CD Baby will now be available to listeners in China – or, to be more precise, listeners who use Tencent’s music offerings. The deals cover QQ Music, KuGou and Kuwo, who collectively reach 652m people in China according to Billboard. “We create partnerships, tools and services that bring the greatest possible […]
The post TuneCore and CD Baby move into China with Tencent deal appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify makes Canvas less blank
The Canvas feature on Spotify (where a short video loops on the mobile app instead of just having the single or album artwork) is opening up to more users via the Spotify for Artists tool. Music Ally first spotted the feature at the start of last year – back when it didn’t even have an official […]
The post Spotify makes Canvas less blank appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Ticketing exchange Lyte announces a $15m funding round
Here’s a new buzzphrase for the live-music industry: ‘post-primary ticketing’. What’s that? According to ticketing firm Lyte, it’s “private label ticketing services offered to fans by the most iconic sports and entertainment brands… a platform that addresses the customer needs ignored by the traditional secondary market, and it does so in a way that is […]
The post Ticketing exchange Lyte announces a $15m funding round appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Music-for-gaming startup Five Vectors raises $1m funding round
A startup hoping to forge more links between the music and esports industries has raised a $1m seed funding round. The company is Five Vectors, and its business is focused around working with artists to create original music tracks, which can then be licensed to esports teams and organisations. The company was co-founded by former Universal Music Central […]
The post Music-for-gaming startup Five Vectors raises $1m funding round appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Blockchain streaming service Audius under scrutiny already
Music Ally reported on the launch of decentralised streaming service Audius in September, and wondered whether its “censorship-resistant” features (or as one report put it, ‘anti-takedown) might cause problems if people started uploading copyrighted music. A few weeks on, and other journalists are asking the same question. The Verge goes in strong, describing Audius as “a […]
The post Blockchain streaming service Audius under scrutiny already appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sound Diplomacy publishes latest report on ‘future cities’ and music
Financial-services firm Legal & General isn’t a company we write about much for Music Ally, so why today? No, it’s not diversifying into AR-music livestreamed holograms on the blockchain. Not yet, anyway. Instead, Legal & General is the commissioner of the latest report from music consultancy Sound Diplomacy, which is arguing the case once again […]
The post Sound Diplomacy publishes latest report on ‘future cities’ and music appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Blizzard under fire over ban for esports player’s Hong Kong comments
Games firm Blizzard is attracting criticism for its decision to fine and ban an esports player who expressed support for the current pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong during a post-match interview. Chung Ng Wai was a competitor in an esports tournament for Blizzard’s game Hearthstone, and the publisher (which also runs the event) quickly stripped him of […]
The post Blizzard under fire over ban for esports player’s Hong Kong comments appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Troy Carter to deliver closing keynote for NY:LON Connect
The final keynote for NY:LON Connect, the conference that Music Ally co-runs with the Music Business Association (Music Biz), has been announced. Troy Carter, founder and CEO of Q&A, will be delivering the closing keynote at the event in New York next January. He joins Spotify’s Cecilia Qvist, YouTube Music’s Sun Lee and Warner Music […]
The post Troy Carter to deliver closing keynote for NY:LON Connect appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Foals microsite tasks fans with saving content ‘before it’s lost’
2019 is a busy year for British band Foals: they’re releasing two albums: ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1’ came out in March, with ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2’ set to follow later this month. The new album has its own microsite now, with an interesting twist: new content will […]
The post Foals microsite tasks fans with saving content ‘before it’s lost’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Flighthouse now has 20m followers for its TikTok channel
Social brand Flighthouse has reached a new milestone with its TikTok channel: it now has more than 20 million followers. The company says that its recent growth has been fuelled by its decision to start producing its own original videos (rather than just reposting other people’s content), with the channel having added more than two million […]
The post Flighthouse now has 20m followers for its TikTok channel appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Even after Siri integration, Spotify jabs at Apple again
This week, Spotify launched an Apple TV app as well as integrating with Apple’s Siri voice assistant on iPhone, which you might think represented a rapprochement of sorts between the two companies, following their longstanding anti-competition disputes. You’d be wrong. Spotify has updated its ‘Time to Play Fair’ lobbying website’s timeline of “Apple’s behaviour” down the years, […]
The post Even after Siri integration, Spotify jabs at Apple again appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify launches its ‘Daily Drive’ playlist in Germany
Spotify launched its ‘Daily Drive’ playlist in the US in June. Aimed at commuters, it was the company’s first algo-personalised playlist to combine music and ‘short-form podcast news updates’, with the aim of offering a more radio-like experience. Now Spotify has launched ‘Daily Drive’ in Germany too. As in the US, it offers a combination of “your favourite […]
The post Spotify launches its ‘Daily Drive’ playlist in Germany appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Ashnikko has a TikTok-fuelled hit with her track ‘Stupid’
UK-based artist Ashnikko is having a moment in the spotlight with a track called ‘Stupid’. Featuring ‘Yung Baby Tate’, the song is currently perched in second spot in Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart, with 4.6m streams so far on that service. Its ‘official audio’ version on YouTube is about to cross 1m views, although an unofficial lyric-video uploaded […]
The post Ashnikko has a TikTok-fuelled hit with her track ‘Stupid’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Britney Spears rarities appear on Spotify as podcast episodes
“It’s Britney Bitch!” is all the blurb you get in the ‘About’ section of a new podcast that launched on Spotify on 7 October – all 89 episodes of it. And each episode lasts for less than five minutes… because they’re songs: demos, remixes and other rarities from Spears’ career. Oh, and there’s been no official announcement, […]
The post Britney Spears rarities appear on Spotify as podcast episodes appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Shazam financials reveal it added 78m users in 2018
Shazam reached 478 million annual active users in 2018, which is 78 million more than in the previous year. The company’s revenues fell by 23% to £31.4m last year, but it swung from a loss of £17.7m in 2017 to a profit of just under £124m in 2018. That’s the benefit of being bought by a global tech giant like Apple, which completed its acquisition of Shazam in November 2018.
According to Shazam’s financial results for 2018, published through Companies House in the UK, the company recorded £157.7m of income from ‘the disposal of intangible benefits’ in 2018, with a note further on in the accounts specifying that £156.6m of that “relates to the proceeds from the sale of intellectual property net of the cost of disposal” with a further £1.1m relating to the value attributed to its workforce in the acquisition.
The post Shazam financials reveal it added 78m users in 2018 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Facebooksettlement
Si #Facebook nie toujours avoir cherché à dissimuler la dizaine d’erreurs de mesure dans l’audience de ses vidéos reconnues entre 2016 et 2017, la plateforme a néanmoins accepté de payer 40 millions de dollars à des annonceurs en dédommagement
Tina Tchen appointed as new president and CEO of Time’s Up
US advocacy group Time’s Up, which was set up to tackle sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace, has a new boss. Tina Tchen, the organisation’s new president and CEO, is already known to the music industry, too: since last March she’s been working as chair of the US Recording Academy’s task force for inclusion, having […]
The post Tina Tchen appointed as new president and CEO of Time’s Up appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Mark Ronson gets a feature-length documentary from YouTube
Hands up if you predicted that one of 2019’s more intriguing areas of competition in the music industry would be Netflix versus YouTube – in the field of original music documentaries. YouTube’s latest salvo in this battle is ‘How to Be: Mark Ronson’, a feature-length documentary set to drop on 12 October. It’s a blend […]
The post Mark Ronson gets a feature-length documentary from YouTube appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sonos is testing a subscription plan for its speakers
Fancy a Sonos speaker but aren’t sure about buying one? If you’re Dutch, you may be in luck. Well, if you’re one of 500 Dutch households chosen for the test of a new subscription plan called ‘Sonos Flex‘, you may be in luck. The Verge reports that the plan has several tiers: €15 a month […]
The post Sonos is testing a subscription plan for its speakers appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify finally gets an Apple TV app and Siri integration
Big news from Spotify’s drive to be on as many devices as possible: it’s now available on… Armani smartwatches! Okay, that’s not *the* big news from Spotify’s drive. Yesterday saw the company finally integrate with Apple’s Siri voice assistant, meaning that Spotify listeners can now use ‘Hey Siri…’ commands to use the app – if their iPhone […]
The post Spotify finally gets an Apple TV app and Siri integration appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Entertainment bundles are coming: the question is the terms
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Apple wants to launch a new model of paying for music, and major labels are ‘wary’ of the implications. No, you haven’t time-travelled back to the early 2000s and the negotiations ahead of the launch of the iTunes Store, album-unbundling included. What’s causing the wariness in 2019 […]
The post Entertainment bundles are coming: the question is the terms appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Entries now open for Sandbox’s Campaigns of the Year 2019
It’s that time again: Music Ally is starting work on our end-of-year ‘Sandbox Campaigns of the Year’ report, showcasing the best digital music-marketing campaigns of 2019. We’re inviting labels, management companies, marketing agencies and artists to submit details of the campaigns they’ve been most proud of this year, on a creative and/or commercial level. Here’s […]
The post Entries now open for Sandbox’s Campaigns of the Year 2019 appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify says ‘global cultures’ initiative is growing, not stagnating
Spotify has been facing some questions about what’s happening with the ‘global cultures initiative’ that it announced in September 2018, promising that it “promotes and advances culturally diverse music, surfacing hits from different countries around the world and spotlighting popular songs that cross cultures”. Head of global cultures Rocio Guerrero, who launched the initiative, has since left […]
The post Spotify says ‘global cultures’ initiative is growing, not stagnating appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
US congress quizzes Spotify over Apple antitrust complaints
Things had gone a bit quiet in Spotify’s anti-competition battle with Apple: we’re still waiting for official word from the European Commission on any plans for a formal investigation into Apple’s stewardship of its App Store and devices, following Spotify’s complaint in March and Apple’s response in June. Now attention is quickly shifting across the Atlantic, to the […]
The post US congress quizzes Spotify over Apple antitrust complaints appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Google tipped to buy TikTok-ish social app Firework
Another story for the soon-to-be-bulging file of ‘TikTok killers’ – most of which will turn out to be anything but. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google “has held discussions” about acquiring a startup called Firework, whose smartphone app is like TikTok, but with a 30-second limit (rather than 15) for videos, and an older demographic. […]
The post Google tipped to buy TikTok-ish social app Firework appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Michael Stipe skips big music platforms for debut solo single
REM’s Michael Stipe released his debut solo single this weekend, but you won’t find ‘Your Capricious Soul’ on any of the major streaming or download services yet. For now, the track is exclusively available from Stipe’s own website as a $0.77 download, although fans can choose to set their own price as a donation, not to Stipe, […]
The post Michael Stipe skips big music platforms for debut solo single appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Cardioid app offers context for Spotify’s algo-personalised playlists
In March this year, Music Ally wrote about a new music app called Crush, which aimed to bring together Spotify with artists’ own social-media feeds, to help listeners find out more about the musicians they were listening to – while listening. Seven months on, Crush is relaunching today with a new name, Cardioid, and a revamped iPhone app. […]
The post Cardioid app offers context for Spotify’s algo-personalised playlists appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
TikTok explains why it won’t allow political advertising
Next year’s US presidential election promises to be a bumper pay-day for ad-supported digital services of all kinds, music included. Certainly Pandora and Spotify will be angling for the audio budgets of the candidates and the activist groups supporting them in the US. TikTok? Not so much. Well, not at all, in fact. “We have […]
The post TikTok explains why it won’t allow political advertising appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Instagram’s Threads is a new ‘camera-first messaging app’
The history of Facebook going into battle against Snapchat using its Instagram subsidiary is well established now: for example the moment when Instagram nabbed Snapchat’s ‘stories’ feature in 2016. Now a new front in the battle has been opened up, with a standalone app launched by Facebook called Threads from Instagram, which rolled out globally yesterday. […]
The post Instagram’s Threads is a new ‘camera-first messaging app’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Nick Cave uses YouTube Premieres to debut entire album
What were you doing last night? Music Ally was listening to the premiere of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ new album ‘Ghosteen’ with more than 19,300 other people… on YouTube. The band made use of YouTube’s ‘Premieres’ feature, but instead of using it to debut a single track/video, they premiered their entire album – using lyric […]
The post Nick Cave uses YouTube Premieres to debut entire album appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
UK music industry issues touring warning over ‘no deal’ Brexit
We try not to get too political here at Music Ally, given our broad church of readers, but at the time of writing the prospect of a ‘no deal’ Brexit with the UK crashing out of the European Union at the end of October looks more likely than ever. That prospect is seriously worrying the British […]
The post UK music industry issues touring warning over ‘no deal’ Brexit appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
JioSaavn says regional-language music is on the rise
In keeping with a trend playing out across audio-streaming services in India, regional language music has emerged one of the biggest drivers of growth for JioSaavn, the platform announced in a press release this week. With over two billion streams between January and September 2019, Punjabi is now the second-most played language on JioSaavn, ahead […]
The post JioSaavn says regional-language music is on the rise appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Amazon launches Echo smart-speakers and Alexa in Brazil
In September, Amazon launched its Prime membership program in Brazil, including its music-streaming services. Less than a month later, that launch has been followed by the debut of Amazon’s Echo smart speakers in Brazil, along with the Alexa voice-assistant’s new ability to speak and understand Brazilian Portugese language. “Customers across Brazil will be able to ask for […]
The post Amazon launches Echo smart-speakers and Alexa in Brazil appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Music metadata expands with DDEX’s new MEAD standard
Music-metadata standards organisation DDEX is launching its latest standard: Media Enrichment and Description (or MEAD for short). It’s a significant expansion of the metadata that labels and distributors provide to digital services with their music, based on brainstorming sessions back in 2017 with the likes of Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, major labels, collecting societies and other interested […]
The post Music metadata expands with DDEX’s new MEAD standard appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
AI-music startup Endel launches a sleep-music Twitch channel
Endel made headlines earlier this year by announcing a distribution partnership with Warner Music Group to release albums created by its AI. Its music is thus now on various streaming services, although its AI-generated soundscapes can also be accessed through its smartphone app and Alexa skill. And now, through Amazon’s live-video service Twitch too. Endel […]
The post AI-music startup Endel launches a sleep-music Twitch channel appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify-developed tool used for Skygge’s AI-powered ‘American Folk Songs’ EP
There’s plenty of new music out today: Camila Cabello, Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber, Halsey, Travis Scott, K-Pop supergroup SuperM, Juice Wrld and Skygge are among the artists dropping new tracks.
Wait, Skygge? Who’s that? An avatar blending AI-powered music with a cappella recordings by legendary US folk singers like Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger and Horton Barker. Oh, and by the way, the tool used to create the music was developed with Spotify.
The ‘American Folk Songs’ EP is the work of French musician and producer Benoit Carré, who created Skygge as his avatar alias for experiments with AI-generated music.
In 2018, he released an album called ‘Hello World’ using the Flow Machines tools created by Sony CSL in Paris, which was itself a follow-up to the 2016 project where Carré collaborated with the Flow Machines AI on a pair of songs: the Beatles-influenced ‘Daddy’s Car’ and the Great American Songbook-inspired ‘Mr Shadow’.
The post Spotify-developed tool used for Skygge’s AI-powered ‘American Folk Songs’ EP appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Transgressive Records at 15: ‘Sometimes great things take time…’
On paper, 2004 was one of the worst years in living memory to set up a record label. The decade-and-a-half decline in recorded-music revenues was well underway, with CD sales falling off a cliff. And the main lifeline in sight, Apple’s iTunes Store, was unbundling the traditional album. Optimism was in short supply.
And yet: Transgressive Records was founded in London in 2004. From the start, it was a curious blend of analogue and digital, and the tension between the two was arguably what made the company stand out. Co-founders
Transgressive Records was founded in London in 2004. Co-founders Tim Dellow and Toby L met at a Bloc Party concert, with Tim’s Trash Aesthetics label having put out their debut single, which Toby had given a five-star review on the Rock Feedback site that he ran.
The post Transgressive Records at 15: ‘Sometimes great things take time…’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Sandbox Issue 237: VIEWTUBE. When Music Video Plays Get Juiced
Lead: Sony Music India artist Badshah claimed to have broken the 24-hour record on YouTube for 75m plays of his track ‘Paagal’ in July. Then people started asking questions. It eventually emerged that the track’s success had been boosted by TrueView ads before and during other YouTube videos, all of which counted toward the opening […]
The post Sandbox Issue 237: VIEWTUBE. When Music Video Plays Get Juiced appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
BPI to hold event exploring intersection of music and esports
The crossover between music and esports is something Music Ally has been interested in for some time now. British music-industry body the BPI is too: it’s holding an event to explore the topic on 24 October in London. Hosted with Media Insight Consulting’s Chris Carey, the event will explain how the esports industry makes its […]
The post BPI to hold event exploring intersection of music and esports appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
What the ‘Paagal’ YouTube controversy means for music marketing
Back in July, Sony Music India claimed that its artist Badshah had broken the record for most first-24-hour streams for a music video on YouTube. However, his 75m-views milestone was called into question when it emerged that the label had boosted those views with advertisements. YouTube has since changed its calculations for charts and 24-hour-debut […]
The post What the ‘Paagal’ YouTube controversy means for music marketing appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Facetune-maker Lightricks launches social apps for businesses
Facetune is a popular app among young people who want to digitally tweak their selfies before sharing them with the world. Its developer, a company called Lightricks, is now expanding into apps for businesses wanting to give their own social profiles a boost (albeit not quite in the same way as Facetune). The company has launched […]
The post Facetune-maker Lightricks launches social apps for businesses appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
RIAA targets Telegram in latest ‘notorious markets’ piracy list
US music-industry body the RIAA has submitted its latest list of sites and apps raising piracy concerns, for consideration for the next ‘notorious markets’ list produced by the US Trade Representative. Some familiar names are included from the stream-ripping and MP3-download areas, but there’s also a new villain in the RIAA’s view: messaging app Telegram. […]
The post RIAA targets Telegram in latest ‘notorious markets’ piracy list appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
YouTuber Shane Dawson sparks 800k streams for Catie Turner track
Singer/songwriter Catie Turner’s song ‘Prom Queen’ is finding an audience on Spotify. Since its release earlier this year, the track has been streamed nearly 1.3m times on Spotify, while a live acoustic video has been watched more than 700k times on YouTube. What’s interesting is that a lot of this buzz has come in the last week, […]
The post YouTuber Shane Dawson sparks 800k streams for Catie Turner track appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify opens a studio in Brazil for female artists only
Spotify has opened a new recording studio in São Paulo, Brazil, with a very specific focus: women. It’s called Casa de Música – Escuta as Minas (translation: House of Music – Listen to Women) and has already been used by artists including Bibi Caetano, The Mönic, Souto MC, and Luana Marques. Here’s how Spotify described the new […]
The post Spotify opens a studio in Brazil for female artists only appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Analysts have opinions on Spotify’s declining share price
Here’s a bracing headline for Spotify and its partners within the music industry, from financial-news website Barron’s: “Spotify Stock Has Dropped So Much, Two Analysts Ditched Their Sell Ratings”. The story is paywalled, but appears to focus on recent announcements by analyst firms Evercore and Credit Suisse. The former upgraded its rating of Spotify from […]
The post Analysts have opinions on Spotify’s declining share price appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Now YouTube Music has some new algo-personalised playlists
More evidence of the commoditisation of certain types of music personalisation: YouTube Music has officially announced three new algo-personalised playlists. One we knew about: ‘Discover Mix’, which appeared in September and was quietly mentioned in YouTube’s launch publicity for YouTube Music’s launch in India. The other two are ‘New Release Mix’ and ‘Your Mix’. As the name […]
The post Now YouTube Music has some new algo-personalised playlists appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify’s family plan launches in India for $2.50 a month
When Spotify launched in India earlier this year, its family plan wasn’t part of the offering. Now it is. The plan launched yesterday for INR 179 a month (around $2.50) covering up to six people in a household as in other markets. “Spotify’s Premium Family plan has been loved across markets, and we know that […]
The post Spotify’s family plan launches in India for $2.50 a month appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Mark Zuckerberg on TikTok competition: ‘This is a real thing’
Leaked audio from an internal Facebook meeting where CEO Mark Zuckerberg answered questions from staff has been making headlines – mainly around his promise of a “fight” if politicians try to break his company up. But for Music Ally’s purposes, Zuckerberg’s comments on TikTok are also interesting. “TikTok… is really the first consumer internet product built […]
The post Mark Zuckerberg on TikTok competition: ‘This is a real thing’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Hozier launches ‘Cry Power’ podcast with Global Citizen
Hozier is the latest artist to launch his own podcast, ‘Cry Power‘ although in this case he has some heavyweight backing: from activism platform Global Citizen. That’s a guide to the show’s content: “The podcast series will see Hozier speak with musicians, artists, writers, campaigners about how to take action and change the world,” according […]
The post Hozier launches ‘Cry Power’ podcast with Global Citizen appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Spotify’s ‘Dissect’ podcast returns with Kendrick Lamar focus
Spotify has launched the fifth season of its music-focused podcast ‘Dissect’, which focuses on a single album every series. It has previously covered albums by Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Lauryn Hill and Tyler, the Creator (Lauryn Hill’s was a ‘special mini-series’, by the way, which is why the new season is the fifth […]
The post Spotify’s ‘Dissect’ podcast returns with Kendrick Lamar focus appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Kanye West ‘Yandhi’ ringtones quickly removed from iTunes
This time last year, Kanye West was working on a new album project called ‘Yandhi’, although it has since been renamed ‘Jesus is King’. This summer, some of the demos from the project leaked. Now, someone appears to have been putting those leaks to nefarious use, although not through the recently-seen tactic of uploading them to […]
The post Kanye West ‘Yandhi’ ringtones quickly removed from iTunes appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Fan-funding startup Corite launches in beta with five artists
Music Ally reported on Swedish startup Corite in August. It was a new fan-funding platform founded by former UMG execs Mattias Tengblad and Emil Angervall, offering distribution to artists but also the option for fans to invest in their music, and take a share of royalties. Today, Corite is launching in ‘beta mode’ with five Swedish artists: Albin Johnsén, […]
The post Fan-funding startup Corite launches in beta with five artists appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Apple Music UK launches a Black History Month ‘superroom’
In the UK, October is ‘Black History Month’, a celebration of the contributions made by black Britons down the years. Apple is celebrating the month too with what it’s describing as a ‘superroom’ on Apple Music. It includes guest playlists from black British artists including Beverley Knight, Slick Rick, Jorja Smith, Craig David, Mabel and Wretch […]
The post Apple Music UK launches a Black History Month ‘superroom’ appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
Pandora ramps up personalisation features in its mobile app
It might sound strange to see a streaming service making a big announcement about ‘personalisation and discovery’, given how core (and, some argue, commoditised) these features are in the current music-streaming landscape. Well, perhaps not ‘commoditised’ as such, but every service now has its personalised playlists, its home-screen recommendations and so on. It’s what listeners […]
The post Pandora ramps up personalisation features in its mobile app appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally
VR/AR startup Jaunt sells its software and tech to Verizon
Jaunt was one of the first virtual-reality content startups to make waves in the modern VR-headset era, including with music. We first wrote about the company in November 2014, for example, when Jaunt worked with Sir Paul McCartney on a VR video of a live performance of ‘Live and Let Die’, released through its own […]
The post VR/AR startup Jaunt sells its software and tech to Verizon appeared first on Music Ally.
Source: Music ally