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Can YouTube Catch Spotify to Become Music’s Top Royalty Stream?
Spotify is the king of music streaming — but its lead is dwindling. YouTube generated over $6 billion to the music industry in the 12 months ended June 2022, the company announced Tuesday (Sept. 13). That was a 50% increase from the last figure YouTube reported, $4 billion over a 12-month period, in June 2020. Reaching the $6 billion milestone raises the question of when — if at all — YouTube might surpass Spotify in terms of value to rights holders and creators. “We want our twin engine of ads and subscriptions to be the #1 contributor of revenue to the industry by 2025,” wrote Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, in a blog post on Tuesday. That won’t be easy, but it isn’t impossible. Consider how fast YouTube has grown since Cohen joined the company from Warner Music Group (where ...
Hot CPI report puts a dent in Bitcoin and Ethereum rally, stocks also lose ground
Crypto and stock markets are feeling the pain after the Sept. 13 inflation report printed an unexpectedly hot figure that showed headline inflation rising by 0.1% month-over-month. Even with gas prices falling to multi-month lows and a cooling housing market, core inflation saw a 0.6% month-over-month bump and year-to-year inflation sits at 8.3%. This chart from @TheTerminal shows why this #CPI number is so disappointing. The contribution of energy has declined, as expected; but services inflation is now rising sharply. Not what the #FOMC will have wanted to see. pic.twitter.com/BsfwFsuyD5 — John Authers (@johnauthers) September 13, 2022 While market participants and investors had estimated the next Federal Reserve interest hike to be a hefty 0.75 basis points, many also subscribed to a lo...
New regulatory bill grants Uruguayan Central Bank control over the nation’s crypto industry
The Uruguayan government has introduced legislation to the parliament that accelerates the regulation of the crypto space in the country and establishes the central bank as the regulatory authority. Introduced on Sept 5, the bill strives to clarify the country’s regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets, stating that all companies that provide digital asset-related services, including initial coin offerings (ICOs) are under the supervision of the Superintendency of Financial Services (SSF), a central bank entity. Cryptocurrency exchanges, custody services and any financial services relating to these digital assets should also adhere to Anti-Money Laundering regulations and best practices. Additionally, the document defined four types of digital assets: stablecoins, governan...
NFT creator Doodles raises $54M in funding at $704M valuation
On Tuesday, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) collection Doodles announced that it had raised $54 million at a $704 million valuation in a funding round led by Seven Seven Six, with participation from 10T Holdings, Acrew Capital and FTX Ventures. As told by Doodles, the investment will allow it to scale its growth strategy and monetize its intellectual property globally through ventures in the music, culture and entertainment industries. Doodles is a collection of 10,000 NFTs co-founded by digital artist Burnt Toast and Web3 pioneers Evan Keast and Jordan Castro. Artistically, it is known for its colorful world and joyful cartoon character portraits of skeletons, cats, aliens, apes and mascots minted on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs in the collection are generated from hundreds of traits and hand-...
Bitcoin margin long-to-short ratio at Bitfinex reach the highest level ever
Sept. 12 will leave a mark that will probably stick for quite a while. Traders at Bitfinex exchange vastly reduced their leveraged bearish Bitcoin (BTC) bets and the absence of demand for shorts could have been caused by the expectation of cool inflation data. Bears may have lacked confidence, but August’s U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in higher than market expectations and they appear to be on the right side. The inflation index, which tracks a broad basket of goods and services, increased 8.3% over the previous year. More importantly, the energy prices component fell 5% in the same period but it was more than offset by increases in food and shelter costs. Soon after the worse-than-expected macroeconomic data was released, U.S. equity indices took a downturn, with the tech-he...
Music Industry Author-Activist Dorothy Carvello Tests Her Power As Shareholder With Letter to WMG
A lawyer for author, social activist, public relations consultant and former music industry A&R executive Dorothy Carvello has sent a letter to board members of the Warner Music Group requesting records relating to the company’s investigations into previously-reported sexual misconduct claims and royalties accounting at the label, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Billboard. In the letter, which references several previously–reported allegations of misconduct against Warner executives, Carvello’s lawyer writes that Carvello has “concerns that WMG’s management is not doing enough to investigate and act upon allegations of sexual misconduct at the company, and not monitoring the distribution of artist royalties in a manner that ensures sound accounting and payment. Both issue...
Abu Dhabi regulator introduces its ‘guiding principles’ for crypto
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), the financial regulator of Abu Dhabi Global Market free economic zone (ADGM), published its “Guiding Principles” on its approach to digital asset regulation and supervision. Friendly in tone to the crypto industry, the principles pledge to comply with international standards in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) and supporting financial sanctions. Five principles were published without date specification on the official webpage of the ADGM. They go under the titles of Internationally Recognised Regulatory Framework, Dynamic and Market-Oriented Regulations, Risk-focused and Proportionate Approach, Cooperation and Shared Responsibility, Delivering High Standards of Quality & Service. Whil...
The challenges with building a reputation in Web3 — and how to solve them
Amazing things are being built in Web3 — often by pseudonymous individuals who prefer to keep their real-world identity private. In some ways, this is liberating. It means that anyone can have a chance to get involved in a project and deliver value to the community — irrespective of their background. But as decentralized identities proliferate, there’s one issue that cannot be ignored: Ensuring that there’s an easy way for us to verify the reputation of others. This matters… for many reasons. If you’re about to start using a DeFi project created by someone pseudonymous, you’d like a way to know that they’re trustworthy and dependable. If you’re reading an article that someone has written online, there should be a way of checking that their past works hav...
Bitcoin price sheds $1K in 3 minutes as US CPI inflation overshoots
Bitcoin (BTC) crashed below $22,000 instantly on Sep. 13 after United States inflation data failed to meet estimates. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView CPI print sparks major crypto rout Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD swiftly falling $1,000 after Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for August came in at 8.3% year-on-year. Consensus had agreed that 8.1% would be the latest figure, and the overshoot suggested that inflation was not slowing at the expected pace. US CPI for August YoY coming in above expectations at 8.3% (expected 8.1%) but lower than in July with 8.5%. MoM core CPI coming in hot at 0.6% twice as high as the expected 0.3%. Not what the Fed wants to see. So 75bps it is at the next meeting? — Jan Wüstenfel...
Collapse of Terra blockchain ecosystem forces talent migration
At the height of the 2022 bull market, the Terra ecosystem was booming with talent and innovation. The native token of the Terra blockchain had made its way to the top-10 cryptocurrencies by total market capitalization. Protocols were building the next iteration of a super cycle that seemed like it would never end. Terraform Labs created Terra amid the crypto market crash of 2018 and built it all through the bear market. The Terra ecosystem’s main appeal and claim for glory came from their offer of the best yields in decentralized finance (DeFi), with up to 20% yield on its stablecoin through the Anchor protocol. As of March 2022, Terra had a total of 73 projects built in the ecosystem. The ambition of the team was to onboard at least 87 more projects by the end of the year. Terra wa...
U.S. inflation falls for 2nd straight month on lower gas costs
The price of regular unleaded gas is advertised for just under $4 a gallon at a Woodman’s, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Menomonie Falls, Wis. | Morry Gash/AP Photo By Associated Press 09/13/2022 08:50 AM EDT Sharply lower prices for gas and cheaper used cars slowed U.S. inflation in August for a second straight month, though many other items rose in price, indicating that inflation remains a heavy burden for American households. Consumer prices surged 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier, the government said Tuesday. Though still painfully high, that was down from an 8.5% jump in July and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.1%, after a flat reading in July. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices jumped 0.6% fr...
Merge ‘jitters’ sees outflow from Ether-based investment products
Institutional investors may be wavering ahead of the Ethereum Merge, with Ether-based digital asset investment products seeing an outflow of $61.6 million, signaling concerns about the success of the upgrade. In its digital asset fund flows weekly report, fund manager CoinShares reported that Ether-based investment products made up for the majority of total outflows over the Sept. 5-11 week — leading to the market’s fifth consecutive week of outflows. Report author James Butterfill said the outflows have come “despite the improved certainty of the Merge,” which could highlight a concern amongst investors that the “event might not go as planned,” referring to the upcoming Ethereum Merge set for Sept. 15. This is despite the likelihood of a successful Merge improving over the last week...
