Streaming
SoundCloud Taps 9 Artists for ‘First on SoundCloud’ Accelerator Program
The campaigns will additionally entail introductory profiles by SoundCloud guest editor and music journalist Kiana Fitzgerald; original content such as artist interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks at their first photoshoots; features on the new “First on SoundCloud” playlist on the SoundCloud homepage; career development from SoundCloud’s music industry veterans and experts; and a live event that will bring together the selected artists with the SoundCloud community. Each of the artists will receive a further lift by having their participation in the accelerator announced by artists and tastemakers including D Smoke, Rico Nasty, creative photographer and designer Ciesay of Places + Faces and NBA star De’Aaron Fox. Since its inaugural edition in 2018, First on SoundClou...
SoundCloud Names Drew Wilson COO & CFO
In his new role, Wilson will oversee all of SoundCloud’s finance and operations, including workplace and people function. He’ll report directly to SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman, who was tapped to succeed Kerry Trainor in the role in December 2020. Wilson’s hire comes amid a host of recent changes at the streaming service, including the recent introduction of a “user-centric” royalty system for some of its artists, which pays out based on how many fans listen to their music as opposed to the number of times it gets streamed. That implementation, which is slated to coincide with Wilson’s first day on the job on April 1, will make SoundCloud the first major streaming platform to pivot away from the stream-based royalty payment system that has long been the standard among DSPs. So...
Spotify Launches “Loud & Clear” Initiative Aimed At Increasing Transparency
A new data-driven initiative from Spotify called Loud & Clear aims to provide increased transparency around the economics of streaming. “Questions and concerns about artist income from streaming have been around for over a decade, and in many ways, we feel we’ve been too quiet on the topic,” the streaming site reads. “Our aim with this site is to provide a valuable foundation for a constructive conversation.” The new initiative tackles both the macro- and micro-economic picture, starting first by broadly informing readers on the impact of streaming to the music industry as a whole, and then breaking down the mechanics and stakeholders within Spotify’s business model. In many ways, Loud & Clear reads like a direct rebuttal to music rights holder organiz...
Apple Music Expands ‘Up Next’ Spotlight Program, Reveals New Class of Featured Artists
The artists to be featured at launch are: Peach PRC (Australia/New Zealand), Pressa (Canada), Noé Preszow (France), Lune (Germany), Prabh Deep (India), Dongurizu (Japan), Nicki Nicole (Latin America), prosto Lera (Russia), Blxckie (South Africa), Baby Queen (UK) and Morray (U.S.). Each of the chosen artists, who are handpicked by Apple Music editors from across the globe, will be featured across Apple Music’s new localized, genre-agnostic Up Next playlist. Since launch, Up Next has featured a host of then-emerging artists who have since gone on to greater fame, including 6lack, H.E.R., Greta Van Fleet, Khalid, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, Juice WRLD, Summer Walker, Megan Thee Stallion, Burna Boy and Conan Gray, among many others. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates O...
Puscifer to Perform Money Shot in Its Entirety for Upcoming Livestream Concert
Puscifer have announced their second livestream event, dubbed “Billy D and the Hall of Feathered Serpents Featuring Money Shot by Puscifer”. The virtual concert goes live on April 17th at 5 p.m. ET and will be available for on-demand viewing. As the name implies, Puscifer will be performing 2015’s Money Shot in its entirety, reviving the Lucha Libre wrestling themed performances of that album cycle. And like the band’s previous cinematic livestream, the upcoming show promises eye-popping costumes and set pieces, with Puscifer performing at the historic Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. “In this prequel to his alleged abduction during Existential Reckoning, we find Billy D trudging through what has been referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of the Southwest,” singer Maynard James Keenan explained...
UMG Signs Expanded Licensing Deal with African Streaming Service Boomplay
Under the deal, UMG content will now be available via Boomplay in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea- Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tchad, Togo and Zimbabwe. Markets covered under the 2018 agreement were Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. “Since our original deal with UMG, the African music industry has seen exponential growth and made huge strides towards being the next powerhouse that it should be,” said Boomplay dir...
International Creators Gather For ‘Justice at Spotify’ Protests
On Monday, the U.S.-based Union of Musicians and Allied Workers took a more hands-on approach when it led a worldwide demonstration on the doorsteps of Spotify offices. Among its demands, the Union is calling for a 1 cent per stream royalty rate, greater transparency from Spotify, and an end to lawsuits targeting artists. Artists and music industry professionals gathered in 31 cities, including 10 in the United States, under the banner of #JusticeAtSpotify. “Spotify has long mistreated music workers, but the pandemic has put the exploitation into stark relief,” comments UMAW organizer and artist Mary Regalado, Pitchfork reports. “The company has tripled in value during the pandemic, while failing to increase its payment rates to artists by even a fraction of a penny. Musicians all over the...
Korn to Stream Concert from Set of Stranger Things: Drive-Into Experience
Korn have announced a livestream performance, dubbed “Korn: Monumental”, that will see the band performing from within the setting of Stranger Things: The Drive-Into Experience in Los Angeles. The concert goes live globally on April 24th. The virtual show is Korn’s first livestream event. To celebrate the occasion, they’ll be playing rare deep cuts and select tracks from 2019’s The Nothing for the first time ever, as the band was unable to properly tour in support of its most recent album due the pandemic. “We hope you take part in this experience with us,” frontman Jonathan Davis said in a press release. “And though it is not the same as performing live with you here, we still want to bring you some great music and a fun show.” Korn will be performing amidst scenes from the popular Netfli...
Amazon Music Launches In-App Merch Integration, Exclusive Artist Collections
“Bringing all this into the app in a fairly seamless way with Prime shipping, we think it’s going to really help drive sales,” says Sean McMullan, director of artist product and services at Amazon Music. He adds, “We think that bringing merch in is one way to really enhance that artist-fan connection and make it a more compelling experience. We’ll continue to experiment with lots of different ways to get it in front of customers in the right way.” When asked about Amazon’s share of merchandise sales on the platform, McMullen wouldn’t disclose terms, saying simply that the percentage of revenue splits “varies” from artist to artist. Along with the announcement, Amazon Music will debut exclusive merchandise collections from several artists. These include a new a...
Courtney Barnett Launches Online Archive For Concerts, Rare Recordings & More
The project was initially visualized as a nod to the online archives of Neil Young and The Grateful Dead, a portal to experience Barnett’s gigs at a time when touring was called off. But as the pandemic dragged on, the initiative developed into much more. Barnett spread her wings with her debut 2015 album LP Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, which cracked the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, won the Australian Music Prize and Triple J’s prestigious J award for album of the year, and snagged a slew of APRA, ARIA and AIR Awards. The indie star was also nominated for the best new artist at the Grammy Awards, losing out to Meghan Trainor. A collaborative album with Kurt Vile, 2017s Lotta Sea Lice, was a critical and commercial success. Barnett’s solo sophomore alb...
Verzuz Founders Swizz Beatz & Timbaland Talk Triller Partnership: ‘This Puts a Light Back on Creatives’
The ultimate payoff, says Swizz Beatz, is “hearing everybody being so floored about having shares in the company and feeling like they belong. That’s the real currency. It’s going to take the creative to save the creative.” What initially attracted you to Triller? Swizz Beatz: The whole time that Tim and I were building this platform, we didn’t really have any plans from a monetization or even a business side. We never even built out the technology for it. It was more about wanting to do this from a celebration, educational side; to give people some life, love and happiness during these hard times with COVID-19. Then as the platform started growing it turned into a business with sponsors coming in and offers from people wanting to buy ownership in the company once w...
Billy Strings Run At Capitol Theatre Brings Together Streaming Era’s Two Powerhouses
Shapiro tells Billboard that the Capitol Theatre and the Brooklyn Bowl were outfitted with a multi-camera streaming system years earlier to stream shows with partners like Nugs, while the Brooklyn Bowl outlet in Nashville, which opened last year, was purpose-built for streaming. The Capitol Theatre includes a control room from which director Jonathan Healy was able to live-direct eight cameras capturing the show, while fans from home were projection-mapped onto the walls of the 95-year-old-venue. Couple that with Relix Media, which Shapiro owns and which has been a critical support vehicle for building Strings’ profile with jam fans, as well as as well as the huge email lists he’s built from both his venues and the popular Lock’N festival which help market Strings to a wider audience...
