Digital and Mobile
Inside Pollen, the Mysterious Hit Spotify Playlist Where No Rules Apply
In mid-2018, a team of Spotify employees were preparing a new, genre-less playlist — one of the first of its kind for the streaming service, which was shaking up the industry with its hit-making hip-hop playlist RapCaviar. But they couldn’t decide on a title and cover design that would encompass the playlist’s eclectic sound without putting a box around it. “It was an eight-month saga,” Spotify North America team lead of music culture & editorial John Stein now remembers with a chuckle — until Spotify then-creative director Cecilia Azcarate began playing around with intricate, anatomical drawings of the insides of flowers. “The word ‘pollen’ was thrown around, and we all liked how symmetrical it felt,” Stein says. “There’s a c...
Oh, Snap: Snapchat Owner Lands Music Licensing Deals to Bring Songs to Posts
Snap, Inc. has secured licensing deals with several major music companies to incorporate music into posts on its photo- and video-sharing app Snapchat, the company confirmed today (Aug. 3). Snapchat users will soon be able to add music to their posts both pre- and post-capture, from a catalogue including music licensed from Warner Music Group and its publishing arm, Warner Chappell; Universal Music Publishing Group, members of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and indie digital rights agency Merlin. The new feature is now testing in New Zealand and Australia, as Bloomberg first reported, and will reach global users this fall. “We’re constantly building on our relationships within the music industry, and making sure the entire music ecosystem (artists, labels, songwrite...
Microsoft Exploring TikTok Acquisition
Microsoft said Sunday (Aug. 2) that it would continue to explore an acquisition of TikTok after discussing the matter with President Donald Trump. The statement follows Trump’s Friday evening comments to reporters that he would take action as soon as Saturday to ban the app over national security concerns. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke to Trump over the weekend, the company disclosed. “Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns,” reads part of the company’s statement. “It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.” {“nid”:”9428152″,”type”:”...
Live Nation Gets Financial Breathing Room With Changes to Credit Agreement
Live Nation has secured financial breathing room by securing favorable changes to its debt covenants ahead of its second-quarter earnings release on Aug. 5. Although covenants are standard requirements meant to protect the lender from a default, and manageable under normal circumstances, they can be impossible to achieve when a pandemic has crippled many types of businesses, especially live entertainment. The latest example of music companies shoring up debt and credit to weather COVID-19, Live Nation’s covenant revisions provide “additional financial flexibility,” CEO Michael Rapino said in a July 31 press release. That’s an understatement. The new covenants represent pandemic-era mathematical formulas that are critical for a company greatly affected by government safety measures. Music v...
President Trump Says He Will Ban TikTok From U.S.
The president made the remark on Air Force One on Friday evening. President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday (Aug. 1) to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. Trump’s comments came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were also reports Friday that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy the app. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One as he returned from Florida. Trump said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order to enforce the action, insisting, “I have that authority.” Reports by Bloomberg News and the Wall...
AI-Driven Rights Management Agency Muserk Forms Joint Venture to Reduce Piracy of Japanese Content
Muserk, the AI tech-driven global rights management agency for music and video, has partnered with leading Japanese marketing and media research company Video Research on a new joint venture designed to cut down on piracy of Japanese content worldwide. Dubbed Muserk V.I.D., the venture “will service, manage and protect the online rights of the major broadcasters, networks, and production companies of Japan, around the world,” according to a release announcing the deal. Through the partnership with Muserk, Video Research – which provides marketing, media and TV audience research for leading media firms and advertisers in Japan – will utilize Muserk’s AI technologies, M-Match and M-PAC, to manage and protect its clients’ online video rights. Founded by CEO Paul Goldman – who will serve as CE...
Executive Turntable: TalentX Founder Named Triller Chief Strategy Officer, Radio Promo Vets Launch New Company
Social media star, entrepreneur and TalentX Entertainment co-founder Josh Richards has been named chief strategy officer at AI-driven music video and entertainment platform Triller, which he also invested in. In his new role, Richards will lead strategy at Triller while also overseeing the company’s implementation of live streaming and monetization tools. Triller, a rival to the wildly popular video-sharing platform TikTok, last year raised $28 million in a funding round led by Proxima Media last year, also drawing investors including Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne. In June, the platform — which currently has music licensing partnerships with Warner, Sony Music and UMG — hit 50 million monthly active users. “After seeing the US and other countries’ governments’ concerns over Tik...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Grilled at Big Tech Hearing About Being Unfair to Streamers
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might be the richest person in the world, but he’s also a rookie. Until Wednesday, he had never before been grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That changed today when top executives at the nation’s leading technology companies gathered — at least virtually — for testimony before a House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee. There, Bezos faced blistering questions about whether the e-commerce giant has abused its market power. “A lot of people want to know when the HBO Max app will be available on your Fire devices,” Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Bezos. “I understand negotiations are ongoing but your company is not only asking for financial terms but also for content from Warner Media…. Is it fair to use your gatekeepe...
TikTok Establishes $200M Fund to Pay Creators
“TikTok has grown to become a source of income and opportunity for creators and their families — and we couldn’t be more encouraged by their success.” Over the past two years, short-form video app TikTok has become a gold mine for talent: Popular creators like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae have turned their accounts into full-blown careers, signing with Hollywood’s biggest agencies and raking in money from record labels to promote songs. Now, TikTok is helping more creators make money on the platform with the introduction of its $200 million Creator Fund, which will “encourage those who dream of using their voices and creativity to spark inspirational careers,” TikTok U.S. general manager Vanessa Pappas wrote in a company blog pos...
The Deals: Little Simz Renews AWAL Recordings Contract, Licensing Service Lickd Strikes UMG Partnership
Mercury Prize-nominated rapper and songwriter Little Simz (a.k.a. Simbi Ajikawo) has renewed her partnership with AWAL Recordings, which provides a full range of services including global marketing and promotion, digital and physical distribution, campaign coordination, A&R support, synch licensing and brand partnerships. Little Simz garnered acclaim with her most recent album, GREY Area, which was released on her own label, Age 101, via AWAL. In addition to the Mercury Prize, she has been nominated for AIM and BET Awards; additionally, she won the Q Award for best vocal performance and the NME Award for best British album. She has toured with Gorillaz, Lauryn Hill and Anderson .Paak and also starred in the Channel 4 crime drama Top Boy, which currently airs on Netflix. Little Sim...
Twitch Users Are Getting Takedown Notices En Masse for the First Time: Here’s Why
A flurry of copyright takedown notices hit Twitch users last week, causing a storm on social media. Here’s what’s really going on and what to watch for next. Over the last week, users on gaming-focused livestream platform Twitch received a sudden flurry of takedown notices for clips of old videos using unlicensed background music. The more than 2,500 notices — which the RIAA filed on behalf of rights holders for recordings including Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” and DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean” — caused a storm on social media, with users complaining on Twitter they felt blindsided by the requests, some for clips dating as far back as 2017. Contrary to some users’ claims, Twitch’s Music Guidelines — which explicitly prohibit users from incorporating music into their streams wit...
What Place Will Virtual Tipping Have in the Post-Pandemic Music Industry?
In China, virtual tipping provides a widespread, legitimate revenue stream for artists. Some think the pandemic will help (finally) normalize the practice Stateside. Andy Bothwell, a Brooklyn-based artist who performs under the moniker Astronautalis, has an online hub that lists links to his music, social media accounts and merch site. But after the coronavirus pandemic cut off the touring income he relies on to pay his bills, he added two new links to the top of the list: His Cash App and Venmo accounts, allowing fans to send him money directly. “I’m curious to see if I keep it there,” he says. His decision is more than a curiosity. As the pandemic has shut down economies across the globe, many artists are asking fans directly for cash — and music companies like SoundCloud and Spoti...
