Spotify
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Hip-Hop Wired Presents: CRT FRSH [Certified Fresh] Playlist 11.25.22
Source: ljubaphoto / Getty What up, Hip-Hop Wired Nation? We’re back on our biweekly schedule with CRT FRSH AKA Certified Fresh! Part of our duty as a publication and crew is to school the masses on who is doing what musically and there’s no better way to do that beyond our CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) bi-weekly playlist. Disclaimer: The CRT FRSH playlist is a labor of love. We don’t take payments nor do we do favors. We only add joints to our playlist that fit the theme and vision we’re going for and don’t seek to waste the time of the listener. Further, we don’t stick to one lane of Hip-Hop. We believe that all aspects of the music should get some light, whether it’s young lions in the trenches or those hoping for that one shot to blow up to grizzled veterans puffing out their chests with ...
Hip-Hop Wired Presents: CRT FRSH [Certified Fresh] Playlist 11.25.22
Source: ljubaphoto / Getty What up, Hip-Hop Wired Nation? We’re back on our biweekly schedule with CRT FRSH AKA Certified Fresh! Part of our duty as a publication and crew is to school the masses on who is doing what musically and there’s no better way to do that beyond our CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) bi-weekly playlist. Disclaimer: The CRT FRSH playlist is a labor of love. We don’t take payments nor do we do favors. We only add joints to our playlist that fit the theme and vision we’re going for and don’t seek to waste the time of the listener. Further, we don’t stick to one lane of Hip-Hop. We believe that all aspects of the music should get some light, whether it’s young lions in the trenches or those hoping for that one shot to blow up to grizzled veterans puffing out their chests with ...
![Neil Young on Spotify: “Why Would I Keep [Music] on There When It Sounds Like a Pixilated Movie?”](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/neil-young-on-spotify-why-would-i-keep-music-on-there-when-it-sounds-like-a-pixilated-movie-1050x600.jpg)
![Neil Young on Spotify: “Why Would I Keep [Music] on There When It Sounds Like a Pixilated Movie?”](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/neil-young-on-spotify-why-would-i-keep-music-on-there-when-it-sounds-like-a-pixilated-movie-80x80.jpg)
Neil Young on Spotify: “Why Would I Keep [Music] on There When It Sounds Like a Pixilated Movie?”
Neil Young has no regrets after pulling his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation, saying on The Howard Stern Show, “Why would I keep it on there when it sounds like a pixilated movie?” Via Billboard, Young also gave more details on his battle with the big green circle earlier this year, and how he arrived at his decision. “I woke up one morning and I heard somebody saying there was some scientists saying something about COVID, or some doctors and they were saying something about COVID and how many people were dying in hospitals and misinformation,” Young said. “And I listened to it and they were saying he purposely is saying this stuff that he knows isn’t true about COVID and people were dying,” he said of Rogan’s decision to platform vaccine falsehoods. “I ju...
The Ledger: How Much More Revenue Can Streaming Price Hikes Bring?
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. Apple Music’s recent subscription price increase and a likely forthcoming price hike by Spotify would provide a boost to U.S. and global music revenues and likewise impact catalog valuations. Higher prices for Apple Music and Spotify’s individual plan could be worth hundreds of millions in additional subscription revenue annually in the U.S. Incremental revenues resulting from these price increases have the potential to reach roughly $650 million a year for streaming services. That assumes 7% growth in subscribers in 2023, no additional churn, a full year of higher prices and higher prices for both self-paid and p...
The Ledger: Music Subscription Prices Barely Budged for a Decade. That’s Quickly Changing
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. Apple Music may have opened the floodgates on Monday when it announced that it will raise prices on its Apple Music subscription service, as well as its Apple TV+ streaming video on-demand service and its Apple One bundle of services (which includes Apple Music). Apple wasn’t the first music streaming company to broadly raise prices. Deezer started raising prices in France in January. In May, Amazon hiked prices for Prime members for Amazon Music Unlimited from $7.99 to $8.99 (or $79 to $89 if paid annually) and for the single-device plan (for Amazon’s Echo and Fire TV devices) from $3.99 to $4.99 per month. And ...
Spotify Considers First U.S. Price Increase for Individual Premium Plans In 2023
Inflation has been at a 40-year high for most of 2022, and so far seemingly nothing has been safe from price hikes, save for Costco hotdogs and your Spotify subscription. Unfortunately, in the case of Spotify, the days of the individual benchmark $9.99/month plan for U.S. customers may soon be a thing of the past. The subject of a price increase has been a topic of frequent speculation in years past, but on Tuesday’s earnings call the streaming giant gave the first clear indication they are seriously considering one in 2023. Spotify’s individual plans have remained $9.99/month since the company first launched them in the U.S. in 2011. Speaking with analysts, CEO Daniel Ek said raising prices “is one of the things we would like to do and it’s something we will [discuss] wi...
Apple Music’s Price Hike Boosts Music Stocks
Universal Music Group, Hipgnosis Songs Fund and other music stocks got a much-needed boost on Tuesday (Oct. 25) following news of Apple Music’s price hike, as investors bet it would trigger a wave of streaming subscription cost increases. Universal Music Group’s stock closed 11.6% higher, Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd ended up 7.8% and Korean music companies SM Entertainment and HYBE finished the trading day 4.8% and 4.4% higher, respectfully, on Tuesday. On Monday, Apple announced that it was raising the standard U.S. and U.K. individual plan price to $10.99 from $9.99. This 10% price hike — Apple’s first — comes amid high inflation and a darkening economic environment in many global markets. If Apple can raise prices at a time like this, that is a sign the music industry can charge more ...
Spotify Launches ‘Your Wrapped Soundcheck’ For Artists to Connect With Top Fans
This year, Spotify is making the streamer’s annual year-end Wrapped campaign more artist-friendly. Called Your Wrapped Soundcheck, the new feature, available via Spotify for Artists, will allow artists to upload videos thanking their biggest fans for a great year on Spotify, list their latest merch and ensure tickets for their upcoming shows are available on the platform. These videos and offers will then be promoted to top fans as a part of their Wrapped experience. By uploading short, video messages of 30 seconds or less to their Spotify for Artists profiles, artists can let fans know what their support meant to them over the past year, tease what they’re working on next and/or tell a story that defined their year. Artists are encouraged to list merch on Shopify (the e-commerce gian...
The Ledger: What to Expect From Next Week’s Q3 2022 Earnings Calls
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. Music companies face a multitude of pressures as 2022 comes to an end: crippling inflation, a tight labor market, a chaotic environment for breaking new artists, interest rates that are dampening catalog valuations, and high costs of touring amidst a crush of artists on the road, among other challenges. The upcoming slate of corporate earnings provides an opportunity to hear about these opportunities and challenges from leaders of publicly traded music companies who rarely go on the record. Spotify reports third-quarter earnings after the close of trading on Tuesday (Oct. 25). Universal Music Group and Deez...
TikTok Sets Sights On Spotify, Makes Moves On Native Music Streaming Service
It looks like a new streaming platform is moving into town. It’s called TikTok Music and it will be a place for users to buy, play, share and download music, as well as livestream audio and video just like they do on the TikTok app, according to Music Business Worldwide. Sources say TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has big plans for TikTok Music, which is said to directly compete with Spotify, Apple Music and other major streaming platforms. Earlier this month, MBW uncovered a patent filing and job listings posted by ByteDance for A&R positions across North America, suggesting the company might actually be structuring TikTok Music more like a bona fide record label. Back in February, TikTok Music also began tweeting the phrase, “Welcome to a new...
The Ledger: How Streaming Platforms Are Looking Beyond Music to Boost Their Margins
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. The 2004 documentary Super Size Me took a humorous look at the health consequences of fast-food restaurants’ practice of up-selling customers to higher-priced, larger-portioned items – a super-sized cup of Coca-Cola rather than a large, for example. To the customer, up-selling looked like a good deal: the additional soda or food cost only a few cents more. For restaurants, the tactic padded margins because the difference in price dwarfed the cost of goods. Super Size Me comes to mind when looking at music subscription services and their quest to improve their margins. Those services have the equivalent of a super...
