Streaming
Lewis Black Calls for Spotify to Remove His Content Until Comedy Licensing Dispute Is Resolved
Comedian Lewis Black is calling for Spotify to remove his content amid a licensing dispute between the streaming service and hundreds of comics. Black’s request comes in response to Spotify’s removal on Nov. 24 of numerous comedy recordings it offers, including work from major comedy stars like Mike Birbiglia, John Mulaney and Jeff Foxworthy. The streaming giant is currently battling with collection agencies Spoken Giants and Word Collections over whether comedians and spoken word artists should receive royalties for their underlying works, as well as their recordings. “I believe that the written words that go into making songs or comedy should be valued equally,” Black said in a statement to Billboard. “Comedy is an art form that starts on the page before it moves to the stage. Just as in...
Metallica to Stream 40th Anniversary Concerts on Prime Video and Amazon Music
Rejoice, metal fans! Metallica will be streaming their 40th anniversary concerts, taking place December 17th and 19th, via Prime Video and Amazon Music. As previously reported, the legendary thrash metal band will mark 40 years together with two shows at the Chase Center in San Francisco. The concerts are essentially sold out, although limited seats are popping up on Ticketmaster. However, fans all over the world will now be able to tune in to the historic gigs via Amazon’s streaming services. You can stream both performances from home devices or on mobile via Amazon Music, Amazon Music’s Twitch channel, and Prime Video (with or without Prime on-demand viewing Membership) beginning at 9 p.m. PT each night. The shows will then be available on-demand exclusively via The Coda Collection/Prime...
UK Streaming Reform Bill Put On Ice After House of Commons Debate
LONDON – The British government said Friday that it recognizes there is a problem around the low rates of pay some artists and performers receive from music streaming — and refused to rule out legislating change if the industry can’t work together to find its own solutions. “We want a fair streaming environment in which the U.K. music industry can thrive and artists are properly rewarded,” George Freeman, a Conservative government minister, said during a four-hour debate in the House of Commons over a bill that seeks to reform music streaming payouts. The Copyright (Rights and Remuneration of Musicians) Bill failed Friday to progress to the next stage of the legislative process as proceedings overran. That means the bill remains on the agenda of Private Members’ bills to be debated by MPs ...
Netease Cloud Village Stock Slips 2.5% Following Hong Kong IPO
Chinese music streaming company Cloud Village finally had its initial public stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday (Dec. 2) after postponing its plans in August amid a Chinese regulatory crackdown. Investors’ initial reaction was underwhelming as Cloud Village’s share price closed at 199.90 Hong Kong dollars ($25.66), about 2.5% below the 205.00 Hong Kong dollars ($26.31) IPO price. Tech giant Netease spun off the company, which runs NetEase Cloud Music, in an offering of 16 million shares — 7.7% of the outstanding shares — that raised 41.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($421 million). NetEase gained approval for the spin-off on Aug. 2 but delayed the listing indefinitely about a week later after Beijing’s tightening regulations brought attention to publicly traded Chinese...
UK Proposes Law Demanding Record Labels Pay Artists More for Streams
LONDON – The U.K. government has proposed a law requiring record companies to pay musicians and songwriters a bigger cut of revenue from music streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, a move that would bring streaming closer in line with radio and television broadcasts in the country. The Copyright (Rights and Remuneration of Musicians) Bill was published Wednesday (Nov. 24) and will be presented to Parliament on Dec. 3. The Bill would obligate record companies to pay performers ‘equitable remuneration’ when music is streamed. A similar statutory right already exists in the U.K. for TV and radio broadcasts, where performers receive 50% of the revenues distributed by the collecting society PPL, with the rest going to record labels and publishers. If a version of equitable remunera...
Lily James and Sebastian Stan Bring ‘Pam & Tommy’ to Life in First Hulu Series Trailer
Lily James and Sebastian Stan have come to life as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in the first trailer for Hulu’s highly anticipated limited series Pam & Tommy. Picked up to series in December, the eight-episode dramedy tracks the relationship between then-Baywatch star Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Lee, who married less than a week after they met in 1995. A sex tape they made during their honeymoon was stolen from their home and distributed online. Anderson and Lee sued the distributor, Internet Entertainment Group, and eventually reached a settlement under which the tape became public again. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The trailer follows first-look photos released in May of Stan and James in character as Pam and Tommy Lee that quic...
Apple Music Adds EDC Las Vegas 2021 DJ Sets
A month after EDC wrapped up its dazzling Las Vegas edition to celebrate the brand’s 25th anniversary, Apple Music has added a slew of the event’s unforgettable DJ sets to its platform. Fans can now listen to performances from Gammer, Vintage Culture, Moore Kismet, Zomboy, 3LAU, and many more electronic dance music stars. They can even tune into the audacious set from Lil Texas, who stripped down and hopped on the decks to perform naked. REZZ performs at EDC Las Vegas 2021. brphoto.co The momentous return of EDC Las Vegas marked arguably the year’s biggest music festival. Approximately 450,000 people attended the fest, which also featured an elaborate airshow with a fleet of over 600 drones. Recommended Articles Tickets for EDC Las Vegas 2022 are alre...
Tidal Launches Free Tier, Steps Into User-Centric Payments
Tidal is launching a free tier in the U.S. and is introducing a user-centric payment model for its premium subscription offerings, the company announced Wednesday (Nov. 16). The moves mark the first major shifts under its new parent company Square, which acquired Tidal earlier this year for $302 million. The streaming service now has three tiers for listeners to choose from: Tidal Free, which gives U.S.-based listeners free access to Tidal’s 80 million song catalog; Tidal HiFi, which offers high-fidelity audio and offline listening with a new feature called My Activity that will provide daily listening insights for listeners for $9.99 a month; and Tidal HiFi Plus, a $19.99 a month subscription that includes immersive sound options like Dolby Atmos Music and Sony 360 Audio and Master Qualit...
Streaming Is Reliable Revenue, So What’s Next for Warner Music and Other Labels?
In WMG’s earnings call on Monday, a word repeatedly came up when analysts probed for insights about the opportunities that await: metaverse. Thank Mark Zuckerberg for that. The term gained widespread attention since Facebook announced its name change its to Meta on Oct. 28 and detailed its plan to create a metaverse, a combination of augmented and virtual reality, where people interact with other users’ avatars in simulated worlds. Other tech titans share Facebook’s vision. Microsoft is also working on a metaverse for its Office products and Xbox gaming platform. Apple is reportedly working on a augmented reality glasses and “mixed reality,” a combination of AR and VR. WMG already has a metaverse play through a January investment in Roblox, a platform that hosts user-generated games. WMG a...
Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop Hits More Than a Few False Notes: Review
3,2,1, Let’s Jam: In a far-flung future where the solar system has been colonized and Earth has become uninhabitable, civilization has spread out into a new Wild West filled with grifters, terrorists, con men, and criminal syndicates. Among the rabble, there are a few intrepid souls who set out to collect the most dangerous bounties in the system… or at least scrounge up enough cash to keep their ship running. You might call them bounty hunters; they prefer cowboys. Two such cowboys are the crew of the run-down starship BeBop: Spike Spiegel (John Cho), a former Syndicate enforcer starting his life over, and Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), a divorced ex-cop trying to make ends meet and be a good dad to his daughter. But the more they try to run from their shadowy pasts, the more those past...
Taylor Swift Breaks Spotify Single-Day Streaming Records With ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’
Taylor Swift‘s re-recorded Red album has made Spotify history in its first day of release. Red (Taylor’s Version), Swift’s 30-track album that arrived on Nov. 12, is already breaking records on the streaming service: On its opening day it became the most-streamed album in a day by a female, with more than 90.8 million global streams, Spotify confirmed with Billboard. With this feat, Swift tops her previously held record with 2020’s Folklore, which in its first day saw 80.6 million streams. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and ...
Spotify to Acquire Audiobook Platform Findaway
“It is Spotify’s ambition to be the destination for all things audio both for listeners and creators,” Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s chief research and development officer, said in a statement. “The acquisition of Findaway will accelerate Spotify’s presence in the audiobook space and will help us more quickly meet that ambition.” Findaway will still be led by founder and CEO Mitch Kroll and remain headquartered in Ohio. Kroll will report to Spotify’s head of audiobooks, Nir Zicherman. “Together with Spotify we have the opportunity to innovate and democratize the audiobook ecosystem,” Kroll said. “We founded Findaway with the recognition of the power of the spoken word through audiobooks and the unique opportunity to empower storytellers and connect them with listeners. We look forward to co...
