Streaming
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...
Lzzy Hale and Members of Code Orange and Baroness Cover Pantera’s “Mouth for War”: Watch
Two Minutes to Late Night‘s “Bedroom Covers” quarantine series rolls on, and the latest socially distanced collab is an all-star rendition of the Pantera classic “Mouth for War”. Among the participants is Halestorm singer Lzzy Hale, Baroness guitarist Gina Gleason, and Code Orange guitarist/vocalist Reba Meyers. Rounding out the lineup is Year of the Knife’s Madi Watkins, drummer Ben Koller of Mutoid Man, along with “Two Minutes” host Gwarsenio Hall (aka Jordan Olds). Needless to say, it’s a star-studded ensemble, and they rip through the opening track from Pantera’s 1992 thrash masterpiece, Vulgar Display of Power. “Mouth for War” is one of Pantera’s most extreme songs both vocally and guitar-wise. The collection of talented musicians do Philip Anselmo and Dimebag Darrell justice in ...
SoundCloud Will Pay Independent Artists Based on Listeners, Not Streams
Effectively, if Taylor Swift gets 5% of all streams on Spotify in June, she and her label will get 5% of your monthly subscription fee, even if you never listened to one of her songs. But support has been swelling for a user-centric payment system, which would allow artists to get paid based on how many fans listen, instead of how many streams the artist accrues. Under SoundCloud’s “fan-powered” model, if a user paying $10 a month only listens to five artists, those five artists will get an equal split of that $10 — after SoundCloud takes its cut — no matter how many times the user listens to each of them. “Many in the...
Executive of the Week: Columbia Records Exec VP/Co-Head A&R Imran Majid
While buzz for “Calling My Phone” first began to simmer when the song was teased on TikTok, helping it vault into the top five of the Hot 100, Majid says the song’s success comes more from Columbia’s track record of artist development and trusting the A&R process. And Tjay, despite being just 19, is far from a brand new sensation, as his debut album, State of Emergency, reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 in 2019, while Polo-Tjay collaboration “Pop Out” climbed all the way to No. 11 on the Hot 100 that same year. But “Calling My Phone” is a singular moment for the Bronx-born MC and one that Majid says reflects on Columbia as a destination for great music. Here, Majid talks the success of “Calling My Phone,” the crop of rising hip...
‘YO! MTV Raps,’ ‘Unplugged,’ ‘Behind The Music’ & More Coming To Paramount Plus Streaming Network
Source: Nicholas Hunt / Getty ViacomCBS hopes reboots of popular MTV shows plus some new original series will lure you over to Paramount Plus. Wednesday (Feb.24), ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access will become Paramount Plus. The rebranded streaming network will combine all of the assets from both Viacom and CBS, a product of the 2019 merger that brought the two companies together. When Paramount Plus launches next week, users can look forward to having access to over 20,000 episodes from shows from various networks like CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, and Paramount Pictures. Paramount Plus will feature new content like the Halo series that was originally supposed to air on Showtime, new original series based on Criminal Minds, The Godfather, a new Spongebob Squarepants ca...
Spotify Takes on $1.3B in Debt
Exactly how Spotify intends to use the money is unclear. The press release broadly states the company intends to use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes” — a term loose enough to cover capital expenditures, marketing or strategic acquisitions. Such a large amount suggests Spotify doesn’t intend to use the money for everyday costs of running the company. Instead, $1.3 billion is enough to make numerous acquisitions to build out its podcasting business, for example, and have a cushion for any uncertainty its leadership foresees in 2021 and beyond. Spotify will reserve the right to redeem the notes in a variety of scenarios. Until March 20, 2024, Spotify has the option to redeem the notes with cash, shares or a combination of the two if the company’s share price “exceeds 130% o...
What’s Streaming on Disney+ in March 2021
Disney+ is bringing back a few familiar faces in March. With WandaVision wrapping up, Marvel Studios will pivot to their next highly anticipated spinoff series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. As the title suggests, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan return as — you guessed it — The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Right behind those Marvel heroes is everyone’s favorite hockey coach Gordon Bombay. Yes, Emilio Estevez will return to the ice with The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, which should give Mouse House their own Cobra Kai if there’s enough Zamboni power. Beyond those two blockbusters, National Geographic will unveil new documentary Own the Room, MCU fans in need of a refresher can tune into Marvel Studios: Legends, and for $30 extra bucks will get you Raya and the Last Dragon. Elsewhere...
Shawn Gee Partners With Twitch to Launch BlackStream Live
The goal of BlackStream is to “unite some of the most influential, impactful, and inspiring voices of today to craft provocative and entertaining content as projected through the lens of the modern Black experience, yet meaningful to multiple generations,” a statement announcing BlackStream reads. Through strategic alliances with tastemakers and programmers, Twitch has made significant investments in the music space. In August, the Amazon-owned company announced a partnership with the Rolling Loud festival for live hip-hop events on the platform and a month later Twitch announced a partnership with Relix magazine and its owner Peter Shapiro from (who also owns Brooklyn Bowl, Capitol Theatre and Lock’N fest) to launch a channel focused on jam bands. Twitch also has streami...
What’s Streaming on Hulu in March 2021
Busy times for Hulu in March. On the features front, Frank Grillo will try to escape a time loop in Boss Level, Eva Green will train for space in Proxima, Soleil Moon Frye captures her Hollywood youth in kid 90, and Devon Sawa learns the consequences of living off the grid in Hunter Hunter. Meanwhile, National Geographic will explore the life and legacy of Aretha Franklin in Genius: Aretha: Complete Season 3, the second season of FX’s Breeders begins, and Justin Roiland’s Solar Opposites returns for seconds. The back catalogue additions aren’t too shabby, either. Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light is refreshing for these pandemic times, Wes Anderson’s Rushmore is always worth a 45th rewatch, and who doesn’t love a good horror like The Social Network. Check out the full list below, which also ...
