1. RIP MOG: Streaming Service With a Long, Strange Journey to Shutter Next Month

    July 31, 2015 10:38 AM EDT The end is finally near for MOG. The streaming service, which has been operating solely in Australia since shutting down elsewhere last year, will cease to exist on Aug. 31, parent company Telstra has announced. Subscribers will no longer have acc ...

  2. Sony's Top Digital Exec Shoots Down Streaming Criticism With Internal Memo, Defends Advances from Digital Services

    July 31, 2015 8:33 AM EDT At the height of the frenzy over a leaked licensing contract between Sony Music and Spotify, Sony's leading digital executive, Dennis Kooker, issued to Sony employees a multi-point rebuttal that defended standard business practices and challe ...

  3. Garth Brooks Tops Forbes' Country Earners List

    July 30, 2015 12:50 PM EDT Garth Brooks has been crowned the king of  Forbes ’ annual “Country Cash Kings” list, following the icon’s first tour in over a decade. According to their calculations, Brooks has earned $90 million since last June, a record tally for a country ac ...

  4. Neil Young & 10 More Artists Saying No to Streaming

    July 29, 2015 9:08 PM EDT Two weeks after writing an anti-streaming Facebook post, Neil Young has pulled the majority of his music from streaming services. On July 15, Young let his fans know that "streaming has ended for me" -- not because of monetary reasons, b ...

  5. WFMU Wants to Change How Media Talks to Its Audiences and Raises Money -- For Free

    July 29, 2015 5:25 PM EDT "It's super ambitious -- and a culmination of my life's work," Ken Freedman, general manager of beloved independent radio station WFMU , tells Billboard. He's referring to Audience Engine , a free and (truly) open-source ...

  6. Alibaba Invests $1 Billion in Cloud Service, Aims to 'Overtake Amazon in 5 Years'

    July 29, 2015 1:34 PM EDT Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba has announced it will pump $1 billion into the global expansion of Aliyun, its cloud-computing business. Alibaba on Wednesday said Aliyun is positioning itself as a challenger to established players in the cloud ma ...

  7. YouTube Fans Look Beyond Hollywood-ization of VidCon: 'It's an Organized Chaos'

    July 29, 2015 12:20 PM EDT It's a hot Friday afternoon as a flash mob dressed in unicorn onesies descends on the courtyard outside the Anaheim Convention Center, causing the teens and tweens milling about to pull out their phones to snap pictures. Meanwhile, no one bat ...

  8. RIAA and Other Groups Revisit Case Against Cnet Over Downloads in New Letter

    July 29, 2015 11:19 AM EDT Cnet, the long-running tech website purchased by CBS in 2008 for $1.8 billion, is reportedly under fire from entertainment trade groups over its download subsite , which provides hosting for hundreds of thousands of applications. A 16-member coali ...

  9. German Publishers and Music Authors Call for Equal Streaming Pay

    July 29, 2015 8:56 AM EDT German music authors and publishers -- through the associations of composers (DKV), lyricists (DTV) and music publishers (DMV) -- released a dramatic joint appeal today (July 29), drawing attention to inadequate mini-licenses from streaming servic ...

  10. Twitter Reports Strong Second Quarter Earnings as CEO Search Continues

    July 28, 2015 5:25 PM EDT Twitter outperformed during the second quarter. The San Francisco-based company reported on Tuesday adjusted earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $502 million, a 61 percent increase from the same period last year.   Revenue came in well abo ...

  11. T-Mobile Adds Apple Music to 'Music Freedom'

    July 28, 2015 3:08 PM EDT By popular demand, phone carrier T-Mobile has added Apple Music to its "Music Freedom," giving listeners free streaming without having to use up their high-speed data. Since launching in June 2014, the "Music Freedom" feature h ...

  12. SiriusXM Reports Subscriber & Revenue Growth, Touts Stronger Music Industry Ties

    July 28, 2015 9:50 AM EDT Satellite radio giant SiriusXM Radio, controlled by John Malone 's Liberty Media, on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected subscriber growth in its second quarter and raised its full-year guidance. Quarterly earnings hit $103 million, inclu ...

  13. BMG, and YouTube Curator BroadbandTV Launch Joint Venture to Boost Music Artists on YouTube

    July 28, 2015 9:39 AM EDT BMG is teaming up with Canadian YouTube aggregator BroadbandTV to turn new musical artists into online media stars. The pact will see their joint venture, Windfall, discover and promote untapped musical talent across a range of digital platforms. ...

  14. 'Russian Facebook' Settles Piracy Dispute With Sony Music

    July 28, 2015 9:16 AM EDT Russia's largest social networking website VKontakte has signed a goodwill agreement with Sony Music, a move that could potentially become a game changer for the Russian music industry. "The litigation between Sony and VKontakte was canc ...

  15. Snapchat Drops Warner Music and Yahoo From Discover, Adds iHeartRadio and BuzzFeed

    July 27, 2015 5:49 PM EDT Snapchat is giving its Discover platform -- an editorial "outlet" within the hugely popular app launched in January that features content from companies like Vice, The Daily Mail and Comedy Central -- a bit of a content overhaul. Warner ...

  16. China Stocks Suffer Biggest Drop Since 2007

    July 27, 2015 8:57 AM EDT The Chinese government's attempts to calm the country's volatile stock markets appeared to have failed as stock prices on the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong exchanges plummeted on Monday after a recent market rebound.  Bloomberg report ...

  17. China Ends Ban on Sale of Video Game Consoles

    July 27, 2015 8:35 AM EDT China will lift a 15-year ban on the production and sale of video game consoles in the country, the Wall Street Journal reports.  The ban, which has been in place since 2000, could lead to a huge sales boost for the leading consoles, Nintendo' ...

  18. Streaming Crosses 500 Million Weekly Landmark in U.K., Double Over Last Year

    July 24, 2015 7:01 PM EDT The number of weekly audio streams in the United Kingdom has crossed 500 million for the first time, new data from labels trade body BPI and Official Charts Company (OCC) have revealed. The landmark figure was reached on the chart week ending Thur ...

  19. Tiesto, David Guetta, Steve Angello and Other Big-Name DJs Are Dipping Into Tech Investment

    July 24, 2015 2:00 PM EDT What do Tiesto, David Guetta, Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva have in common? Aside from being world renowned DJs and producers, these EDM artists are recent investors in digital music startups attempting to change how people create and interac ...

  20. YouTube Leader Susan Wojcicki Launches New App at VidCon

    July 23, 2015 9:39 PM EDT YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki took to the annual VidCon conference today, her second appearance since being appointed to lead the online video giant, proclaiming again the company's focus on mobile as well as a redesigned app. Wojcicki told VidC ...

  21. Pandora Revenue Grows 30 Percent, Listener Growth Slows

    July 23, 2015 5:17 PM EDT Pandora listener growth has slowed and the company didn't turn a profit in the second quarter, but the online radio company was able to improve where it mattered most: revenue and local advertising. Second-quarter revenue was $285.6 million, ...

  22. Millennials Stare at Their Phones for 30 Percent of Live Shows, and Other Revenue Opportunities: Op-Ed

    July 23, 2015 4:30 PM EDT Donnie Dinch is GM of Consumer for Ticketfly . Donnie was named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30, and was the CEO and co-founder of WillCall, a music discovery app that Ticketfly acquired. Last week, I walked into Walgreens just like I have hundred ...

  23. Yahoo Reveals First-Year Livestream Results, Year-Two Schedule

    July 23, 2015 2:30 PM EDT Yahoo and Live Nation’s ambitious undertaking to live-stream a concert per day for a full year (dubbed Yahoo Live) finished its first run on July 14, and the results are in: The program logged 135 million live streams from 225 global markets, wit ...

  24. Which Brands Are Advertising on Apple Music?

    July 23, 2015 12:10 PM EDT McDonald's, Nordstrom, Home Depot and Walgreens are some of the brands currently running ads on Apple's new streaming service that launched June 30. Last month, Apple unveiled Apple Music -- its app combining iTunes, radio programming, a ...

  25. Sen. Al Franken Wants Federal Probe of Apple Music, App Store Practices

    July 23, 2015 10:12 AM EDT Critics of Apple's surcharge for in-app purchases, as well as rules meant to keep that money flowing, have a powerful new friend in Washington. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Wednesday sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Federal ...

  26. MTV's Susanne Daniels to Run Original Content at YouTube

    July 23, 2015 8:21 AM EDT Susanne Daniels has revealed her next move.  The former president of programming at MTV, who announced her departure this morning , will be joining YouTube as vice president originals.  She will report directly to YouTube head of content Robert Ky ...

  27. Rhapsody Surpasses 3 Million Subscribers

    July 22, 2015 10:56 AM EDT It took Rhapsody International 12 years to reach the two-million subscriber mark. Reflecting the growing acceptance of the subscription business model, Rhapsody reached three million subscribers in less than a year, the company announced in a blog ...

  28. Apple Music & Beats 1 Used by 'Millions' of People, CEO Tim Cook Says

    July 21, 2015 6:26 PM EDT Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Tuesday (July 21) that millions of people are using Apple Music, the company's new music subscription service, and Beats 1, the global Internet radio station. In introductory remarks during Apple's quarterly ea ...

  29. SFX Entertainment Shuffles Corporate Structure, Appoints New Beatport CEO

    July 21, 2015 11:29 AM EDT SFX Entertainment has announced changes to its organizational structure that shifts more of the company’s brand-level operations to the local and regional level. The largest move was the appointment of Greg Consiglio as president and CEO of Beatpo ...

  30. Grooveshark Co-Founder Josh Greenberg Found Dead

    July 20, 2015 2:43 PM EDT Josh Greenberg , the co-founder of Grooveshark, was found dead on Sunday at his home in Florida. The Gainesville Sun is reporting that Greenberg was discovered in bed by his live-in girlfriend, who was away for the weekend, and that there was no i ...

  31. Spotify Is Making You a Weekly Mixtape

    July 20, 2015 11:20 AM EDT Spotify is upping its mixtape game by introducing a new automated playlist that will be tailored to each listeners’ taste and released every Monday morning. Discover Weekly, which begins rolling out today to all platforms, is essentially a two-hou ...

  32. Taylor Swift Tops Ed Sheeran in Nielsen's Mid-Year Report for Canada; Streaming Keeps Growing

    July 20, 2015 10:34 AM EDT Digital album sales are up 10 percent and vinyl LPs up 40 percent in Canada, compared to 2014, according to the 2015 Nielsen Mid-Year Music Canada Report issued Friday. The data, which covers the 6-month period of Dec. 29, 2014 to June 28, 2015, a ...

  33. Universal Music Publishing Group Chairman/CEO Jody Gerson on Balancing Hits With Legacy and What It's Like to Compete With Your Ex-Boss

    July 20, 2015 10:00 AM EDT When Jody Gerson left Sony/ATV Music Publishing in July 2014 after six years at the company, many industry observers were taken by surprise. After all, she was then -- as she is now -- the highest-ranking woman in publishing and positioned to beco ...

  34. YouTube Growth Impresses Analysts, Wall Street

    July 17, 2015 1:54 PM EDT YouTube was a standout of Google's second-quarter earnings on Thursday. With the help of the online video service, the tech giant's revenue increased 11 percent to $17.73 billion , pushing shares up 3.1 percent to $601.78 at Thursday ...

  35. Luke Bryan Joins the Interactive Mobile App Game

    July 17, 2015 7:59 AM EDT A new mobile app will put fans closer to Luke Bryan with live streaming and interactive features. The multiplatinum singer told The Associated Press that The Luke Bryan App will be available July 24 on iTunes and Google Play. Country Music Bigs Ho ...

  36. Pandora Takes a Step Closer to Artist Messaging

    July 16, 2015 6:07 PM EDT Coming soon: artists connecting with listeners on Pandora. Pandora has taken an important step toward allowing listeners to receive notifications by their favorite artists. Users have been notified via email that updated its terms of service, in ...

  37. Google Revenue Up 11 Percent on Search, YouTube Growth

    July 16, 2015 6:01 PM EDT Google's second quarter earnings exceeded expectations Thursday, when the search giant announced that it earned $6.99 per share, 29 cents more than Wall Street's estimated $6.70 per share.  Revenue shot up 11 percent during the second qu ...

  38. One Direction & Justin Bieber's Managers, Live Nation Invest in $20 Million Artist-to-Fan App

    July 16, 2015 5:42 PM EDT 76 4.808 k 44 4 Two former AOL executives are convinced music artists relationships with their fans can be much more focused, direct and improved, and, with the investment of Justin Bieber , One Direction and Calvin Harris ' management firms, they ...

  39. YouTube Star Connor Franta Forms Label, Powered By Fellow Social Tastemakers

    July 16, 2015 3:30 PM EDT A new record label specializing in compilation albums via your favorite YouTube stars has arrived. Heard Well, which dubs itself as the "first music label powered by social tastemakers" launched on Thursday through a partnership with You ...

  40. Marshall Cranks Out a Phone for Music Lovers

    July 16, 2015 11:34 AM EDT Marshall is famous for making loud guitar amplifiers adored by musicians with a passion for melting faces. In recent years, however, the company has branched out to produce leather-clad bluetooth speakers, headphones and, now surprisingly, phones. ...

  41. Flipagram Scores Major Licensing Deals, Raises $70M

    July 16, 2015 8:57 AM EDT Flipagram, a popular mobile app that sets music to short photo-video segments -- think if Instagram and YouTube had a baby -- announced on Thursday it has secured a comprehensive set of licensing deals with major and indie labels, distributors and ...

  42. Ticketfly Raises $50 Million

    July 15, 2015 3:02 PM EDT Standing still is not an option in the cutthroat ticketing business. Ticket purchasing platform Ticketfly announced Wednesday it closed a $50 million Series D funding led by private equity firm Riverwood Capital. In addition to product developmen ...

  43. Neil Young Says 'Streaming Has Ended For Me'

    July 15, 2015 2:14 PM EDT Neil Young, who has spent the better part of the past two years pushing adoption of high-fidelity audio, is withdrawing his music from streaming services for that very reason. (At the time of writing, his music was still available to stream on Spo ...

  44. Concerts and Festivals Create Passionate Fans (Who Spend), Says Study

    July 15, 2015 1:02 PM EDT Many surveys have shown that people most commonly discover music through radio and YouTube, but a new study aims to highlight not only the role concerts play in music discovery, but the high-value fans they draw in as well. Commissioned by Even ...

  45. Apple Unveils New, Faster iPod Touch With Streaming Service in Mind

    July 15, 2015 11:33 AM EDT Apple is updating its iPod Touch music player for the first time in nearly three years, as the company seeks to make music a central part of its devices once again. The new Touch has a faster processor and better cameras. It also has a software up ...

  46. 'Don't Be Mad': Scott Borchetta Talks Apple Negotiations, How Taylor Swift Told Him About Her Letter

    July 15, 2015 10:35 AM EDT What really went down leading up to Taylor Swift ’s show-stopping Father’s Day letter to Apple regarding streaming payments during Apple Music’s free trial? At Fortune ’s Brainstorm Tech  event on Tuesday, Big Machine label boss Scott Borchetta sa ...

  47. CD-Loving Germany Sees 86 Percent Jump In Streaming, Sales Increase

    July 15, 2015 8:48 AM EDT The German music market increased sales by 4.4 percent in 2015’s first half compared to 2014, according to a report released Wednesday by Germany's Federal Music Industry Association (BVMI).  The revenue from physical and digital music sales ...

  48. Fugitives Tracked Down in Mexico Using Spotify and Netflix Accounts

    July 14, 2015 11:04 AM EDT Important note to aspiring fugitives: cancel your Spotify account before you make like a tree. Brittany Nunn and Peter Barr learned the hard way when authorities tracked the couple down in Mexico earlier this month with the help of information fro ...

  49. YouTube CEO Gives Update on Music Key, Talks How It Will Differ From Spotify, Apple

    July 14, 2015 10:08 AM EDT Inquiring minds want to know when YouTube will finally launch its much-anticipated Music Key streaming service. At Fortune 's Brainstorm Tech event on July 13, CEO Susan Wojcicki did little to expand on previous comments by her fellow Google ...

  50. Nielsen SoundScan and atVenu Partner to Tally Concert Album Sales

    July 14, 2015 9:58 AM EDT Nielsen and atVenu , a mobile merchandising company that provides point-of-sale solutions for touring musicians, have partnered on a reporting mechanism that will allow artists to tally sales and submit them digitally for inclusion in SoundScan, w ...

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