Amazon Music has scored its first major cable TV deal.

The e-commerce company’s music service has confirmed Comcast will launch its music streaming service on high-end Xfinity X1 set-top boxes.  This marks its first pay-TV distribution deal and comes only six months after the cable provider first launched Amazon Prime Video on X1.

Current Amazon Music subscribers will have access to the service’s full music library.  Comcast will slowly roll out the music service on set-top boxes over the next few weeks.

Prime members who only have access to Prime Music won’t be left behind.  The cable provider confirmed users can also stream Prime Music’s limited song catalog as well.

Speaking on its expanded partnership with Amazon, Nancy Spears, Comcast’s Vice President of Business Operations, explained Prime Video quickly became one of the most-used apps on the service.  The new partnership also marks the cable provider’s strategy of serving as a “one-stop-shop” for media and entertainment as a way to stop bleeding customers to cord-cutting.

“We want to build a unique and differentiated experience to integrate the best entertainment services in one place.”

Xfinity X1 set-top boxes also allow users to stream music and video from YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, iHeartRadio, NPR One, Tubi, CuriosityStream, and Music Choice.

Whether Spotify and Apple Music will ever come to Comcast remains unclear.

Spears added, however,

“We’re always open to new partnerships.”

Under the new partnership, subscribers to Xfinity Flex, its $5-per-month streaming TV offering, can now access Amazon Music.  Currently, Flex users can stream content from HBO, Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, and Pandora, among other services.

As with the rest of the cable industry, Comcast continues losing a significant amount of subscribers to cord-cutting.

In the first fiscal quarter of 2019, the cable provider lost 107,000 residential video subscribers.  Comcast has around 20.85 million, two-thirds of which are on X1.

Speaking about the partnership with Comcast, Ryan Redington, Director of Amazon Music, concluded,

“We’re always looking for ways to extend the reach to our customer base and give them new options to engage our music service.”

Featured image by Amazon Music.

Can Amazon overtake rivals in both the streaming video and streaming music markets?

In order to take on streaming video giant Netflix, Apple unveiled a $1 billion spending plan on original content.

Unsurprisingly, the Cupertino company’s strategy won’t rely on licensing content from Netflix.  Instead, the new platform reportedly remains close to locking down deals to watch content from third-party services, including HBO, Starz, and Showtime.

Apple’s $1 billion original content plan includes the production of children’s shows, comedy, drama, sci-fi, action, thriller, and documentaries.  Planned series and movies include Peanuts shorts, The Morning Show featuring Steve Carrell, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Magic Hour, and Losing Earth.

Yet, another major tech giant has emerged with plans of its own to take on both Apple and Netflix.

Will Amazon emerge as the streaming media winner?

In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Amazon has unveiled its plans to spend $7 billion on video and music content this year.

In the first fiscal quarter of 2019, the company already spent $1.7 billion of that amount.

The filing reads,

“Total video and music expense was $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion in Q1 2018 and Q1 2019.  Total video and music expense includes licensing and production costs associated with content offered within Amazon Prime memberships, and costs associated with digital subscriptions and sold or rented content.”

The company currently offers two music services – Prime Music (bundled with Prime memberships) and Music Unlimited.  Amazon has also launched a limited free music tier on Alexa-enabled devices.  The company remains on track to launch its own $15/month high-fidelity service to compete with Apple Music.  Amazon currently offers its Prime Video on-demand service for Prime members.

According to analysts, Amazon’s $7 billion budget for video and music content puts the company on par with Netflix and HBO.

Confirming the e-commerce giant’s spending plans, Dave Fildes, Amazon’s Director of Investor Relations, said,

“It’s an area we’re very excited about.  Look for us to continue to invest there.”

Yet, not everyone’s as excited.

Speaking with CNBC, Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster explained the company would be wiser to invest in services related to its core business.  He believes the company is “overspending” on content.

“While I think it’s not the best use of Amazon’s capital, I do believe they’ll continue to ramp content investments to hold pace with Netflix, Disney, and Apple.”

According to other analysts, people should expect Amazon to continue spending more billions on video and music content.  Netflix alone will likely spend $15.1 billion this year on content.  Two years ago, HBO spent $2.2 billion on programming and will continue to increase spending.

Featured image by Amazon.

“Alexa, where are my Ticketmaster tickets?”

Yesterday, Amazon unveiled a new feature – Song ID.

Prime Music and Music Unlimited subscribers in the US can now easily identify a song’s title and artist.

Users can simply activate and deactivate the feature by saying “Alexa, turn on Song ID” or “Alexa, turn off Song ID.”  Then, the smart speaker will announce the title and the name of the song.

Speaking about the new feature, Amazon explained that Alexa devices usually receive “hundreds of thousands” of questions per day to find out about the song currently playing.  This includes phrases such as “Alexa, what song is this?” and “Alexa, who sings this song?”

Now, Amazon has confirmed a major partnership with a ticketing giant.

Ticketmaster partners with Alexa.

On Alexa-enabled devices, including the Echo and Echo Dot, users can now ask Amazon’s voice assistant to discover events and purchase tickets to live events.

For example, users can now say the following phrases.

“Alexa, open Ticketmaster / ask Ticketmaster to find events this weekend / ask Ticketmaster to find concerts in [a specific area].“

You can also ask the voice assistant to find tickets to a specific event.

“Alexa, find Miami Heat / [another team or artist] tickets.”

Using the smart speaker, people can even select their seats and finalize their orders.  Of course, it helps to know the stadium layout a bit.

Speaking about the new feature, Dan Armstrong, the ticketing giant’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Distributed Commerce, explained,

“[We have] the largest ticket inventory in the world, and our team is always looking to leverage it along with our open platform to reach new fans.

“This new integration with Alexa will offer yet another avenue for fans to access the best live events, allowing them to discover and buy tickets using only their voice.

“We’re excited to be working with Amazon Alexa and look forward to seeing fans utilizing it to see the artists, teams, and events they love the most.”

To get started, you’ll first have to link your Ticketmaster account with Alexa.  For international users, however, the new feature remains limited to the US.

Featured image by Stock Catalog (CC by 2.0).

Amazon has made a brand-new innovative feature – Song ID – available for Prime Music/Unlimited subscribers.

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Universal Music Group (UMG) CEO and Chairman Lucian Grainge shared some good advice to all artists, big and small.

Stating that smart speakers present both a risk and an opportunity for the music industry, he said,

“The amount of traffic there is with them is incredibly compelling.”

Yet, people often have a difficult time finding a specific song on the devices.

“Our experience is people can’t ask for a song when they don’t know what title is.”

So, to help listeners avoid this issue, Grainge shared a solid piece of advice for all songwriters and artists.  Keep your song’s title front and center in the lyrics.

“If you’ve got something that is a brand, is a soundtrack, is a song where the title is in the chorus and the melodies, we’re seeing really explosive data and activity.

“That helps us in the creative process because it enables us, with the data and with consumption, to use the technology to say to the talent, you need to have something as basic as the song title…in the chorus.”

Keeping song titles front and center makes sense.  According to a report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the installed base for smart speakers in the US grew to 66 million in December 2018.  That number rose from 53 million last September, and from 37 million in December of 2017.

Amazon Echo devices led the US market with a 70% share.  Google Home and the Apple HomePod followed with a 24% and 6% share, respectively.

According to a recent report from Adobe Analytics, 36% of all American consumers now own a smart speaker.  Surveying those who use these devices, 75% use their smart speakers at least once or multiple times per day.

Now, inadvertently following through on Grainge’s advice, Amazon has unveiled a new feature on its Alexa-enabled Echo devices.

No more forgetting song titles for Echo owners — but only if you’re a subscriber.

Amazon Music has unveiled a new opt-in feature for Echo owners – Song ID.

Users can simply activate and deactivate it by saying “Alexa, turn on Song ID” or “Alexa, turn off Song ID.”  Then, the smart speaker will announce the title and the name of the song.

Speaking about the new feature, Amazon explained that it rolled out the feature based on user requests.  Alexa devices usually receive “hundreds of thousands” of questions per day to find out about the song currently playing.  This includes “Alexa, what song is this?” and “Alexa, who sings this song?”

Yet, the new feature has two major drawbacks.  First, Amazon has only enabled the feature for Amazon Music subscribers.  Second, Song ID only works on Echo devices in the US.

In the future, the company could potentially use the new feature to provide commentary about a specific work, a la Genius’ ‘Behind the Lyrics’ feature.

Featured image by Stock Catalog (CC by 2.0).

How much do artists make per stream? Reported per-stream payouts from top music streaming services (updated for 2021; click to enlarge)

How much do artists make per stream on the most popular streaming music services? Here’s a breakdown for Pandora, Napster, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more (updated for 2022).

Based on information directly received from artists and indie labels, as well as various published sources, we can rank streaming music services according to their per-stream rate. So how much do artists make per stream? Given extreme variations in payouts, the answer largely depends on the platform involved. Take a look.

Napster remains king of streaming music payouts, but total usage is lower.

With Microsoft’s Groove Music shutting down, Napster became king of streaming music service payouts.

The service had paid $0.01682 per play.  According to two sources – Information Is Beautiful and David Crosby – that number has steadily risen.  On average, Napster now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US of $1,472, an artist would need 77,474 total plays.

With 5 million paying subscribers, the service loses around $7.00 per user.  Unlike its rivals, however, Napster remains a profitable streaming music service.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player, at least in terms of payouts.

This year, Jay-Z’s streaming music platform, TIDAL, has remained embroiled in multiple controversies.  These include accusations of hacking users’ accounts to inflate Beyoncé and Kanye West’s total streams.

Nevertheless, the service had remained friendly to artists. But the service reportedly paid out $0.01284 per stream earlier this year. That number has fallen slightly to $0.0125, according to more recent data. Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Jay-Z’s streaming music service reportedly loses $6.67 per user with an annual loss of $28 million.

Apple Music takes third place.

How much does Apple Music pay per stream? Historically, Apple Music has paid artists much better than its streaming music rival, Spotify.

Back 2017, the service paid $0.0064 per stream. By last year, that number had risen to $0.00783. Now, Apple Music has upped its rate further: in April of 2021, the platform announced that its artists would receive a royalty rate of 1 cent ($0.01) per stream.

Artists on Apple Music would need around 147,200 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

With Apple closely guarding its user metrics, it remains unclear how much Apple Music loses each year on the service as well as per user.

Deezer falls to fourth place.

Launching several years ago in the US, French-based streaming music service Deezer still doesn’t have an established presence in the country.

Back in 2018, at $0.0056, the service topped GPM in terms of payouts. By 2019, Deezer paid $0.00624. That number has slowly risen to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM. Artists will need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Deezer recently reported an annual loss of $27 million, losing $1.69 per user. Deezer reportedly has 16 million users, with around 9.12 million – or 57% – paying for the service.

Amazon falls behind.

As with Napster, Apple, and Google, Amazon closely guards its user metrics.

Earlier this year, The Trichordist found Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play. That number has now plummeted to $0.00402, placing it just above Spotify. Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.

How much do artists make per stream on Spotify?

Spotify’s per-stream rate ranks as one of the worst, and it appears to be falling. According to the latest data, Spotify pays most artists between $.003 and $.005 (one-third of a penny to one-half of a penny) for each stream. 

Back in December 2019, you may have read our report on cellist Zoe Keating’s receiving a $753 check from Spotify, as compensation for 206,011 streams. Rounding up, the sum represents a per-stream royalty rate of $0.0037 – down from Keating’s 2018 Spotify royalty rate of about $0.0054. Separately, mechanical royalty firm Audiam also suggested that Spotify royalties have decreased despite rising subscriber counts and revenue.

Of course, there are plenty of Spotify alternatives. But as of 2022, Spotify remains the largest streaming music platform worldwide — which means you have little choice but to play ball with them.

Pandora continues to struggle.

Back in 2018, despite having the second-highest amount of total users in the US, Pandora paid artists $0.0011 per play. By 2019, the digital radio service slightly increased that rate to $0.00134. The company has now settled at paying artists $0.00133 on Pandora Premium. Artists will now need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

YouTube pulls a U-Turn.

Historically, YouTube hasn’t ever been an artist-friendly platform, thanks to its horrendous payouts.

In 2017, the popular video platform paid $0.0006 per play. By 2019, the company had increased its rate to $0.00074.

But YouTube executives have now pulled a U-Turn, choosing to pay artists $0.00069. To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

The video platform reportedly loses $174 million each year, with loss per user calculated at $0.17.

So, what’s our advice?

Once again, please don’t ever make a career out of your earnings on the popular video platform.  Trust us.  You’ll regret it.

What are people really looking for?

Spotify gets the most attention — and paying subscribers.  But if search analytics can predict the future, YouTube, Amazon, and Apple are just getting started.

YouTube Music hasn’t even launched yet.  And Spotify has more than 70 million paying subscribers. But when it comes to search, YouTube is already winning.

For years, YouTube has easily been the biggest music platform.  And a big part of that success is coming from search traffic.  In fact, the search data indicates that this may be YouTube Music’s game to lose.

We asked search and SEO analytics firm SEMRush to do a deep-dive on music platforms and services, particularly on the streaming side.  Here’s what they discovered.

Breaking down search volumes for the most popular music provider in the US between February 2018 to April 2018, YouTube had 2.24 million unique search requests.  Amazon Music and Apple Music took the second and third spots with 823,000 and 368,000, respectively.  Despite CEO Roger Lynch’s lofty claim about the digital radio service “No. 1” position in the market, Pandora only had 246,000 unique search requests.

Surprisingly, Spotify took the last spot with just 110,000 searches.

At first glance, this appears to be great news for Google’s upcoming streaming music platform, YouTube Music.

After all, with now over 1.4 billion users on its popular video platform, how could Google possibly fail to line up millions of subscribers?  But here’s the bad news for Google.  When people look for music listening apps, they don’t search for YouTube very often.  In fact, according to SEMRush, under brand music app searches, music fans typically search for Amazon.

The Amazon Music app had 27,100 unique searches in the US.  Pandora fared slightly better this time with 14,800 searches.  YouTube took third with 12,100, followed by Spotify Music with 9,900 and Apple Music with 4,400.

In a large number of cases, people prefer to use apps from reputable companies over untrustworthy third-party apps.

The analytics firm found that users preferred searching for “free music apps” over “download music apps.”  So, what’s the difference?

Well, searching for “free music apps” will pull up well-known music apps, including SoundCloud and Pandora.

Searching for “download music apps” instead will pull up relatively obscure third-party apps.  These apps are usually stuffed with ads and malware, making users wary of installing them.

Looking at the research, ‘free music apps’ from reputable companies and streaming platforms had a consistently stronger search volume.

Compare that to the waning popularity of sketchy third-party music downloader apps.  Just two months ago, unique searches reached just under 30,000.

Data scientists also found that searches for music apps featuring offline functionality have actually grown in popularity.

Under this search category, you’ll find Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music, and Microsoft’s now-defunct Groove Music.

iPhone users were also more likely to search for (and subsequently use) streaming and download music apps over those on Android devices.

Sean Stevenson, eOne Music’s new EVP and General Manager, Music

Should streaming music and online video services pay to fund domestic content?

Broadcast regulator CRTC has considered new levies on Netflix and Spotify to fund Canadian content.  In a new report, the commission recommended that the government consider having online video and music services pay for the creation of – and better promote –  domestic content.

An unapologetic EDM YouTuber makes a homophobic comment.

EDM producer Pogo, best known for remixing Disney movies with an electronic music twist on YouTube, has come under fire for a recent homophobic rant.  In a short video dubbed Why I called my channel Fagottron, he explained,

“I came up with Fagottron because I’ve always had a very thorough dislike of homosexuals.  I’ve never liked grown men acting like a 12-year-old girl.”

Pogo has since defended his comments.

“It’s the Andy Kaufman in me.  I enjoy perplexing people.  Fagottron really was just a way of saying Prickotron or Dickotron where I grew up.  Some of my best friends and supporters are gay and it’s nothing I even think about.”

Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ goes Platinum.

The RIAA has officially certified Childish Gambino’s single, ‘This Is America,’ as Platinum.  The track has over 1.3 million track equivalents sold in the US, with over 2.6 million worldwide.

Michael Giacchino commemorates NASA with new work.

Star Trek composer Michael Giacchino has written a concert work to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of NASA.  He calls the 11-minute work ‘Voyage.’  According to Giacchino, it describes “what’s going through your mind when you wake up on the morning of a launch, going out to the pad, being buckled in, waiting for launch, blasting off, weightlessness, reaching your destination, and coming home.”

“It’s my version of that story, having talked to friends who have either done it or designed the equipment to do it — what all that means, emotionally.”

Apple Music may have 90 million subscribers in two years.

According to a new report, Apple Music will likely have 90 million subscribers by 2020.  Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that the service will bring in revenue of $6.7 billion.

Amazon, Netflix, and Apple Music fail to gain traction in India.

Amazon, Netflix, and Apple Music continue to struggle in India.  The companies face strong competition from market leader, Hotspot.  Owned by media conglomerate Star India, the service boasts a 69.7% share of the country’s on-demand video streaming market.

Despite charging less than its competitors, Apple Music only has a 0.1% market share.  This is due to the overwhelming demand of Androids in India.  As iPhone users are more likely to subscribe to the service, the streaming music platform’s tiny market share isn’t very surprising.

LiveXLive invited to the LD Micro Invitation Investor Conference.

LiveXLive Media will present at the 8^th annual LD Micro Invitation Investor Conference on June 4^th-6^th at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Los Angeles, California.  Robert Ellin, the company’s Chairman and CEO, will hold one-on-one meetings with institutional investors.

Americans more likely to use music to choose a travel destination.

According to a new study, one-third of millennials in the US use music to choose a vacation destination because the local music “inspired them.”  Online travel agency eDreams found that 40% want to attend a music festival abroad.  One in four Americans would also travel to another country to watch their favorite artists perform.  The survey interviewed 13,000 respondents in eight countries – the US, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Sweden.

Lily Allen announces tour and lambasts the music industry for failing to act on sexual discrimination.

Controversial English singer and songwriter Lily Allen has announced her UK and Ireland tour for December 2018.  The five-date tour kicks off on December 11^th at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.  She’ll wrap up on December 17^th at London’s Roundhouse.

In addition, the contentious singer recently lashed out at the music industry.  The culture of music – “geared around alcohol or drugs” – has prevented the #MeToo movement from hitting the music industry.

Pollstar moves to Los Angeles and lays off “just about everyone.”

Oak View Holdings will move Pollstar’s Fresno headquarters to its Los Angeles office.  Founder Gary Bongiovanni will also leave at the end of June.

According to a source, the company has also laid off many staff members.  The layoffs primarily affect the graphics department, executive staff, and subscription sales, or as one source said, “Just about everyone.”

Sean Stevenson joins eOne Music.

Multinational record label and distribution company Entertainment One (eOne) has hired Sean Stevenson as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Music effective June 5^th.  He’ll oversee marketing, sales, digital, and general management.  Stevenson will report to Chris Taylor, eOne’s Global President of Music.

Greg Marchant joins Madison Entertainment.

Madison Entertainment has hired Greg Marchant as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.  The music industry veteran had previously served as COO of Knitting Factory Entertainment.

Omaze announces the launch of its music practice and three key hires.

Omaze, an online fundraising platform, has announced the launch of its music division.  In addition, the company has announced three key hires to form a tri-city team – Scott Graves in New York City, Susan Banks in Nashville, and Andrew Cook in Los Angeles.  All three will serve as Senior Directors of Music Business Development.

Live365 announces agreements with SOCAN and Re:Sound.

Live365 has secured licensing in Canada from SOCAN and Re:Sound to cover Live365 originating broadcasts.  As a result, the company has removed the sitewide geo-block, making streaming available to listeners across Canada. Live365 will open its mobile apps and other distribution in the coming weeks.

BuzzFeed teams with Hyundai for new music tour.

BuzzFeed has reportedly planned to enter the live concert industry.  The online news publication will launch Kamp Kona, a three-city music tour sponsored by Hyundai.  EDM musician Dan Deacon will headline the tour.  BuzzFeed will offer attendees a look at Hyundai’s Kona vehicles.  Kamp Kona kicks off in Santa Fe on June 9^th, makes a quick stop in Los Angeles on June 16^th, and wraps up in Marfa, Texas on June 23^rd.

Nothing But Thieves announces UK tour.

Nothing But Thieves, an English alt-rock band, has announced its biggest UK tour to date.  Tickets for the five-city, fourteen-date tour go on sale on June 8^th at www.livenation.co.uk.

Ghost show ends in tragedy.

Swedish heavy metal band Ghost was forced to end its show in Milwaukee early.  An unnamed fan had collapsed in the pit.  EMTs performed CPR on the man for 15-20 minutes.  The fan died at a local hospital a short time later.  On Twitter, the group expressed condolences for the man’s family.

“Tonight, in Milwaukee there was a medical emergency with one of our fans.  We decided not to continue out of respect to him and his family.  Ghost and all who work with us ask that you please send the family your thoughts, prayers and respect their privacy during this time.”

Songwriters Hall of Fame announces additional performers and presenters.

The Weeknd, Jason Mraz, Fantasia, and Brandon Victor Dixon have been added to the list of performers and presenters for this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  They join Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Leon Bridges, Stephen Dorff, Chad Elliott, Bob Gaudio, Nora Guthrie, Keith Stegall, and Steve Wariner.  The ceremony will take place at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on June 14^th.

Kendrick Lamar tour prices drop following SZA’s exit.

According to secondary market ticketplace TickPick, the average purchase price for Kendrick Lamar’s tour has dropped 20% from $107 to $80.  The reason?  SZA’s absence in upcoming shows.

Foreseeing further potential price drops, Jack Slingland, TickPick Director of Client Relations, said in a statement,

“It remains unclear if SZA will continue to perform despite her damaged vocal chords.  If she were to miss the remaining dates, it would likely continue to drive prices down.  It is similar to what happens with ticket prices to sporting events when the star player is injured and removed from the lineup.”

Featured image by Sean Stevenson/eOneMusic

A neural network on what you love to listen to.

Music Audience Exchange (MAX) has unveiled its Artist Matching Engine.  The platform’s data model uses neural networks to map music tastes onto the demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioral attributes of music listeners.  Ford is among the first brands to leverage the platform’s insights. The Artist Matching Engine is the result of a 3-year project from a team of engineers & data scientists.

Goodbye, third-party ad serving on YouTube.  In Europe, at least.

YouTube will close access to third-party ad serving and pixel tracking globally.  This comes a month before the European Union’s privacy regulation, dubbed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect.  A memo obtained by AdExchange reads,

“YouTube will no longer support third-party ad serving on reserved buys in Europe beginning May 21, and it will assess whether to extend that policy globally.”

Advertisers who don’t use DoubleClick Campaign Manager will have to “retraffic their ads” by May 21st to avoid “any downtime in delivery.”

Going to the movies.

Michelle Slavich, a high-ranking communications executive at Google, has joined Warner Bros. Pictures.  She will serve as the Executive Vice President of Global Publicity and Strategy.  Slavich oversaw entertainment PR and corporate communications at YouTube.

‘Strong-arming’ Iowa.

Live music advocates in Iowa have taken a stand against Live Nation.  The company plans to open two music venues in Des Moines’ East Village.  It partnered with Christensen Development, a local company, to propose a $12 million to $15 million renovation of the Argonne Armory.  Live Nation and Christensen Development would create two theaters holding 2,000 and 800 people, respectively.  In light of a recent government investigation into Live Nation’s ‘strong-arm business tactics,’ city music leaders and entrepreneurs have strongly opposed the plan.  Dan Green, Director of the 515 Alive Music Festival, said,

“These guys will control everything.  They’ll control the tours.  They already control the ticketing.  It creates a complete monopoly.”

Taylor who?

Cardi B has obliterated a streaming record previously held by Taylor Swift.  The rapper’s newest album, Invasion of Privacy, has racked up over 100 million streams on Apple Music.  It set a record for first-week streams by a female artist on the service, more than double the record previously held by Taylor Swift’s Reputation.  Invasion of Privacy has now become the fifth most-streamed album on the platform, surpassing The Weeknd’s Starboy and Ed Sheeran’s Divide.

Even more exclusives on Apple Music.

Australian EDM producer Flume has announced two new music documentaries exclusively on Apple Music.  According to 9to5Mac, the first documentary, Flume: When Everything Was New, will likely focus on his rise to fame.  The second, Sleepless: The Story of Future Classic, may document Flume’s career and his involvement with indie label, Future Classic.  Both documentaries will drop on April 20th.

“Alexa, hear all of my conversations, please.”

Amazon has patented a “voice sniffing” algorithm.  The patent describes listening in to conversations and building a profile of consumers’ likes and dislikes.  The company may use the patent on its Echo speakers.  In a statement, Amazon immediately dismissed rumors of invading users’ privacy.

“We do not use customers’ voice recordings for targeted advertising.  Like many companies, we file a number of forward-looking patent applications that explore the full possibilities of new technology.”

$100 million in revenue.  $74.5 million in losses.

SoundCloud has filed its 2016 financials through Companies House in the UK.  While the company’s revenues rose 88.9% to €50.3 million ($62 million), net losses also grew 45.7% to €74.5m ($91.9 million).  Cost of sales, which include royalties, increased by 135.9% to €36.1 million ($44.5 million).

Fruit Punch Music – Basically Spotify for kids.

Fruit Punch, Inc. has announced the world’s first streaming music platform made just for children.  Dubbed Fruit Punch Music, the app lets families access a huge library of ad-free parent-approved ‘appropriate’ music.  Kids will have access to dozens of stations ranging from Pop to Country, Alternative Pop to Disney.  They’ll hear songs from artists including Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and The Temptations.  Parents can sign-up for a free 7-day trial.  They can then pay $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year to continue using the app.

Blockchain music payments – merely overly inflated promises without a proven foundation.

Blockchain startup Soundpruf will offer a web and mobile software application built on blockchain technology.  It will aggregate every user’s music listening portfolio and pay artists and listeners in cryptocurrency for streaming sessions via Spotify or another streaming music platform.  Yet, how exactly the application will work as well as payout rates remain unknown.

Avoid threats to your music business.

INgrooves, a distribution and marketing company, has launched a new data-mining tool.  It will help labels sift through and make sense of copious amounts of information flowing from digital services to music suppliers.  The tool is aimed at making it easier for clients to spot marketing opportunities and potential business threats.  All labels currently distributed by INgrooves can access the tool through their personal portals on the company’s website.

Not dying anytime soon, apparently.  But, yeah, it probably will.

In a statement to The Sun, Apple has denied that the company will shut down iTunes.  The company had reportedly sent a letter to music industry partners titled ‘The End of iTunes LPs.’  In it, Apple reportedly stated that it would phase out iTunes by March 31st, 2019.

Following in Gibson’s footsteps?

This is looking familiar: Guitar Center has announced the expiration and final results of its previously announced exchange offer and consent solicitation.  The company had offered to exchange its existing 9.625% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2020 for 5% Cash/8% PIK notes due 2022.  The Unsecured Notes have a $325 million aggregate principal amount outstanding. Meanwhile, sales forecasts for the once-solid retail giant are sinking — for reasons that sound similar those being experienced by Gibson Guitar.

Featured image by Mike Prosser (CC by 2.0)

MMA fastrack!

Looks like the super-sized Music Modernization Act (MMA) is getting fast-tracked — big time.  Just today, the consolidated music legislation received a unanimous 32-0 vote from the House Judiciary Committee.  Onto the bigger House!  DMN first broke the consolidated bill on Tuesday — here’s more detail.

Apple Music… Worldwide.

Looks like Apple Music is going globally big.  DMN first tipped that Apple Music had crossed the 40 million subscriber mark, a critical threshold.  Accordingly, more people are joining the team: the company is now naming Oliver Schusser to lead Apple Music Worldwide.  According to Shirley Halperin of Variety, Schusser steps into the role of vice president of Apple Music & International Content after leading ex-US expansion plans for theApp Store and a range of iTunes properties.

Separately, Spotify has launched a $12.99 bundle with Hulu.  And that appears to be the first of many interesting bundles ahead (stay tuned).

GEMA crosses €1 billion.

German royalty society GEMA boosted revenue 5% last year, reaching €1.07 billion.  Revenues improved €49 million, thanks partly to gains in performance income.

EP Entertainment launches a Latin division.

The broad-based music and entertainment firm has tapped Angel Zamora to lead the expansion.  The company’s clientele includes Allesia Cara (EP/Def Jam).

Welcome to the Music Industry Hall of Fame.

The Music Business Association has announced that it will induct Tower Records founder Russell Solomon into its Music Business Hall of Fame.  The ceremony will launch at a luncheon on May 17th at the Omni Nashville Hotel.  Actor Colin Hanks, who directed the 2015 Tower Records documentary, All Things Must Pass, will pay tribute to Solomon.  The founder of the iconic music store passed away on March 4th.

Walmart’s integral role in the streaming music market.

A YouTube video of a yodeling kid at Walmart has gone viral, with over 11 million views in just 10 days.  In the clip, the 11-year-old boy, identified as Mason Ramsey, proudly sings Hank Williams’ ‘Lovesick Blues.’  Now, the song itself has enjoyed renewed popularity.  On Spotify, streams of ‘Lovesick Blues’ have jumped 2452% in a period of two weeks (March 26th to April 9th).  The track now ranks on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart.

Un-Divided revenue.

UK music company revenues last year grew at the fastest rate since the mid-1990s, according to stats sent to DMN by the BPI.  At £347 million ($493 million), UK-based music companies saw a 45% increase in subscription revenue over 2016’s £239 million ($340 million).  Thanks to Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Stormzy, UK record labels saw a 10.6% surge in earnings to £839 million ($1.2 billion).

Out with the old.  In with the new.

After departing from the ticketing giant last September, former Live Nation executive Tim Chambers has joined the Board of B2B digital ticketing platform, Tixserve.  The Irish tech startup recently secured €250,000 ($309,600) in funding from Enterprise Ireland.  Speaking on his decision to join Tixserve’s Board, Chambers said,

“The live entertainment sector is often slow to adopt the benefits of new technologies.  It no longer makes sense to rely solely on paper tickets – especially when you look at the tremendous capabilities of a secure Tixserve digital ticket.  The future of ticketing must incorporate seamless digital distribution with mobile authentication, and enhanced consumer services including event timings, line-ups and biographies, location maps, and added value merchandise up-sale opportunities.”

Live Nation still has a few friends left.

Following a report of anti-competitive behavior, Live Nation’s stock has significantly dropped.  Yet, according to Citi, the drop represents a clear buying opportunity.  Citi’s Jason Banzinet has upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.  Defending the concert promoter, Banzinet called the stock’s decline “an overreaction.”

Global fusion.

In an effort to strike partnerships with mobile operators, Amazon may soon launch a dedicated product.  Dubbed Amazon Fuse, the product would grow Prime Video, Prime Music, and other media subscription services abroad.  In a job post, the company wrote,

“Amazon Fuse is a newly launched product and team at Amazon.  Amazon Fuse enables international partners to offer Amazon subscription services to their customers.  This provides Amazon with expanded customer reach and international distribution.  The Fuse business is primarily working with mobile operators across the globe to bring Prime Video, Music, Kindle, and Prime to hundreds of millions of customers.”

Free legendary rock concert streaming?  Not on my watch.

US District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos has concluded that owners of archival music website Wolfgang’s Vault lacked the requisite licenses to stream hundreds of iconic song performances.  The owners also committed massive copyright infringement when sharing a collection of legendary rock concerts with the public.  The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) originally led its members to file a lawsuit against the site’s owners in 2015.  Now, it’s onto costly damages.

Terror never wins.

Ariana Grande is now releasing the first single from her album.  Following a heinous bombing at Grande’s performance in Manchester, he new album will be “deeply personal and inspired by her experiences the past two years.”  A terrorist had set off a bomb outside the Manchester Arena last year, killing 23 people, including himself.

#MeTooMiddleEast

Khalid Bajwa, CEO of Pakistan’s largest streaming music service, Patari, has stepped down.  An 18-year-old girl had levied allegations of sexual harassment against Bajwa on Twitter.  Minutes after the tweet, other users stepped forward on the social media platform with their own stories.  Kajwa had co-founded Patari, along with Iqbal Talaat Bhatti and Humayun Haroon, in 2015.

A space for new ideas to flourish.

Capitol Music Group has announced the launch of Capitol Innovation Center (CIC), a space for conducting programming events.  The CIC will open on April 15th and will be based at the company’s legendary tower and recording studios in Hollywood, California.  With the CIC, the company hopes to foster innovative ideas and inspire the next generation of music industry leaders.

Reg A+ Gets an F.

Royalty Flow has announced that it has canceled plans to launch its own IPO.  Matthew Smith, the company’s CEO, blamed “the Reg A+ process” for the failure.  The company, a division of Royalty Exchange, had planned to allow investors to invest in Eminem’s royalties, or at least a substantial portion thereof.  Royalty Flow had previously completed the acquisition of a 25% income stream of the rapper’s royalties paid to FBT Productions.

Purchase tickets without any fees.

TickPick, a no-fee ticket marketplace, has replaced StubHub as the official secondary ticket marketplace for the Firefly Music Festival, the East Coast’s largest music and camping festival.  This year’s event will feature headlining acts Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, The Killers, and more.  Speaking about the news, TickPick co-founder and CEO Brett Goldberg said,

“Our selection by Firefly Music Festival is a big deal for us and festival customers because we offer prices and levels of service that are simply better than the competition.  The modern millennial-aged consumer wants transparency and simple mobile transactions.  We provide both.  We do not charge buyer fees and explicitly state all-in pricing, so there are no surprises.  Our users appreciate our approach, which allows them to get the festival, concert, or sports tickets they crave at a great price without any hassles.”

Featured image by DoD News (CC by 2.0)

Fighting for the CLASSICS.

89 artists have added their names to a petition urging Congress to pass the CLASSICS Act.  If passed, the bipartisan legislation would require digital services to pay both rightsholders and artists for the use of recordings made before 1972.  The number of artists now supporting the act totals 302.

[Music Row]

I see $14 million in my future.

UK company Future Publishing has acquired US technology publisher NewBay Media for $13.8 million.  NewBay’s B2B portfolio operates in verticals, including Electronics and Education, TV, and Audio.  It also has a large consumer division in the Music vertical where it publishes magazines including Music Week, Bass Player, Guitar World and Electronic Musician.

[Music Week]

Alexa, bring some live radio into my Routine.

Amazon has announced that people can now add music or live radio to Alexa Routines.  Routines can include a specific artist, playlist, album, or station on  streaming services, including Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn.

[Venture Beat]

Third place isn’t bad.

Amazon Music has confirmed that it now has “tens of millions” of paid customers using its music streaming platforms.  Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions alone have more than doubled in the past six months.  Music VP Steve Boom attributes the explosive growth to Amazon Prime and its popular smart speakers.  This solidifies the e-commerce giant’s position as the third-largest music streaming service, right behind Spotify and Apple Music.

[Billboard]

Unfair competition?  Not Vimeo’s problem.

A New York judge has found Vimeo ‘not liable’ for unfair competition over unlicensed music.  Universal’s Capitol Records employed a legal technicality to make the video platform liable for the use of unlicensed music.

[Complete Music Update]

A noticeable pay gap for men and women at all 3 major labels.

The three major labels have revealed their pay gap figures in the UK.

Warner Music UK reported an average pay gap of 49%.  Women lagged behind men in terms of receiving bonuses, 74% to 85%.  Across pay bands, the top quartile stands at 74%-26%, favoring men.

Sony Music UK reported a pay gap of 4.6%.  A near-equal proportion of women (75.3%) and men (74.3%) received a bonus.  In its upper pay quartile, employee proportion stands at 63.3% men and 36.7% women.

Universal Music UK reported a median pay gap of 16.7% and a mean pay gap of 29.8%.  The bonus gap stood at 30.4% (median) and 49.2% (mean).  An equal proportion of men and women, 74%, received bonus pay.  Yet, in the top pay band quartile, the gender split heavily favored men over women, 70% to 30%.

[Music Week]

A lopsided merger proposal?  Viacom’s not having any of it.

Viacom has rejected CBS Corp’s initial merger proposal submitted March 30th.  The all-stock proposal from CBS used a ratio of two stocks and valued Viacom below its market price.  It also called for CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves and COO Joe Ianniello to run the combined company.  The merger proposal didn’t include plans for Viacom CEO Bob Bakish.  A source told CNBC that Viacom will draw up a counterproposal that puts a higher price on the company.

[Billboard]

Learn how to become a successful ‘artrepreneur.’

World Artists United has announced its 1st annual Music Entrepreneur Conference.  The conference will explore the journey of “artrepreneurship,” a new term coined for music entrepreneurs.  It will help them develop a vision for a career in music and create a success mindset.  The Music Entrepreneur Conference will also equip ‘artrepreneurs’ with a simple strategy to build an intriguing brand and marketing strategy.  It will take place at the Harvard Science Center April 7th-8th.

[Pledge Music]

Concert tickets, powered by blockchain.

Dan Teree, co-founder of ticketing firm TicketFly, is now working on a blockchain-based startup called Big Neon.  Speaking on the project, Teree said that blockchain technology will “improve the sale and resale of tickets.”  Big Neon has funding from Silicon Valley VC firms Redpoint Ventures and Trinity Ventures.

[MusicAlly]

Enjoy free music across the US.

The annual Make Music Day festival will return on June 21st with over 4,500 free events, music lessons, and concerts planned in 70 cities across the US.  Make Music Day strives to unite “musicians of all ages, backgrounds and genres, amateur and professional alike, to make and enjoy music.”  It first began in France in 1982.  Today, Make Music Day takes place in over 800 cities around the world.

[Rolling Stone]

The Latin impact on streaming.

Pandora CEO Roger Lynch will host a fireside chat during the Billboard Latin Conference & Awards in Las Vegas.  Dubbed “Streaming for the Latin Fan,” the discussion will highlight the impact of over 16 million Hispanics in the US.  The April 25th meeting will take place at The Venetian from 10-10:45 am.

[Billboard]

The life and times of David Crosby, by Cameron Crowe.

BMG will finance and executive produce a documentary on the life and times of David Crosby.  Cameron Crowe and his production company Vinyl Films will helm the documentary.  This marks the first documentary fully authorized by Crosby.

[Music Business Worldwide]

A deal brighter than a dark rose.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed fast-rising songwriter and rapper Lil Skies to a worldwide deal.  The Pennsylvania-based talent has become a breakout star this year.  Lil Skies already has two Billboard Hot 100 hits.  He has also reached the US Top 10 with his debut studio album, Life of a Dark Rose.

[Sony/ATV]

Recognizing music talent.

The Clio Awards have announced the jury selection for the upcoming Clio Music Awards to be held this October 3 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom during Advertising Week in NYC.  Created in partnership with Billboard, Clio Music underscores the visceral power of music to connect consumers and brands.  It lives as a section within the annual Clio Awards event dedicated to honoring work that spans artist self-promotion, music marketing, brand collaborations, and the use of music in advertising.

[Clio Music]

Enjoy lettuce with a government mule in Atlanta.

Rival Entertainment has presented the 2018 Candler Park Music + Food Festival lineup featuring 10 artists, including headliners Gov’t Mule + Lettuce.  The Festival returns to Candler Park on Friday, June 1st and Saturday, June 2^nd.  Tickets go on sale at 10 am.

[Candler Park Music Festival]

Featured image by typographyimages (CC0)

A friendly reminder: unless you download and save all of your Amazon-stored MP3s, you can bid them farewell – for good.

Underscoring the death of MP3 downloads, Amazon Music quietly scrapped MP3 imports several months ago.  The e-commerce giant decided to completely shutter its dedicated cloud music locker.

Now, Amazon is officially cleaning out some abandoned closets.

Amazon Music users have received an e-mail notifying them when they’ll have to say goodbye to their MP3 uploads.  The company will remove uploaded songs from users’ libraries on April 30th, 2018.

BUT, if you happen to check in, you can keep everything.  Users can choose to keep their tracks on the cloud simply by clicking “Keep my songs” under Music Settings.  That system is designed to reduce storage costs for people who have forgotten (or don’t care) about their MP3s anymore.

Amazon stressed that it will not delete songs purchased (and downloaded) through Amazon Music.  Anything else, including iTunes downloads, look game for elimination.

Earlier in December, the e-commerce giant had announced that its Amazon Music Storage service would run until January 2019.  After that time, users will longer be able to download or stream uploaded tracks.  In addition, Amazon has locked out new users on its free, 250-song storage plan from uploading music.

It’s a dying product, and Amazon is just managing the wind-down.  At the same time, Amazon is trying to push users towards its newer, streaming-focused services like Amazon Music Unlimited.  Also, if you’re a Prime subscriber, you can enjoy a bundled streaming music service with fewer songs.

You can read the full e-mail below, originally posted on The Verge.

“Amazon Music is retiring the Music Storage service, which allows customers to upload and store up to 250 songs in a personal cloud library.  Our records indicate you have uploaded one or more songs through your Amazon account in the past.

To keep, download, and play your uploaded songs at no extra cost, simply open a web browser, go to your Music Settings and click the “Keep my songs” button to direct us to save your music to the cloud.  Otherwise, your uploaded songs will be removed from your library on April 30, 2018.

Your Amazon Music digital purchases will continue to remain securely stored for playback and download – no further action is required to retain those.  These changes will not impact your ability to stream Prime Music or Amazon Music Unlimited.”

Featured image by Matt McGee (CC by 2.0)

Amazon Tickets’ UK window has been closed.  But there’s a much bigger bird in the oven.

As of February 21, 2018, online e-commerce giant Amazon has closed up shop on its UK Amazon Tickets service. The news comes via an email from James Moore, the category director for Amazon Tickets.

In the email, Moore states that the platform will “commence the process of marking back to you any tickets currently on our website and of ceasing the sale of new tickets.” 

Amazon is allegedly working on a ticketing service that’s Alexa-enabled and slated for a 2019 re-launch.

This new service has been kept hush-hush, and it’s scheduled for a re-ignition in the first quarter of 2019, according to Billboard.  This upcoming service will enable Alexa, Amazon’s AI assistant, to make searching for and finding tickets a much easier process. 

Amazon Tickets would’ve succeeded — if only Live Nation’s Ticketmaster would have cooperated.

Last November, Amazon Tickets attempted to close a distribution deal with Ticketmaster that ultimately failed.  This fail added an indefinite delay for Amazon to launch the ticketing service in the United States.  IQ stated that the United States’ ticketing service is much different than the UK’s, as companies like Ticketmaster, AXS, and See Tickets heavily gnaw at the open-distribution model of ticket sales.  They also cited that these services hand over tremendous amounts of money to sell their tickets exclusively at various venues, adding to the difficulty in ticket sales competition. 

Amazon Tickets’ partnership with Ticketmaster would have provided the “only opportunity to sell discounted tickets to underperforming shows,” states IQ. 

And let’s face it: Ticketmaster didn’t need help selling Beyoncé or Bruce Springsteen tickets. 

Amazon Tickets’ competitors in the U.S. — Ticketmaster being the largest — control more than 80 percent of ticket sales within the country.  The UK lacks the same exclusive venue contract opportunities, unlike the US.  According, the  company did successfully ink deals with a myriad of major promoters, but it simply wasn’t enough to stay afloat. 

Amazon’s intention with this service was to become the next Ticketmaster, AXS, or See Tickets. However, when it attempted to work out a deal with Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster stated they “didn’t need help moving tickets for Beyoncé or Bruce Springsteen.”  Instead, they needed assistance in selling tickets that don’t sell like Beyoncé or Bruce Springsteen’s tickets. Roughly 40-50 percent of the industry inventory remains on the shelf, unscathed.  Amazon didn’t want to deal with that either. 

Did anybody use Amazon Tickets?

Yes. In fact, the service did particularly well in the UK.  It partnered with AEG, and together they launched Prime Live Events. Prime Live Events garnered some successful events, including shows from Blondie. It was setup to become a massive competitor alongside Alibaba’s Tao Piao Piao/Damai.cn.  Alibaba’s service is the only one that still stands. 

While you can still purchase MP3s from Amazon, the e-commerce giant has started slowly backing away from the format.

This year, revenue from streaming music platforms has pushed all three major labels’ financial reports to record highs.

Sony Music has generated $1 billion from streaming.  Over the past four quarters, Warner Music Group commanded revenues of $3.58 billion.  For the first half of 2017, Universal Music Group generated $1.15 billion in streaming revenue.

Collectively, the “Big 3” make $14.2 million from streaming revenue.

So, how have digital downloads fared?  Not so well.

In its Q1 2017 report released last August, Sony Music reported a 22.1% drop in digital downloads.  The music label only brought in $117.4 million from the format.  In the same period last year, Sony Music generated $150.7 million from digital downloads.

Over the past four quarters, in a sign that music fans have started moving away from the medium, MP3 downloads only brought in $349 million collectively for the majors. Nothing to sneeze at, but a far cry from the billion-dollar gains of yesteryear.

Then, last week, Digital Music News found that Apple would phase out digitals downloads from the iTunes Store.

In a story tipped to DMN, the Cupertino-based company had started plans to terminate MP3s in 2016.  The current timetable shows a complete termination of the medium in 2019, shortly after the 2018 Christmas season.

Now, underscoring the death of MP3 downloads, Amazon Music has quietly scrapped MP3 imports.

Slowly backing away from the medium.

Amazon Music users had first noticed the company’s plans to roll back support for MP3 imports.  In a statement on its website, Amazon confirmed the news.

“The Amazon Music Storage subscription plans (free and paid) are being retired.  New subscriptions will be accepted until January 15, 2018.  You can upgrade your Amazon Music storage plan, until that time.”

Similar to Apple’s MP3 termination timetable, Amazon Music Storage will run until January 2019.  Then, the e-commerce giant will completely remove the service.

Since last Monday, users on the company’s free 250 storage plan could no longer upload new music to their MP3 locker.  Customers who have purchased MP3s on the website, however, will still be able to access these downloads.

Featured image by Imgflip

Earlier this year, Amazon announced the surprise purchase of Whole Foods.  The news sent the company’s stock soaring about the $1,000/share mark.  With the company reportedly preparing to launch their second headquarters in the US, a new, separate initiative has reportedly stalled.

According to Amplify editor Dave Brooks, the company’s initiative to directly compete against US ticket platforming leader, Ticketmaster, has gone cold.

Three months ago, DMN reported that Amazon actively sought to partner with multiple venues owners in the US.  According to sources, the e-commerce giant sees the US ticketing market as “ripe for attack.”

Amazon had initially sought to partner with Ticketmaster.  Yet, talks fell through when neither company could agree on who would control consumer data.

Amazon has previously taken on Ticketmaster in the UK.  Through Amazon Tickets, the company has successfully beaten the ticketing platform giant, often surpassing their sales.

News of Amazon’s entry into the US ticketing market caused a minor dip in Live Nation’s stock.  The e-commerce giant had reportedly offered venue owners millions in sponsorship checks.  Just as in talks with Ticketmaster, the company insisted on owning consumer data.  These venue owners often had existing partnerships with Ticketmaster.

However, according to Amplify, Amazon has largely abandoned the effort.  Brooks explained,

“The failure to get a deal with Ticketmaster, coupled with the limited opportunities for the company due to Ticketmaster’s venue contracts and exclusivity model, have Amazon quietly shutting down parts of the effort.”

If successful, owning its own ticketing platform would likely have strengthened Amazon’s Prime membership offering.  The e-commerce giant would’ve done away with service fees in exchange for a Prime membership.  The move makes sense.  Earlier this year, the company paid the NFL $50 million to livestream ten Thursday night games.  Discussing the NFL partnership, BTIG analyst Brandon Ross explained,

“It’s all about Prime.  The reason they are spending multiple billions of dollars a year on programming is to get more Prime subscribers and engage more consumers.”

Sources told Brooks that Amazon could re-enter the market “if conditions change.”

Featured image by Rhys A (CC by 2.0)

If YouTube isn’t paying your bills, maybe Amazon will.

To better help social media influencers earn money on the side, Amazon launched their Influencer Program last April.  Accepted influencers could build their own landing page on Amazon.  They could then promote items on the site through their preferred video platforms, including Instagram and Snapchat.

Now, the e-commerce giant has quietly rolled out their program for YouTube stars.

Interested YouTubers can now head to the self-service Influencer Program page to see if they qualify.  Once accepted into the program, popular YouTubers would have their own landing page.

At this stage, we’re hoping influential musicians also qualify.  After all, a popular musician channel exerts just as much influence as any other.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson said,

“We recently enabled a self-service tool for YouTube influencers only to be able to sign up for the Amazon Influencer program.”

To see if they qualify, YouTubers have to head to a special vetting page and click on “Get Started.”  After walking through a few steps designed to verify their social identity.

Benefits of becoming a sponsored company influencer include:

• Getting your own customizable page on Amazon along with a vanity URL.
• Allowing your followers to search and find all of your product recommendations in one spot.
• Earning money through qualifying purchases.

You will obviously need a YouTube account to apply for the program.

Other than that, the company didn’t reveal the program’s eligibility requirements.  However, users who didn’t qualify for the program are invited to check back later as the requirements may change.

In terms of payouts, the Influencer Program also won’t provide higher commissions for YouTubers.  Rather, TechCrunch noted that the program allows their fans to quickly pull up shop recommendations.

In addition, Amazon promised to remain neutral in terms of product selection.  This means that YouTubers can pick and choose which products and brands to endorse.  The company won’t select nor screen the products for YouTubers to select.  As Business Insider points out, “anything sold on Amazon is fair game.”

The move reveals Amazon’s desire to capitalize on the social media influencer market.  According to BI Intelligence, influencers use six top social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.  YouTube currently has over 1.1 billion users worldwide.

Locking down major platform stars may help the e-commerce giant drive up sales.  Commission-based brand and product promotion on Amazon would also serve as an attractive incentive for popular YouTube stars.  A recent report published on Digital Music News revealed that YouTube only pays out around $0.0006 per view.  For artists and content creators to earn the monthly minimum wage amount of $1,472, a video would need 2.2 million plays.

You can check out the Influencer page here.

Image by Dan Farber (CC by 2.0)

Image by Rob Albright (CC by 2.0)

An Alexa-enabled only device music subscription may help Amazon Music Unlimited route the competition in 2017. Yet, a new study shows dipping numbers for Spotify ahead of their IPO, and Echo users aren’t buying Music Unlimited.

Right after the holiday season, Amazon reported booming sales for Alexa-enabled devices, including the Dot and Tap. In fact, according to MusicWatch’s 15th Annual Music Survey, 14 million US consumers reported using an Echo device. Amazon also launched their Music Unlimited service late last year. However, the company has yet to report official paid subscription numbers. So, how well is the e-commerce giant’s paid subscription service faring?

Yet, only 13 percent of Echo users actually listened to Amazon Music Unlimited last year. MusicWatch’s data include paid subscriptions, trials, and account sharing. Whereas Music Unlimited only saw a 13% share, Pandora took home the grand prize. The streaming service ranked as the most-listened to streamer among Echo users with a 43% share. The numbers fall in line with a previous MusicWatch study, showing that American consumers favored Pandora over streaming video giant YouTube. iHeartRadio came in second with a 36% share, and Amazon Prime Music in third with 22%.

Amazon’s streaming service, rated here as one of the best, offers discount pricing for Echo-only and Tap-only users. However, Amazon may simply dismiss the low adoption rate as the service launched during the latter half of 2016.

However, Spotify continues to show worrying numbers. Ahead of their rumored IPO, the service only reached a 7% share of total music listening. Among Echo users, the service slightly beat out Music Unlimited. TuneIn barely edged out the e-commerce giant’s offering at just 14%. Yet, in MusicWatch’s July Monitor study, TuneIn ranked the worst in class in brand awareness among free services.

The MusicWatch Annual Music Study is based on 5,200 respondents aged 13 and older. Respondents answered questions between December 17, 2016 and January 2, 2017.

Image by Rob Albright (CC by 2.0)

Will your smart home device like the Amazon Echo turn into the ultimate crime-solving tool? Can it plead the fifth?

In November 2015, police arrested, and subsequently, charged James Andrew Bates with first-degree murder. He allegedly murdered a man named Victor Collins. Police found Collins’ lifeless body in Bates’ hot tub.

Bates owned several smart home connected devices. These includes a Nest thermostat, a Honeywell alarm system, and an Amazon Echo.

Police in Bentonville, Arkansas issued a search warrant back in August requesting the e-commerce giant to hand over data. The search warrant specifically requested Bates’ purchase history, his billing data, and IP addresses associated with his Amazon Echo. Police also requested his social security number, physical address, and any other address information. The court document stated,

“It is believed that these records are retained by Amazon.com and that they are evidence related to the case under investigation.”

A judge signed the warrant on January 29.

The Verge reports that Amazon hasn’t disclosed Bates’ Echo data to police. However, the company did hand over his account information and purchasing history. Yet, another search warrant shows that police independently extracted valuable data from the Echo and Collins’ LG cell phone. Court documents don’t specify what data they found. It reads,

“There is now being concealed certain data, namely electronic data in the form of audio recordings, transcribed records…and other data contained on an Amazon Echo device.”

The warrant, signed by a judge on June 28, continues,

“and I am satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that the data so described is being concealed within the devices above described….”

However, police couldn’t extract data from Bates’ Huawei cell, due to chipset level encryption.

The Echo does contain local storage, though the company won’t say what data the device could’ve provided police. The e-commerce giant only says that the device is “always listening” for a trigger word. The device also stores and plays back previous commands spoken. A CNET article reads,

“Amazon Echo saves all your voice data. Here’s how to delete it.”

We’re not good at speaking the correct Christmas songs into Alexa. But wait: why is Amazon tracking what we’re saying? What else are they listening to?

Amazon scored a huge hit with Alexa-powered devices, including the Echo and the Dot.  And this could be the Christmas that makes it a household name (literally).

Other companies are getting in line behind the voice-powered juggernaut.  Rival speaker company Sonos even signed a deal with the company, bringing Alexa voice control compatibility to Sonos devices.

The company’s new music service, Amazon Music Unlimited, also brought a lower price plan for Alexa enabled devices.  But Alexa commands can be used for a myriad of other services, including Spotify.  Eventually, Amazon wants it to be used for everything.

But wait: where are all those requests going?

That was all-but-answered this morning, when the e-commerce giant released a list of misquoted Christmas songs.  Google tracks its searches, and of course, so does Amazon — typed or spoken.  It also turns out a large percentage of people search by lyrics, with Amazon is collecting all of them.

And what are we blabbing?

According to the ‘Harris Poll’ survey sent to Digital Music News this morning, more people misquote Twelve Days of Christmas, while 28% of people surveyed sang “three turtle doves and two French hens.”  The correct lyrics are “three French hens, two turtle doves.”

Jingle Bells lands in second place. People sang “cocktail rings” instead of “Bells on bobtail rings.”

Here are some other fun facts, thanks to your favorite eavesdropping mega-corporation:

• 64% of Americans cited in the study prefer to jam out to holiday tunes at home.
• The most popular songs include Jingle Bells and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
• The most requested Alexa songs on Amazon Music are Jingle Bells and Last Christmas.
• The company states that most customers listening to Music Unlimited just ask for a song lyric. Then, the service plays their favorite music.
• 41% of Americans prefer listening to Jingle Bells. 40% prefer It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
• Washington DC ranked the highest in terms of Christmas Music listeners.  The service saw a nearly 400% increase starting on Thanksgiving. Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island followed closely behind.

According to data, 50% of Americans start listening to holiday music as early as the week of Thanksgiving.  On Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas music triples compared to the previous week.

And with that, here’s the list of the most misquoted holiday songs, along with the exact misquoted lyrics.  That you, the Alexa user, generated.

1. “Twelve Days of Christmas”: “On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, four calling birds, three turtle doves, two French hens and a Partridge in a pear tree” — 28%
2. “Jingle Bells”: “Bells on cocktail rings” — 25%
3. “The Christmas Song”: “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your toes” — 22%
4. “Silent Night”: “Round John Virgin, mother and child” — 21%
5. “Winter Wonderland”: “Later on, we’ll perspire” — 21%
6. “Deck the Halls”: “Don we now our day of peril” — 20%
7. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”: “Olive the other reindeer” — 19%
8. “Frosty the Snowman”: “Corncob pipe and a butt and nose” — 17%
9. “All I Want For Christmas”: “All I want for Christmas is shoes” — 16%
10. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”: “Grandma got run over by a reindeer walkin’ home from outhouse on Christmas Eve” — 16%

The survey begs the question: are we sacrificing privacy to ease of use?  Amazon provided the results from December 8-12 among 2,054 U.S. adults, aged 18 and older, who used the service. Both Google and even the NSA follow a similar methodology.

Why are we cool with that?  Ellen Ullman, a San Francisco based writer and computer programmer warned,

“The boundary between the outside world and the self is penetrated…the boundary between your home and the outside world is penetrated.”

In Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents, Ullman spoke about handing over personal data to large companies.

“It’s going to give you services, and whatever services you get will become data. It’s sucked up…[and] a huge new profession, data science. Machine learning. It seems benign. But if you add it all up to what they know about you … they know what you eat.

Similar to George Orwell’s 1984, Ullman presented a cold reality about today’s current technological age.

“With every advance you have to look over your shoulder and know what you’re giving up – look over your shoulder and look at what falls away.”

Top image by Soukéïna Felicianne, CC by 2.0.

Amazon Music Unlimited isn’t only unlimited in the U.S. anymore.

Back in October, Amazon Music Unlimited suddenly launched in the United States. The biggest surprise didn’t come from its unexpected launch, but rather, it’s three-tier price plan not offered by any of its competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. The on-demand streaming service offered a $9.99 monthly plan for normal users, a $7.99 price for Prime users (or a $79/yearly plan), and a $3.99 plan for Echo-only users. However, e-commerce giant Amazon isn’t only looking to dominate U.S. shores.

As of writing, the service is now available in the U.K. with similar pricing. The service offers around 40 million songs on demand. Non-Prime users will pay £9.99/month, with a discounted price of £7.99/month for Prime users. For Echo home speaker/interactive voice hubs, users will pay £3.99/month. Of course, there’s a 30-day free trial available, as well. Amazon Music Unlimited will also launch later today in Germany and Austria.

In a press release statement, Steve Boom said,

“We’ve been thrilled with customer reaction to the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited in the U.S. last month and we’re excited to quickly bring the service to customers in the UK. Starting today, Amazon Music Unlimited offers our UK customers playlists and stations curated by our music experts in the UK, featuring leading British and international artists – we think customers are going to love it.”

Founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, said,

“Amazon Music Unlimited brings real value to the millions of people in the UK who are already Prime members, with a choice of subscribing for only £7.99 a month or even £79 per year. And if you want a sense of the future of voice-controlled music, go ahead and ask Alexa for a free Amazon Music Unlimited trial, and play around on your Echo. If you don’t know the name of a song but know a few lyrics, if you want to hear songs from a specific decade, or even if you’re looking for music to match your mood, just ask. Our U.S. customers love Amazon Music Unlimited on Echo, and we think our UK customers will too.”

However, since the service’s launch here in the United States, we haven’t received any official numbers. Amazon has skirted the issue of actual numbers. Most likely, this is due to most users probably still under the 30-day free trial. However, in a Forbes article titled, Don’t Be Fooled by Amazon Music Unlimited’s Price, Bobby Owsinski asks,

“Just like Apple, Amazon has an enormous number of credit cards on file (estimated at 300 million), but that doesn’t mean that a large percentage of them will automatically subscribe to a new offering, as we saw with Apple Music. That said, it’s good to have another deep-pocketed competitor in the streaming music space, since it was starting to look like a two horse race with Spotify and aforementioned Apple Music. The question is, will music consumers feel the same way?”

Every weekend, in a relatively quiet and quaint part of Los Angeles, you can find cheap kitchenware on sale. There are car parts, tools, blankets, and more, usually at bargain prices. There are also $5-10 counterfeit DVDs and cheap music CDs on sale. Usually cops patrol this now-crowded area, with sellers always on the lookout. They have to be quick. If not, their items are picked up and thrown into the back of a police car.

Piracy is everywhere. In the streets, in the back of a warehouse, online, and in more places. But try this on for size. According to a new Wall Street Journal report, they’re also available on top online seller Amazon.com. Here’s what they wrote:

“In the latest challenge for the battered music industry, pirates are flooding Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers with counterfeit CDs that often cost nearly as much as the official versions and increasingly are difficult to distinguish from the real goods.”

An unnamed record company told WSJ’s Hannah Karp that direct-to-consumer CDs were flat. Amazon account sales are down over 17% due to counterfeit CDs.

How exactly does this work? The American Association of Independent Music notified their indie-label members that Chinese pirates are flooding Amazon with counterfeit CDs. The pirates sell the CDs at just slightly less than their real counterparts. Amazon doesn’t have a clear-cut way to verify these CDs, as pirates start selling the counterfeit items “within about two weeks of an album’s release date.” Amazon even lists these products in their “buy box.”

The RIAA launched an investigation in August to determine how big this problem truly is. They placed 194 CD orders based on top search results for each album type. 44 CDs were counterfeit.  That’s approximately 1 in 4.  What’s worse is that Amazon fulfilled 18 counterfeit CDs, and not individual sellers.

The counterfeit products on Amazon were traced back to a CD manufacturing plant in China, according to a letter written to the U.S. trade representative. The letter stated,

“The artwork, packaging and inserts are carefully copied in fine detail. The untrained eye would not even be able to identify them as counterfeits.”

Russian counterfeits pay the same attention to detail on the exterior packaging but is “sloppy” in the interior, however, according to the same letter.

Brad Buckles told WSJ,

“Amazon should not be playing host to illegal items that would normally be found on the black market.”

The study shocked Amazon. A company spokeswoman said that Amazon has “zero tolerance for the sale of counterfeits,” and

“[is] working closely with labels and distributors to identify offenders, and remove fraudulent items from our catalog. We are also taking action and aggressively pursuing bad actor.”

Image by Irish Typepad (CC by 2.0)

Amazon Music Unlimited might actually lead the way in the U.S. music streaming market.

Yesterday, the sudden announcement of Amazon Music Unlimited pretty much took everyone by storm. There were news reports about it on almost every top news site. We also covered the announcement here at Digital Music News. Even our very own Editor-in-Chief Paul Resnikoff was contacted by CNBC to do an interview. However, a new study may actually put Amazon Music Unlimited into perspective.

Yesterday, Parks Associates published a new report where they stated that more and more homes in the U.S. are actually subscribing to paid music streaming services. They found a 7% increase from last year for homes that had subscribed to a paid streaming service. Last year, around 26% of homes with broadband subscribed to paid subscriptions. The number now stands at a growing rate of 33%.

So what paid music streaming service did American homeowners with broadband owners prefer? Despite only sporting a catalog of just 2 million songs, homeowners with broadband preferred Amazon Prime Music. Amazon’s service had a 10% subscriber increase in 2015. This number went up 5% in 2016.

Parks Associates data also reveals that just 7% of U.S. households use Spotify Premium. 5.9% use Pandora One (now Pandora Plus), 5.3% use Sirius XM Streaming, and a paltry 2.7% use Apple Music.

Parks Associates also estimates that sales of Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Tap were more than 5 million units cumulatively at the end of the second quarter of 2016. However, Amazon has also sold almost 10 million Kindle, Fire, and other Echo-branded home and mobile entertainment devices during the same quarter. With the $3.99 pricing plan for single Echo-based devices, Amazon might actually position itself to be the market leader faster than anyone expects. This may also confirm Martin Goldschmidt’s comments made over the weekend.

“In the U.S. market, even though they haven’t launched a proper streaming service yet, Amazon actually has more streams than Apple.

When they launch their new service they have this incredible customer base that they can market to in the same way that Apple does. That could be a very big play.

And a lot of those customers don’t pay for music. You are talking about 80% or 90% of Amazon customers don’t pay, and they are going to try to monetize that.”

Here’s additional data that Parks Associates found:

• 68% of smartphone owners listen to streaming music daily.
• Streaming music consumers spend 45 minutes per day on this activity.
• Smartphone owners spend more time per day listening to music on their device compared to other major entertainment activities.

Mexican Standoff image by Martin SoulStealer (CC by 2.0).

It’s now Amazon Music vs. Spotify vs. Apple Music (sorry, Tidal).

Amazon is out to prove that the best services don’t need splashy announcements.

After a week filled with rumors about their upcoming music service, the company has finally launched Amazon Music Unlimited. The music service has launched at $9.99 for non-Prime members and $7.99 for Prime members.  There’s also a $79/yearly plan for Prime members with a $99/yearly plan for non-members.

Actually, there’s also a rumored family plan in the works at $14.99 per month, or $149 per year (more on that later).

Amazon Music Unlimited replaces Amazon’s former ‘Prime Music’ service.  The new music streaming service reportedly has tens of millions of songs.  This overshadows Prime Music’s catalog of just 2 million.

Like its competitors, you’ll get access to a huge library of songs, curated playlists, radio stations, and lyrics.  However, in a surprise move, Amazon has also released their Echo-only service at just $3.99 per month.  This is much cheaper than the $4.99 price tag previously rumored.

The $4 price tag also undercuts Pandora Plus, a critical jab.

With the surprise Echo-only price tag, this is where Amazon is looking to stand apart from its competitors.

Amazon’s Echo and Amazon Music Unlimited on Echo devices will give Echo owners access to advanced features like voice-activated requests.  Based on your history, you can tell your Echo to play back certain music.  For example, if you say “play workout music,” Echo will play songs according to your music history taste.

Basic voice commands will also work, like “Alexa, play Adele’s new song,” or “Alexa, play The Chainsmokers.”  This service will also work on single Alexa-powered devices, like Taps or Dots.

There’s also a redesigned Music app available for iOS and Android devices.  You’ll be able to access the service directly through your smartphone and/or tablet.

You can check out the tweet below that Amazon posted earlier today.

Introducing Amazon Music Unlimited! Start your free trial today: https://t.co/N19lOp5DsJ #GoUnlimited pic.twitter.com/RLFRMOdWcV

— Amazon Music (@amazonmusic) 12 de octubre de 2016

Stream image by Tim Bustin, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

The music streaming wars may soon ramp up with the entry of a well-funded Amazon music streaming service. Last week, a German coder found that there were hints about the service in their Music mobile app for the Fire TV. The service will be named Amazon Music Unlimited. But will users respond? How much weight will the online shopping giant put behind their music service?

We’ve seen hints about offering Amazon Prime users a discounted monthly price. They’ll also receive unlimited song uploads to their Cloud. It seems Amazon is ready for a fight.

…more streams than Apple.

In an interview with Larry Blanc, Martin Goldschmidt said that Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. Goldschmidt is the CEO of Cooking Vinyl Group, a global music powerhouse. The subject came up when Blanc spoke first about how sustainable the freemium model could actually be.  According to Blanc, Spotify is currently out of contract with all three major music companies.

Goldschmidt responded to Blanc’s statement by saying that Spotify has had a good year so far.  There’s also a potential IPO in the works due to come out soon.  The big two in the streaming music service space are Apple and Spotify.

According to Schmidt, Apple has been building strongly. Yet, despite not having an official music streaming service, Amazon is making a big play.  The reason they could make a strong impact in the music service is because of their well-established user base. Schmidt said,

“In the U.S. market, even though they haven’t launched a proper streaming service yet, Amazon actually has more streams than Apple. When they launch their new service they have this incredible customer base that they can market to in the same way that Apple does. That could be a very big play. And a lot of those customers don’t pay for music. You are talking about 80% or 90% of Amazon customers don’t pay, and they are going to try to monetize that.”

There’s still no official confirmation from the company about their music streaming service. However, if and when Amazon Music Unlimited is released, the company looks to stand on sure footing.

Code image by Austin Gruenweller, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

Amazon is finally pushing into the music business.

Amazon has long since been rumored to be preparing to enter the already crowded American music streaming market. However, a new post from German blogger Carsten Knobloch points to a clue hidden deep in the code for the Amazon Music app for the Fire TV media streamer that shows the company is due to launch their new music service soon. It will be named Amazon Music Unlimited.

The service will have a $9.99 per month price tag, similar to Spotify and Apple Music. There are also clues that point to a discounted price of $7.99 per month for Prime members. Now, the prices are in euros, but with most streaming services, the prices tend to stay the same in dollars. Spotify, however, does have different prices in some European countries. You can check out a Tweet below with the code that Knobloch and AFTV News found, along with the specific images.

@caschy Looks like this code checks if the customer is a Prime member and applies the $7.99 discounted price. pic.twitter.com/wVHlY4B2kL

— Elias Saba (@Elias) 7 de octubre de 2016

Image by Carsten Knobloch

Knobloch also found code which shows unlimited storage music space on Amazon’s Cloud Drive for Prime users. Currently, Amazon customers can store up to 250 songs in Amazon Drive for free.

Image by Carsten Knobloch

There’s also a mention of alternative pricing in the code, which may refer to a pricing plan for Echo users. The Verge received news from its sources that the Echo-only music streaming service will launch in a few weeks at the discounted price of $5 per month, which is similar to Pandora Plus. Knobloch was unable to find any specific reference to the date of the launch. However, the service is expected to arrive in early 2017.

Amazon Echo Dot image by Guillermo Fernandes, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC by 2.0)

Rule of thumb: Be careful when clicking on “Tweet” ahead of time.

Amazon has been having a very good year. Their Prime Day 2016 was a huge success, speakers rival Sonos has recently inked a deal with the company, and they recently strutted into fourth place with their fashion delivery service in the UK. What could go wrong for the company?

Maybe a tweet published just a little too early. On Monday, the company may have accidentally tweeted a deal for their Amazon Echo Dot on the Echo Dot Twitter page. It linked to the Echo Dot product page on Amazon, which currently reads, “Thank you for your interest in Echo Dot. It is currently sold out.”

Some time after, the tweet was completely gone, with seemingly no traces of the tweet having ever existed. Thankfully, Tweeter user #Indypodcaster caught the tweet in time, and managed to re-tweet the message.

Apparently not? @amazonecho: Introducing the all-new Echo Dot. Add Alexa to any room – now for just $49.99. https://t.co/AQkwY5xbHh/s/Z-sj

— Darrin (@Indypodcaster) 12 de septiembre de 2016

Was this a case of someone accidentally posting this news just a little too early, or just a mistaken price point? Amazon has yet to comment on the missing tweet.

For those who may not have kept up with any news of the Echo Dot, this device gives Bluetooth speakers the ability to respond to voice commands using the Alexa voice service. You can play your favorite music, provide info, set alarms, read the news, and control your own smart home devices with your own voice. It was also recently unveiled back in March with an $89.99 price point. For those who haven’t yet gotten their hands on one, $49.99 might seem like quite a deal.

The old saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  But according to Amazon, if you don’t want to join ‘em, just beat ‘em at half price.

Tech-focused Recode reported yesterday that Amazon is looking to double-down on its own music streaming service at reportedly half the price of competitors like Spotify and Apple Music.  $4-$5 a month sounds good, right?  And there won’t be any ads you’ll have to listen to, just like Spotify and Apple Music’s subscriptions plans.  After all, this is tech giant Amazon.

But, wait.  Don’t get your hopes up just yet, because here’s the catch: the new, cheaper music streaming service will only be available to play if you happen to own an Amazon Echo player.

Amazon already offers its own music streaming service, Prime Music, as part of its $99 yearly Prime subscription, but the main problem here is that its music catalog is noticeably limited.  Amazon has been working to fix that, placing its service in direct competition with Spotify and Apple Music, according to a June report published by Reuters.

With its own Echo music streaming service, though, Amazon would be better able to market its Echo player as featuring its own exclusive music streaming service at just half the price.  As Recode states, the problem with this idea, however, is that most people “value the ability to take their music with them and play it whenever they want,” with most Spotify subscribers “signing up on phones” and Apple Music catering its service initially to iPhone users.

Taking a step back from this news and viewing it from a more critical point of view, would this offering actually boost Amazon Echo sales, or would launching this plan spell certain doom for its service even before launching?  Currently, Amazon Echo can already stream Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, and iHeart Radio, among others, and as Recode points out, you would only be able to listen to it at home.  You would need to be willing to pony up $179.99 just to have access to this streaming service at half-off, while you can start listening to Spotify or Apple Music right away from the phone you already own.

Amazon Echo’s “always listening” feature also has security experts concerned about personal privacy.

Despite Amazon’s desire to launch the both music streaming services in September, it still hasn’t finalized deals with major labels and publishers.

What’s one way to change YouTube’s f-you attitude? Competition.

As the music industry prepares for war against YouTube, another giant is sensing opportunity.  Amazon has now launched a YouTube-like video platform that allows content creators to earn revenue through advertising and royalties on uploaded videos, with far greater control and collaboration.  Which might be exactly the kind of approach the music industry prefers, and ultimately supports.

YouTube is notorious for setting terms and telling creators to like it (and then telling them to love themselves).  In complete contrast, Amazon is extending a far more collaborative proposition.  On Amazon Video Direct, content creators will have the option of determining how their videos are used.  Specific preferences determine whether the user can stream the video, buy the video, download it, or even rent it.  There’s even the option to bundle videos together in a TV-season-like format.

Amazon says that their Video Direct service is dramatically different from YouTube, as it’s not only more flexible, but is has wide reach and is available on innumerable supported devices—Fire TV, phones, tablets, game consoles, Smart TVs, as well as the web.

On top of this, Amazon also offers optimization of its service for its users by providing performance metrics.  That includes the number of minutes the video has been streamed, number of subscribers, projected revenue, payment history, and options for how to optimize the way titles are offered and promoted.

So how do creators make their videos available on AVD?

Creators can include their video in Prime Video, through the Streaming Partners Program as an add-on subscription, as a one-time rental or a one-time purchase, or if you’re an Amazon customer.  In a statement, Jim Freeman, Vice President of Amazon Video, said..

“For the first time, there’s a self-service option for video providers to get their content into a premium streaming subscription service.”

As solid as this service may be, Amazon has a long way to go to successfully compete with YouTube, which has over 1 billion active users worldwide and is still the dominant player for video content.  But maybe the industry, which is growing increasingly frustrated with YouTube’s ability to dictate terms, will migrate to a friendlier Amazon.

Amazon Prime Music streaming service has been available for UK subscribers for six months now. In celebration of this milestone, the company has introduced a new radio service named Prime Stations. The Pandora-like ad-free internet radio features hundreds of stations across a range of genres, including 80s Pop, 90s Indie, and Instrumental Jazz. The digital tracks will adapt to user tastes, as users can rate songs by giving them a thumbs up or thumbs down to fine-tune the algorithm that generates the playlists.

The launch of Prime Stations is already proving a hit in the US, although Amazon has yet to reveal any figures for the number of Prime Music users in the UK. Paul Firth, Amazon UK’s head of music, has reportedly stated that there are “millions” of Prime customers in the UK, and the music service’s month-on-month growth has been expanding “at a faster rate than expected.”

Amazon Prime Music is part of the Amazon Prime bundle, which comes alongside Amazon’s Prime Instant Video. The bundled pricing strategy could be a way to sway music consumers from the likes of Spotify, especially since Prime is cheaper than the annual cost of a Spotify subscription. However, Firth insists Prime Music is “not in competition with Apple or Spotify” as it does not target hardcore music fans and is based on a different financial model.

Prime Music has also launched in Germany and Japan, alongside the UK and the US, making it available in four of the world’s largest music markets. Pandora, on the other hand, is only available in the US. It’s interesting to see Amazon expanding its music service across the globe and offering radio features before Pandora.

Amazon’s new radio service allows users to curate their own stations by selecting their favourite songs or artists. Users can also choose from the pre-made stations based on their favourite genres. The radio service is ad-free, and the digital tracks will adapt to user tastes based on their preferences. The company claims it has hundreds of stations available across a range of genres, including pop, rock, classical, and more.

The radio service is a great addition to Amazon’s music streaming service, which already offers unlimited ad-free streaming of over two million songs. Amazon Prime Music also allows users to download tracks to their devices so they can listen to music offline. The service has a vast library of music, including some exclusive tracks, and it’s continually expanding.

Amazon Prime Music’s bundled pricing strategy offers users access to a lot of media perks, including video streaming, photo storage, and a fast-growing music service. An Amazon Prime membership costs £79 per annum ($99 in the US), which is cheaper than the annual cost of a Spotify subscription.

In conclusion, Amazon Prime Music has made significant progress in the last six months since it launched in the UK. The addition of Prime Stations radio service is excellent news for UK subscribers, and it’s impressive that Amazon has expanded its music service across the globe and offers radio features before Pandora. The bundled pricing strategy is also an attractive proposition for consumers, and it will be interesting to see how it competes with other music streaming services.

It’s simple.  It’s cheap.  And it’s selling like mad.  According to Amazon, the Jensen JTA-230 3 Speed Stereo Turntable with Built-in Speakers was the best-selling home audio product over the holidays, easily trumping more expensive stereo systems.

That includes the Yamaha RX-V677 7.2-channel Wi-Fi Network AV Receiver, which placed second in the holiday ranking.  The RX-V677 is a strong-selling, sophisticated receiver that includes support for Apple AirPlay for seamless iOS audio compatibility, not to mention Mac and Windows PC wireless support.  That’s been a hit for Yamaha, though the RX-V677, discounted at $370, is out-of-reach for most music fans.

Which introduces the obvious question: who needs an expensive, high-end digital stereo system when you can have a belt-driven, old school turntable for $50?  The Jensen is an all-in-one, budget-conscious solution, with three-speed support (33, 45, 78) for any old-school vinyl playback need.  It even has a the speaker built-in, for plug-and-play instant gratification.

For those looking for some digital accoutrements, the JTA-230 also has a USB and aux port for attaching devices or more speakers.  There’s also a high-end, sophisticated WiFi-enabled multi-channel EQ — just kidding!  The JTA has none of that, though it does have a volume knob.  Indeed, simplicity is the secret of this success story, and so is the price: for those looking for post-Christmas bargain, the Jensen is now $48.99 on Amazon.

The surprise success story coincides with another banner year for vinyl, with cheaper turntables filling a massive void.  According to just-released stats, sales of LPs jumped another 52 percent in the US alone, with a similar story emerging across the pond.   But a lot of those sales are for LPs that are never played, because a large percentage of buyers don’t own turntables (and typically can’t afford them).

Sources: Nielsen (2005-2015); Digital Music News projections (2016-2021)

Who downloads anymore?  By 2021, the actual answer will be virtually no one, at least on a paid level.

Last year, paid song downloads dropped another 12.5 percent, according to preliminary details published by Nielsen Soundscan.  In that past two years alone, the drop has been 23.4 percent, with paid downloads from sources like iTunes and Amazon dropping below the billion-mark for the first time since 2007.

Accordingly, the music world will witness a more dramatic download plunge in 2016, with 12.5 percent shifting towards 18 percent, according to conservative DMN estimates.  The decline will subsequently accelerate to 25 percent in 2017, with a 40 percent drop anticipated in 2019.

Source: Nielsen

The reasons for this aren’t mysterious: last year, the number of music streams doubled to 317.2 billion streams in the US alone, thanks to explosive growth across Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music, among others.  That is directly assassinating paid downloads, with Apple accelerating the plunge by aggressively pushing consumers towards Apple Music streaming accounts.

The rest, as they say, will be history, with downloads occupying a niche space in music listening experience, alongside CDs and other marginalized formats.

Meanwhile, future music fans will enjoy even better connections, better localized cache, and a far more seamless level of access to streaming, cloud-based music.  Sounds like dramatic progress, except for the devastating impact it will have on artist and label royalties.

The math is stunning: right off the bat, a paid download accounts for at least 140 times the revenue of an equivalent stream, and that’s a best-case scenario based on aggressive per-stream royalty estimates. Independent labels, many of whom have wholeheartedly embraced streaming in the name of technological progress, will likely be the first group to suffer massive financial consequences.

If you want to have a streaming music service, the first thing you need is music.  And without Universal Music Group’s blessing, you simply won’t have enough music to compete.

Enter Amazon Prime Music, which now has some ‘content’ to complement every possible product on this Earth.  As of early this morning, Amazon Prime users in the US and UK now have access to a vast UMG catalog, via the Amazon Music iOS and Android apps.  Other entry points include Amazon’s home-grown Kindle Fire and Echo, or simply the web.

We’re not sure exactly the licensing pound-of-flesh required here, though Amazon also has significant leverage: after all, the greater the diversity of licensed music services, the greater the distraction from piracy (which yes, is still growing).  And, a now-expanded Amazon offering could translate into lowered leverage from mega-services like Spotify and iTunes.

“…we are delighted to build on our relationship…”

The UMG license grants Amazon Prime users access to a catalog that includes Eminem, Drake, The Weeknd, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding, and Lorde, just to name a few.  It also cracks the vault on a considerable jazz and classical catalog, and could ultimately comprise a massive share of total listening.  “With Amazon’s tremendous reach and consumer appeal, we are delighted to build on our relationship by making Universal Music’s world-class artists available to Amazon Prime members,” said UMG’s Global Head of Digital Business, Francis Keeling.