Indie artists aren’t the only things not earning enough from streaming music services.

Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay.

Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists, we ranked these services according to their per-stream rate.

Napster, the king of streaming music payouts, now pays out $0.019 per stream.  To meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US ($1,472), an artist needs 77,474 total plays.

Jay-Z’s beleaguered TIDAL remains a top player.  The service pays artists $0.0125 per stream.  Artists on TIDAL now need 117,760 total plays to earn $1,472.

Taking third place, Apple Music now pays $0.00735.  Artists on Apple Music need around 200,272 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Beating Deezer for the first time, Google Play Music (GPM) per-stream rate stands at $0.00676.  Artists will need around 217,752 total streams to earn $1,472.

Falling to fifth place, and still without an established presence in the US, Deezer’s per-stream rate rose to $0.0064, placing it right behind GPM.  Artists need 230,000 total plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.

Previously ranked as the service with one of the worst payouts, Spotify reportedly pays $0.00437 per play.  That number varies per artist, with award-winning cellist and composer Zoe Keating receiving on average $0.00543 per play.  Typically, artists will need around 336,842 total plays to earn $1,472.

Right behind Spotify, Amazon now pays $0.00402.  Artists will now need around 366,169 total streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.  Previously, Amazon paid indie artists $0.0074 per play.

Pandora has historically paid indie artists dismal amounts in terms of royalties.  The company now pays $0.00133 on Pandora Premium.  Artists will need 1,106,767 total plays on Pandora Premium just to earn $1,472.

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

The popular video platform pays artists $0.00069.  To earn the monthly minimum wage amount in the US, artists will need around 2,133,333 total plays on YouTube.

Now, The Trichordist has released its list of streaming music payouts.

What one indie label earned from streaming.

Gathering its data from a single source – a mid-sized indie label with an approximately 250+ album catalog which generates almost 1 billion streams – The Trichodist has published its list of streaming music service payouts.

According to the data, Amazon Music Unlimited has the highest per-stream payout rate at $0.01175.  An artist would need around 125,277 plays to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  Amazon’s platform only had a 0.68% share of all the label’s streams, generating 4.04% of all revenue earned.

Napster came next, paying $0.01110 per play.  Artists on Rhapsody’s streaming music service would need around 133,818 plays to earn $1,472.  The service had a 0.14% share of all streams, generating 0.80% of all revenue earned.

TIDAL fell to third place, paying $0.00927 per play.  Artists on Jay-Z’s beleaguered streaming music service would need around 158,792 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.21% share in the label’s streams, generating 0.98% of all revenue earned.

In fourth place, Deezer reportedly paid $0.00567 per stream.  Artists on the platform would need around 259,612 plays to earn $1,472.  The French-based service had a 0.91% share in streams, generating 2.6% of all revenue earned.

Google Play Music came behind Deezer, paying $0.00543 per play.  Artists would need around 271,087 streams to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 1.12% share in the label’s streams, generating 3.08% of all revenue earned.

Apple Music paid indie artists around $0.00495 per stream.  Indie artists would need around 297,374 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a 9.95% share in overall streams, generating a significant 24.97% of all revenue earned.

Amazon Prime Music – labeled Amazon Digital Services – came in seventh place, paying $0.00395 per play.  Artists would need around 372,658 plays on the platform to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 0.95% share in streams, generating a low 1.90% of all revenue earned.

Spotify came close behind Amazon Prime Music, reportedly paying $0.00311 per stream.  At that rate, indie artists would need 472,312 streams to earn $1,472.  The service had a whopping 29.22% share of all the label’s streams, generating 48.93% of all revenue.

Among the worst paying services, Pandora ranked in ninth place, paying $0.00155 per play.  Artists would need 949,677 plays to earn the monthly minimum wage amount.  The service had a 3.86% share in the label’s streams, and generated a dismal 3.03% of all revenue.

YouTube ranked as the worst offender, paying artists a dismal $0.00028 per play.  An artist would need 5,257,143 plays to earn $1,472.  In terms of all streams for the label, the service had a whopping 48.58% share, generating only 6.99% of all revenue.

The key takeaways.

At first glance, only one streaming music service paid more to the indie label: Amazon Music Unlimited.

The rest paid far, far less than they have to individual indie artists.

Take Spotify, for example.  According to independent data, and as explained above, the streaming music giant pays $0.00437 per play.  Yet, the company paid the label $0.00311 per stream.  Spotify’s streams also accounted for nearly 30% of its billion streams.

Apple Music’s per-stream rate saw an even more dramatic drop for labels.  In 2017, the service reportedly paid $0.00783.  Last year, that number decreased to $0.00495.

Comparing both services’ payouts to independent labels, The Trichordist explained,

“Apple Music still lead in the sweet spot with about 10% of overall streams generating 25% of all revenue (despite the per stream rate drop).  Spotify by comparison has nearly triple the marketshare in streams than Apple Music but generates less than double the revenues on that volume.”

Also, despite multiple denials of the ‘value gap,’ YouTube continues cheating the music industry in terms of fair payouts.

The Trichordist explains,

“The biggest takeaway by far is that YouTube’s Content ID, (in our first truly comprehensive data set) shows a whopping 48% of all streams generate only 7% of revenue.  Read that again.  This is your value gap.  Nearly 50% of all recorded music streams only generate 7% of revenue.”

It also remains unclear how much streaming music services do pay major labels, which presumably take a higher percentage.  Yet, from what we can tell, indies receive far, far less than major labels do.

You can view the complete infographic below.

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.

So, just how much music do you really listen to?  And, how do you spend your music listening time?

In Audio Monitor US 2018, a joint study on music habits in the US, Music Biz and AudienceNet have found most Americans still listen to more music on the radio.  Both organizations surveyed 3,000 consumers in the US aged 16 and above.

On average, Americans spend 151 minutes each day listening to music.  Breaking down total music listening share by medium, broadcast radio had a 31% share, down 3% over last year.  On-demand streaming made up 27%, up just 1% from 2017.  Downloaded music had a 10% total listening share, down 3% over last year, but down only 2% over 2016.

‘Other internet radio’ (Pandora, etc) had a 12% share, up 2% over the past 2 years.  Satellite radio had a 7% total listening share, up 1% over the past 2 years.  And, a growing number of Americans (5%) now spent more time streaming AM/FM radio stations online, up 2% over last year.

Breaking down total music listening time by age.

On average, older audiences spent the majority of their time listening to music on the radio.

Broadcast radio had the largest share among those aged 45-54 (42%), 55-64 (45%), and 65 and up (45%).  Radio had a significantly lower share among younger people – 30% among 35-44 year olds, and a 27% share among 25-34 year olds.

In a warning sign for the medium, just 12% of groups aged 16-19 and 20-24 reported listening to music on the radio.

Unsurprisingly, on-demand streaming music had the lowest amount of listening time among older age groups.

Just 8% of people aged 65 and older spent time streaming music.  That number rose to 11% among those aged 55-64, and 15% among 45-54 year olds.  24% of 35-44 year olds spent time listening to on-demand streaming music platforms.

Music Biz and AudienceNet also found on-demand streaming music has become the new standard among younger generations.

33% of 25-34 year olds listened to streaming music platforms.  Among 20-24 year olds, on-demand streaming music had a 49% share.  And, a whopping 60% of 16-19 year olds dedicated the majority of their listening time to on-demand streaming.

The YouTube Factor.

So, where do people enjoy streaming music from?

Unsurprisingly, with a 38% share, YouTube emerged as the preferred on-demand streaming platform.  Spotify came in second with 28%.  Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music had a 9% and 10% average share, respectively.

Among those aged 65 and over that listened to on-demand streaming, 40% used YouTube.  Spotify had a 13% share.  Amazingly, a whopping 24% reported using Amazon Prime Music.  Only 5% used Apple Music.  Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music had a 4% and 2% share, respectively.  Other net platforms – SoundCloud, Deezer, TIDAL, Napster – had an 11% share.

For those aged 55-64, 44% preferred YouTube.  Spotify had a 20% share.  11% preferred Amazon Prime Music.  Just 4% used Apple Music.  Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music had a 3% and 4% share, respectively.  14% preferred using other net platforms for on-demand streaming.

40% of those aged 45-54 used YouTube.  24% preferred Spotify.  9% used Amazon Prime Music the most.  Apple Music had an 8% share.  Google Play Music and Amazon Music Unlimited had a 6% and 3% share, respectively.  9% of people in this age group used other net platforms for on-demand streaming.

Among those aged 35-44, 39% preferred YouTube.  24% chose Spotify.  10% used Apple Music the most.  Amazon Prime Music tied with Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music in this age group with 6%.  And, other net platforms had a 9% on-demand streaming share.

For those aged 25-34, YouTube had a 36% share.  23% preferred Spotify.  11% used Apple Music.  Amazon Prime Music had a 9% share.  Google Play Music and Amazon Music Unlimited tied in this age group as the preferred on-demand streaming platform with 6%.  And, other net platforms had an 11% share.

Interestingly, among younger audiences aged 16-24, at 38%, YouTube tied with Spotify as the preferred on-demand listening.

Apple Music had a 10% share in this age group, followed by other net platforms at 8%, Amazon Prime Music with 3%, Google Play Music with 2%, and Amazon Music Unlimited with 1%.

You can check out the complete report here.

The RIAA goes all in against Grande Communications.

In its lengthy legal battle against ISP Grande Communications, the RIAA has filed a new complaint.  According to the trade organization, Grande has profited from repeat copyright infringers.  The RIAA claims infringers have become Grande’s most profitable customers as they use a costlier “a la carte” subscription.  The trade organization, representing several major music labels, filed a lawsuit against Grande Communications last year.  It has accused the ISP of “turning a blind eye to pirating subscribers.”

Morgan Evans announces an ambitious 10-day tour.

Rising Australian country music singer/songwriter Morgan Evans has announced his 10 in 10 Tour.  The star will perform in 10 cities in just 10 days.  Evans will kick off the tour on June 21^st in Los Angeles.  He’ll wrap up on June 30^th in Washington. DC.

The Recording Academy names its Diversity and Inclusion Task Force members.

Tina Tchen, Chair of the Recording Academy’s newly-formed task force on diversity and inclusion, has announced the names of 16 new members joining the force.  The Recording Academy oversees the Grammys, which became a focal point for discrimination following several controversial awards and comments from Academy president Neil Portnow.  Stephanie Alexa, Michele Anthony, Cam, Common, Sheryl Crow, Andra Day, Giselle Fernandez, Jimmy Jam, Beth Laird, Debra Lee, Rebeca Leon, Elizabeth Matthews, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Ty Stiklorius, Julie Swidler, and Dean Wilson will serve alongside Tchen.  All members will volunteer their time and expertise.  According to the press release, none are employed by the Recording Academy or hold any position on its Board.

Sky Television signs a deal with Riptide.

Sky Television has signed a deal with Riptide Music Group.  Under the new agreement, Riptide will represent Sky’s newly launched trailer music label, Wall of Noise, across the US and Canada.  The Wall of Noise catalog joins other names in trailer music already represented by Riptide.

Big Thief announces international and US tour dates.

Brooklyn-based indie rock group Big Thief has announced tour dates in the US and Europe in support of the band’s 2017 album, Capacity.  The tour kicks off in Boston on May 25^th.  During the summer, the group will perform in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal, and the UK before heading to Canada.  Big Thief will wrap up in Atlanta on October 25^th.

J. Cole goes on tour.

Hip-hop artist J. Cole has announced a 34-date tour in support of his new album, KOD.  Produced by Live Nation and featuring special guest Young Thug, the tour kicks off in Miami on August 9^th.  The tour wraps up in Boston on October 10^th.

YouTube announces its 2018 Creators for Change Program.

YouTube has announced that nearly 50 top creators on its platform will join its “Creators for Change” program.  47 creators – 31 of whom are new members to the program – will use $5 million pledged by YouTube to raise awareness about severe global problems.  The 47 creators, selected from around the world, will discuss the issues most relevant to their region.  Topics include xenophobia, hate speech, and extremism as they appear in different countries.

Picture-in-picture on YouTube without a Red subscription.

According to a new report, some Android users now have access to a picture-in-picture mode on YouTube.  The feature was previously available to subscribers of the video platform’s Red service.  The company has confirmed that it has started testing the feature on a few Android devices.

Symphonic Distribution announces two key hires.

Indie distributor Symphonic Distribution has hired former Orchard executive Nick Gordon and former Universal Music executive Jamie Feldman.  Gordon will serve as Chief Client Officer and General Manager in New York.  He previously served as Vice President of Client Services at The Orchard.  Feldman, Symphonic’s first hire in Los Angeles, will serve as Content Development Specialist.  He previously served as Senior Director of A&R at Universal Music and Director of A&R at Capitol Music.

TIDAL’s counterfeit Beyoncé and Kanye West streaming numbers.

Jay-Z’s TIDAL has not only massively inflated its subscription numbers;  it may have also flat-out lied about the streaming numbers for two popular albums.

According to Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, the beleaguered streaming music service lied about Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.  Despite just having under 3 million subscribers at the time, TIDAL had reported that The Life of Pablo achieved 250 million streams in 10 days.  Lemonade had also reached 306 million streams in just 15 days.

You can check out Digital Music News’ full coverage of the controversy.

BTS announces comeback show in late May.

Popular boy band BTS’ comeback show will air on the Mnet music channel on May 24^th at 8:30 pm local time.  The group’s agency, Big Hit Entertainment, said that the performance will be made available for “real-time streaming by overseas online media” at the same time.  This will mark BTS’ first performance following the release of their highly-anticipated third album, Love Yourself: Tear, on May 18th.

 Vertigo launches Song Stories.

Vertigo, a social media music app, has launched its own Snapchat-style stories feature called Song Stories.  The feature allows users to access Spotify or Apple Music from within the Vertigo app.  Song Stories allows users to mix visual and musical experiences into easily shareable moments with friends and followers.

CMT announces its nominees for the 2018 CMT Music Awards.

Country Music Television (CMT) has announced the nominations and hosts for the 2018 CMT Music Awards.  Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, and Jason Aldean lead the nominations with four nominations each.  Little Big Town, nominated for three awards, will host the awards show for the first time.  The 2018 CMT Music Awards will premiere on Wednesday, June 6^th at 8 pm ET/PT.  Fans can vote for the winners at CMT.com.

Rich Music LTD signs with INgrooves.

Rich Music LTD has signed a distribution deal with indie distribution and marketing company INgrooves.  Nominated for Latin Rhythms Label of the Year in 2017, Rich Music is home to Justin Quiles, DJ Flow, Dalex, and Magnifico.  Father-son team Rich and Josh Mendez founded the label in 2007.

Rogers & Cowan acquires ITB Worldwide.

Global music and entertainment PR agency Rogers & Cowan has acquired London-based marketing agency ITB Worldwide.  The deal gives Rogers & Cowan access to fashion brands and influencers.  ITB has been behind high-profile artist brand partnerships including Jamie Hince and Mango, H&M and Katy Perry, The Weeknd, MIA and Foxes, and Pharrell and GStar.  ITB Worldwide has retained its name and joins Rogers & Cowan as part of the Octagon Sports and Entertainment Network of agencies.

Pulse Music Group Acquires Hitcher.

Pulse Music Group has acquired Hitcher, a firm specializing in synch placement, marketing, and music supervision.  The company will absorb Hitcher into its film and television division.  As part of the deal, Pulse has named Hitcher founder Joe Rangel as Head of Sync, Creative, and Licensing.  Hitcher’s client roster has included Prince, Cash Money, Island Def Jam, Parlophone, 300 Entertainment, and Universal Republic.  Pulse has also purchased Rangel’s shares in Hitcher.

Sony/ATV remains atop Billboard Charts and wins Publisher of the Year.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has published or co-published every No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 52 weeks in a row.  The company’s uninterrupted run comes at songwriter Drake achieved a fourth week at No. 1 with ‘Nice For What.’  Sony/ATV has been represented on the No. 1 song since May 2017.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has also won Publisher of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards.  This marks the fourth time that Sony/ATV has won the award in five years.  Sony/ATV songwriters also received pop awards for 26 songs at the BMI Pop Awards.  The company’s winners included Camila Cabello, Alessia Cara, Luis Fonsi, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, who also won Song of the Year for ‘Shape Of You.’

A second copy of The Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ single breaks the $10,000 mark on Discogs.

A second copy of The Beatles’ first demonstration single for Parlophone ‘Love Me Do’ has sold through Discogs for $10,553.  Released on October 5th, 1962, the record is one of only 250 issued with McCartney incorrectly spelled in the writing credit as McArtney.  Last October, the same variant of ‘Love Me Do’ broke the record for the most expensive 7 inch sold on Discogs, selling for $14,757.

It’s chocolatey delicious.

Kellogg’s Chocolate Frosted Flakes has teamed with Simon Cowell’s new boy band, Prettymuch, to release the group’s first record on a record made completely out of Chocolate Frosted Flakes.  The edible and surprisingly playable “vinyl” record made from cereal and chocolate features Prettymuch’s latest single, ‘Hello.’  As part of the promotion, fans and media met the band and picked up the limited-edition chocolate records at a meet-and-greet in New York City.

Deezer announces an exclusive soccer partnership with RRI.

Deezer has teamed with Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI) to offer soccer fans the chance to hear live matches from the Indonesian Football League.  The French-based streaming music service will start streaming the matches on May 12^th at 6:30 pm JKT.  The partnership includes live football matches of Liga Indonesia Premier League and the 2018 World Cup from RRI.  Fans can also listen to additional sports and news programming from RRI PRO3.  Deezer will also stream traditional Indonesian music from RRI PRO4.

Featured image by OnInnovation (CC by 2.0)

And just like that, EU regulators created a label.

Well, not directly.  But as part of a complex regulatory arrangement hammered out with EU officials, Warner Music Group agreed to divest significant catalog following its acquisition of Parlophone.  Now, a brand-new indie, RT Industries, has been birthed to house roughly 1,000 copyrights divested, including songs from Sheena Easton, Fat Joe, Jesus Jones, Sugar Ray, Trapt and The Vapors.  Circularly, RT will be distributed via Warner-owned ADA.  The label is officially kicking off on Record Store Day (April 21st).

125,000 tracks and counting.

Stephen Arnold Music has announced an expansion of its production music library, The Vault.  It most recently added 50,000 unique titles from BMG Production Music.  The Vault now encompasses over 125,000 tracks.

A performance with 50 violins and 50 loudspeakers.  Maybe a bit too much?

On May 9th, New York-based composer Tristan Perich will give a world premiere of Drift Multiply, a musical composition for 50 violins and 50 loudspeakers.  Experimental composer Lesley Flanigan will also perform at the historic Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan.  It’s all part of this year’s Red Bull Music Festival.

Expanding the Summer Block Party.

Jill Scott, Miguel, and Babyface are now among the headliners for Live Nation’s 4th annual Summer Block Party Festival.  For the first time, the festival will also host a second night at its original Chicago site.  Philadelphia has also been added to the festival market lineup.

What federal investigation?

Live Nation has announced plans for a long-term deal with Long Island Events, LLC.  The move will see Live Nation cast as the exclusive promoter of The Amphitheater at Bald Hill in Farmville, Long Island.  As part of the agreement, the company will oversee ticketing, marketing, strategic planning, and programming at the 7,000 person venue, starting with its upcoming 2018 season.

What bankruptcy?

iHeartMedia Denver has promoted Director of Sports Sales Jeff Johnson to Vice President of Sports Sales & Partnerships.  Johnson has spent his 15-year career in the iHeartMedia Denver building.  He has focused on selling sports properties.

CTS Eventim ama L’italia!

Elsewhere in the budding concert space, live ticketing and event company CTS Eventim has just acquired a controlling stake in Vivo Concerti, an Italian producer of musicals and concerts.  It’s the fourth big purchase for CTS in the Italian live space in the past 8 months.

10 million reasons why radio is far from dead.

An anonymous donor, dubbed Suzanne, gave Seattle radio station 90.3 KEXP FM close to $10 million.  Betsy Troutman, KEXP’s Director of Development, called the gift “transformational.”  The station will place the money in a longtime reserve as well as provide seed money for education programs “aimed at inspiring younger audiences to engage their curiosity around music; services and programming for emerging artists; media-creation experiences for aspiring DJs and music journalists, and outreach activities aimed at deepening KEXP’s connections to local communities”.

“Shazam!”

Deezer has made its SongCatcher feature available for Android users.  Following Apple’s acquisition of Shazam last year, the streaming platform added the audio recognition option for mobile.  The SongCatcher functionality, powered by ACRCloud, is available to premium and free users.

A Divided Reputation.

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran led the first batch of nominees for the 2018 Billboard Music Awards.  The event will air on NBC for the first time this year, broadcasting live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 20th at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.

Walk-ing out of The Four.

Sean Combs, DJ Khaled, and Meghan Trainor will return for the second season of Fox’s The Four sans beleaguered music executive Charlie Walk.  Five women had accused the former Republic Records executive of unwanted advances, touching, and lewd comments.  Walk hired some high-powered lawyers to defend himself, but nothing was brought to court (at least not yet).

Honoring Canadian independent artists and music managers.

The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) has announced four honorees for this year’s CIMA Celebrations and Awards Gala.  The Music Managers Forum Canada has also released five names of inductees to its annual honor roll.  Both ceremonies will take place in Toronto.

No room for Apple Music in South Korea.

Melon, the streaming music app operated by South Korean mobile business giant Kakao, dominates the country’s music streaming market.  According to WiseApp, a Seoul-based app analytics firm, Melon saw 5.69 million users last month, up 5.76% over last year’s 5.29 million.  Genie Music landed at a distant second with 2.06 million users, a 7.56% increase over last year’s 1.87 million.  Kakao Music came in third with 1.73 million users, up 10.16% from last year’s 1.33 million.  YouTube, Google’s video platform, came in seventh place with 490,000 users, a 6.52% increase over last year’s 460,000.  Apple Music launched in South Korea in 2016.  The service didn’t rank on the list.  Spotify has yet to launch in the country.

163 million voted for GOT7.

Soompi has announced the winners of its 13th Annual Soompi Awards.  The audience-driven awards show recognizes the best in K-Pop, Korean Drama, and fandom from around the world.  GOT7 won the #TwitterBestFandom award.  163 million votes were sent in from 190 billion countries, delivering over 1.8 billion impressions from a young, diverse, and active fan base.

Do You Need The Code?

Live video broadcasting platform Live.me has partnered with The Code, a Grammy-nominated writing, production, and artist development company, to launch You Need The Code.  The live streaming music program provides users with videos featuring 14 hand-selected independent artists.  Users can tune in to watch live concerts, one-on-one Q&A’s, exclusive record releases, and backstage studio sessions.

A new global sub-publishing agreement deal.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed a global sub-publishing agreement with independent publishing and record company ABIAH.  The deal covers ABIAH’s entire song catalog, including songs by rising classical singing star and lyricist Carly Paoli.

What’s in a name?

DJ Khaled and his wife Nicole Tuck have filed a trademark for their son’s name, Asahd.  More details here on Digital Music News.

A new age for LiveXLive.

LiveXLive Media has appointed Michael Zemetra as its Chief Financial officer.  He succeeds Jerry Gold, who guided the company through important milestones, including LiveXLive’s listing on NASDAQ, the acquisition of Slacker Radio, and a significant capital raise.  Gold will become the Chief Strategy Officer and has joined LiveXLive’s Board of Directors.

Featured image by YouTube (screengrab)

There’s a new industry in town.  Spotify, Deezer, and SoundCloud now have their own lobbying group.

How big is the streaming music business?

According to a report published in September, major labels make $14.2 million a day from streaming.  A recent study by MiDiA Research shows that streaming platforms generate $5.7 billion in revenue.

But, did you know that streaming music now has its own lobbying group?

Meet DME.

Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, and other music streamers have announced a new digital alliance.  Dubbed Digital Music Europe (DME), the alliance will “showcase and promote the success of the European digital music industry.”

DME will also serve as “a resource for policy-makers, media, and the digital music industry.”

In a statement about the coalition group, Hans-Holger Albrecht, DME President and CEO of Deezer, said,

“For a decade, European digital music companies have led the transformation of the music industry globally.  Bringing these companies together to create DME is a great opportunity to highlight European leadership in this sector, inspire other European entrepreneurs and create a unique voice with policy-makers.”

Olivia Regnier, DME Chair and Spotify’s Director of EU Regulatory Affairs, added,

“DME is eager to share the experience and vision of its members to contribute to policy debates shaping Europe’s Digital Single Market. We believe that policy-makers have a key role to play to support the growth of the entire music sector and enable more innovation in Europe.”

The lobbying group will represent streaming music companies’ interests in Brussels.  Member groups have actively engaged in “debates on copyright, geo-blocking, online platforms, e-privacy, data transfers, digital contracts and taxation.”  DME will work closely with European lawmakers to “create a legislative and regulatory framework that supports the growth of digital music, artists and consumers.”

7Digital, Soundcharts, and Qobuz are the coalition’s founding members.

Featured image by Richard Revel (CC0)

‘Sharing’ by Ryan Roberts, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

Would you use Twitter to discover new music?

If you browse through Twitter searching for your favorite artists using your smartphone, you’ll often find people posting Audio Cards of what they’re currently listening to.  But have you ever actually paid attention to these cards to discover new music?

Can Twitter become a new way to find music you like?

Twitter is betting that you are.  The company just announced that they’ve teamed up with music streaming service Deezer, the latest addition to stimulate discovery through Twitter Audio Cards.  Using iOS or Android, you’ll be able to tap on Audio Cards that pop up in your Twitter feed.

How do you start the player? Just tap on the card and you’ll be able to instantly stream what others are listening to.

Twitter Audio Cards first launched back in 2014, providing support for Spotify, Rhapsody, iTunes, and SoundCloud.  Instead of having to leave the Twitter app to stream a new song, Audio Cards integrated audio right into the timeline, so you could continue browsing Twitter.

Deezer may not be as well-known here in the States as it is back in France, but it signals Deezer’s desire to become a big player in the already crowded U.S. market.  Deezer launched in the American market back in July, and is competing directly with Google Play, Pandora, Apple Music, and Spotify.

Deezer isn’t a company to count out, however.  Earlier this year the French company secured $109.1 million in fundraising, according to the Wall Street Journal.  It also currently sports 40 million licensed tracks available (Spotify has 30 million, while Apple Music has 43 million).

Despite Deezer’s growing strength, the questions that beg to be asked is: Do you use Twitter to discover or stream new music? Do you also use it to share what you’re streaming?

Music companies, music streaming companies, and manufacturers are pushing more and more for listeners to enjoy a truly beautiful sound experience without all that loss.  The examples are everywhere: Tidal initially launching a $19.99 service for hi-fi audio fidelity, Deezer offering hi-fi as well, and an iPhone 7 without a headphone jack supposedly due to physical analog headphone jacks not being able to deliver high quality audio.

But does all of this truly matter? According to a CNBC report, maybe not as much as you’d think.

The question CNBC posed was the following: “Is the full CD sound quality (and all that 1,411 kbps data you’d be streaming) any better than the typical 320 kbps being offered by services like Spotify, Google and others?” CNBC decided to conduct their test in their “high-fidelity audio ‘sweetening’ room.” In an article laying out the details, 15 colleagues ranging from 21 to 55 years old were brought in and asked to pick 3 songs each, with a few asking for 4 songs. They then played each on Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.

A few other testing details: if the last two services happened to crash, they would use Deezer instead. In order to ensure impartiality, each participant didn’t know what service they were listening to.  The song would move on when the participant told testers to move on.

Now, here’s the kicker. Out of 48 total songs played, only 1 out of every 3 participants identified the correct high-fidelity sound service. But “at least four times” people couldn’t hear any difference.

After reaching out to the music services, Alexander Holland, chief content and product officer at Deezer, was the only one to defend its service. He reportedly told CNBC:

“The difference is audio quality can depend on external conditions such as the environment, headset, speakers and devices. Music-loving audiophiles can definitely detect the difference between the different level of sounds.”

According to other sound professionals and audiophiles, yes, you can tell the difference if you’re playing back the music on high-quality devices, and you probably won’t be able to tell if you’re playing the music through common, everyday equipment. Refuting this argument, CNBC was quick to point out that they subjected their participants “in a room with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment.”  

They also noted that an NPR online survey, along with other studies, that show that in general, people like you and me probably can’t tell the difference.

For audiophiles quick to dismiss CNBC’s admittedly “non-scientific test,” an in-house engineer pointed out “that ‘lossless’ music reduces stress levels, while heavily compressed audio requires listeners’ brains to fill in the gaps” and truly depends on how the music track was designed to be outputted.

Mercenary Field Amplifier image by Andrew Pilling, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

Deezer launches in the US, stiffening competition in the music streaming market.

The French music streaming service, Deezer has finally launched in the US, increasing competition in the already crowded music streaming market. The service was launched today at a cost of $10 a month after a 30-day free trial. The interesting thing though, is that there is no free tier.

Deezer Global Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht said…

“We are thrilled to make Deezer available to all music fans in the U.S., at a time when the company is growing stronger and developing new technologies that enable us to deliver a much more personalized experience. We’ve already received an overwhelmingly positive response since offering Deezer via our partners Sonos, Bose and Cricket, and now look forward to making our service available to everyone.”

The streaming platform already has 6 million subscribers, but it’s lining up against some big players in the game. Spotify has over 100 million subscribers, 30 million of which are paying, Apple Music has over 15 million subscribers, and Tidal has approximately 4.2 million subscribers, with 50% of those paying $20 a month for the premium tier. Besides these main contenders, we also have Alphabet Inc which offers Google Play and YouTube Red for $10 a month and Amazon which is set to launch its own $10 a month paid streaming service. So, to say the very least, Deezer has some stiff competition.

Though, Deezer does boasts the largest streaming music catalog in the world, with more than 40 million tracks and 40,000 podcasts available. The streaming service also has some great music discovery features like ‘Flow’, ”which acts as a personal DJ that knows exactly what you want to hear” whilst ”utilizing the best of man and machine” to play the users favorite music.

Whether or not these features are enough to get music fans to switch from competing services or simply sign up, is unknown as the other platforms have sizeable catalogs and music discovery features of their own.

The latest executive shuffles across the music industry…

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has appointed Dr. David Price as Director of Insights and Analysis.  Price has worked for the IFPI since 2014, and started in the role of Head of Anti-Piracy Research and Analysis.  In his new role, Price will be responsible for managing the Insight team, providing industry analysis on music consumption, and the global recorded music market.

Deezer has hired Julia Herd as Vice President of Communications.  Herd comes from HTC, where she has worked for the past 6 years.  Throughout her time at HTC, Herd carried out various roles, including Global Director of PR, Senior Director of Global Communications, and VP of Global Comms.  In her new role with Deezer, Herd will bring her 16 years worth of experience in communications.

Apple Music and iTunes Europe is now saying goodbye to Neil West, who is shifting from a Head of Music role.  West will now take on the role as Head of Apps, Games and Music for the company in Southern Europe.

Elsewhere…

ADA — Warner Music Group’s independent distribution and services arm— has elevated Brandon Squar from Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy & Revenue to Executive Vice President of Digital Sales & Strategy, Worldwide.  In his new role, Squar will report to David Orleans, ADA’s President, Sales and Label Management.  Squar will be responsible for managing promotional and commercial opportunities for label partners, leading national and global digital consumer marketing campaigns, managing ADA’s playlist strategy, and developing strategies for the company’s independent label partners.

Universal Music Germany has hired Patrick Mushatsi-Kareba as General Manager of Marketing and Digital.  Mushatsi-Kareba comes from 8 years at Apple where he was Head Of Apple Music & iTunes Music GSA, Italy & PAN Europe.  In his new role, Mushatsi-Kareba will report to Daniel Lieberberg, UMG’s Senior Vice President of Digital Music.

Also, for the latest jobs in the music industry, check out Digital Music News’ Job Board.  Hiring?  It’s $150 per post, $900 for unlimited annual postings.  

Today, Deezer has announced via their blog that the music streaming service will be available on Apple Watch.

Other streaming apps are already available on the watch, such as Apple’s own music service and Pandora.  However, other streaming services like Spotify and Tidal are missing.

The Apple Watch crowd remains niche, though the absence of these major streaming competitors may allow Deezer to add to its existing 6 million subscribers and further position itself in the streaming market.  Deezer currently boasts the largest streaming music catalog in the world, with more than 40 million tracks and 40,000 podcasts available.

Existing Deezer features will be translated on the Watch, including:

My Music, which syncs the users’ Watch with their iPhone, allowing them access to their entire saved music library.

Player,which allows the user ‘love’ or skip to the next track.

Mixes, which lets the users mood choose the music.

Force Touch, which lets the user play in shuffle mode; and

Charts, which allows users to keep track of trends in tracks, albums, playlists and artists.

Alongside these typical Deezer features, the Apple Watch also supports the Flow feature ,”which acts a personal DJ that knows exactly what you want to hear” whilst ”utilizing the best of man and machine” to play the users favorite music.

Deezer is only available for iPhone users using iOS 8.2 or higher on the Apple Watch, and it also allows users to access all their favorite music already synced on their iPhone in Offline Mode.

Though the app is available as a free download globally, this currently excludes the US.

(Image by Pixaby, Creative Commons, CC by 1.0)

Guvera has yet to make much dent against heavyweights like Spotify, Pandora, or Soundcloud, though maybe this will change that.  According to details just revealed by CEO Darren Herft, the Australia-based Guvera has now raised a hefty $100 million in ‘pre-IPO’ funding, with some “wealthy Australian families” driving the purse.  “A number of wealthy Australian families have been looking for new opportunities in the tech and digital space, but more specifically in mobile and digital,” Herft told the Australian Financial Review. “Guvera presents an opportunity in this space, and it’s growing quickly in Asia.”

Enter India, where Guvera has been attracted roughy 6.5 million users.  That’s a figure that Indian tech insiders might laugh at, especially since Guvera is free and India has a bulging population of roughly 1.3 billion.  But that userbase has more than double since April, according to Herft, and worldwide, the user population is roughly 15 million.

Guvera offers a mix of free and paid streaming, just like Spotify, a company struggling with massive cash burn and nosebleed licensing costs.  Wall Street is getting cool to these plays, though Guvera is now pondering an initial public offering (IPO) in either on the Australia Securities Exchange or Nasdaq in the US, according to the Review.

Earlier, Guvera raised a healthy $60 million, though shockingly, that stockpile is utterly eclipsed by piles being burned by Deezer and Spotify.  Earlier this year, Deezer abruptly canceled its IPO plans in Paris after some unimpressive numbers came to light.  Spotify, and backers like Goldman Sachs, are now angling towards a Wall Street IPO, though serious financial issues and unstable label licensing deals are rumored to be causing delays.

From Google’s beta-stage measurement analysis of topics, designed to accurately measure overall interest in a broader topic area, not just one specific search term.

Results are relative to previous interest, but Google doesn’t offer absolute search volumes.

The podcasting comeback is just getting started, with music a giant part of the resurgence.  Early mega-players include EDM mainstays like Above & Beyond and the Chainsmokers, with KEXP and KCRW also bringing in serious downloads.  And the increasingly-policed Soundcloud is losing out, especially as DJs migrate to the less-complicated, fast-growing podcast world.
But everything’s happening on iTunes, right?  Not anymore: just this morning, Deezer announced the arrival of 20,000 new podcasts, part of a serious expansion that doubles its current offering.  That follows the company’s purchase of Stitcher in 2014, a major stab into the ballooning world of podcasts.

Others are rushing in. Google Play Music is also planning a serious expansion: just yesterday, the struggling music play announced that podcasts would be ‘coming soon,’ with some potentially cool ideas for curating and delivering content to users.  Currently, Google Music is inviting podcasters to jump on board ahead of its release.

Perhaps Deezer, which boasts a presence across 180 countries, can add some international sauce to the podcast palette.  Bayerischer Rundfunk, talkSPORT, France 24 and Braincast are just some of the new additions, with of course a variety of languages offered.  That will add to the existing menu of podcast heavyweights, with podcasts NPR, Financial Times, Panoply, WNYC, This American Life and CBS Radio News previously on board.

The question is how this helps Deezer build a real business model.  The streaming music app, which has yet to enter the United States, just cancelled its IPO amidst serious ‘market condition’ problems.  Core problems with Deezer’s subscriber base, including the presence of a highly-disengaged, bundled subset, undoubtedly created some skittishness as well.  The IPO was scheduled to happen on the Paris Stock Exchange.

What could possibly go wrong?

Pandora shares are down 37 percent in the last week alone, thanks to a recent quarterly loss of $85.9 million.  Spotify is delaying its IPO indefinitely against continued licensing uncertainty.  After just three months, Apple Music now has more paying subscribers than Deezer.

But half of Deezer’s 6.34 million subscribers haven’t even accessed the service once in the past month.

Perhaps catching a whiff of pungent reality, Deezer has now smartly decide to indefinitely postpone its initial public offering (IPO) in Paris, citing ‘market conditions’.  The well-funded Franco-streamer is staying on the sidelines indefinitely, while perhaps focusing on its core proposition and/or waiting for ‘conditions’ to improve.

Deezer, which is now present across 180 countries excluding the US, has roughly $150 million in funding.  Access Industries, headed by Russian billionaire Len Blavatnik, is by far the biggest backer.

It’s a streaming music IPO. What could possibly go wrong?

Earlier, we pointed to some very troubling subscriber numbers at Deezer, the Spotify competitor that still hasn’t set foot in the US and remains woefully unprofitable.  Previously, Deezer claimed to have amassed 6-plus million subscribers through an ex-US, global approach, but IPO filings revealed that roughly half were bundled subscribers that hadn’t even played a single song in the previous month.

And, just 1.54 million were paying the full subscription rate, part of a growing-and-glaring problem surrounding actual, paying users.

Sounds wildly unpromising, though Deezer is now plowing forward with its initial public offering in Paris.  According to more details now filed with Euronext, Deezer is aiming to raise roughly €300 million ($334 million) on French Wall Street.

Specifically, Deezer will generate 8,241,758 new share at an expected valuation range of between €36.40 and €49.24 per share.  The resulting valuation, at least on paper, would land between  €884 million and €1.088 billion ($1 billion to $1.24 billion).

Deezer expects to kick-off as ‘DZR’ on Euronext by October 30th.

Image by Tomás Fano licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

“A flat line for U.S. streaming subscribers is quite a worrying signal for music industry investors.”

Seeking Alpha analyst Pim Keunsler.

It’s been a rollercoaster for Pandora on Wall Street, but IPO hopefuls like Spotify may never get to ride.  And one huge concern for traders and investors, according to sources to Digital Music News, are soggy numbers around paid subscriptions.

In the US, streaming subscriptions rose a scant 2.5% to 8.1 million in the United States during the first half of this year, according to recent stats by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).  Billboard has pointed to the cancellation of Muve Music as one possible explanation, though it’s unclear whether those 2+ million heavily-bundled subscriptions were solid revenue contributors in the first place.

Meanwhile, Apple Music is threatening to woefully under-deliver, with early intelligence suggesting initial paid subscribers in the low millions.  And Spotify, while surging towards 100 million total users, is showing less-than-spectacular gains on the paid side.

“…my general bullish outlook for the sector might be at risk.”

All of which has Wall Street nervous about the state of the music industry.  “A flat line for U.S. streaming subscribers is quite a worrying signal for music industry investors,” Seeking Alpha analyst Pim Keunsler wrote.  “I even consider music streaming growth the most important argument to invest in music-related stocks.  The most recent report by the RIAA indicates that my general bullish outlook for the sector might be at risk.”

There are deeper problems, according to insiders.  The biggest issue right now is happening in Paris, where a problematic Deezer is trying to go public.  As part of its IPO filing, federal law mandates the filing of financial and company data, a move that is exposing some serious issues with the world’s second-largest streaming service.  Chief among them is the lack of actual ‘subscribers’: according to IPO filings, roughly half of Deezer’s claimed 6.34 million subscribers haven’t even accessed a single song in the last month, while only 1.54 million are paying full fare.  “This could be ugly,” one major label executive observed.

Actual ‘subscribers’ are also an issue at Spotify, where a large percentage are paying discounted or introductory rates (we just don’t know how many).  But more pressing for Spotify are renegotiations with the Big Three major labels, all of whom are renewing right now and demanding heavy licensing costs.  Those deals, according to sources close to the negotiations, may also include ‘gated content,’ which means limiting content for free-access users, something Spotify has fiercely resisted.

But even if Spotify maintains its freemium, ad-supported tier intact, its major label licensing deals are unlikely to be renewed for more than one year, according to sources.  All of which puts Spotify’s IPO plans in an unhappy holding pattern.

Image of female brown bear by Tambako The Jaguar, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).

Spotify rival Deezer is now planning a major IPO in France, yet the process of going public is exposing some very unflattering details.  The biggest is that roughly half of Deezer’s ‘subscribers’ are actually bundled into mobile plans are entirely inactive, if they even know they’re subscribed.

Specifically, 3.34 million of 6.34 million total are classified as ‘monthly inactive bundle users,’ who are technically generating some revenue but aren’t really users.

Dig deeper, and the numbers get even uglier.  Of the remaining 3 million that are actively using Deezer, just 1.54 million are paying the actual, full subscription price.  That might explain why Deezer has never produced a profit, though losses could be easing.  According to the disclosure, losses for the first-half of 2015 were €8.97 million ($10.02 million), narrower than €12.82 million ($14.36 million) at the same point last year.

The disclosures bode poorly for a streaming music sector, and could weigh heavily on Spotify’s stalled IPO on Wall Street.  Spotify has fewer bundled mobile deals, but the number of subscribers paying cut-rate or introductory rates is rumored to be high.  Deezer’s paperwork also shows monstrous payouts to major label partners, which account for 67 percent of songs played on the service.

That undoubtedly mirrors the situation at Spotify, with major label negotiations apparently delaying the company’s IPO timetable, according to sources.

Deezer’s full IPO financial disclosure is here.

Top image by Boby, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0).  Middle image from Deezer’s IPO disclosure.