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Each week on Songwriter U, Songspace recaps the top stories in the world of music business. Here’s everything you need to know from the week ending on June 12th.
Apple Music Announcement
The beginning of the week was marked by a big announcement by Apple: the long time rumored streaming service Apple Music will officially launch at the end of June. The industry quickly analyzed aspects of the product, noting the $9.99 a month price (or $14.99 for a family subscription) and the global twenty-four hour radio station that will be lead by Zane Lowe. Other major talking points include the 3 month free trial that will apparently not payout anything to rights holders, and the legal issues involving the major labels and antitrust laws.
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Global Release Day to Change to Friday
Though this was a talking point earlier this year, it has now been confirmed that the new global release day for music will be on Friday starting July 10th. The main goal of this move is to get all of the countries to release on the same day so that artists can promote one worldwide day and fans can all expect to get new music on the same day. There is also a new branding effort supporting New Music Fridays to let consumers know of the change.Read More…
Spotify Gains Paying Subscribers
Spotify has announced new numbers for total subscribers: they have reached 20 million paying and 75 million total subscribers worldwide. This is a big win for them, as they gained five million paying subscribers in just the last five months. The numbers are also being used to support the freemium model – showing they are able to convert ad supported free users to paying customers. It was also announced the same day that they have just finished a $500 million round of funding.
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Ticketmaster Makes Two Acquisitions
The ticketing giant Ticketmaster has acquired two different companies in order to expand their presence: Front Gate Tickets (which specializes in festival ticketing) and Universe (which focuses on DIY ticketing). These moves help Ticketmaster go into new territory in online ticketing, while also building their brand and services offered.
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CMA Fest Goes Digital
The huge country music festival CMA Fest that is currently being held in Nashville has made a large effort to incorporate all things digital. From letting Spotify do the music between sets at LP field to AT&T broadcasting artists’ performances, CMA is making sure that they embrace their audience’s lifestyles and offer as much as possible in terms of digital content and interaction.
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