Are Physical Music Sales Making a Comeback in 2026?; Aphex Twin Pulling More YouTube Listeners Than Taylor Swift
2306 | Your Daily Dose of Music Streaming News
Record labels, Spotify sue pirate group Anna’s Archive over scraping and ‘brazen theft’ of millions of tracks
Pirate group accused of 'brazen theft of millions of files containing nearly all of the world's commercial sound recordings.'
Aphex Twin is now pulling more YouTube listeners than Taylor Swift – and it all comes down to one track
Thanks to viral Shorts, fan edits, and a 24-year-old piano track, the Cornish electronic icon is having a very modern moment.
Are Physical Music Sales Making a Comeback in 2026?
For years, physical music sales were all about nostalgia rather than a serious business channel. Vinyl survived, CDs lingered, and cassettes became a novelty. As the industry moves toward 2026, however, the conversation has changed.
106,000-a-Day Deluge: 88% of Tracks Starve for Streams
The global music streaming landscape is becoming increasingly saturated, according to Luminate’s 2025 Year-End Music Report, 106,000 new tracks are delivered to digital service providers (DSPs) every single day. This represents a 7% increase over the 2024 daily average of 99,000.
Believe UK and Tileyard Music launch joint-venture label Tenace Records
“Spearheaded by co-presidents Charlie Arme and Michael Harwood, founders of Tileyard Music, Tenace Records will benefit from the global firepower of Believe and Tileyard Music’s industry-leading A&R team,” said a statement.
Universal launches Def Jam Recordings China division in Chengdu, ‘the capital of Chinese hip-hop’
Def Jam Recording China has partnered with China Mobile's Migu to discover talent, and create and distribute music.
How “Classic Rock” Became A Genre, A Lifestyle, A Community, A Dynasty
Is Classic Rock a format, a genre, a lifestyle, a community, a franchise, a dynasty? Yes, to all.
Could the Holiday Season be the Best Time to Release Music?
When is the best time to release new music? For decades, conventional wisdom is that the music industry shuts down between Thanksgiving and the New Year so don’t release anything then. But is that still true?
Move Over Audible—Spotify Developing ‘Page Match’ Feature for Audiobook Listeners Who Like to Read Along
The feature appears to be a tool that will allow a user to seamlessly jump between a physical book and its audio version on Spotify. This feature is great for readers who like to read traditionally in bed, but may engage with audiobooks while exercising, cleaning, or driving.
Tiny Vinyl takes its miniature records to Europe and the UK
The company has hired vinyl veteran Ruben Planting to oversee its expansion, with Chappell Roan’s Tiny Vinyl release one of the first products to be made available in the territories.
Grateful Dead Surges in Streaming After Bob Weir’s Death
With the Jan. 10 passing of founding guitarist Bob Weir, you don’t need to be a certified “Deadhead” to appreciate the cultural force that was the Grateful Dead.
Setlist.fm‘s Joe Fleischer on How Data Builds Community
Joe Fleischer explores how fan-driven music data, touring insights, and setlists have built a global community around the live concert experience.
Contact: jeff@platformandstream.com
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Great round-up. The 106k tracks per day stat is crazy when you think about discoverability becoming essentially algorithmic gatekeeping at that volume. What striked me though is the physical sales angle, seems like its less nostalgia now and more about owning somethig tangible when everything else is jsut license agreements that can vanish.