Can TIDAL Find a Future Which Doesn’t End Badly?

Smashed by Spotify, can TIDAL find a future which doesn’t end badly? — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

The suspicion that something doesn’t quite add up at TIDAL has nagged us for a while.

In An Ever-Changing Music Industry, Cash For Hits Remains A Constant — www.npr.org 
 In the 1950s and ’60s, payola scandals led to Congressional investigations. Though today’s tactics are more nuanced than handing a DJ a briefcase full of money, pay for play is still alive and well.

Anybody out there still listening to FM radio? — CNET — www.cnet.com 
 Norway is doing away with FM — will the US be next?

Sprint Purchases 33 Percent Stake in Jay-Z’s Tidal — www.billboard.com 
 The deal for a one-third stake in Tidal costs Sprint $200 million, according to a source.

Have $9.99 Streaming Subscriptions Reached A Saturation Point? — www.hypebot.com 
 While music streaming has had good year overall, the financially polarizing pricing structure currently being implemented by the streaming industry seems to have some wondering if the number of customers willing to pay $9.99 has hit a saturation point.

How streaming has created the real retail long tail — www.musicweek.com

The combination of the festive season and streaming’s inexorable rise has finally provided long-awaited proof that the so-called ‘long tail’ in music retail now, definitively, exists.

Alexa tip: Wake up to any song on Spotify — www.cnet.com 
 Alexa makes a great alarm clock that you can snooze or silence with your voice. By default, however, you cannot play music as an alarm. Using this workaround, you can play any song from Spotify as an alarm on the Amazon Dot, Echo or Tap.

Deezer wants to support emerging musicians by leveraging its clout as a ‘powerful’ marketing platform — www.thedrum.com 
 The streaming market is enjoying a boom but, far from getting comfortable, music platform Deezer has unveiled a global scheme to champion upcoming artists, saying the industry has a responsibility to do so.