Drake’s “Scorpion” and Success in the Streaming Era; Deezer Raises $85M, Partners With Rotana

Drake’s “Scorpion” Defines Success in the Streaming Era — for Better or Worse — superhypeblog.com 
 Read this post to understand why record albums are relevant in the streaming era.

Deezer Raises $85M, Partners With Rotana — variety.com 
 Paris-headquartered music streaming service Deezer has raised another €160 million (around $185 million) in funding, the company announced Thursday morning. This new round of funding values the company at €1 billion ($1.16 billion).

nugs.tv Announces Free 2018 Jerry Day Webcast — www.jambase.com 
 A free webcast of Sunday’s 16th annual Jerry Day will feature sets from Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, Melvin Seals & JGB and the Gary Gates Band.

Musical.ly Is Shutting Down, Users Moved to TikTok Video App — variety.com 
 China’s Bytedance is shutting down the Musical.ly app and migrating users over to its TikTok short-form video app.

Universal Music launches Peaceful Music playlist on Apple Music — musically.com 
 Music for relaxation has quietly (well, it wouldn’t be loudly…) become one of the big playlist genres on music-streaming services. Now Universal Music Group is hoping to capitalise by launching a playlist called Peaceful Music.

Why Congress Should Support Startups In The Music Modernization Act — www.hypebot.com

In this piece Chris Castle breaks down the latest inside the world of the Music Modernization Act, and why the law needs to be altered in order to restore balance between the rule makers and the rule takers, and better support startups in their bids for success.

Understanding Music Streaming’s Incredible Growth — www.hypebot.com

New numbers out from Nielsen have revealed that the popularity of streaming is continuing to grow at a precipitous rate.

Analog to Digital Conversion — Then and Now — audiophilereview.com 
 Dave Collins dispels some popular misconceptions about digital processing…

Fewer Britons are illegally downloading music as streaming ‘fills vacuum’ — www.nme.com 
 Surveyed people said it was easier to stream music than pirate it

Spotify talks direct artist deals: ‘Licensing content doesn’t make us a label’ — musically.com 
 Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has taken pains to reassure labels that the company’s direct-licensing deals with independent artists should not be seen as a threat to labels, tying it back to Spotify’s ‘two-sided marketplace’ strategy.

First Listen: The War And Treaty, ‘Healing Tide’ — www.npr.org 
 The married duo Michael and Tanya Trotter convey an ecstatic, empowering sense of partnership that serves as the duo’s creative engine and core message.