Paid Streaming Subscriptions Rise 50%; How Streaming Music Platforms Can Last and Grow

U.S. Music Industry’s Revenue Growth Accelerates As Paid Streaming Subscriptions Rise 50 Percent — www.billboard.com 
 In what’s now become a familiar story, the U.S. recorded music industry has seen revenue growth accelerate again in the first half of 2017, up 17 percent over the first half of last year to $4.0 billion, according the the RIAA’s 2017 mid-year report.

How Streaming Music Platforms Can Last and Grow — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

There’s been much discussion of late about the challenge in building a successful streaming music company.

Sure, it’s difficult, but Mixcloud has been working hard at this for nearly a decade, learning some hard and valuable lessons along the way.

Sony Music Nashville Chief Randy Goodman On Streaming: Adopt Or Die — www.billboard.com 
 Streaming is a major priority for Sony Music Nashville chairman/CEO Randy Goodman as he strives “to rebuild the prominence and the legacy” of the label group he took over a little more than two years ago.

Wolfgang’s Vault Hit with Class Action Copyright Suit — variety.com 
 A new lawsuit seeks to represent artists whose concert performances appear on “Wolfgang’s Vault,” a streaming site of classic recordings

Spotify launches its own self-serve platform for audio ads — www.thedrum.com 
 Audio streaming service Spotify has launched an audio self-serve advertising platform, Spotify Ad Studio, in beta mode in the US.

Electronic Dance Artist Gramatik Plans to Tokenize His Music — blocktribune.com

Gramatik plans to “tokenize” his intellectual property and other rights through an initial coin offering via SingularDTV.

There are now 30 million paid music subscribers in the US — www.theverge.com 
 It’s by far the industry’s best performing segment

Stream Ripping Piracy Goes From Bad to Worse, Music Industry Reports — torrentfreak.com 
 New data not only reveals that stream ripping remains the music industry’s main piracy threat, but it’s growing too. IFPI’s latest music consumer insight report shows that more than a third of all Internet subscribers use stream rippers to access unlicensed music.

How Spotify turns data into customer demand — mumbrella.com.au 
 Ever wondered how Spotify is so good at predicting the music its users might want to listen to at any given moment? According to Richard Frankel, the globa

Pandora And T-Mobile Roll Out Reward-Based Video In Effort To Boost Engagement — www.geomarketing.com

“We’re seeing that by allowing people to opt into their video ads and choose when it’s worth it for them to watch something, that intent drives truly deep engagement,” says Pandora SVP Lizzie Widhelm.