SoundCloud Undercuts Spotify; Why Indie Artists Can’t Afford to Skip Streaming

SoundCloud Undercuts Spotify With Low-Price Plan — www.bloomberg.com 
 The popular online-music service has struggled to make money, but its new $4.99/month price may be a sign of things to come for fans

From Austin To Memphis: What It Takes To Build A Music-Tech City — www.forbes.com 
 Bridging the gap between local music and tech communities is a growing imperative — and much easier said than done.

Why Indie Artists Can’t Afford to Skip Streaming — www.billboard.com 
 It was a watershed year for the half-million or so artists and labels CD Baby distributes worldwide in 2016. It was the year its artists’ lifetime gross earnings crossed the half-a billion-dollar mark (yep, $500,000,000). But the most important trend was that revenue from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music overtook downloads as the number one source of artists’ sales.

The future of ticketing: dynamic pricing, data and Spotify — musically.com 
 The emergence of mobile ticketing-focused startups like Dice has inspired Ticketmaster to “up our game” according to Sarah Slater.

Jay Z is right: Radio is a much worse place to listen to music than Apple Music, Tidal, or Spotify — qz.com 
 Is radio dead? Data show it isn’t as a whole — yet as a music platform, it’s a whole different story. In a candid interview between Frank Ocean and Jay Z that aired on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station Feb. 24, the latter spent a good portion mourning the golden days of radio, where he got his own start…

Online royalties jumped by 60% in 2016 thanks to music streaming — hhhhappy.com 
 Still want to point the finger at streaming for stealing artists’ money? Indie publishers saw their best revenue in years thanks to the growing medium.

Projecting Trends: What Music can Learn from Gaming — blog.synchtank.com 
 A look at the rise of gamer personalities and the business models they employ, and how the music industry can learn from this as well as directly benefit.

Dubset raises $4M to legalize remixes for Spotify and Apple Music — techcrunch.com 
 Record labels refuse to allow streaming of remixes and hour-long DJ sets unless copyright owners get paid for every little sample. Dubset just raised $4..

Prince didn’t like streaming, but it could be a big boost to his estate anyway — www.cnbc.com 
 The Purple Rocker was notoriously protective of his music when it came to streaming. Despite that, he may yet benefit from a Michael Jackson effect.