Spotify Hits 75M Paying Users; Music’s Future Means Even More Ed Sheeran, Drake; Napster of Puppets

Spotify touts 75 million subscribers in first quarterly earnings report — www.engadget.com 
 Spotify made its New York Stock Exchange debut last month, and today the streaming service announced its first earning report as a public company. As part of it…

Music’s Future Means Even More Ed Sheeran, Drake — www.bloomberg.com 
 The industry’s revenue is concentrated around a few big names.

Napster of Puppets: The Case Heard Round the Internet — www.wakemag.org

Back in the late 90’s, we didn’t have much in the way of downloading and streaming music. That is, until Napster came onto the scene in 1999.

No, Streaming Services Are Not ‘Saving The Music Industry’ — thequietus.com 
 A new rock music and pop culture website. Editorial independent music website offering news, reviews, features, interviews, videos and pictures

Philo and Pandora are offering a discounted, but temporary, 3-month bundle of TV and music — techcrunch.com

Seems like Hulu and Spotify had the right idea, when they launched a discounted package last month that combined both of their services. Now, the low-cost streaming service Philo is doing the same — but not with Spotify.

Wall Street Is Betting on Music for the First Time in Decadese — www.rollingstone.com 
 If Spotify’s first earnings report shines, it bodes well for music-streaming’s future

The Lofty Optimism of Spotify and the Influence of the Streaming Revolution — www.newyorker.com

The popularity of streaming has led to obvious changes in how music is being produced — in 2018, a pop song needs to sound excellent piping out of a laptop’s tiny speakers and on headphones — but streaming has also resurrected the idea that the medium through which an album or track is made available is as much an aesthetic choice as anything else.

Billboard Finalizes Changes to How Streams Are Weighted for Billboard Hot 100 & Billboard 200 — www.billboard.com 
 Billboard has finalized weighting changes to the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and Billboard 200 albums chart. A greater emphasis will be given to paid subscription streams, with ad-supported activity remaining an important factor on the album and songs charts.

Xiaomi Mi Music, Mi Video Apps Launched in India, Get Streaming Services and New Features — gadgets.ndtv.com 
 Both apps are not exactly new, but rather refreshed versions of Xiaomi’s existing local media players.

MelodyVR Launches With Plenty of Funding & Major Label Deals — But Can It Survive VR’s Trough of Disillusionment? — www.billboard.com 
 After three years of planning, the MelodyVR experience has arrived for the masses with the launch of Facebook’s little-marketed Oculus Go.

Sony Just Cashed 50% of Its Spotify Shares — a $760 Million Payout — www.digitalmusicnews.com 
 When it comes to Spotify liquidation, Sony Music isn’t f — ing around! The major label has now cashed nearly 50% of its Spotify shares.

BBC Launches First-Ever Audio Ads On Podcasts — adexchanger.com

The BBC is testing audio ads for the first time in its 96-year history.