Still Ripping After All These Years; 18% of Americans Own a Smart Speaker; Deutsche Bank Claims Label Unrest Over Spotify Playlists

Given the explosion in subscription and ad-supported music streaming services, I thought the old war between the music industry and sites specializing in music piracy was pretty much over. Maybe you did too.

Audio streaming now represents nearly half of revenues and has replaced CDs as the largest sales segment on the German record market, reported Florian Drücke, CEO of the German Music Industry Association (BVMI) today in Berlin.

According to the most recent installment of a recurring study conducted by NPR and Edison, roughly 48 million Americans above the age of 18 -- or 18 percent of the population -- now own smart speakers.

Analysts from Deutsche Bank have suggested that major labels are unhappy with their share of slots on Spotify’s curated and algorithmic playlists.

DIY distributor TuneCore has added a new opportunity - Facebook and Instagram monetization.

Users of music streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music could soon find something different on their playlists.

Netflix is getting into the radio biz: The streamer has entered into a pact with SiriusXM to launch a 24-hour comedy channel set to debut by January 2019.

From app ecosystems like Smule to tools like Soundtrap (bought by Spotify), Splice (with its $35m funding round last December) and BandLab (with its numerous acquisitions), there’s been plenty of activity around platforms for music-making in recent times.

Earlier this year, Apple obtained world rights to the Ed Sheeran documentary “Songwriter.” Now, Sheeran has announced on his Instagram that the film will be available exclusively on Apple Music beginning next month…

Lisette Paulson sued Tidal Jay-Z's entertainment company Roc Nation and a number of individual Tidal managers in 2016 claiming seven federal and state sex and pregnancy violations after being fired the previous year.

A reminder that radio brands need special event programming to keep brands interesting and vital.