The On-Demand Economy in Music; Spotify Drops Refugee-Themed Playlist

How is the rise of the on-demand economy affecting music? Bas Grasmayer takes a look in this latest edition of Projecting Trends.

Eric Wahlforss, co-founder and chief product officer at SoundCloud, on why staffing the company with musicians and music-lovers makes good business sense.

Streaming site Spotify has dropped a refugee-themed playlist featuring a wide range of immigrant artists, people on Twitter are confused whether it’s a good thing or tone-deaf.

"The switch gets turned on for everybody during the Grammys."

It’s easy to get carried away by Facebook’s potential in the music business. The company’s last confirmed active user figure of 1.79bn is around 15 times larger than Spotify’s – and that doesn’t include the 600m people using Facebook-owned Instagram.

The social network giant has a spotty track record when it comes to integrating music, but the arrival of Tamara Hrivnak signals a major change in its approach.

"We must always be wary of getting over-excited about the latest hot new thing, but I think we should also avoid feeling too gloomy about innovation around music. There is plenty more to do and learn.”

SoundExchange paid out $884 million in royalties to artists and labels in 2016, a 10.1 percent increase over the $803 paid out in 2015.

Napster, the music streaming service, has updated their Windows 10 app and given it the UWP treatment, complete with a new design, and much more

Watch live: The New York Public Library, Freedom in the World 2017, Javon Jackson Band, An Evening with Epic Games, and Battlecode 2017 at MIT.