Music Biz Monday // 2.18

Every Monday, we’re sharing the latest news and information for the music industry and technology worldwide.

Get your learn on and stay in the know with Symphonic’s Music Biz Monday!

Hi-Res Music Streaming Service Qobuz Launches in the US

Qobuz US MD Dan Mackta has said that France-born, Hi-Res streaming service aims to be “the premium gasoline of music services”, as it launches in the US today (February 14).

Described as a hybrid “streaming service and download store”, Qobuz has a catolog of 40 million CD-quality (16-bit) tracks, and ‘millions’ of Hi-Res (24-bit/ 192 kHz) tracks.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

Tidal Joins Spotify by Allowing Users to Mute Artists

After Spotify received a huge backlash to its ‘hateful conduct’ policy, the company switched gears. Now, Tidal’s doing the same.

News broke last month that Spotify was testing a way to mute specific artists across playlists, chart lists, and even radio stations.

Now, it appears as though Tidal will be following suit for its users with a new mute setting to block artists. Blocking an artist on Tidal removes them from appearing in the My Mix personalized playlists and track radio.

\\ Read more on Digital Music News //

Video Gamers & the Music Business: Time to Level Up

With long-term attention spans and increasing engagement growth, one has to wonder: what kind of music do gamers listen to?

The gaming community- like any other demographic or lifestyle- are ultimately composed of individuals with differing tastes. Formerly a non-mainstream culture (what’s “mainstream” in 2019 anyway), gamers still deal with preconceived notions about them that include what music they listen to.

\\ Read more on ChartMetric //

5 of Spotify’s Biggest Imminent Challenges in 2019

In many ways, Spotify enjoyed a spectacular end to 2018.

The company finished the year with its first ever quarterly operating profit – €94m ($107 million) — something that challenged many of the long-term naysayers about its business model. In addition, amid its year-end financial-results announcement, Spotify confirmed that it was set to spend between $400 million and $500 million on acquisitions throughout 2019, including the recent buyouts of podcasting content company Gimlet Media and distribution platform Anchor.

What’s more, Spotify could now hit more than 100 million paying subscribers worldwide by the end of March, having topped 96 million at the end of December, and its day-end share price this week (February 14th) reached its highest point ($146.87) since late October last year.

Things are looking up for Daniel Ek and his green machine — but Spotify still faces a few stark challenges. Here are a few of them.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

Live Nation Acquires Neste, Forming a New Live Joint Venture — Neste Live!

Neste marks the fourth acquisition Live Nation has made so far this year.

Live Nation Entertainment has made another important acquisition.

The live entertainment giant has acquired a majority stake in Neste, a full-service event marketing agency.

\\ Read more on Digital Music News //