According to Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss, the driving force behind Round Hill’s ability to snaffle market share for contemporary US radio hits lies in investing in new music. “We’re grabbing a lot of market share on radio, really punching above our weight. That’s what a real publisher does; if you’re just a check-book publisher, you’re just buying catalogs – you’re not relevant in the current radio charts.”
March, 2021
The Latest Artist Selling NFTs? It’s a Robot.
Sophia the robot has interviewed Germany’s chancellor, appeared at New York Fashion Week and performed on “The Tonight Show.” Now Sophia has made a splash in the art world — by auctioning off a digital work that it produced in collaboration with a real-life Italian artist. It sold on Thursday for $688,888.
Google signs news content deals with Italian publishers
Source: Google signs news content deals with Italian publishers
Why streaming subscription ARPU fell by around 8% for the record industry last year
The driving factors behind the ARPU decline are the same as ever, most notably: (i) Streaming subscriptions growing in countries with a low USD-equivalent subscription cost – especially so-called emerging markets; and (ii) The continued prevalence of discounted subscription deals, Family Plans, Student Deals and telco bundles – all of which bring down the average per-subscriber spend on streaming subscriptions.
Indie labels call for end to streaming ‘payola.’ IMPALA unveils 10-point plan to reform sector
IMPALA, which represents many of the world’s biggest independent record labels in Europe, has published a must-read new report containing a number of suggestions the industry should consider for overhauling the way streaming works. One of the most contentious parts of the manifesto centers on streaming services that offer rights-holders reduced royalties for guaranteed plays or “privileged treatment in algorithms or other features”.
Source: Indie labels call for end to streaming ‘payola’ – as IMPALA unveils 10-point plan to reform sector
Justice Department Sides With YouTube In Fight Over Section 230
Siding with YouTube, the Biden administration is urging a federal judge to reject an attempt by video creators to invalidate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The administration’s move comes in a lawsuit by Kimberly Carleste Newman and other content creators who say YouTube wrongly restricted and de-monetized videos with titles like “black lives matter,” “racism,” and “white supremacy.”
Source: Digital News Daily: Justice Department Sides With YouTube In Fight Over Section 230
Beeple Immediately Converted His $53 Million NFT Earnings From ETH to USD
Beeple may have made a fortune from NFT art, but he harbors no illusions as to the current mania for non-fungible tokens. “I absolutely think it’s a bubble, to be quite honest,” Beeple said, likening the NFT craze to the early days of the Internet. “There was a bubble. And the bubble burst. And it wiped out a lot of crap—but it didn’t wipe out the Internet.”
Source: Beeple Immediately Converted His $53 Million NFT Earnings From ETH to USD – Decrypt
Billionaire Mark Cuban is building a digital art gallery for NFTs
The billionaire Shark Tank star and owner of the Dallas Mavericks confirmed that he’s building out a new gallery for digital art and collectibles, marking the latest product launch in the burgeoning market. The website is live, according to Cuban, and has seen tens of thousands of visitors in its initial days of existence.
Source: Billionaire Mark Cuban is building a digital art gallery for NFTs
Tencent Music Topped 56 Million Paid Users in 2020’s Fourth Quarter
China’s largest music-streaming company also relayed in its fourth-quarter earnings analysis that revenue grew by 14.3 percent, compared to the same three-month stretch in 2019, to nearly $1.28 billion. A 29 percent year-over-year hike (to $423 million) in income from online music services – including a 41.9 percent uptick in subscription earnings.
Source: Tencent Music Topped 56 Million Paid Users in 2020’s Fourth Quarter
Facebook Expands Ticketed Live Streaming Into 24 New Countries
Facebook says creators earning the equivalent of $10k per month using the ticketed live streaming feature grew 88% year-over-year. Creators earning the equivalent of $1k per month grew 94% year-over-year. Facebook is now exploring ways to monetize its short-form video platforms to monetize all video types on its platform.
Source: Facebook Expands Ticketed Live Streaming Into 24 New Countries