The PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act has passed through both the House & Senate. The Act will use music and music-related global exchange programs as a tool to build cross-cultural understanding and advance peace abroad. The bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Michael McCaul and former Rep. Ted Deutch in January 2022.
Source: PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act Passes Both House & Senate
The Stockholm-based platform’s latest effort to dial back its non-music spending came to light in a new report from Bloomberg. Of course, it’s hardly a secret that Spotify has injected billions into audio entertainment, including podcasting, audiobooks, and live audio, in recent years. But slowing subscriber growth, uncertainty throughout the broader economy, and a well-documented goal of making podcasting profitable in the near future have prompted the business to cut costs.
Source: Spotify Axes Several Live Audio Shows After Podcast Cutbacks
Despite the seemingly constant state of disruption, if we take a step back, very little has fundamentally changed since the first sweep of smartphones dominated the market. The real question is not what the next new smartphone moment will be, but whether there will be one at all. This question should be all the more prominent in the planning of entertainment companies as we watch the tech behemoths begin to shift pace in the face of a global economic crisis.
Not all digital creators prefer contemporary beats in the background of their content. An increasing number of them are dusting off old tracks for their new videos. Epidemic Sounds’ end-of-year data reveals that its classical music library has now been streamed more than 200 million times, and those pieces appeared in 90% more YouTube videos than in the previous year.
Source: The amount of classical music in YouTube videos is up 90% year-over-year – Tubefilter
The Big Three label and two-year-old DRESSX, which bills itself as “a Metacloset of digital-only clothes, NFT fashion items, and AR looks,” revealed their tie-up via a formal release today. Notwithstanding the well-documented crypto winter and recession fears, Warner Music has spearheaded a number of expansion initiatives involving Web3, NFTs, and other digital items during 2022.
Source: Warner Music Group Invests In ‘Digital Fashion Retailer’ DRESSX
Two Amazon initiatives that were once seen as major disruptions to business-as-usual practices are being discontinued. The print textbook rental program will wind down over the course of the spring semester. Amazon’s digital textbook rental program, which has about two million titles, will not be affected by the shutdown of the print program. Print and digital magazine and newspaper subscriptions and single-issue sales available on Kindle Newsstand will also be wound down next year
Source: Amazon to End Print Textbook Rentals, Overhaul Magazine and Newspaper Subscriptions
Nearly half of streaming video subscribers hop among services multiple times over a 12-month period, excluding Netflix, according to data released by Parks Associates and SymphonyAI Media. The whitepaper also reports that the lead drivers for using ad-based over-the-top streaming services are being free to the user, being easy to use on home TV systems, and offering diversified, “good” programming.
Source: Digital News Daily: Nearly Half Of Streaming Subscribers Regularly Jump Among Services
News publishers across the globe are posting on TikTok, in part to appeal to younger audiences and to combat misinformation, according to the 2022 Digital News Report, a study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and University of Oxford. Of top publishers studied in 44 countries, 49% regularly use TikTok. Many have joined in the past year. In the U.S., the total is 77%
Source: Publishers Daily: News Publishers Worldwide Are Posting On TikTok: Study
Not long ago, a placement on Spotify’s RapCaviar or Apple Music’s Today’s Hits playlists could ignite a single’s streaming numbers overnight. “Today’s Top Hits used to be the holy grail,” says one manager of several major-label acts. “Or even Pop Rising — it was like, ‘If a song got on Pop Rising, it’s going to get to Today’s Top Hits and do 5 million streams a week.’ ” But in 2022, the manager continues, “it doesn’t feel like that’s the case.”
Yung Lean’s 2013 hit “Ginseng Strip 2002” was TikTok’s most-used song in 2022, boosting streaming and bringing a solid payday — what’s that worth? Based off U.S. streams alone, the different rights holders have earned about $350,000 so far in 2022. Split up, that’s about $260,000 for the master recording to the label and artist, and $62,900 to the publisher and co-writers Yung Lean and Yung Gud, based on Billboard‘s estimates.
Source: What’s a TikTok Hit Worth? This Year’s Most Popular Track Grew Over 1,000% on Streaming