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How can blockchain change the music industry?

The potential impact of the blockchain is a well-trodden path at industry events in recent months, but a panel at the Midem conference today aimed to find some new aspects to discuss.

On the panel: Joe Conyers III, VP of technology for Downtown Music Publishing; Vinay Gupta, release coordinator and general strategist for Ethereum; musician Imogen Heap, who has been exploring the blockchain’s potential with her Mycelia project; and Revelator CEO Bruno Guez. The moderator was Allen Bargfrede of Rethink Music at the Berklee College of Music.

Source: How can blockchain change the music industry?

Midia Research: ‘The role of curated playlists has accelerated’

The Today’s Top Hits stats come from a presentation at Midem today by industry consultant Mark Mulligan, based on data supplied by Spotify for the latest report by his company Midia Research.

After kicking off his session by pointing out that 26% of streaming subscribers have stopped buying more than an album a month, while 32% are listening to less radio, Mulligan drew the audience’s attention to the growing role of in-house playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

“The role of curated playlists has accelerated just in the last three months,” said Mulligan. “People are having to work out on the fly how they respond to the changes to cash-flow, to breaking discovering artists.”

Source: Mark Mulligan: ‘The role of curated playlists has accelerated’

WMG buys X5 Music as major labels double down on playlists

Yesterday’s news that Warner Music Group has bought X5 Music – with reports in Sweden suggesting the price may have been $25m – is the latest sign of major labels doubling down in their efforts to do more with playlists and streaming curation.

WMG, remember, already bought British startup Playlists.net in October 2014, and has adopted its Topsify brand as the imprint for the label group’s own playlists on Spotify.

Source: WMG buys X5 Music as major labels double down on playlists

Music discovery, recommendation, creation startups at Midem

Tracklib is a new music marketplace where people discover, buy and license stems from original tracks. CEO Pär Almqvist presented its technology. “We’ve sampled since the 1970s, but getting access to separate stems is almost possible, and buying a commercial licence is very complicated and expensive,” he said.

“So DJs and producers turn to piracy… Talented producers are stuck with generic sounds, and sound designers are kinda stuck in the elevator with catalogue music.” Tracklib thinks the potential market for these “music building blocks” is enormous.

Source: Music discovery, recommendation, creation startups at #Midem

Shamrock readies $250m acquisition fund – and eyes music rights 

Shamrock Capital Advisors has announced a new $250m fund focused on acquiring or financing entertainment IP – with music publishing and master rights firmly on its shopping list.

The Entertainment IP Fund will be spent on a “diverse group of assets that have been through their initial window of release”, which may also include movies, TV productions, video games and other content types.

Source: Shamrock readies $250m acquisition fund – and eyes music rights – Music Business Worldwide

Blockchain’s big opportunity for lawyers

Technology lawyers say the growth of Ethereum, a public blockchain platform upstaging Bitcoin, could change how lawyers operate and force them to widen the breadth of their skills. But blockchain’s distributed ledger system also offers infinite opportunities for growth in an industry seeking stimulus.

Ethereum’s key attraction is its ability to go beyond virtual currency to facilitate transactions and binding financial agreements or smart contracts purely using applications and without the need for human intermediaries.

Source: Blockchain’s big opportunity for lawyers | afr.com

ConsenSys And SingularDTV Partner to Build Film & TV Rights Management Platform 

SingularDTV (S-DTV), a first-of-its-kind Blockchain entertainment studio, is partnering with venture production studio ConsenSys to build a smart contract-based rights management platform for film and television on the Ethereum Blockchain.

Based on ConsenSys’ rights management prototype, Ujo Music, ConsenSys will support the S-DTV service, enabling it to attach usage policies and real-time revenue flow to its video and media content.

Source: ConsenSys And SingularDTV Partner to Build Film & TV Rights Management Platform – Blockchain News

CBS Beats Lawsuit Over Pre-1972 Songs With Bold Copyright Argument

On Tuesday, a California judge handed down a big ruling that could help immunize terrestrial radio operators and others from lawsuits and upend many preconceived notions about copyright. The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson comes in a dispute between ABS Entertainment, owner of recordings by Al Green and others, and CBS Radio, which was dragged into court after others found success litigating the theory that pre-1972 songs are protected under state law and can’t be broadcast without permission.

In reaction to the ABS lawsuit, CBS tried out a response dripping with implications. According to the radio giant, it was not performing the original analog recordings, once distributed mainly through vinyl, but rather remastered versions that came out after 1972. Under this argument, the specifically performed works aren’t protected by state law, and CBS doesn’t have to pay.

Source: CBS Beats Lawsuit Over Pre-1972 Songs With Bold Copyright Argument – Hollywood Reporter

A16z, USV Lead $1.5 Million Round for Blockchain Startup Mediachain

New York-based Mediachain has become the latest blockchain startup to join the portfolios of VC heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. The two firms announced today that they led a $1.5m seed round for the digital media startup. RRE Ventures, Digital Currency Group and LDV Capital also participated in the round, as did angel investors Alexis Ohanian, William Mougayar, Kanyi Maqubela, David Lee, Mathieu Drouin and Brian Message.

The funding comes four months after the launch of Mediachain’s core product, a metadata protocol that envisions content creators timestamping their work to the bitcoin blockchain while also storing it with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

Source: A16z, USV Lead $1.5 Million Round for Blockchain Startup Mediachain – CoinDesk

TuneCore CEO: YouTube is not the enemy – it’s a goldmine

As the major labels’ tanks rumble towards YouTube’s lawn, TuneCore CEO Scott Ackerman claims that independently distributed artists are increasingly seeing the video channel as both a goldmine and the greatest marketing weapon in their arsenal.

“Our artists see both YouTube and the streaming channels as a way to get their music out,” he tells Music Ally. “For most of our artists, that is their number one thing – they want their music heard. It’s not about money. They want their music out worldwide so everyone can hear it.”

Source: TuneCore CEO: YouTube is not the enemy – it’s a goldmine

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