News Merck Mercuriadis fund pays $23m to buy 75% stake in The-Dream catalog Deal includes 302 songs, performed by the likes of Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Jay-Z
Analysis News Music streams in the US grew by over 118bn in the first half of 2018 – the biggest jump in history Total audio streams grew year-on-year by more than 80bn in six months to end of June
Interviews Can Kobalt’s AWAL rewrite the rules of A&R? Willard Ahdritz’s latest venture is trying to reduce the risk of music industry artist development. He might just be on to something...
Analysis The music business just got spanked by Google. Surely it’s now time to speak with one voice. Why did the music industry just lose a crucial vote? And why isn't anybody asking the question?
News Tencent Music Entertainment to file for $30bn US IPO this week – report New York Stock Exchange application expected this Friday
Analysis How did Apple Music crush Spotify’s day-one streams of Drake’s new album? Why 170m vs. 132m doesn't seem to add up - until you dig into the factors surrounding it
News Spotify appoints Tom Connaughton as Managing Director in the UK British exec joined Spotify three months ago as Head of Artist and Label Marketing, UK
News Now Drake’s Scorpion shatters Apple Music record – with over 170m streams on day one That's nearly double the play-count of Apple's previous record-holder
News Drake destroys Spotify day-one records with 132m+ plays of new album Scorpion Canadian megastar's LP racks up more than 80m streams in the US alone
News Merck Mercuriadis fund successfully raises $260m+ to buy music copyrights Mercuriadis is already in discussions to buy eight catalogues
News How Five Seconds Of Summer refused to alter their sound for streaming playlists… and made history Capitol Records' Nick Raphael on why 5SOS 'stuck to their guns' in the studio
Interviews ‘This is probably the most exciting time I can remember in the music business.’ Matt Pincus, SONGS Music Publishing founder, on the music business - and its future
Analysis News Spotify generated $40m+ in ticket sales last year. Now, it’s accelerating its presence in live music. A clear business opportunity is opening up for Spotify in the live events space...
News Only one of Spotify’s Top 5 global artists is American, as J Balvin climbs to No.1 A truly global spread of artists make up Spotify's most popular acts right now
News Hartwig Masuch: ‘Spotify isn’t doing anything wrong.’ BMG boss isn't bothered about direct artist licensing, as he's confident his company can compete