• Spotify Posts $80 Million Loss in 2013 As Revenue Rises

    Things appear to be looking up for Spotify. The Swedish music streaming giant posted their earnings for 2013 and the numbers are heading in the right direction. In its latest financial statements, Spotify reported that its revenue grew to 747 million Euros in 2013, or about $1.03 billion. That was up about 74 percent from 2012, the company said in its filings according to the NY Times. On the flip side, Spotify also had $80 million in net losses during 2013, down from a $115 million loss in 2012.

  • Apple Reportedly Set To Relaunch Beats Music In March 2015

    After Apple bought Beats for $3 billion earlier this year, industry experts wondered what the Silicon Valley giant planned to do with the company. Now according to a report in the Financial Times, there appears to be some clarity on what the intent of Apple is with Beats Music going forward. According to the report via Billboard, Apple plans to bundle a rebranded Beats Music into an upcoming IOS that will come standard on the update. Something like this was expected when Apple acquired Beats Music in May. Now it appears that there is a timeline for the new relaunch of Beats Music.

  • YouTube Subscription Service Music Key to Launch Today

    YouTube's new subscription music service, Music Key, is set to launch today, Nov. 17. The service will allow paying customers access to licensed music videos without the hassle of advertisements. Users will even be able to watch music videos without an Internet connection.MTV News points out that, like Spotify's pay model, users will pay a monthly fee of $7.99 — $9.99 after the promotional offer expires — for the service.It has been a long road for YouTube's streaming experiment, the company has been working on the project for more than a year. Many of the major labels signed licensing agreements early on with the music video giant, but indie labels were not as eager. Trade organizations representing the indies said that the deal was unfair because they were being offered less money than the major labels.Last week, the two parties reached an agreement, giving YouTube the last piece of the puzzle.

  • Video of 12-Year-Old Taylor Swift Belting the National Anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers Game Surfaces [WATCH]

    Taylor Swift had the makings of a star even when she was a 12-year-old. Old video footage of the young "Shake It Off" singer performing the national anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers game in Pennsylvania recently went viral.Swift, a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, is shown in the brief clip below belting the last few lines of "The Star-Spangled Banner," including the challenging "o'er the land of the free" part, "The Huffington Post" reports. The singer does a spectacular job, considering her age at the time. I am sure no one knew Swift would one day rule the charts after listening to her performance, but she had plenty of years to improve. The next T.Swift is out there, though, so do not disregard any youngster you see belting out the beloved song.In case you missed it, New Zealand singer Lorde was also an excellent singer at age 12.

  • Spotify Co-Founder Responds to Taylor Swift, Says Singer Could've Made $6 Million from Streaming

    Taylor Swift pulled her catalogue from Spotify last week, which set off a nationwide debate over the music streaming service."If I had streamed the new album, it's impossible to try to speculate what would have happened," Swift said. "But all I can say is that music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. And I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music. And I just don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free."On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Spotify co-founder Daniel Elk offered a rebuttal and estimated that Swift would have made $6 million from Spotify streaming by the end of the year.His argument included "three myths," including "free music for fans means artists don't get paid."Elk believes that Spotify's free service leads to more premium subscribers, and therefore more cash for artists.

  • Adele's Manager Is Pro-Spotify: 'Streaming Is the Future'

    Adele's manager Jonathan Dickins is a music industry power mover who also represents Jack Penate, Jamie T, London Grammar and Paul Epworth, among others.The 42-year-old Brit recently shared his thoughts on Spotify and other streaming services in lieu of Taylor Swift's decision to ditch that model."Streaming is the future, whether people like it or not. Within five years it will be ubiquitous," he said at a Dublin Web Summit conference that also featured pro-Spotify speaker Bono, according to "Billboard."
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