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TIDAL Brings HD Music Streaming To 5 New EU Countries

TIDAL, WiMP's lossless music streaming service with HD music, videos and curated editorial, today announced its launch in five new European countries: Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. 

How to Design an Instantly Recognizable Band Logo

By Tyler Allen on Sonicbids Blog

I've harped way too often that your band is your brand, but it's true. I've also said this in other posts, and I'll say it again: Music is weird, man. It's this art form that takes time and thought, plus it's a form of self-expression, and that in itself is incredibly raw and real and beautiful. In that same light, however, it's how you make your money as well as the way you occupy your time and energy. Therefore, your beautiful, delicate artwork also has to be a structured brand that's recognizable, alive, and constantly relevant.

Rdio Partners With Digicel, Adds 24 Countries

Music streaming service Rdio today announced expansion into 24 new countries and territories. As part of its expansion across the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific, Rdio is exclusively partnering with Digicel, a mobile carrier with a customer base of 14 million. Today's additions mean that Rdio is available in a total of 85 markets. 

What I Learned from Writing One Song a Week

There is something to be said about artists that hone their craft. However, the goal of writing one song a week takes pure diligence and discipline. But what if you put in the effort to write one song per week? What would you learn about yourself as an artist? How do you think you would grow as a person. Julie Geller found out a lot about herself as an artist with this challenge and is sharing her findings in her latest article. 

Summerfest and ReverbNation To Provide Artists Free Submissions To "World's Largest Music Festival"

[UPDATED] ReverbNation and Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. have announced a three-year agreement starting with "The World's Largest Music Festival", Summerfest 2015. The newly formed alliance means ReverbNation will serve as the exclusive online submission platform for musicians who seek to perform at the festival. Summerfest draws over 900,000 people globally with 800+ acts executing more than 1,000 performances over the festival's 11 day span. Artists seeking a performance opportunity at Summerfest 2015 can submit NOW through March 31, 2015 for FREE at www.ReverbNation.com

Spotify Upgrades App With Gestures, Touch Preview

Spotify has followed the lead of hot apps like Snapchat adding swiping gestures. An upgraded iOS app adds Touch Preview which allows users to preview a song from a playlist, album or artist with the touch of a finger. Drag your finger across the screen to sample songs, and once done  you’ll be taken back to where you left  off. Touch Preview also makes building playlists easier: when previewing a track swipe left saves it to Your Music or right to play next.

Details & A Video Preview

AM NEWS BRIEF: Rdio +24 Countries, Spotify App Upgrade, Sony Hack Hits Music, Saavn Passes 11M & More

THURSDAY 1.22.2014

Music Business News & Views From Around The Web

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Updated Continuously @ Hypebot's More News Tab 

Twitter Parallels Facebook's WhatsApp Buy With Acquisition Of ZipDial

After open criticism for the company's slow development, Twitter aims to put itself back on the map with the acquisition of ZipDial - a service provided through mobile devices to different regions around the world without ready access to data networks. In October, Twitter shared that 80% of their 284 million users were accessing the platform from mobile devices, they hope to capitolize on that trend when the projected billions of users come online for the first time over the next few years. 

More Face To Face, Less Face To Facebook - Reclaiming Your Brand In 2015

Facebook was admirably open about their less than admirable move to bottleneck direct-to-fan marketing. But the move they made to box bands and brands into paying to reach their fans may have resulted in them getting boxed out.

Facebook built a destination with Pages; a platform that until now, served as an opt in marketing platform for fans to connect directly to their favorite brands and vice versa. Now that Facebook has all but removed organic reach from Pages, brands and bands are left looking ways to recalibrate their online marketing for 2015.

The answer is to go back to the basics.

Never Too Early: How The Music Industry Breeds Its Own

By Richard J Nardo for Linkedin Pulse

As a young entrepreneur, a little more than a year into running my own music industry-based company, I find it a tremendous asset to share an office with the founder and managing partner of one of the fastest growing booking agencies in our industry. Eight years into running his own shop, Ryan Soroka has built the Soroka Agency from an outlet for putting together shows for his friend’s bands in New Jersey to an organization that books national tours and public appearances for some of the most popular musical acts and performance artists around. An impressive start to a career, especially considering Ryan has accomplished all of this by the age of 22.

What The Resurrection of Vinyl Albums Actually Looks Like

In the face of an unrelenting decline in album sales, vinyl has made a second coming of sorts. The sales of vinyl albums rose 52% bringing revenue up to 9.2 million copies (up from 6.1 million in 2013). For the seventh consecutive year, more vinyl albums were sold than any other year since Nielsen began keeping record of music sales in 1991. While this uptick has turned some heads in the industry, it remains a far cry from turning tides. Continue reading to view full size chart below.

Streamus Chrome Extension Turns YouTube Into FREE Music Streaming Service

Google and YouTube have been plotting ways to encourage people to pay for streaming music. YouTube Music Key, currently in beta, charges $7.99 and up for a premium overlay to YouTube.  Now a feature rich Chrome extension, Streamus, does most of that for free. Developed by an independent third party developer, Streamus has been in beta for almost three years; and the care spent building the app shows.

Feee Music Streaming:

The Musician’s Guide To Setting And Achieving Goals For 2015 [Arial Hyatt]

With 2015 just getting underway, it may be time as a musician to re-calibrate your goals for the new year. If you are a seasoned independent artist, this time in the year is great to evaluate your achievements for the past year and focus on what lies in the year ahead. For the DIY musician novice, now can be a great time to decide what aspects of your career you would like to focus on and what can be held off in the upcoming year. Ariel Hyatt shares in this article how to goal-set in the upcoming year for your music career. 

The 6 Best Jobs for Touring Musicians

By Amanda Caswell on Sonicbids Blog

As a touring musician, it's nice to have the financial stability that a day job can provide. Finding a job flexible enough to allow you to leave for several weeks or months at a time is crucial while you develop your career as a successful musician. The following five jobs are some of the best options for touring musicians based on their scheduling flexibility and regular hiring availability.

Nominee Submissions Open For Personal Managers Hall of Fame

The National Conference of Personal Managers has announced that they are soliciting nominations for potential inductees into the newly established Personal Managers Hall of Fame.

INgrooves Music Group Welcomes Nick Roden as Director Of International Business Development

INgrooves Music Group, a leading distributor of independent music, announced the appointment of music business aficionado Nick Roden as Director of International Business Development. Roden, responsible for the development of new and existing distributor, label, manager and business relationships, will be based in the London office and will be reporting directly to Alex Branson, SVP & MD INgrooves International. 

Apple Acquires Musicmetric To Add Analytics To Beats Music

(UPDATED) Apple has acquired UK music analytics firm Musicmetric and it's parent company Semetric. Musicmetric pulls data from social, the web and music services to provide analytics and forecasting for the music industry and other media companies. Apple will reportedly use the technology to add analytics to Beats Music when it relaunches later this year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WED. NEWS BRIEF: Shazam Adds $30M, Apple Buys Musicmetric, Roasting Bieber, Guys Hands & More

WEDNESDAY 1.21.2014

Music Business News & Views From Around The Web

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Updated Continuously @ Hypebot's More News Tab 

The Past Year For Music Startups, The Success of Nexflix, And The Niche Side of Music Streaming

In a recent episode of the Upward Spiral, a music business podcast, we talked with Jon Maples, the former VP of product at Rhapsody, about what the music startup landscape looks like in 2015 and how the streaming wars amongst the largest companies are going. Maples also shared his view on why it's difficult to compare the success of Netflix to Spotify. Here is a transcript of the first part of the podcast discussion. 

BandsInTown Passes 15 Million App Downloads, 250,000 Artists

(UPDATED) BandsInTown announced today that more than 15 million music fans have downloaded its app. The company also shared that 250,000 artists now use the platform to promote their live shows. 66,000 new artists including Usher, indie buzz band Mating Ritual, Childish Gambino, Jhené Aikoand DJ's like Amon Tobin joined in the last year alone.

Why Big Brands Use Indie Bands

Big brands are turning to indie musicians for the soundtracks to their marketing campaigns. In an interview with Forbes, Eric Sheinkop, CEO of Music Dealers, the company responsible for bridging the gap between indie artists and some of the largest global brands said “Ads need to do more than just advertise a product or service. They need to bring real value to their consumers and music is the strongest way to do it." So why are the best known brands in the world opting for unknown artists?

Sonos Exploring API For 3rd Party Music Apps

Sonos appears poised to correct the only real flaw that I've found in it's otherwise superior wireless music system: the ability to contol Sonos from within my favorite music apps. A new jobs ad posted by the company points to the creation of an API that would allow digital music services to do just that. 

5 Minute Music Marketer - Get Bob Baker's New Book For Only 99¢

Bob Baker has been preaching the gospel of DIY and D2F music marketing sine before either term was invented. He's written essential books and blog posts, and taught courses, all with one aim - to empower musicians to take control of their lives and careers.  Bob has just written a new book The Five-Minute Music Marketer: 151 Easy Music Promotion Activities That Take 5 Minutes or Less; and in a deal so good we had to share it with Hypebot readers, he's offering it for just 99 cents for a very limited time.

The Death of the (Musical) Middle Class

Guest Post by Courtney Harding on This Week In Music Tech Tumblr

With the publication of Ethan Kaplan’s totally brilliant “Generic Article About Spotify” a few weeks ago, I thought we’d truly hit the limit on how many ways we could skin the streaming cat. But alas, here’s comes noted old white man and Pink Floyd member Nick Mason to complain about Spotify (and Apple. How cute, he thinks it’s 2006!) They don’t pay artists. They “devalue” music. Only one more cliche and I get a bingo!

5 Things You Can Do Today to Grow Your Songwriting Career

By Alex Badanes on Songtrust Blog

Submit your Songs into Songwriting Competitions: Yes, there are scams out there, but don’t let that stop you. Many songwriting competitions can help your songs gain exposure to top music industry executives. They can also help you meet other writers which may lead to potential new collaboration opportunities. The International Songwriting Competition has a panel of judges ranging from Grammy-Winning artists and songwriters to CEOs of major record companies. We also recommend Song Of The Year, The U.S.A Songwriting Competition, and The Great American Song Contest.

Schedule a Co-Writing Session:

How Do Feature Placements On iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Work?

Distribution in the music industry is one of the most important aspects of any musician's career. It means that you are getting your music out to the masses, which could mean more sales and ultimately more money in your pocket. As helpful distribution is for an artist, there is not a definite formula that fits everyone's needs. To find the right formula, pros like Jorge Brea can be a major help in figuring out what works to get feature placements for your distribution. 

The 3 Biggest Delusions Musicians STILL Have About the Music Industry

By Amy Sciaretto on Sonicbids Blog

Despite mountains of easy-to-find evidence to the contrary, musicians still have some serious delusions about the music industry and how to "make it." To quote the amazing Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones – because what he says is #truth – "If it was an overnight success, it was one long, hard, sleepless night." If that still hasn't penetrated your skull, well, here are three more specific delusions musicians still have about the biz, and each one revolves around the idea that overnight successes are a serious myth.

Pink Floyd's Nick Mason Puts Spotlight On Apple's Shortcomings, Looks To Spotify To Raise The Bar

In an interview with GQ, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason talks about Apple's failed release of U2's latest album "Songs of Innocence" and the implications it imposed. He was quick to clarify where he stood on the issue telling GQ, "Let me be completely clear about my position: if Apple had come to me and said, 'Nick, we want to release your album in exchange for £50m', I couldn't have thought of a better idea.' but Mason still believes Apple's execution of the release left much to be desired and raised some red flags for the music industry.

AM NEWS BRIEF: Sonos To Open API, Beastie Boys Seek $2.4M More, Twitter Buys ZipDial, PopShack & More

TUESDAY 1.20.2014

Music Business News & Views From Around The Web 

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Updated Continuously @ Hypebot's More News Tab 

Primary Wave Merges Talent Management Division With Intellectual Artists

U.S. based independent music marketing, talent management and music publishing companies Primary Wave has confirmed the merger of its talent management division with Intellectual Artists Management, a talent and literary management and media production company.   Primary Wave's roster includes CeeLo Green, Melissa Etheridge, Cypress Hill, Eric Benét, Natalie Imbruglia, The Go-Go’s, Trevor Jackson, Ginuwine, Goodie Mob, Cris Cab, Big Gipp, producer/DJ Audien and actress Jane Lynch.