Warner Music Group
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Warner is the first major label to adopt SoundCloud's fan-powered royalties model
The royalties scheme ensures subscribers' payments go straight to the artists they listen to.
Warner Music Group is building a 'musical theme park' in the metaverse
Fans will be able to buy adjacent virtual property in 'The Sandbox.'
Twitch partners with Warner Music to host original music programming
One week after coming to terms with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Twitch has signed a deal with Warner Music Group.
Amazon Music HD is adding thousands more Ultra HD songs and albums
Amazon is working with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to remaster more songs in Ultra HD.
Spotify and Warner sign a new global music licensing deal
Spotify and Warner Music Group have signed a new global licensing agreement. If Spotify is your go-to streaming platform, the good news here is that your music listening experience won't change as a result of this deal. The Warner Music artists you were listening to yesterday will still be available to stream into the immediate future.
Facebook Watch could soon play music videos
Facebook may soon bring music videos to Watch. The company is reportedly negotiating new licensing deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. According to Bloomberg, it's asking each label for rights to music videos.
Spotify launches in India
Spotify has had its eyes set firmly on the Indian market for some time. Now, after a messy legal dispute with Warner Music Group, the music-streaming service has officially launched in the country. With a population of 1.3 billion people, it's considered to be one the fastest-growing music markets in the world.
Daily Update for June 7, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS I
AllThingsD: All three music labels on board for Apple
In the music industry, there are three major labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music. According to Peter Kafka at All Things D, Apple has now signed agreements with all three labels, opening the way to a possible Apple announcement of the iRadio streaming service during the WWDC 2013 Keynote on Monday. "iRadio" may not be the actual name of the service, but has caught on as speculation has grown about Apple's music streaming plans. Apple still has to sign up Sony/ATV, the music publishing part of Sony, but is apparently quite close in negotiations. Kafka expects that Apple won't actually launch iRadio on Monday, but will tell developers -- and the rest of us -- about the service. The service is expected to be free and supported by audio iAds, providing more control over what songs you wish to listen to than standard Web radio stations. If it's announced on Monday, iRadio -- or whatever it's going to be called -- will be a win-win for Apple fans and the major record labels.
Apple signing deals, may introduce internet radio service as soon as next week
According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, Apple is trying hard to ink licensing deals with music companies so it can introduce a streaming internet radio service as soon as next Monday -- the day of the WWDC 2013 keynote. Apparently Apple hasn't made much progress since rumors about the service first surfaced last summer, as record labels and music publishers aren't happy with the deals they currently have with Pandora and want higher royalty rates and guaranteed minimum payments as well. The Times notes anonymous sources who say that Apple has signed a deal with Universal Music Group for recorded music rights, but not for music publishing. Over this past weekend, Apple apparently also signed a deal with Warner Music Group for both recorded music and publishing rights. The company is still negotiating with Sony Music Entertainment and the Sony/ATV publishing company, although representatives from all of the music companies and Apple refused comment on the deals. When it finally arrives, Apple's internet radio service is expected to be free, but supported by advertising. Music companies love the fact that unlike Pandora, Apple can sell music as well directly through the iTunes store -- a potential boon for listeners who can choose to buy a song that they hear and like.
Warner Music Group says streaming services now account for 25 percent of digital revenue
We've been seeing plenty of evidence that streaming music services like Spotify, Pandora and Rdio are pulling in more folks than ever, and we now also have a good idea of how that growth is affecting the bottom lines of music labels. In its third quarter earnings report, Warner Music Group revealed that streaming services now account for a full 25 percent of the digital revenue for its recorded music group. As AllThingsD reports, that translates to 8 percent of Warner Music's total revenue for the quarter, or about $54 million in all. What's more, that growth in streaming appears to be a net plus for the company all around, as it's apparently not cutting into traditional sales of digital music (at least, not yet), and is also bigger than the decrease in sales of physical media.
Former Warner Music Group Chairman discusses Apple upon exit
I don't know about you, but I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Apple was negotiating its iTunes deals with the major record labels. We can't go back in time, but we can get an occasional glimpse of what it was like from those who were there. Such a person is exiting Warner Music Group chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr., who recently sat down with AllThingD's John Paczkowski and talked about digital music and Apple. Bronfman was optimistic about mobile devices like the iPhone and said mobile was "a massive opportunity for music." He acknowledged that the iPod kicked off portable music and the phone is the future. Though he supports mobile music, Bronfman regrets the deal Warner ultimately cut with Apple over iTunes pricing. Apple from day one believed in music and content. That was the good news. The bad news is that they decided all songs where created equal, and I fought Steve on that. Ultimately, Apple got the better part of that deal. Ultimately, I wish we'd gotten more pricing flexibility. I'm sure the recording companies would love to set higher prices, but, as a consumer, I'm pretty happy with Apple's pricing. Most albums are around US$10 and most tracks are $1.29 or less. This price point is low enough that most people can afford to buy the occasional album without putting a dent in their budget.
Warner Music talks trash about free streaming services, keeps using them
Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. isn't happy with free music streaming services. Shocking, right? Coming out yesterday with a barrage of disparagement for online streamers like Spotify and Last.fm, Bronfman Jr. made it clear that they do not represent "the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future." Why is that, Eddie? The man in charge seems to think that paid subscription models are the future, because "the number of potential subscribers dwarfs the number of people who are actually purchasing music" online. That's wonderful and all, but he neglects to tell us the specifics of how and why Warner will succeed at something that every publisher would love to have, but none have managed to translate into reality yet. Additionally, WMG is not withdrawing its music library for the moment -- something a lot of publications seem to have erroneously reported (see Spotify tweet below) -- which leads us to believe the entire spiel is more of a renegotiating ploy than a concrete statement of intent. [Thanks, Wiggy Fuzz]
Warner CEO: iTunes price increase led to lower sales, recession might also factor in
Don't pat yourself on the back too much for calling this one, but Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. has now confirmed what many have suspected: higher iTunes pricing has led to slightly slower sales. Specifically, he says that while the variable pricing introduced early last year has been a "net positive" for the company, revenue growth on iTunes slowed to just eight percent in the last quarter, compared to a hefty 20 percent a year earlier. He is also quick to point out, however, that raising prices 30 percent during a recession may not have been the best idea in hindsight. Interestingly, Bronfman seems to think that e-books actually stand a better chance at holding to up to price increases than music, noting that the "book publishing industry, on the iPad, has much more flexibility than the music industry had."
Warner Music and MTV in licensing 'stalemate'
It appears that MTV Games, publishers and the licensing muscle behind Rock Band, is currently in a standoff against Warner Music Group. Apparently MTV has been unable to produce a single new licensing deal, since WMG CEO Edgar Bronfman decided last August that the company deserves higher rates from rhythm games. Both sides are currently willing to wait this out, so don't expect any artists from WMG to show up as Rock Band DLC once the present deals conclude -- allegedly this summer.It's not exactly clear where Activision Blizzard, publishers of the Guitar Hero franchise, stand in this battle royal(ties). Actilizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was very vocal late last year when Bronfman started whining about licensing fees, going so far as to say that perhaps music companies should pay game publishers to feature their tracks in games. [Via The Cut Scene]
Amazon starts dishing out DRM-free Warner Music MP3s
We're not sure if Amazon's forthcoming DRM-less Super Bowl promotion has anything to do with it or not, but the company has just announced that its finally brought Warner Music Group into its MP3 fold, with a slew of music from the label now available for download without any of those pesky restrictions. According to Dow Jones, the pair also plan to offer other "digital music products," including album bundles with exclusive tracks, although details are few and far between beyond that. Still no word from Sony BMG on its intentions to go DRM-free (with Amazon or anyone else), but it sure looks like things are increasingly stacking up against them.
XM and Warner settle, it's a Festivus miracle!
Well, not really miraculous -- this was totally and completely expected when we saw XM and Universal kiss and make up a couple weeks ago -- but now XM and Warner Music Group have finally found some common ground over the XM Pioneer Inno player song recording issue. The terms of the settlement are undisclosed, but we're sure they include stipulations of heavy DRM and various feats of strength.
More details on Motorola's partnership with Warner Music
It's one thing to say you're partnering with another company, but it's another matter entirely for said partnership to bear fruit. Motorola and Yahoo, see, they've done alright; Go for Mobile 2.0 went live in beta form the very same day they announced it. The Warner deal is another matter, though, with nothing consumers can put their hands on today. So what does it mean? It sounds like the two companies are going to use the agreement do some serious cross-marketing, with promotions for Warner properties appearing in Motorola product packaging (as we saw in Ed Zander's keynote this morning) -- and likewise, we would assume Motorola phones are going to start mysteriously appearing in Warner materials as well. A more tangible outcome will finally show up in the latter half of the year: "MOTO Experience Packs." These things'll download just like applets, but will basically serve as one-stop shops for all sorts of paraphernalia related to specific albums of music -- wallpaper, ringtones, full song downloads, and the like. Long story short, hang tight for a few months and this deal should start to produce some results we can see and hear.
