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YouTube and Universal Music Group are remastering old music videos
YouTube is perhaps the single biggest public repository of music videos, but many are bit outdated, with visuals and audio designed for old TVs with single speakers, and others that could use a bit of an upgrade too. Many videos from major artists will soon look and sound much better though, as YouTube and Universal Music Group are remastering almost 1,000 of them "to the highest possible standards."
Taylor Swift ensures UMG artists will profit from Spotify shares
Taylor Swift doesn't mess around when it comes to her musical empire. Back in 2014, on the eve of 1989 becoming the first platinum album of the year, she kicked streaming service Spotify to the curb, publicly making clear her position on free music. Even after Spotify conceded to her demands and she restored her catalog to the service, she pulled a power move by keeping the then-newly released Reputation off it for the first week. Now, she's signed with a new record label and again, she's not pulling any punches when it comes to the way her music -- and indeed the music of all artists under the label -- is used.
Drake's latest streaming record: first artist to 50 billion streams
All year Drake has been on a streak of smashing streaming records, including 1 billion album streams in a week, single-day records for Apple Music and Spotify (and then again) and even had a hand in Ninja's record-setting Twitch session. Now his label Universal Music Group has announced Drake is the first artist to top 50 billion streams total across all streaming platforms. According to Billboard, Drake is nearing Taylor Swift's record for topping its Artist 100 chart. With a career that has risen along with digital music distribution, it's not a shock to see this Canadian's name topping every record, but we do wonder who will be next to hit the mark, and how far away 100 billion is. Of course, that could depend on whether or not Pusha-T keeps digging, and if Drake can maintain his occasionally dangerous reign over memes.
Facebook deal lets you use Universal's music catalog in your videos
Most internet giants strike deals with major labels explicitly with music services in mind, but not Facebook. It just reached a worldwide agreement with Universal Music Group that allows the group's music to be used across Facebook, Instagram and even Oculus VR experiences. This will let you (legally) upload videos with Universal artists' music and "personalize" your music experience. In theory, you could drop some Kanye West or Tove Lo into your Instagram clips without worrying about a possible takedown.
YouTube deals with Sony and Universal pave the way for music service
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that YouTube's subscription music service could launch as early as March, but that ongoing and unsolved negotiations with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group could prevent that launch date from happening. Bloomberg now reports, however, that both music labels have signed long-term agreements with YouTube.
Universal debuts a vinyl buying service based on SMS recommendations
It isn't hard to find vinyl subscription services these days. All it takes is a scroll through your Facebook News Feed and you're bound to stumble across at least a few. While outfits like Turntable Lab and Vinyl Me, Please offer exclusive reissues (like Gorillaz's Demon Days), there's a lot of chaff in the mix as well. That's something Universal Music Group's new service The Sound of Vinyl might address.
Mixcloud plans subscription service with Warner Music deal
Mixcloud -- a user-generated audio site similar to SoundCloud but with more of a focus on long-form content -- just signed a licensing deal with Warner Music, the Financial Times reports. This means that the site can soon begin to offer subscriptions. Mixcloud plays host to around 17 million listeners per month who tune in to some 12 million radio shows, DJ sets and podcasts. Some of its content generators include Tiesto, David Byrne of the Talking Heads and The Guardian.
Prince's music videos hit YouTube following 'Purple Rain' reissue
Though Prince took major efforts to keep his work offline, a lot of it has been slowly making its way back to the internet since his death. The newest online addition of his increasingly accessible body of work are a handful of music videos posted today on YouTube and Vevo. An official Prince account has uploaded official music videos as well as live performances of hit songs like "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" from the album Purple Rain.
Dailymotion is trying to clean up its act with major redesign
Dailymotion announced this week that it has completely redesigned its app and advertising strategy. And the company hopes to attract viewers with higher quality content created through partnerships with media and entertainment brands. Three new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CNN and Vice were also announced.
Spotify is limiting free streaming for its own good
It's no secret that labels and artists aren't thrilled that their music is available free on ad-supported streaming services. Taylor Swift famously pulled her catalog from Spotify due to its decision to give full on-demand streaming to customers who weren't paying for a monthly subscription. And she's not the only one. The debate over streaming royalties has been going on for a while now. That's on top of the issues free options raise -- chief among them is artist compensation. When it comes to Spotify's decision to cede on free streaming, it was a matter of when, not if, this would happen to appease the labels.
Spotify agrees to let artists keep new albums off its free tier
One of the biggest points of contention between music streaming giant Spotify and the record labels that provide it with songs is the service's free tier. Regardless of whether you pay for a subscription or not, Spotify users have access to the same music catalog. That is finally changing though: as reported in Music Business Worldwide, a new deal between Spotify and Universal Music Group will make some albums premium-only for a limited time. It's a reversal of a long-held position that Spotify wouldn't segment its catalog in this way, but it was likely necessary to continue offering all the music it has access to.
Universal Music Group is reportedly done with streaming exclusives
Apple Music and Tidal have tapped into exclusive releases to gain the upper hand on Spotify over the last year, but it appears one major record label may have had enough. Frank Ocean released his long-awaited follow-up to 2012's Channel Orange on Apple Music over the weekend, an album that should top the charts this week. However, Blond has apparently caused quite a stir with Ocean's label Def Jam and its parent company Universal Music Group. In fact, Billboard reports that UMG CEO Lucian Grainge has informed the heads of Universal's labels that streaming service exclusives are a thing of the past for their artists.
SoundCloud and Universal finally agree on licensing deal
It took a while to complete, but SoundCloud and Universal Music Group have a licensing agreement in place. Back in 2014, reports surfaced that the music hosting site was working on deals with both Universal and Warner Music, and the company inked an agreement with the latter in the months that followed. SoundCloud also reached a deal with Merlin last year, a company that represents 20,000 indie labels on matters of royalties and licensing. With its latest agreement, SoundCloud secures access to Universal Music's massive roster of artists which includes the Weeknd, Sam Smith and U2.
iHeart and Universal are partnering for VR concerts
iHeartMedia and Universal Music Group are teaming up to take music into virtual reality. From the sounds of it, this isn't going to be just a music visualizer a la what game developer Harmonix is doing. Nope, this will work to "leverage" the strengths of both companies, like UMG's massive roster of artists (including Katy Perry) and iHeart's hundreds of millions of listeners, to sell you stuff. "The companies will create entertainment experiences that leverage cutting-edge technology, making immersive VR performances and experiences accessible to U.S. audiences for the first time at scale," the prepared statement reads.
Age ratings for online UK music videos are here to stay
After a six-month trial, the UK government has successfully persuaded record labels, YouTube and Vevo to display age ratings on music videos. Under the new system, labels will pass their work onto the BBFC before sending the final rating onto YouTube and Vevo. The video will then list the classification in its description and, in YouTube's case, be restricted to adult viewers if it's been given an 18. Vevo says it's looking at a similar system that would link ratings to age controls on its site, but we're still waiting on the details.
How a file format brought an industry to its knees
MP3. It's the format that revolutionized the way music's been consumed since the late '90s. When Karlheinz Brandenburg, a German acoustics engineer, discovered that an audio file could be compressed down to one-twelfth of its original size without distortion, he created the file-shrinking technology. Stephen Witt's debut book, How Music Got Free, traces all digital music piracy back to the invention of that format, which inadvertently made it possible for people to download and share music illegally. The book details the science and struggle behind the widely used audio technology. And his investigation uncovers the politics and the manipulative men who kept MP3 files from seeing the light of computer screens for years.
Two states are looking at Apple's deals with record labels
It's no secret that both Apple and music labels are less than fond of free music streaming from Spotify and other services, but are they conspiring together to hurt these services in favor of pay-only options like Apple Music? Not if you ask the attorneys general of Connecticut and New York state. Both of them have accepted a statement from Universal Music Group swearing that it isn't illegally blocking free tunes, indicating that antitrust regulators didn't find evidence of collusion between UMG, rival labels and Apple.
Age ratings for UK music videos start appearing on YouTube and Vevo
Last summer, the UK government said it was working with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to bring age ratings to music videos available online. The scheme is intended "to help parents protect their children from some of the graphic content in online music videos," by grading them in the same way movies and video games are -- based on the amount of sex/drugs/rock and roll depicted. As part of a pilot program to see how this might work, the labels Sony, Warner Music and Universal have been running any video they suspect may deserve a 12, 15 or 18 age rating by the BBFC for judgement. And today sees the first batch of ratings being adopted by pilot collaborators YouTube and Vevo.
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.
