Rise and Shine. Welcome back to the grind!Hope everyone is feeling refreshed and inspired after the holidays. Two thousand seventeen is here and it’s GO time.I’m just coming back from an inspiring CES. This was the conference’s 50th year and it’s biggest yet touting over 200K attendees. It was my second time and this conference will be on my must-attend list going forward. This is where the tech innovation lives and this is where the conversions for 2017 get powered. These are the rooms where it happens and this sets the tone for the upcoming year. I ended up on Gary V’s CES Hustle Daily Vee, this time behind the scenes at Maverick Carter’s “suite” with Bonin and a few friends. The main topic of conversation around the halls this year was the Internet of Things and the connected home. Amazon’s Alexa was everywhere this year and "it works with Alexa was a running gag" as the mayor of CES Shelly Palmer, put it. But the car business is also leading the charge in what a turn-key completely connected ecosystem can look like. Mercedes is painting the best picture i’ve seen of it to date in their new Maybach. I think it’s a long time before a whole home can do it, but it’s coming. Below are a couple great articles on what you need to know about CES from a music tech perspective. And here is an article I wrote at the end of last year again about 10 trends you need to know about in Music Marketing in case you missed it.Time to make history. This year is going to be one of great change and opportunity. Stay woke.
BEATS
Is CES the new SXSW? Or is it the new Advertising Week? Or is there just for a cabal of brand managers.(Cortney Harding - Hypebot)
More songs were streamed per day than downloads for the entire year. (Steve Dent - Engaget)
All Three Major Labels, Pandora and RIAA Announce Support for Hi-Res StreamingIndustry entities have pledged to support new opportunities and add new premium audio music offerings to streaming services. (Andy Gensler - Billboard)
Soundcloud may run out of cash this yearSoundCloud’s losses grew faster than its revenues in 2015 – with the company now admitting that, should its subscription service flop, its funding may run dry this year. (Tim Ingham - MBWW)
iHeartRadio Looks to Win Over Radio Devotees With Official Launch of Streaming ServicesBroadcast radio giant iHeartMedia has wrapped a month-long beta phase for its pair of subscription services, iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access, now available on desktop and other devices. (Marc Schneider - Billboard)
BYTES
This week's newsletter was carefully curated by our editor Matt Voyno. If you think we missed something this week or have any suggestions/comments for next week's newsletter, let us know!