Monday August 25th,
Thoughts from the CEO:
The last week of the Summer is upon us! Have you been nominated for the #IceBucketChallenge yet? What a viral campaign for ALS and a phenomenal social case study. Some of our favorite artists like Dave Grohl and Chris Brown has gotten in on the craze.
This week, the madness will be on The Playa as #BurningMan kicks off Tuesday and thousands build their homes for the next week. For those of us stuck in the office, we can now watch it live thanks to a 24/7 "lifecast"! http://bit.ly/1sn8kWV
And who ever said August was a month made for relaxing? This past week, SoundCloud unveiled a three-tiered monetization plan + announced $100M in funding, clearly illustrating that wheels are still in motion and summertime grind continues. Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" video broke records as the most viewed video in 24 hours on Vevo, when it dropped Tuesday night. And of course, Beyonce (FlashFWD 2014's SoundWAV Honoree) was also honored at the VMAs with a Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award - her performance becoming last night's talk of Twitter-town.
Next week, back to school vibes will officially be in the air. So wherever you are, vacationing or not, enjoy these last dog days of Summer. Let's see what the last few days before Labor Day weekend has in store for Music and Tech!
STREAMING & SUBSCRIPTION
SoundCloud to start including ads via
Included in new licensing deal w/ record labels
Labels and artists will also collect royalties
Will eventually introduce paid subscription to skip ads
CULTURE
Pay to Play: NFL Charging Artists to Perform at Superbowl via
Artists have also not been paid in the past
Rihanna, Katy Perry, Coldplay in running for this year's performance
NFL Director of Programming: "Its [a] win win for both parties"
TECH
Despite quarterly loss, Pandora now 5th largest app via
Lost $11M last quarter
Comes behind FB, YouTube, Google Play and Search
69M unique users
Shazam hits 100M monthly active users via
34% increase from this time last year
Shows success in its new video identifying
Becoming very attractive source of advertisements
Beatport releases biggest successes via
deadmau5 top selling artist of all time
His remix of Comminity Funk top selling track
Also has most no.1's with 13 total
Startup "Medium" to launch digital music magazine via
Created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams
Edited by Jonathan Shecter, co-founder of The Source
Will launch next month
YouTube / Google to release streaming service via
Will be called "Music Key"
Service wil cost $9.99 a month
No official launch date announced
Beyonce accepts Video Vanguard Award at VMAs via
Jay Z and Blue Ivy presented the award
Beyonce also performed a melody of every track on new album
Ended w/ 15 minute performance of "Blue" and "XO"
DJ Skee Releases DASH Radio app via
Curates niche satellite radio stations
Backed by East Village Radio founder and LA Reid
Will be available iOS, Android and online