Jun 11, 2019

Music - Issue #37

Issue #37 — View online — Suggest a link

Music

Startups and change makers leveraging music and music technology to curate a more creative world.

Good Morning!

There’s a ton of news to go through from the past week.

Soundcloud swooped up Repost Network to continue on the segmented distribution trail.

Apple called it quits with its longest relationship, iTunes.

STEM decided to reinvent itself and only offer concierge distribution to select clients.

There are many other articles below to check out for this week including a really interesting piece from the New York Times on Rihanna.

Have a great weekend!

Corey & Josh

SoundCloud buys artist distribution platform Repost Network

The past year has seen Spotify embark on a series of acquisitions to beef up its service, particularly on podcast content. Now it is the turn of SoundCloud, another European music startup — albeit one that had lost its way in recent years — to go deal-making: the Berlin-based company has picked up Repost Network.

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With Apple Giving Up On iTunes, Is It The Demise Of Downloading?

Not so fast. Apple’s expected announcement of an iTunes phase out does not necessarily mean the era of downloading is over.

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These ‘microbe-grown’ headphones could be the future of sustainable electronics

The culture of planned obsolescence in electronics produces a huge amount of toxic waste unlikely to go anywhere but a landfill for the next millennium or so. Nature produces some of the strongest and most versatile substances we’ve ever encountered, so why not use them instead? That’s what Finnish design house Aivan has attempted with this concept pair of headphones made from fungus, bioplastics, and other natural materials.

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Artist Services Platform Stem Launches Concierge Member Service Stem Direct

Without a record label, independent artists are often tasked with the tedious but essential minutiae of managing self-distribution, collecting royalties from across multiple platforms, accounting, and performing general administrative tasks. Artist services platform Stem makes all of that a little bit easier for unsigned artists, and now Stem Direct offers tools geared specifically for unsigned artists with established teams behind them.

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Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry

Metadata problems have plagued the music industry for decades. Not only are there no standards for how music metadata is collected or displayed, there’s no need to verify the accuracy of a song’s metadata before it gets released, and there’s no one place where music metadata is stored. It’s a crisis that has left, by some estimations, billions on the table unpaid to musicians.

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Oversharing: how Napster nearly killed the music industry

Twenty years ago, the idea of free music was so compelling that up to 80m users downloaded Napster and broke the law. The aftershocks are still being felt today

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Music Distributor Amuse Advances Royalties To Independent Artists

Co-Founder and CEO of record label and music distributor Amuse, Diego Farias, explains how his company can predict a hit song, find stars in the making and why they advance royalties.

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E-commerce platform Ochre announces official launch

The e-commerce platform Ochre announced their official launch.

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The Music Industry Expects a Windfall. Where Will the Money Go?

With streaming poised to infuse billions of dollars into the record business, artists are once again hoping to get their fair share.

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Spotify Reportedly Working on Feature That Allows Friends to Control and Build Playlists

The Social Listening feature was discovered by software engineer Jane Manchun Wong.

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Reclaiming the Intention of Fandom

Fandom requires intention, as we decide the artists worthy of our obsession and adulation.

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Opinion | The Economics of Rihanna’s Superstardom

The music industry can tell us a lot about our winner-take-all economy.

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Apple breaks up iTunes, creates separate Podcasts, TV, and Music apps for macOS

Apple announced at WWDC today that it’ll break iTunes up into separate macOS apps, including Music, TV, and Podcasts.

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Techstars Startup Digest Music is curated by:

	Corey Crossfield - Music Digest Curator corey.crossfield@startupdigestmail.com
	Josh Ford josh.ford@startupdigestmail.com

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