Tag: US
Posted inNews

Cür Media raises $2m and pays $500k of its $8m advances

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

US music-streaming firm Cür Media has raised $2m of funding, enabling it to pay $500k of advance payments to music rightsholders.

The $2m came from investors Intuitive Venture Partners and Katalyst Securities, and will also provide working capital for the company, which soft-launched its Cür Music service in the US earlier this year.

Cür Media had agreed to pay $8m in advances to labels and publishers by 31 January, in return for the rights to their catalogues. However, it missed that deadline, admitting in late March that it “was not able to make these initial payments when due”.

Posted inNews

US music bodies and artists battle for DMCA reform

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

The music industry is making a new, concerted push for reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) legislation in the US.

18 American music bodies teamed up yesterday to send a 100-page ‘joint brief’ to the US Copyright Office criticising what they see as flaws in the way safe-harbour provisions work. It was accompanied by a separate submission signed by 40 managers, and petitions from musicians backing the calls for reform.

Posted inAnalysis, News

SoundCloud Go paid subscription service launches in the US (interview)

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

SoundCloud has launched its long-awaited premium subscription tier, SoundCloud Go, although it will be US-only for now.

The launch comes shortly after SoundCloud reached a licensing deal with Sony Music, the third and final major label to sign on the dotted line, also joining indie agency Merlin and various publishers.

Details? The official price for SoundCloud Go will be $9.99 a month, with features including offline listening; a catalogue of 125m tracks swelled by the catalogues of those partner labels; and no advertising.

Why “official” price? Because SoundCloud Go is launching through the company’s iOS and Android apps: it’ll cost $9.99 on Android but $12.99 on iOS, due to Apple’s 30% cut of in-app subscriptions.

Meanwhile, musicians and other creators who already pay for SoundCloud’s ‘Pro Unlimited’ features will get a discounted rate of $4.99 a month on SoundCloud Go for the first six months.

Those are the basic details, but Music Ally had plenty more questions about how SoundCloud Go will interact with SoundCloud’s existing free tier; how the company plans to help listeners navigate through its huge catalogue; how remixes and mixes will be monetised; and whether SoundCloud has managed to avoid any Spotify-style mechanical licences headaches.

Posted inNews

NMPA and Spotify strike $30m mechanicals settlement

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

Spotify has taken a step closer to resolving its mechanical-royalties problems in the US, via an anticipated agreement with the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

As expected, the settlement will involve publishers claiming royalties for their tracks on Spotify where the publishing information was previously unmatched, with an additional “large bonus compensation fund” for publishers.

Posted inReports, Reports-Old

Music Ally Report 385 – Clan They Kick It

Avatar photo by Music Ally

In our cover feature we look at the staggering success of Finnish gaming company Supercell and, rather than rub it in the music industry’s face, we consider precisely how artists and labels can learn from it and other gaming companies like it. From applying a different ruler to freemium to understanding gateway purchases and celebrating […]

To access this post, you must subscribe. If you are already a subscriber, log in here.