• 2014 US Record Industry Earnings: Sales Dip; Streaming, Vinyl Up

    Each year, the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) releases a recap for yearly earnings. They have generally been pretty doom and gloom with the overall industry bleeding money with sales from CDs dropping dramatically and the major players unable to capitalize and create new sources of revenue for themselves and their artists. The 2014 report shows that while total revenues did dip from $7 billion to $6.972, a .5% change, there are plenty of promising signs, notably in streaming.

  • Pandora Unveils 'Artist Messaging' Feature

    During the Code/Media Conference, Pandora CEO Tim Westergren took the opportunity to announce a new feature the company is in the process of rolling out: its new "artist messaging" program, which allows artists to send targeted messages to their fans.

  • Public Enemy's Chuck D Wants A Record Store Day Radio Station, DJ SKEE Helps

    After last year's Record Store Day, Chuck D of Public Enemy went to the founder of the national event, Michael Kurtz, to share an idea. What if the day dedicated to vinyl had its own radio station? Kurtz adopted the idea and recently struck up a partnership with DJ SKEE's new venture, DASH Radio, which premiered last August. The station is no longer a dream - it will go live Mar. 1, well ahead of this year's annual celebration of vinyl.

  • Lawsuit Against Google, Sony, Rdio, Beats Electronics and More May End Pre-1972 Music Streaming and Internet Radio

    Music streaming controversy has gotten uglier as a lawsuits have been filed against Google, Sony Entertainment, Rdio, Songza, Apple's Beats Electronics and more on behalf of the music group that owns the catalogues of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Hot Tuna and Purple Sage. The results of the collective legal push could result in thousands of songs written prior to 1972 disappearing from the internet.

  • Pandora Cries 1st Amendment in Copyright Suit with The Turtles

    Pandora is continuing its fight against The Turtles and all music artists recorded before 1972. Mark Volmer and Howard Kalen, aka Flo & Eddie, filed suit against the streaming music service in September after their successful lawsuit against SiriusXM. Members of The Turtles want compensation, but Pandora in a recent motion said the band is infringing on the service's First Amendment rights to play the group's music, "Billboard" reports. The issue is that the United States did not have a master recordings copyright law until 1972, so everything recorded before that year has been played on Pandora and SiriusXM without compensation for the artists. Volmer and Kalen decided to try the case at the state level, which worked after a judge in California ruled that the satellite radio provider had to pay up. That is the same judge hearing the Pandora case — the service is hoping to receive a change of venue. The pair also secured a win in November in a New York courtroom. Pandora is now crying First Amendment.

  • Apple Reportedly Set To Relaunch Beats Music In March 2015

    After Apple bought Beats for $3 billion earlier this year, industry experts wondered what the Silicon Valley giant planned to do with the company. Now according to a report in the Financial Times, there appears to be some clarity on what the intent of Apple is with Beats Music going forward. According to the report via Billboard, Apple plans to bundle a rebranded Beats Music into an upcoming IOS that will come standard on the update. Something like this was expected when Apple acquired Beats Music in May. Now it appears that there is a timeline for the new relaunch of Beats Music.

  • Pandora Won't Pay for Music by The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Other Classic Bands

    Tell us if you've heard this one before: Internet radio and music streaming services are looking for ways to avoid paying royalties. Turns out that Pandora is a little more hardcore than its competition and isn't paying for anything recorded pre-1972. The service argues that records from that era aren't subject to federal copyright laws, and therefore Pandora's in the right. Various recording labels are coming together to sue the internet radio service in the New York State Supreme Court.
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