Music Business Roundup: Tidal Sued, YouTube Grows Revenues, & More

Updated:

January 11, 2017 10:47 am

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Each week on Songwriter U, Songspace recaps the top stories in the world of music business. Here’s everything you need to know from the week ending on July 17th.

Tidal Sued for $50 Million
Bryan Williams from Cash Money Records has sued Tidal for hosting Free Weezy Album by Lil Wayne. Williams argues that Cash Money owns the exclusive rights to Wayne’s music, though Tidal and Wayne reportedly have an agreement that gives the service exclusivity for the FWA album in exchange for a part in the company.
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YouTube Continues to Grow
Despite reports earlier in the year stating that YouTube was not profitable, there is still a lot of hope for the video platform’s future. From Google’s second quarter reports released this week, YouTube’s revenues are growing significantly – a reported 60% year over year. 2017’s revenues are projected to be $17 billion.
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Bkstg Raises A Lot of Money
A fan engagement platform has raised $20 million from investors including Live Nation and Scooter Braun Projects. The aim of Bkstg is to bring together all types of ways to engage fans such as merch, ticketing, video, and social media.
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Artist’s Message Fans With Pandora
Originally announced in February, the plans for Pandora’s Artist Messaging system are becoming more clear. The AMP would allow artists to look at their audience in a specific area and then record an audio message to be sent to them. This could make the artist and fan connection that much stronger, as things can get lost in today’s social media heavy world.
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Huge Summer Tours
The summer season is usually a huge time for stadium tours for major acts, and this year is no different. Some of the largest grossing tours so far include The Rolling Stones, Kenny Chesney, and Taylor Swift. U2 has changed up their normal stadium route for one involving indoor arenas, which seems to be going well for them, while acts like One Direction are finding it difficult to keep up attendance.
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