Tag Archives: features

T o find a song that matches our mood, in the 21st century, we need only type in how we are feeling or walk into a new room, and a streaming service’s algorithm will grab that data and intuit our needs with unsettling ease. But well before predictive computer models …

As controversial as it is to talk about in the music industry, major record labels of the world still own sizable chunks in Spotify. But there’s a case to be made about why they should sell their billions of dollars’ worth in shares — and specifically now. It started in …

In Rolling Stone‘s series At Work, we go behind the curtain with decision-makers across the fast-changing music business — exploring a range of responsibilities, burgeoning ideas, advice for industry newcomers, and more. Read earlier interviews here. Gwen Riley has partnered with the likes of 88rising, Mabel, Machel Montano, Wyclef, Common, …

The other week, Kanye West launched a sustained Twitter assault against two pillars of the modern music industry — major labels and unfair record deals. He announced his intent to build a world where artists “have the power and transparency to be in control” of their future. “No more shady …

The founder of distribution and artist tools platform Stem, Milana Rabkin Lewis, made a fun suggestion on Twitter last week — an industry book club entirely focused on IPO filings, with Warner Music Group‘s S1/A as the first assignment. Warner’s S1/A is the dense, 190-pages-plus SEC filing that just officially …

In the weeks since the concert industry was stopped in its tracks, there’s been a 55% increase in Google searches for Apple’s Garagebandmusic creation software. Apple confirms the company is seeing record levels of interest in Garageband, with nearly 13 million downloads from its add-on “Sound Library” since early February …

On March 3, the electronic producer Surf Mesa‘s single “ily” debuted on Spotify’s Global Viral chart, which highlights songs benefitting from a recent surge in interest. The track merged an acoustic cover of the Sixties classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” originally recorded by Franki Valli, with a downtempo, …

Paul Klimson, a veteran audio engineer who’s worked with artists like Justin Timberlake, the Roots, and Eric Clapton, was putting together a docket of upcoming shows across multiple venues last week. Then, suddenly, they were all axed in one go. A “text came through that wiped out $11,000 in gigs …

“Don’t screw this up.” That’s what Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond hears over and over again from artists and labels about the company he founded in 2008. In the era of plummeting revenue from actual recorded music, Diamond’s service has evolved into the information-age equivalent of your favorite indie record shop, …

Spotify is proud of its independent status. Yes, the $26 billion-valued streaming service is partially owned by a raft of corporate giants, from Tencent (9.2 percent) to Baillie Gifford (9.7), TCV (5.3) and Tiger Global (7.1). And, yes, Spotify raised $1 billion in convertible debt three years ago, via the …