Superfan marketplaces, virtual influencers, AI-powered music campaigns, and mobile-phone holograms were only a few of the pioneering ideas bandied about during Techstars Music’s Demo Day on Tuesday (May 18th), which aired exclusively on Rolling Stone‘s Twitch channel. From a competitive global pool, Techstars Music selects a handful of promising music-tech …
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If online profiles can lead to marriages, maybe they can also lead to record deals. On Thursday, independent music-distribution service Distrokid launched a new initiative called Upstream, which functions as a matchmaking service for artists and labels, with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records signed on as the first partner. When …
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Neil Young has sold 50 percent of the worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, the U.K. investment firm founded by manager-turned-investor Merck Mercuriadis. The move comes days after Hipgnosis, which has spent the last year snapping up music catalogs left and …
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It’s been more than eight months since the Covid-19 outbreak saturated America in panic. The live events industry is still in a chokehold — and concerts, which are pivotal parts of musicians’ album cycles and livelihoods, have yet to return in force. Some have tried to expedite the process, looking …
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Epic Games announced early Wednesday (4 a.m. ET to be precise) that J Balvin will be the latest star to have a gig on Fortnite. The Colombian singer is set to headline the game’s “Fortnitemares” event on on Halloween, and the show will air in Fortnite’scasual “party royale” mode. Balvin’s …
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Following on its new diversity initiatives in collaboration with Color of Change, the Recording Academy announced on Thursday morning its latest class of members. The organization sent invitations to 2,300 artists, songwriters, producers and other music professionals to join the organization in 2020. Academy members can vote in the annual …
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Warner Music Group‘s much-awaited initial public offering finally hit the Nasdaq on Wednesday and enjoyed an immediate boost in price for its 77 million shares made available on the market — 7 million more than previously announced last week. WMG closed at $30.12 a share on its first day of …
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In 2020, anyone can be a record label — really, anyone. Joining the mix of hotels, airlines, big-box retailers, and Build-a-Bear, credit and debit card issuer Mastercard became the latest corporate brand to release original music when it announced “Merry Go Round,” its first-ever music single, on Tuesday. “Merry Go …
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On Monday morning last week, everything was business as usual at All Def Digital. By the end of the day, the media company had rounded up its employees and fired almost every single one of them. The rap- and comedy-focused brand, which Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons set up …
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In music, the two most high-profile court cases are the copyright infringement lawsuits against Ed Sheeran and Led Zeppelin — and now the outcome of the former is being tied to that of the latter. A Manhattan judge canceled a scheduled September jury trial for the case against Ed Sheeran’s …
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