Music

Tencent Music generated RMB8.93 billion in Q2 revenue, up 5.8% year over year, as music-related services grew 11% and newly acquired Ximalaya added $60 million in its first consolidated quarter. Ximalaya expands Tencent Music beyond songs and karaoke into podcasts,…

Spotify’s planned paid AI covers and remixes add-on creates a new revenue stream from Premium subscribers while leaving artists without key details on royalty formulas, ownership, payment triggers, deductions, training rights, and opt-out controls. Merlin’s participation gives Spotify access to…

Warner Music Group has acquired AI detection company Sureel, gaining technology that tracks how copyrighted music is used in AI training and AI-generated content. The deal strengthens Warner's position in the emerging AI licensing market by adding attribution and measurement…

From the Archives revisits how Rhapsody launched the subscription streaming model years before consumers, devices, and infrastructure were ready to support it at scale. The piece argues that while Spotify eventually dominated the category, Rhapsody helped establish the core mechanics…

Spotify is adding more than 650 narrated magazine articles from publishers including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and Variety as part of its push to expand beyond music and podcasts into a broader spoken-word ecosystem. The move strengthens Spotify’s engagement strategy…

Universal Music Group's renewed deal with TikTok highlights how major labels are pushing platforms to tighten AI music moderation, attribution, and rights enforcement as generative music scales. The agreement, alongside UMG’s separate AI-focused licensing approach with Spotify, shows the industry…

Spotify signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group that lets Premium subscribers create AI-generated remixes and covers using UMG’s catalog through a paid add-on tier. The agreement gives artists revenue shares while positioning Spotify as a licensed AI music…

From the Archives revisits how MP3.com became one of the first platforms to challenge record label control by allowing artists to distribute music directly online. Its My.MP3.com service sparked major lawsuits from labels including Universal, Warner, and Sony, turning the…

Spotify has launched “Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s),” a new in-app retrospective that gives users a lifetime breakdown of their listening history, including their first streamed song, top artists, total unique tracks played, and an all-time top 120…

From the Archives revisits MTV Overdrive, MTV’s 2005 attempt to build a streaming destination years before modern platforms took over digital video. The service recognized the shift toward short-form, on-demand viewing early, but struggled as distribution and discovery moved away…