Sprint To Buy Parts Of Tidal

TIDAL has sold 33% of its stake to mobile phone carrier Sprint, a deal worth roughly $200 million. JAY Z and all of the original owners will remain with a stake in the streaming service and the app should be broadcasted to all 45 million of its customers soon. Also, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will join the TIDAL board of directors.

Marvel Developing TV Shows

I know this is going to make many Marvel fans happy! Disney is going to lean on the Marvel Cinematic Universe to give its upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service a superhero-sized jolt when it launches next year.

As it ramps up competition against Netflix, Disney is planning on making its upcoming ad-free service the only place to stream its movies as well as those from its subsidiaries Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm.

Source: Marvel Developing TV Shows Featuring Loki, Scarlet Witch for Disney Streaming Service

Aside from its ambitious Marvel plans, Disney's streaming service will become a prime hub for remakes and reboots of familiar IP. In February, the company announced that The Muppets would be rebooted for the streaming service.

Learn About Tidal Music @TIDAL

TIDAL is the first music service with High Fidelity sound quality, High Definition music videos and Curated Editorial, expertly crafted by music journalists. Apple is exploring the possibility of buying Tidal to boost its Apple Music streaming service, eyeing Tidal's strong affiliation with subscriber-attracting major artists such as Jay Z, Beyonce, and Coldplay.

Lima's Music Industry Leader

The Wrap-Up Magazine is proud to present their artist Gansta-Marcus of Lima, Ohio as the music industry leader in the city. Will all his hard work and dedication he puts into social media, his career is still taking a rise to exposure.

Gansta-Marcus continued to adapt to the digital world in 2016 and guarantees that there's much more chaos and innovation to come. His pervasive presence of music streaming is completely changing for 2017 with his introduction to the swag revolution.

Gansta-Marcus age of streaming music has arrived in full force. The era of streaming music is upon us. We believe that by 2021, one billion people worldwide will be paying for streaming music. New research suggests that while Spotify is reducing music sales, the streaming service is a revenue-neutral platform for the recorded music industry.

Stream Millions of songs by clicking one of the images below.

Related articles

• Pandora Announces Employee Layoffs, Cuts By 7 Percent
• Spotify vs. Apple Music vs. Amazon Music Unlimited: Which Is Best?
• Sprint takes 33% stake in Tidal, plans to offer it to its 45M users
• Sprint Corp (S) Buys 33% Stake in Jay Z's Tidal Streaming Music Service

Must Have Songs to #Stream on your #SpotifyPlaylist

 

Whether you're a new user of the music streaming service or a playlist pro, these songs will sure catch your listeners ears. If you have an account on the world's biggest and best-known music streaming service, then don't miss out on these songs to add to your library.

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming platforms right now, which lets you listen to your favorite songs and artists at home or on the go. With Spotify, you can listen to music and play millions of songs and podcasts for free.

Will Amazon Buy MGM Film Studio?

 

Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy MGM, the vaunted film studio that was a staple of Hollywood's Golden Age. A tie-up would give the tech firm a big brand to wield as competition in streaming grows fiercer by the day.

MGM's iconic logo of a roaring lion has played before tons of classic films, including the "James Bond" series, and the studio could be valued at between $7 billion and $10 billion.

Roku Streaming Service Now Challenging Amazon Prime

Roku just unveiled new streaming TV changes that sound a lot like what Apple is planning. The change gives Roku's media partners a chance to include ad content inside of the Roku app instead of leaving it inside separate apps where fewer viewers can see the ads.

The Roku Channel, a separate section of the Roku user interface on TVs with Roku software and Roku products, will soon let users subscribe to paid content from Showtime, EPIX, Starz and a handful of other, lesser-known networks. Customers will be able to see all of the shows and movies available on those platforms before they subscribe, and can access the movies and TV shows from other devices, such as phones and tablets. They'll also be able to pay for all the services through one bill paid to Roku, instead of a separate bill for each service.

But there's a lot of missing content in Roku's new offering. HBO, Hulu and Netflix aren't available. Those apps are still available outside of "The Roku Channel," but users will need to navigate to the home screen and away from "The Roku Channel," which is clearly where Roku is going to try to keep its users' eyeballs.

The move also sounds similar to what Apple is planning. CNBC reported in October that Apple will mix its free original content with subscription channels inside of the TV app , which is available on iPhones and iPads. Apple may introduce its service as soon as this year.

Source

Spotify Shuts Down Its Uploading Program

Spotify is shutting down its direct upload program, which allowed artists to upload music to the streaming service without getting a third party involved.

Spotify announced its decision to close the beta program and stop accepting direct uploads by the end of the month. Spotify’s direct upload beta was launched last September. It allowed independent artists to upload to the streaming service without having distribution.

Indie artists will need to resume using services provided by companies such as TuneCore and DistroKid.

“The best way for us to serve artists and labels is to focus our resources on developing tools in areas where Spotify can uniquely benefit them — like Spotify for Artists (which more than 300,000 creators use to gain new insight into their audience) and our playlist submission tool (which more than 36,000 artists have used to get playlisted for the very first time since it launched a year ago). We have a lot more planned here in the coming months.”

More About Spotify:


Growing Your #Spotify Presence With #Streambeet

Now Follow Friends And Artist On Spotify

Netflix Prices Set To Rise

Prices for its popular standard plan, which allows streaming on two devices at the same time, will be increased to $12.99 per month from $10.99. The company's top-tier plan, which allows streaming on four screens in high definition, will be raised to $15.99 from $13.99 per month, while fee for its basic plan will rise to $8.99 from $7.99.

Netflix is raising monthly fees for its U.S. subscribers by between 13 percent and 18 percent, the video streaming pioneer's first price increase since 2017 as it spends heavily on original content and international expansion.

Time Warner Inc's HBO Now streaming service charges $14.99 per month, while Hulu's no-advertisements plan is priced at $11.99 per month.

Netflix has been pouring money to bolster its original content, which boasts award-winning shows such as "The Crown", "Black Mirror" and "Wild Wild Country", to fend off intensifying competition from players such as Amazon.com's Prime Video service and Hulu.

The company is expected to have a debt level of $8.33 billion in 2018, according to Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co, which owns 15,019 shares of Netflix.

"With Netflix frequently tapping the debt markets on several recent occasions, the price hike could help ease concerns with a growing deficit on free cash flow to fund a likely continued escalation in Netflix's content spending, which likely topped $13 billion in 2018."

Will Jack Dorsey Purchase Tidal?

 

Since purchasing Tidal for $56 million back in 2015, Jay-Z has made the streaming service a big contender in the music industry. But it could be that Jay-Z is considering handing-off a majority stake in the company. The rapper has reportedly been in talks to sell the site to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and his Square Inc. payment company.

As reported by Bloomberg, Square Inc. is looking to “diversify” their assets with the purchase of Tidal. The streaming service hasn’t publicly released their year-end figures since reporting they had 3 million paying customers back in 2016, but Jay-Z’s move to put his music back on Spotify has led some to question the longevity of the platform.

Have You Started Streaming #DisneyPlus Yet?

 

Disney+ is the home for your favorite movies and TV shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.

I started streaming Disney Plus because of my newborn daughter. It carries all her favorite shows such as Mickey Mouse and Bluey. Most of all, it had all my favorites from Marvel such as Avengers and Thor.

Disney+ gives you endless access to all the Marvel movies and TV. Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus are bundled together in a $13.99 per month package, which saves you $5.83 per month. The devices it supports are: Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, PS4, Xbox One, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android and Chromebooks.

Jay-Z Returns To Spotify Music

Rap icon Jay-Z brought his music discography back to the world’s largest streaming platform Spotify, leaving Tidal subscribers scratching their heads. The service he bought for $56 million in 2014 has struggled to gain any real market share against major players like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Is it genius marketing for the Tidal owner, or does this show he’s throwing in the streaming wars towel, as his company continues to struggle with growth?

The Breakdown You Need to Know: Even with Tidal’s exclusive music offerings and a $200 million investment from Sprint, it still doesn’t seem to be enough to keep the ship afloat, and Jay-Z may be jumping off the boat.

Also See: Sprint To Buy Parts Of Tidal

Jay-Z has been a vocal critic of tech companies in regards to the issue of compensating artists, so it’s a bit odd that he’s back in bed with them. Especially, when you consider Tidal markets itself as a “more equitable [business] model for artists” to make money while streaming their music.

In the beginning it was all good at Tidal, with artists like Beyoncé, Kanye West, Madonna and Chris Martin to name a few, who all had an ownership stake in the company. Each of the artists reportedly were given 3% equity in the platform, with Jay-Z holding the remaining stake.

The onset of streaming has poured new life into the music industry, with revenue hitting $5.4 billion earlier this year, $4.3 billion just from streaming services. Apple Music and Spotify boasts 113 million and 60 million subscribers respectively, which is massively hard for Tidal’s 2016 self-reported 3 million subscribers to compete with.

Also See: Tidal CEO Steps Down

Tidal’s offering is the most expensive option on the market at $20 per month. Amazon Music and Apple Music come in at $14.99 and $9.99 respectively, just another reason subscribers have been few and far between for Jay-Z’s company. They have tried other ways to grow subscribers by heavily discounting its subscription service for first responders. So if you consider yourself to be a hero, the company was offering a 40% discount for its Premium and Hi-Fi plans.

Jay-Z seems to be taking a “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach to music streaming and social advocacy. Let’s not forget he has now partnered with the NFL on it’s social justice mission, while also curating their halftime show.

Itunes To Shut Down All Music Downloads

An Apple executive has officially announced that all iTunes MP3 music downloads will be terminated by early 2019. Apple Music executive and Beats creator Jim Iovine announced today that paid downloads on the iTunes platform will be phased out in an attempt to shift users toward Apple Music's online streaming.

Jay-Z Buys Scandinavian Music Streaming Company

Rumors are that Hip-hop star Jay-Z is buying a Scandinavian music streaming company for $56 million to add to a business empire that has spanned clothing and sports bars.

Project Panther Bidco Ltd, a company controlled by the 45-year-old rapper, said on Friday it had agreed to buy Sweden-listed Aspiro for 464 million Swedish crowns ($56 million) in cash.

Shares in Aspiro, which runs music streaming service WiMP, leapt 59 percent in early trading to the bid level of 1.05 crowns per share.

Jay Z Talks Tidal, Jimmy Iovine, And Rewriting The Music Rulebook

Jay Z doesn’t give many interviews. In conversation, he often pauses mid-sentence, considers, rewinds, slices and reshapes his answer, choosing a more appropriate word or analogy that draws a finer point before revealing it to the interviewer. What’s commonly assumed is a mistrust of the press may just be that unlike his work in the studio or onstage, Jay Z doesn’t ultimately control the final result of an interview, and therefore treads more carefully while giving one.

Apple Sued Over Unpaid Royalties

The main sale and attraction of streaming services is that they pride themselves in how much they pay for artist royalties. However, Apple has recently received a new lawsuit over unpaid royalties for independent artists. The lawsuit contradicts the value that they promise to artists.

Universal Music Group Shuts Down Apple Music Exclusives

(The Wrap-Up Magazine) Apple’s iTunes, Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group and widely regarded as the most powerful executive in the music industry, has reportedly ordered the company’s labels to stop the practice of making “exclusive” distribution deals with streaming services.

According to Bob Lefsetz, author of an influential music industry newsletter, Grainge sent out a company-wide email on Monday. UMG, which boasted seven of 2015’s 10 best-selling albums and 38.5% of the year’s recorded-music sales, will be the first major label to ban the practice, which many feel has begun to diminish rather than enhance the way music is distributed and consumed.

The directive will affect dozens of bands under the UMG umbrella, including all five of this year’s album of the year Grammy nominees: Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, the Weeknd, Chris Stapleton and Alabama Shakes.

The practice of artists offering exclusives to competing streaming and download services, including Apple and Tidal, has been gaining traction this year. Both Beyoncé and Rihanna launched their recent albums through Tidal, the streaming service part-owned by Beyoncé’s husband, Jay Z.

Stream Your Music In Kuack Media Group

Learn about distributing your music to Kuack Media Group - the new streaming service offered to mobile providers in the Caribbeans. By adding your music to Kuack, you can get your music heard on millions of mobile devices across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kuack powers the streaming services set up by some of the biggest mobile carriers and other big brands in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Digicel, Kolbi Costa Rica, Viva Bolivia, and Virgin Mobile Colombia, Peru and Dominican Republic.

They offer Premium and “Top Chart” subscription tiers, both with access to unlimited streaming, playlists, conditional downloads, and social networks. They also offer curated content with an emphasis on featuring independent and local artists.

(CLICK HERE) TO JOIN AND SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC

Drake Breaks All Apple Music Services

Drake’s Scorpion is skyrocketing on the music charts and shattering Apple Music records, including becoming the number one album on the Apple Music charts in 92 different countries almost instantaneously and becoming the fastest-growing album ever on the service.

Drake's Leaving Young Money For Apple

Drizzy’s fifth studio album garnered more than 170 million streams on Apple Music. 10 of the most-streamed songs on the service came from Scorpion, which not only broke Drake’s own record, it was the most streams in a 24 hour period on any streaming service ever.

Drake Tops Elvis

More Life previously held the record with 89.9 million streams in a day. What’s your favorite song on Scorpion?

YouTube Raises Its TV Prices

The Google-owned service, not to be confused with the free version of YouTube, also announced that it's adding Discovery channels including Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and MotorTrend. 

YouTube TV, a live TV streaming service designed to replace a traditional cable TV package, will raise its monthly price from $40 to $50. Subscribers billed through Apple will have to pay $55.

YouTube TV is one of a handful of new subscription options aimed at cable TV cord cutters who want to stream live TV channels such as ESPN, TNT and CNN, as well as local channels including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.

Apple takes a 30 percent share of subscription revenue made through iOS apps or iTunes, with that cut dropping to 15 percent if the app holds onto the member for subsequent years.

YouTube TV's official twitter feed says current subscribers will see the increase in the first billing cycle after May 13. Unlike DirecTV Now, which allows subscribers to keep the older, lower pricing if they don't cancel service, there's no so-called grandfathered pricing with YouTube TV.

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