Believe Digital to expand into UK
Digital music distributor Believe has opened a UK office and appointed former Libertines manager Stephen King heads it up. King, who has been appointed to the role of UK MD, will lead UK A&R, sales and marketing, working alongside offices in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the US. Believe Digital, which provides artists and labels with online tools including music players and social networking widgets to help boost profile, sales... [Read More...]
Spotify revamps to open up service to more users
Spotify, the online music streaming service, has opened up its platform to allow a greater number of consumers to access its full music catalogue for free. Previously users were only able to access the free, ad-funded catalogue by receiving an invite to the site from a friend. However, from today (Tuesday) the Stockholm-based service, which has more than seven million users across Europe, will introduce Spotify Open. The change means uninvited users... [Read More...]
Spotify in major social overhaul to become default music sharing platform
Spotify has made the most significant changes to its service since launch with the rollout of social features to let users connect with friends and share music. Through this social functionality and music management tools, users will be able to set up a profile and add other users into a ‘People’ sidebar, either by searching for them on Spotify or by integrating their Facebook friends through Facebook Connect. They can also choose to publish their... [Read More...]
Growth in revenue is turning point for legal digital music
PRS for Music, the music rights agency, has called for the music industry to create a market where online services can flourish in order for digital revenues to continue to offset the decline in physical sales. PRS for Music, which collects royalties for artists, announced that in 2009 its online revenues increased by 72.7 per cent to £30.4 million, an increase of £12.8 million. This outweighed the decline in CD and DVD revenues − a fall of £8.7... [Read More...]
Global Radio marks one million downloads with new apps
Global Radio, the UK’s largest commercial radio group, has reported a million downloads for its radio station apps since its first launch in November 2008. The group, which is home to some of the country’s most popular DJs, including Jamie Theakston, Harriet Scott, Nick Ferrari and Emma Bunton, is marking passing the million mark by launching updated versions of its apps, starting with 95.8 Capital FM. The updated apps have improved... [Read More...]
T-Mobile to launch user-generated music video ad
T-Mobile is launching the latest phase of its “Life’s for Sharing” ad campaign featuring the music video of a user-generated song called ‘Come with me’, set up using only T-Mobile’s free texts and internet for life offer. The new ad will air tomorrow (15 January) during Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother, running for the entire ad break at 9.30pm – the same slot that T-Mobile’s first Life’s for Sharing ad ‘Dance’ aired... [Read More...]
Digital downloads account for one in eight albums sold
Album downloads rose by over 50 per cent in 2009, accounting for one in eight UK album sales, according to trade body BPI. However, the figures revealed total album sales dropped by 3.5 per cent overall despite downloads increasing by 56.1 per cent to 16.1 million in the UK. The increase in album downloads follows a rise in single sales this year. They were up 32.7 per cent to a record 152 million, of which 98 per cent were digital downloads. Geoff... [Read More...]
Absolute Radio to debut iTunes tagging software
Absolute Radio is the first European station to launch the iTunes tagging software that enables iPod Nano users to purchase songs they hear on the radio through the iTunes store. When users hear a song they like on Absolute Radio via their new iPod Nano, they can tag, preview and purchase that song when they next sync to iTunes. Absolute Radio Breakfast Show DJ Christian O’Connell launched the new service for listeners yesterday. The... [Read More...]