A vintage television displaying sheet music.

Not your mom’s jingles: Ad music is getting an upgrade

Music production studio Heavy Duty Projects brings original compositions to branding.

Sara Friedman • September 5, 2023
wearing headphones

Music you can really feel — no, really

Music: Not Impossible makes backpacks and devices that allow users to feel up to 24 different sounds at once as vibrations.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • August 22, 2023
records

Music labels vs. the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is being sued again, this time by music publishers.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • August 15, 2023
spinning a record

Why nobody got paid for one of the most sampled sounds in hip-hop

This month marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. A few seconds from one forgotten rap song have tied artists and eras together for decades.

Mark Dent • August 4, 2023

Cassettes are back

Cassette tape sales are surging again due to nostalgic collectors.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • December 13, 2022

Hell hath no fury like angry Swifties

A debacle over Taylor Swift tickets has Ticketmaster under fire.

Olivia Deng • November 22, 2022

TikTok vs. record labels

TikTok is huge now, and music labels want a bigger piece of the pie.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • November 9, 2022

Taylor Swift’s record week

Her new album took the Billboard Hot 100 by storm.

Rob Litterst • November 4, 2022

Is Apple blocking Spotify’s growth plan?

A bad buying experience is pressing pause on the audio giant’s next chapter.

Jacob Cohen • October 27, 2022

TikTok’s grand plans to take over our ears

The company is laser-focused on music as its next frontier.

Jacob Cohen • August 4, 2022

Are virtual concerts here to stay?

Metaverse concerts are outliving the pandemic.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • August 1, 2022

The big business of Margaritaville

Jimmy Buffett’s beachy anthem has inspired a booming hospitality business.

Rob Litterst • July 18, 2022

Why Spotify bought a music trivia game

Spotify wants to incorporate more interactive experiences. It just bought Heardle, a music guessing game.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • July 13, 2022

Have boy bands peaked?

With BTS going on hiatus, there’s a chance the best days of the boy band genre are behind us.

Rob Litterst • July 7, 2022

Latin music is taking over the world

“Despacito” helped bring Latin music to a wider audience, and new artists are taking the genre to new heights.

Rob Litterst • June 27, 2022

Digits: Harry Styles, Formula 1 inflation, and more

Plus: Ridiculous personal finances, and the queen’s 70th anniversary.

Jacob Cohen • June 6, 2022

Digits: Coldplay tickets, hump day, and more

Plus: Redbox, 129.2k bitcoins, and $120 diapers.

Rob Litterst • May 16, 2022

What can The Beatles teach us about management?

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr can teach anyone teamwork and creativity.

Trung T. Phan • December 23, 2021

Spotify Wrapped is the streaming giant’s secret growth hack

Spotify Wrapped is more than just a fun feature for users. The year-in-review slideshow boosted app downloads by 21% in December 2020.

Rob Litterst • December 6, 2021

Spotify’s recent product moves hint at a budding super-app

Spotify’s recent product moves suggest the company is building a super-app that includes both audio and video features.

Rob Litterst • November 30, 2021

Meet the LinkedIn of the music industry

Jaxsta is an Australia-based startup looking to help artists, producers and songwriters get their due credit.

Trung T. Phan • August 16, 2021

Music startups have raised $350m+ to help artists go viral

Startups are giving artists the music-making and audience outreach tools to blow up on TikTok and Spotify.

Trung T. Phan • July 9, 2021

Songtradr raised $50m to help it become the leading B2B music marketplace

Songtradr matches artists with businesses looking to license music. After a flurry of acquisitions, it is valued at $300m+.

Juliet Bennett Rylah • June 23, 2021

Social music site Turntable.fm is back from the dead… and has an interesting rival

Turntable.fm shut down in 2014. Now it’s back after raising $7.5m but has to contend with another identical startup also called Turntable.

Kolby Hatch • May 28, 2021

Why would Square buy streaming music service Tidal?

Square’s acquisition of Tidal would supercharge its Cash App, among other benefits.

Trung T. Phan • December 30, 2020

The music rights boom, explained

What’s driving demand for music royalties: streaming services and investor demand for yield.

Trung T. Phan • December 9, 2020

Spotify’s genius marketing play

Spotify has turned its “year-in-review” Wrapped campaign into the ultimate marketing play.

Trung T. Phan • December 4, 2020

‘Streaming farms’ are Spotify’s newest credibility problem

Streaming giants might accidentally be shelling out ~$300m to bot listeners.

Michael Waters • October 7, 2020

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