We really do believe that we can improve the world, one song at a time. | | | | How many BPM is your IPO? Marshmello performs at a Spotify Grammy Party, New York, Jan. 25, 2018.
(Roy Rochlin/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “We really do believe that we can improve the world, one song at a time.”
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| | rantnrave:// Credit to the NEW YORK TIMES' BEN SISARIO for noticing the single most amazing sentence in the 250-plus pages of SPOTIFY's official filing for its public listing: "We do not have a phone number." If you're looking for those missing royalties, you can always @ them though. #2018. If you're signed to SONY, you might want to @ the label, too, as Sony, which owns a bigger piece of Spotify than the other two major labels, could make more than $1 billion when Spotify hits the NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE. Sony has built its stake to 5.7 percent stake through several funding rounds, more than either UNIVERSAL or WARNER, and "those bets are paying off," PETER KAFKA and RANI MOLLA write in RECODE. "The downside? Those bets are paying off in public, and Sony musicians will want a piece of the winnings." Spotify's registration, filed with the US SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Wednesday in advance of its unusual direct stock listing, puts a wealth of information on the public record about the company's financials, user metrics, programing philosophy, future ambitions, risks and rewards. If you read one thing today, read that. It's topped by an inspirational mission statement from CEO DANIEL EK (see quote of the day, above). One of the goals of the document is to sell investors on a company that still isn't turning a profit. And so: Subscriber numbers up, daily usage up, revenue up. Churn rate down. The company sees itself as an "audio first platform" whose chief competition is radio, not other subscription services, and it believes it's fully prepared to take that competition on as "a significantly better alternative to linear broadcasting." That's a $28 billion global advertising market that Spotify thinks it can bite into. And it's already doing a good job of programming its users' listening. Spotify's curated playlists are responsible for 31 percent of all listening across the service. Message: We’re the tastemakers now. Look out, music biz. But look out investors, too. Stock prices "may be volatile, and could, upon listing on the NYSE, decline significantly and rapidly." Just thought you might want to know. Oh, and thank you, Mr. Ek, for naming your NYSE ticker symbol after the producer of several of my favorite SST albums. SPOT. I like the sound of that. MusicSET: "Spotify Puts Itself on the SPOT"... Run the world (women). Well done, BEBE REXHA... Educate the world (women). Well done, DOLLY PARTON. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | REDEF |
| Is Spotify a $23 billion company? What does its imminent direct listing on the New York Stock exchange mean for the world's biggest streaming service, for investors, for record companies and for the rest of the music business? Are you ready to trade? | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| An oral history of David Mancuso's life-changing New York party, through the eyes of the community that shaped it. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| Prominent figures from Atlanta’s rap industry debate the series’ winding nature and how Donald Glover pushes them to reconsider what is “authentically” theirs. | | |
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 | GQ |
| After she dropped *Ctrl*, the praise for SZA was unanimous. But after she went home empty-handed from the Grammys, snubbed for all five nominations, SZA was "mad as hell." So how is 2017's favorite new artist holding up in 2018? | | |
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 | Spotify for Artists |
| On the creation of the New Jack Swing starter course. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Despite numerous attempts, the affinity between these two platforms has not translated as well financially, speaking to the challenges of building a social music strategy in service of both a scalable and sustainable business. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Local music? I love the stuff. I've spent the past 20 years listening - ravenously, rapturously - to music made by my neighbors, and it keeps getting better. Go-go, bluegrass, jazz, rap, hardcore punk, doom metal, all of it. So why do those bumper stickers urging us to "SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC" still make me gag? | | |
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 | YouTube |
| Directed by Tabitha Denholm and Produced by YouTube, Made in Miami is the story of Camila's journey from arriving in Miami from Cuba as a kid to finding her voice and releasing her debut album. The film explores how generations of strong women have shaped the Cabello family and inspired Camila to become the artist she is today. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Billed as “a celebration and conversation amongst the strongest female writers, producers and artists in the music business,” the convivial evening brought out more than three dozen top female creatives, including Charli XCX, Avril Lavigne, Kelsea Ballerini, "Despacito" co-writer Erica Ender, Kim Petras and JoJo. | | |
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 | McSweeney’s Internet Tendency |
| Billy Joel sits at the piano in a smoke-filled bar in 1973. It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday and he's just finished performing a new original song entitled "Piano Man" off his forthcoming album. BILLY JOEL: Thank you, that's called "Piano Man." Now this next song- JOHN, AT THE BAR: Whoa, hold on a second. | | |
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 | China Music Radar |
| 2017 was a mixed bag for music in China. There is potential for further fray in 2018, but there is also an afterglow of optimism from the highlights of last year. | | |
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| Pitchfork |
| Today, metal comes in many, many forms, but the hierarchy of the genre is constantly up for debate. One thing is certain, though-Slayer f***ing rules! | | |
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 | AL.com |
| Although Sex Clark Five never crashed the mainstream, the group's clever, jangly and concise songs, such as "Sarajevo" and "Detention Girls," earned them a small cult of superfans sprinkled across North America and Europe | | |
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 | UPROXX |
| Vinyl clearly isn’t going anywhere, but cassettes may offer a short-term solution for still-rising, indie artists. | | |
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 | Pigeons & Planes |
| TrasK House's John McGuire works with music's biggest stars to push the live experience to new levels. | | |
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 | Mixmag |
| Enter a world of tape, circuits and mechanical madness. | | |
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 | No Jumper |
| Danielle Bregoli AKA Bhad Bhabie is a rapper and social media superstar who has exploded over the past few years even though she is still just 14 years of age. I got her in the studio for an interview recently and we talked about her music career, her new feud with Ricegum, her ascent to fame and much more. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| Or: how Childish Gambino learned to stop being childish and become a creative genius. | | |
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 | MetalSucks |
| The problem is that they have a history of Islamophobia. | | |
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 | Esquire |
| 100 million books. For the kids. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars |
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| © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group |
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