Japan jumps into the music stream
The biggest moment for streaming music in Japan this year came via a handwritten letter. In late June, Kenta Matsumoto of pop-punk trio Wanima shared a note on Twitter announcing that his band's entire catalog would be uploaded to streaming music platforms like Spotify ...
It'll take more than Ayumi Hamasaki to help streaming services in Japan
Ayumi Hamasaki has seen better days as a J-pop superstar, but she still carries some clout. So it should have been noteworthy that her newest release, the five-song "Trouble," would arrive on streaming services a bit earlier than in stores. That's a win for ...
YouTube will launch a music streaming service next week, it said Thursday, as it looks to use its popular internet video brand to tap the growing market for paid music streaming. YouTube Music, which will offer both ad-supported and $9.99-per-month versions, will compete directly with ...
Record labels face lower revenues from streaming as Apple moves to renegotiate ties
Apple Inc. is seeking to reduce record labels' share of revenue from streaming as part of negotiations to revise the iPhone maker's overall relationship with the music industry, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks cover Apple's agreements for Apple Music, the two-year-old ...
Can Spotify dent streaming-averse Japan?
Spotify's long-awaited launch last month has industry watchers wondering whether it will make a major breakthrough in altering Japan's $3 billion music industry, where 80 percent of sales still come from CDs and other physical formats. With most of the world's major streaming services now ...
Can Spotify crack CD-loving Japan?
The music-streaming company may find the world's second largest and most idiosyncratic music market a tough nut to crack.
Spotify finally launches in Japan, a nation where other music streaming services have struggled
Popular music streaming service Spotify is trying its luck in Japan, where consumer demand for packaged media such as CDs is traditionally strong and the market for streaming still has huge potential to grow. Visiting Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek announced the company's foray ...
Facebook Japan launches social sharing of streamed music
Facebook Japan has launched a music streaming function, Music Stories, on the Japanese version of its social networking platform. "The function was announced in the U.S. in November last year. Music streaming services AWA and D Hits have cooperated with us to make it available ...
Does the future of Japanese music depend on streaming services?
When music consultant Mikiro Enomoto asked a class of Kyoto Seika University students how they listened to new music last year, he reckons 80 percent of them mentioned YouTube or YouTube-linked sites. When he asked the same question to this year's class, almost all ...
Nigerian answer to Spotify lures investors from MTN to Jay-Z
The mansion, the pool, the Bentley, the life-size portrait and the gold medallions are the spoils of a revolution in Nigeria and music superstar D'banj is enjoying them. The 35-year-old used to have to bargain with street-market traders to sell his CDs because there were ...
A decade ago, Apple Inc. helped revitalize a music industry hit hard by online piracy with its iTunes Store. Now, amid a steady slump in digital downloads, the industry is hopeful that the tech giant's new streaming service will give record companies another desperately ...
Apple boasts new music streaming to bolster lead in tunes segment, preps News app, ups OS ante
Apple Inc. showed off a new streaming-music service that will give users access to a vast inventory of songs for $9.99 a month, seeking to regain ground against upstarts that have lured listeners by offering unlimited access to music. Apple Music will be available starting ...
