Music Publishing News Weekly Roundup: March 7, 2014

Martin Bandier, CEO of Sony/ATV has written a public letter of complaint to the Academy of Motion Pictures. After the controversial elimination of the song “Alone Yet Not Alone” from the nominations for Best Original Song, the Academy failed to replace the song with the next runner up. This was due to an apparent rulein the Oscar rulebook that says a nominated song that is disqualified will not be replaced. In Bandier's letter, he calls for a formal petition to change the rule while also explaining how important a role music has played in the film industry over the years. In an exclusive interview Martin gave with Billboard Biz, he also comments on the official rule that a song needs to have three songwriters or less to qualify for a nomination calling it a “dumb rule”.

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Spotify has acquired The Echo Nest, a “music intelligence company” that analyzes vast amounts of metadata to help recommend music to the listener. The Somerville, MA based tech company currently powers the music recommendation section of many streaming services such as Rdio, Iheart, Deezer, and Rhapsody. According to their official press release, their API will remain open but as Spotify grows, their control over The Echo Nest will help them compete in the marketplace and better serve the increasing music streaming customer base.

Beats Music has acquired Topspin, a music platform that allows artists to directly sell albums and merchandise to their fans. The announcement was made on Tuesday, March 4th by the Chief Executive of Beats, Ian Rogers. The acquisition will combine the experience of discovering new music with fans, while also being able to form connections with their favorite artists.