Spotify is the second most relevant brand in the US according to the new Prophet Brand Relevance Index (BRI), a ranking of the most relevant brands of today based on consumer feedback. Facebook failed to make the top 10. 

SoundExchange has promoted Anjula Singh to Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. Singh will add overall strategy and will assist in day to day management in addition to her current duties as CFO.

Musician community and services company Tribe of Noise has acquired the Free Music Archive (FMA), an open music platform curated by artists. The FMA site went into maintenance-mode over the weekend as part of the move transferring the repertoire, data and code.

A senior official at the US Department of Justice revealed that Live Nation was facing regulatory scrutiny over alleged antitrust violations involving its Ticketmaster division.

THURSDAY 9.19.19

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Bandsintown Manager has relaunched as Bandsintown For Artists. The revamped platform adds free geo-targeted messaging to fans and other improvements that build upon concert discovery platform Bandsintown's ongoing commitment to enhance the connection between artists and fans through live music.

Legendary guitar maker Fender has launched of the Fender Play Foundation, a new charity designed to provide resources and music education opportunities to young people. Avril Lavigne, Chris Stapleton, Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, Ashley McBryde and Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt have signed on as inaugural artist ambassadors.

As in many corners of the music industry, the data surrounding live music is a bit of a mess. But it's a mess which the startup Vibrate is hoping to fix by creating a standardized system for the entire global ecosystem of live music. Similar to IMDb, the company would utilize a mix of crowdsourcing, curation, and blockchain to pull together the necessary assets and information to populate its database.

So you've crafted the perfect subject line for your upcoming show or festival, but for some reason people still aren't clicking through to your event site. What's the issue? There's a good chance the trouble could lie in the actual copy of your event invitation - if the body of the invite isn't engaging enough to galvanize potential audiences, chances are you won't see much return on your investment. Here we look at five free and effective ideas for you next online invitation.

In an exploration of how much the ubiquity of smartphones has impact our media consumption, Fred Jacobs looks at the recently constructed Samsung KX stage, a vertically stacked contraption taylored specifically for its view-ability via smartphone.

Billboard and Hollywood Reporter owner Valence Media laid off seven editorial staffers at Spin Media Group this week across music sites Spin, Stereogum and Vibe as the profits from a resurgent music industry fail to trickle down to the media that serve it.

WEDNESDAY 9.18.19

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A new RIAA report shows that in the first half of 2019, the U.S. Latin music business continued to grow at a double-digit pace. By mid-year 2019, Latin music revenues grew 13.5% to $232 million at estimated retail value versus the prior year.

In this piece, Mike Henry of Paragon reveals the impressive popularity which Urban Alternative has gained as  a public radio format, providing a blend of new and old hip hop, R&B, soul, urban, rap, and local music to the listening populace.

Global Citizen, the nonprofit best known for its efforts to end extreme global poverty, has announced “Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream,” a 10-hour performance, spanning five continents to raise funds to support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

CD Baby has hired Los Angeles based music marketer Geoff Halliday to lead release marketing for its international team focused on providing artist and label services to its distribution roster.

The newly appointed Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) has submitted its proposal to the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) outlining the structure of the collective and the funding required to carry out the statutory demands of the Music Modernization Act.

In this interview from the Soundcharts Blog Darren Hemmings, Managing director of UK-based Darren marketing consultancy company Motive Unknown sat down to discuss his company's approach to music marketing and achieving the right balance with artist fans.

Haviah Mighty has won the Polaris Music Prize 2019 for her album "13th Floor."  The Prize, which was presented in Toronto by CBC Music, goes to the best Canadian album of the year based on artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation.

[UPDATED] Amazon Music is rolling out an HD music services at an attractive price point aimed at bringing high-quality lossless streaming to the masses. Amazon Music HD will launch in US, UK, Germany, and Japan this week, beating Spotify and Apple Music to HD streaming.

Here we breakdown how OneLive and Single Music helped TOOL land the coveted number one spot on the Billboard 200 following the band's release of a new album after a 12 year hiatus.

TUESDAY 9.17.19

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SAS or 'Second Album Syndrome' has become something of a phenomenon in the music business, with many artists struggling break new ground or successfully follow up a debut with an equally compelling sophomore release. Not so with famed hip hop group Public Enemy, however, who successfully broke SAS.

Warner Records has formed a joint venture with Masked Records, the new label formed by hip-hop entrepreneur Roger Gengo, founder of the influential Masked Gorilla website and UNMASKED concert series.

Singer and songwriter Sam Smith, who came out as nonbinary earlier this year, announced that they are officially changing their preferred gender pronouns to they/them. "Today is a good day so here goes. I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM,” Smith said in a post on social media.

A 19-year-old UK hacker has been arrested in on charges of stealing unreleased songs from major international music artists and selling them for cryptocurrency, according to AP.

In this piece, Seth Reslar explores how the Spotify's new podcast creation feature can be taken a step further to create a Spotify-based radio show by combining the podcast and song saving feature into one.

MONDAY 9.16.19

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This week in music business commentary, industry insiders weighed in on what a new California law might actually mean for musicians, the reason songwriters are so woefully underpaid, the complexity around death, creativity, and caring what others think, and more!

This week on MusicThinkTank, our contributors shared pieces on how you can help keep things organized when you find yourself falling into a managerial role, what music magazines are doing to stay afloat in the digital age, how playlist streaming is hurting artists, and more!