MusicFX still has a limited rollout: it’s available in the US, New Zealand, Kenya and Australia. So, 10m tracks created in those four countries alone so far

Tidal will now offer a single subscription for $10.99 a month, including the catalogue of FLAC and Dolby Atmos music that it used to charge $19.99 a month for with HiFi Plus

TikTok is under pressure from American politicians again, with a new bill that zeroes in on the app’s perceived links with the Chinese authorities.

Warner Music Group has partnered with British health tech startup MediMusic to explore the potential of music as a therapeutic tool.

The collaboration, which marks the record label’s first music therapy deal, aims to harness the power of music to ease  pain, anxiety and stress through clinical trials of personalized playlists, according to a press release last week (December 13).

The partnership builds on the growing intersection of the music and health sectors. While music’s emotional impact has been long recognized, MediMusic utilizes AI and machine learning to create evidence-based playlists tailored to individual patient needs. 

Their algorithms analyze music’s ‘digital DNA,’ creating a healthcare-specific fingerprint, to curate 20-minute personalized tracks, delivered through the MediBeatstreaming device and a pair of headphones.

Music streaming services have raised concerns over the French government’s proposed tax on music streaming services. Amongst the companies slamming the new plans is Spotify, which has warned that such a move may lead to the company deprioritizing France in the future.

Antoine Monin, the Director General of Spotify France, expressed his dismay, labeling the tax a “monumental strategic error, which goes against the issues of economic, cultural and European technology”.

In an interview with French news channel France Info, Monin highlighted the potential adverse impact on European streaming companies, particularly Spotify and Deezer, compared to their US-based counterparts such as Apple, Amazon, and YouTube. 

Monin argued that the tax would disproportionately affect European platforms, given their dominance in the French streaming market and their primary focus on music streaming, in contrast to the diversified portfolios of the tech giants.

“The adoption of this tax is really a blow to the music sector, to innovation and to European independent platforms like Spotify or Deezer” according to a translated text of Monin’s interview with France Info

Trailblazers is an MBW interview series that turns the spotlight on music entrepreneurs with the potential to become the global business power players of tomorrow. This time, we speak to artist and producer, Russ. Trailblazers is supported by TuneCore.

As the name of this series suggests, and explains in the opener above, MBW’s Trailblazers turns the spotlight on some of the contemporary music industry’s most interesting entrepreneurs.

For the final installment of 2023, we caught up with Russ, an independent artist who has been challenging the power dynamic of the music business for more than a decade

Russ (Russell Vitale) is a rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, record label owner and best-selling author who achieved significant success independently before signing a deal with Columbia Records in late 2016, releasing his major label debut, There’s Really a Wolf, in May 2017. 

His career has been one defined by DIY ethics – writing, producing and engineering There’s Really a Wolf himself – and releasing a vast volume of self-produced work prior to achieving wider mainstream attention following the release of that album.

Russ points to his ‘do it yourself’ approach and high creative output on the track, I’m Here, from There’s Really a Wolf, in which he proclaims: “Singin’, rappin’, mixin’ masterin’, engineerin’ producin’/That’s every song with no exception, plus the catalog longer than a lot of veterans.”

He released 11 mixtapes independently between 2011 and 2014 and a song a week on SoundCloud for “two and a half years straight” prior to signing with Columbia.