From MSJ Boom on Fb, 4/04/17: Spotify just closed the deal with Universal – globally largest label (no word on Sony or Warner- but assume MFN). Here’s the deal: Spotify gets to pay less for Universal streams (meaning less money to ALL rights-holders); albums will be windowed for 2 weeks to paid tier; singles will be available to free users. Should be interesting how they plan to do that when albums are released by all songs. It’s expected that artists/labels will choose what ‘the single’ that will be restricted will be.
Word is, this shores up the often cited IPO – don’t buy it. You might remember, they were supposed to go public last July, and then again last December, which was then paused for an early 2017 IPO and now here we are – still no IPO. Spotify has been around for 11 years, 6 years in the U.S., and has not turned a profit in one single quarter. NONE. NOT ONE profit.
This is not about Spotify or streaming. It’s about which banks will take them public as Ana offering based on 2-3 year licenses.
Anyway, there ya go.
# # # # #
Tim Cheney on Fb., 4/04/17: I am not by any means a huge fan of Hip Hop. I was nonetheless extremely impressed by Macklemore. Not only was it an amazing performance [referring to a concert he recently attended], but the minute he took to talk about how we are all welcome on this planet was something I think many people still need to hear.
I have children that are 1/4-1/2 Mexican. I have a gay son. I myself am Irish, English, Swedish and Native American. Some of the most sincere and caring people I have met are Jewish, Christian and Pagan.
By chance I ran into my black friend Marcel Johnson at the concert. I got to hear Macklenore’s beautiful speech next to my black friend, his white friends and my Puerto Rican girlfriend. We have a government now that tries to generalize entire groups of people. We look at each other based on outer criteria and not inner.
If a brown Muslim bombs a crowd of people, he’s called a terrorist and rightfully so. However, if a White Christian shoots up a church full of black people he’s “mentally disturbed”. Why is one treated differently than the other? Aren’t both of these people simply mentally disturbed terrorists?
Listen to the words and how they are used. Listen to how we’re brainwashed into thinking that if a black person robs a store, he’s referred to as a “thug” But brown Muslims are “terrorists” while a white kid that sprays a movie theatre with bullets is “a lone gunmen” THIS is why our country is divided.
The corrupt politicians’ greatest fear is the day we realize that when we all stand together, not as Jews, Muslims, Black or White people but as Americans, WE are the ones who actually wield the real power. Borders were invented to keep powerful men in power. One day we won’t just stand up as Americans, we’ll stand up as one world and erase the imaginary lines drawn to keep us separate and weak.