Digital services and platforms news - CMU | the music business explained

TikTok deal details leak as Trump pushes deadline for sale of US business back to December

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok deal details leak as Trump pushes deadline for sale of US business back to December

Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, this time to 16 Dec. A framework deal was agreed with the Chinese government on Monday that will see TikTok US become 80% owned by American investors. More details about that deal have now leaked…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

With the latest deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations coming up this week, Donald Trump has indicated that a deal has been agreed. The Chinese government needs to approve any sale of TikTok’s US business, but that has seemingly been achieved at trade talks in Spain…

Chris Cooke • 15 Sep 2025

TikTok “slow poison” to kids say French MPs as they propose social media curfew for teenagers

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok “slow poison” to kids say French MPs as they propose social media curfew for teenagers

French politicians have published a damning report accusing TikTok of pushing harmful content to young people. They’ve referred the company to prosecutors to see if it committed any crimes and proposed that children under fifteen should be banned from using all social media platforms…

Chris Cooke • 12 Sep 2025

CD sales in the US plunge in first half of 2025 as paid streaming subscriptions hit 105 million users

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RIAA • 2 min read

CD sales in the US plunge in first half of 2025 as paid streaming subscriptions hit 105 million users

The RIAA has published stats for the US recorded music market for the first half of 2025, with paid streaming subscriptions in the country now exceeding 105 million. Streaming income was up 5.7%, but physical sales - especially CD - declined, so that overall recorded music revenues are up just 0.9%…

Chris Cooke • 10 Sep 2025

Spotify finally adds lossless audio to premium

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Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify finally adds lossless audio to premium

Spotify is finally adding lossless audio to its platform, something it has been promising since 2021, and which rival Tidal first offered in 2013. Despite rumours lossless audio might be part of Spotify’s planned higher price subscription product, it’s being rolled out to all premium subscribers…

Chris Cooke • 10 Sep 2025

Yet more artists announce Spotify boycott over demonetised music, AI fakes and Daniel Ek's defence investments

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Spotify • 3 min read

Yet more artists announce Spotify boycott over demonetised music, AI fakes and Daniel Ek's defence investments

The number of artists boycotting Spotify continues to increase, with 30+ Seattle music creators signing an open letter criticising the streaming service. They hit out at Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s investments in the defence sector, but set out other grievances too, including over thresholds and AI…

Chris Cooke • 09 Sep 2025

Nordic licensing hub Polaris to shut down due to ‘evolving market conditions’

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Polaris • 2 min read

Nordic licensing hub Polaris to shut down due to ‘evolving market conditions’

Polaris, a digital licensing hub set up by three Nordic collecting societies, will wind down its operations next year with the three societies concluding that it’s no longer “the most suitable solution” for representing their respective relationships with digital platforms like Spotify and TikTok…

Chris Cooke • 02 Sep 2025

Apple Music makes its radio stations available to everyone via radio streaming app TuneIn

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Apple Music • 3 min read

Apple Music makes its radio stations available to everyone via radio streaming app TuneIn

Apple has announced a tie up with TuneIn which will see its six Apple Music Radio stations made available via the radio aggregator app. It seems to be part of a plan by Apple to better utilise the free radio services to sell subscriptions to Apple Music, which is lagging being main rival Spotify…

Chris Cooke • 28 Aug 2025

Brace yourself: Spotify is convinced people want it to be a messaging app

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Spotify • 3 min read

Brace yourself: Spotify is convinced people want it to be a messaging app

Spotify is adding messaging to its app, functionality it previously removed in 2017. It means users will be able to recommend tracks, podcasts and audiobooks to friends within the platform. Spotify says its users have been asking for this functionality and “our goal is to give users what they want”…

Chris Cooke • 27 Aug 2025

Spotify’s ads business is “floundering”, according to Business Insider report

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Spotify • 4 min read

Spotify’s ads business is “floundering”, according to Business Insider report

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek recently admitted that the streaming service’s ad sales have been underperforming. Business Insider has spoken to advertising industry execs who say Spotify’s ad strategy to date has been “messy” and the value of its recent push into video ads is yet to be proven…

Chris Cooke • 22 Aug 2025

Turkish government makes up with Spotify as streaming service commits to open Istanbul office

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Spotify • 2 min read

Turkish government makes up with Spotify as streaming service commits to open Istanbul office

Last month there was speculation Spotify might pull out of Turkey because of tensions between the digital service and the country’s government. But Turkish Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy says a meeting took place this week to improve relations, with Spotify committing to open an Istanbul office…

Chris Cooke • 21 Aug 2025

Suno says indie musician’s copyright claims about its AI’s output are bogus

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Suno • 3 min read

Suno says indie musician’s copyright claims about its AI’s output are bogus

In June, independent artist Anthony Justice sued AI company Suno for copyright infringement, following the lead of the major labels. His lawsuit made copyright claims about Suno’s training data and the tracks it outputs. Suno says the claims relating to the outputs should be immediately dismissed…

Chris Cooke • 20 Aug 2025