Showbiz Sandbox 360: Can Spotify Come To Terms With Major Record Labels?

March 20, 2017

 Thumbnail

Even as Spotify has grown into the largest subscription streaming music service in the world, all of the company’s long-term licensing deals have expired and it has struggled to negotiate new ones that will help them lower costs and become a viable business. However new reports have emerged that Spotify may be close to reaching new licensing deals after agreeing to some strict terms from the labels.

Among these are marketing guarantees, the windowing of major releases and only placing full albums on the premium paid tier of their service. Spotify may have no choice but to accept the labels’ offer otherwise their much-anticipated IPO may fall apart once and for all.

Unlike Spotify, Netflix is a subscription streaming company that is at the top of its game and isn’t worried about squabbling with its content partners. Instead, the company has been busy altering its star rating system, restoring and lost Orson Welles film and bad-mouthing movie theaters.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the opening of Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” sets box office records, the head of the MPAA goes M.I.A. at CinemaCon and Saturday Night Live makes plans for prime time segments.

‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Creator Stephen Hillenburg Reveals ALS Diagnosis
https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/spongebob-squarepants-creator-stephen-hillenburg-reveals-als-diagnosis-1202007865/

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge Made $98.5 Million in 2016
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charter-ceo-tom-rutledge-made-985-million-2016-986820

comScore Announces Official Worldwide Box Office Results for Weekend of March 19, 2017
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-announces-official-worldwide-box-office-results-for-weekend-of-march-19-2017-300425871.html

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Opens Strong in China With ‘Gay Moment’ Intact
https://variety.com/2017/film/asia/uncensored-beauty-and-the-beast-opens-solidly-in-china-1202010786/

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Debuts to Magical $350 Million Globally
https://variety.com/2017/film/box-office/beauty-and-the-beast-box-office-records-1202011676/

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Waltzes to Record $174.8M in U.S., $357.1M Globally
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/weekend-box-office-beauty-beast-roars-163m-thursday-986898

42nd Annual IRA Movie Awards
https://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2017/03/42nd-annual-ira-movie-awards-history-is.html

‘Power Rangers’ Breaks Ground With First Queer Big-Screen Superhero
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/power-rangers-gay-character-storyline-yellow-ranger-plot-explained-987236

China’s Oriental DreamWorks Looks Set to Restructure
https://variety.com/2017/film/asia/china-oriental-dreamworks-heads-for-closure-1202006264/

Spotify To Sign new Licensing Deals with Major Labels “Within Weeks”?
http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/will-spotify-sign-new-licensing-deals-with-major-labels-within-weeks/

Chance the Rapper Says His Apple Music Deal Was Worth $500,000
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/arts/music/chance-the-rapper-apple-deal.html

Chelsea Clinton to Publish Children’s Book, ‘She Persisted’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/books/chelsea-clinton-to-publish-childrens-book-she-persisted.html

The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn – BookFilter
http://bookfilter.com/2016/07/05/the-arrangement-3/

Tiger Woods and the 1997 Masters – BookFilter
http://bookfilter.com/2016/07/05/tiger-woods-and-the-1997-masters/

Captain Fantastic by Tom Doyle – BookFilter
http://bookfilter.com/2016/06/27/captain-fantastic/

Chalk by Paul Cornell – BookFilter
http://bookfilter.com/2016/08/09/chalk/

Chalk Horses of England
https://www.google.com/search?q=chalk+images+england

Rachel Maddow Tops Cable News as Ratings Thrive
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rachel-maddow-tops-cable-news-as-ratings-thrive-985789

MPAA Chief Chris Dodd Skipping Annual CinemaCon Speech
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mpaa-chief-chris-dodd-skipping-annual-cinemacon-speech-985767

Rise of the ‘Cord Nils’ as Almost Quarter of US Broadband Drop Legacy Pay-TV Services
https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2017031546513/rise-of-the-cord-nils-as-almost-quarter-of-us-broadband-drop-legacy-pay-tv-services.html

TV Queen Shonda Rhimes Expands Her Empire to Include the Theater
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-shonda-rhimes-patron-of-the-theatre-20170318-story.html

‘Saturday Night Live’ to Air Live Across the Country
https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/saturday-night-live-all-time-zones-1202010211/

‘Legion,’ ‘The Affair’ Among Four TV Series Relocating Production to California
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/legion-affair-four-tv-series-relocating-production-california-986990

A New York Philharmonic Coup: Deborah Borda Is Named the New Leader
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-deborah-borda.html?_r=0

eBook Pirates Are Relatively Old and Wealthy, Study Finds
https://torrentfreak.com/wealthy-older-people-more-likely-to-pirate-ebooks-study-finds-170316/

Us Weekly Likely Going to American Media after Tronc Talks Fall Through
https://nypost.com/2017/03/14/us-weekly-likely-going-to-american-media-after-tronc-talks-fall-through/

Turner, Fox, Viacom Strike Surprising Alliance to Offer Madison Avenue New Audience Measures
https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/turner-fox-viacom-tv-advertising-audience-measurement-1202009267/

Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Downs
https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/netflix-thumbs-vs-stars-1202010492/

Netflix is Testing a Button for Skipping the Opening Credits
http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14959650/netflix-skip-intro-button

Unfinished Orson Welles Film Gets a Netflix Commitment
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/movies/unfinished-orson-welles-film-gets-a-netflix-commitment.html

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: Movie Theaters Haven’t Innovated Beyond Popcorn
https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-movie-distribution-1202010848/

Chuck Berry, Rock ’n’ Roll Pioneer, Dies at 90
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html

Gene Parseghian Dies: Manager Of Daniel Day-Lewis, Kit Harington, Eddie Redmayne, Was 72
https://deadline.com/2017/03/gene-parseghian-dies-manager-obituary-daniel-day-lewis-kit-harington-eddie-redmayne-1202045092/

Jimmy Breslin, Legendary New York City Newspaper Columnist, Dies at 88
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jimmy-breslin-dead-pulitzer-prize-winning-new-york-journalist-author-was-88-987214

Comments

Comments are closed.