When I read most of the leading technology sites like The Verge or TechCrunch or Business Insider there is a distinct focus on US based technology companies (with a hint of EU), which of course is understandable. However, I find myself these days wanting to find more about companies in Asia or the Developing World. This is where true innovation will come from!
Author: Steve
Free Spotify Music Distribution within 48 Hours!
There are a growing number of musicians and labels all over the world that would like to get their music live for Free in Spotify! Music distribution to Spotify and other services can take some time and the vast majority of them have poor customer service – however, you should check out RouteNote.
RouteNote is a very large music distribution service that allows artists and labels to get their music live in Spotify and other stores for free within 48 hours. This is outstanding!
RouteNote is free to create an account and artists can upload for free and keep 85% of the royalties with monthly payments straight into your Paypal account or International Bank Account.
What is Slaps.com and Who Owns It
Philip Kaplan seems to be the owner of Slaps.com, which is a new music website. Phil is a serial entreprenuer who seems to create a lot of startups and then a few years in will get a little bored and start a new project.
Slaps.com seems to be a very early and very basic Soundcloud streaming services, but with basically no features and hip hop heavy.
Blackstone Group Investing $5 billion in Second Asian Fund (China and India Focus)
Blackstone Group is looking to raise $5 billion for its second Asian fund.
Blackstone is seeing huge potential in Asia and really wants to invest heavily and faster than ever before. Around 66% of their first fund $2.3 billion has been invested.
Blackstone see’s great growth potential in China and India and really wants to get a foot in those markets before they mature.
Tara AI – Free Alternative to Jira, Asana and Other Project Management Software
I have just come across Tara AI (via DaringFireball), which provides a completely free to use alternative to Jira and other project management software.
I had a very quick look at it seems to have a very strong user interface and provide a strong amount of features.
However, WHY IS IT FREE?
SellerX Raises $118 Million To Start Buying Top Amazon Sellers and Provide Them with More Services
SellerX is a startup from Berlin that focuses on acquiring top Amazon sellers. SellerX has just raised $118 million led by Cherry Ventures, Felix Capital, TriplePoint Capital, participation from Village Global, et al.
It seems like buying Amazon based businesses is becoming an interesting proposition. Once Amazon sellers get to a certain level they need a lot of back office support and the vast majority aren’t set up to do this. It will be interesting to see if they are able to get a lot of great Amazon sellers together and turn this into a strong long term business.
Shutterstock Buys AI Driven Amper Music – Shutdown and Keep More Margin on Music?
Shutterstock has acquired AI driven Amper Music.
Amper Music claims to have over 1 million individual audio samples in its catalogue.
It seems like Shutterstock wants to be able to create endless AI driven music and be able to monetize that in its marketplace and keep 100% of the royalties. It will be interesting to see what happens to Amper Music after the transaction closes, as I expect that the company will be completely shutdown immediately.
Free Music Distribution for TikTok and Resso
RouteNote has started offering Free Music Distribution to TikTok and Resso. RouteNote was one of the first music distributors to partner with TikTok and Resso globally and they can provide full access into the platform for no upfront fees and artists and labels keep 85% of the royalties.
TikTok and Resso pay royalties to both artists and labels so its worth adding your music into the music library into TikTok so creators of all shapes and sizes can find you and promote your tracks to a global audience.
Spotify Buys Megaphone for $235 million – Who is Losing Out? Consumers
It was confirmed that Spotify is buying Megaphone for $235 million.
Megaphone is a podcasting hosting and advertising company – it’s easy to see how this fits into Spotify’s plans for world domination in the podcast market, but it will throw up a lot of concerns on how powerful Spotify is in this market now and how they plan to control all the data around podcasts.
These podcasts should be platform agnostic – like music. However, they seem to be getting acquired and then made exclusive for either Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal or whoever has the most money at the time.
Who is going to lose out? CONSUMERS!
Halsey – Without Me (Stripped) Live At Magnum #TrueToPleasure Performance (Video)
Very interesting performance from Halsey – but it really seems like the video has been recorded separately from the audio and then its been placed together.
It is great to see companies like Magnum realise the influence of music within current culture.
Erling Haaland interview after Brugge 0-3 Dortmund – “You sleeping lonely tonight?” – “Didn’t take a girlfriend at home” (Video)
Extremely strange interview with Erling Haaland, which talks about the him not taking a girlfriend at home and that he will sleep lonely tonight. Very awkward!
The Selected 2017 New Year Mix – Packs a Punch (Video)
With 2020 being so rubbish I have been spending a lot of time on YouTube. Here is a video from Selected – which showcases their New Years Mix. It’s from 2017, but it still really packs a punch.
Plurality Voting System – Simulating Alternate Voting Systems (Video)
This video talks about voting systems and why the two party system is so common. It also looks at alternative voting systems.
PUBG Mobile Terminated For All Indian Gamers on October 30th
It has been confirmed that PUBG Mobile will be removed for all Indian users on the 30th October – this accounts for 50 million Indian gamers.
India banned PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG Mobile Lite, along with over 100 apps with links to China on September 2.
Amuse Fast Forward Charges Artists 12% Interest on Their “Advances” / Loans
Amuse announced the other day that they were expanding their Fast Forward program – which allows artists to have an advance on their royalties of between $250 and $300,000 (MA).
However, all these “news outlets” forgot to mention that Amuse will be charging artists 12% interest on the loans they provide as advances on their royalties.
12%!
I’m struggling to understand why any artist in the world would consider this a good idea!
This also goes against the artist first idea of Amuse. It’s not artist first in any way!
Google CEO Sundar Pichai Announces They Are Currently Changing Their Offices to Adapt to a Hybrid Model in Future
Google seems to think the future of work lies in between the office and working remotely.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that Google were currently making changes to its physical spaces to better support employees in the future. He didn’t specific state what those changes were.
“I see the future as definitely being more flexible,” Pichai said during a video interview for Time 100. Pichai was an honoree on this year’s list of the most influential people in the world.
“We firmly believe that in-person, being together, having that sense of community, is super important for whenever you have to solve hard problems, you have to create something new. So we don’t see that changing, so we don’t think the future is just 100% remote or something,” he said.
Pichai said that Google is “reconfiguring” its office spaces to accommodate what he called “on-sites” — presumably, days where employees, who mostly work from home, gather in the office.
Substack Stealing Writers from Major National US Publications to Write Newsletters to Subscribers
It seems as though Substack has been approaching writers at top national publications in the USA and offering them the ability to create and obtain subscribers on Substack. It also sounds like they are offering these writers minimum guarantees to move, which allows the writers to have a very minimal downside on moving.
Amuse.io Music – Release Financial Figures for 2019 – $9.5m Revenue – $10.9m Loss!
Amuse.io is a new music upstart that has been getting a lot of press of late. Amuse.io has just released their official 2019 financials and it’s very interesting reading.
Revenues = $9.5 million USD
Profit / Loss = $10.9 million USD Loss
Staff = 49 staff
Cash Liquidity = 208%
This basically means that Amuse will need to raise another round of Venture Capital within the remainder of 2020 or start of 2021 to be able to survive.
Source – https://www.merinfo.se/foretag/Amuseio-AB-5590367016/2kgcyso-1hslk
Tesla Shares See Their Biggest Ever Single Day Decline!
Tesla shares have finished the day at 21.06% down. This is the biggest single day share decline for the company in its history.
Why this matters: Tesla is a company going after a big dream. However, it also seems to be the company that is riding a very high valuation based on very little fundamental numbers being it. Revenues have increase 14% in the past 12 months, but the share price has increased 573%.
My views: I love the company and I love what they are trying to achieve, but it seems like they have become the poster child for a heavily overpriced stock market based on poor fundamentals.
Can I upload music to Spotify without having a record label?
Yes of course. Take a look at RouteNote.
RouteNote has a FREE option for all artists and labels. Any artist or label in the world is able to upload their music to the worlds largest music streaming services and download stores with no upfront costs.