Independent artists will need to use a third party distributor like TuneCore & Distrokid to upload their music on Spotify.

Spotify ended the direct-upload program called ‘Spotify for Artists‘ which allowed artists to upload their music without the need of a distributor.

Spotify said, “The best way for us to serve artists and labels is to focus our resources on developing tools in areas where Spotify can uniquely benefit them—like Spotify for Artists… and our playlist submission tool.” “We’re working with our distribution partners to help make this transition as simple as possible for the artists who uploaded music through the beta.”

Singer-songwriter Vérité releases the track Gone. The track was co-written and produced by Madi Diaz and Konrad Snyder and it’s the first song release since her 2017 album Somewhere In Between. Her cover The 1975’s “Somebody Else” has been streamed 111M times. Booked by The Paradigm Agency, she has a full tour lined up with X Ambassadors.
Press: NPR, Noisey, Harper’s Bazaar
Streams: 250M + streams across all platforms with 1.4+ monthly listeners.

Big Machine Label Group Scott Borchetta responded to the accusations by Taylor Swift who is upset with the relationship between Borchetta and Scooter Braun and the acquisition deal.

So, it’s time for some truth…

In regard to a post earlier today from Taylor, it’s time to set some things straight.

Taylor’s dad, Scott Swift, was a shareholder in Big Machine Records, LLC. We first alerted all of the shareholders on Thursday, June 20th for an official shareholder’s call scheduled for Tuesday, June 25th. On the 6/25 call the shareholders were made aware of the pending deal with Ithaca Holdings and had 3 days to go over all of the details of the proposed transaction. We then had a final call on Friday, June 28th in which the transaction passed with a majority vote and 3 of the 5 shareholders voting ‘yes’ with 92% of the shareholder’s vote.

Out of courtesy, I personally texted Taylor at 9:06pm, Saturday, June 29th to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of Sunday, June 30th so she could hear it directly from me.

I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott, 13 Management lawyer Jay Schaudies (who represented Scott Swift on the shareholder calls) or 13 Management executive and Big Machine LLC shareholder Frank Bell (who was on the shareholder calls) didn’t say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days. I guess it’s possible that she might not have seen my text. But, I truly doubt that she “woke up to the news when everyone else did”.

I am attaching a few very important deal points in what was part of our official last offer to Taylor Swift to remain at Big Machine Records. Her 13 Management team and attorney Don Passman went over this document in great detail and reported the terms to her in great detail. CONTINUE READING

Taylor Swift finds herself in the middle controversy after she found out that Justin Biebers manager Scooter Braun purchased her catalog for $300 million that she released through Borchetta’s label ‘Big Machine’.

She said the news brought her back to “the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at [Braun’s] hands for years.”

“Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it,” she continued. “Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”

She blasts Borchetta’s loyalty and indicated that he knew how Swift felt about Scooter Braun.

“This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept,” she wrote.

“And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it. When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”

I give Taylor Swift credit who was born from wealthy parents and whom funded her career early on. She knows how to play ball but I’m not sure she has a clear strategy by blasting the people that made her on social media. As the old proverb says, “don’t bite the hands that feed you”.

Justin Bieber defended Braun with an instagram post. He said, “Scooter has had your back (Taylor Swift) since the days you graciously let me open up for you.! As the years have passed we haven’t crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on scooter isn’t fair.

Insider say that Taylor is playing the victim and was fully aware of the business deal between Braun and Borchetta. Taylor could have even bought her own catalog.

A never released Whitney Houston track recorded in 1990 has been remixed by the Norwegian DJ and music producer Kygo. It’s not a Whitney original but rather a cover of the popular 1980’s hit ‘Higher Love‘ by Steve Winwood. The track was supposed to land on her third album but she switched musical directions. The vocals were pulled out of Houston’s archive making it the first release since her death in 2012.