Top News:
Gawker:
75% of Gawker Media editorial staff voted yes to unionize and be represented by Writers Guild of America, East — Gawker Media Votes To Unionize — Yesterday, more than 100 Gawker Media editorial employees voted on the question of whether to be represented by the Writers Guild of America …
Discussion:
Capital New York, Writers Guild of America East, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Washington Post, The New York Observer, The Awl, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Talking Points Memo, PandoDaily, @hamiltonnolan, CNNMoney, @jledbetter, bizjournals, @rustyk5, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, @justinjm1, Variety, @jacobinmag, @nicknotned, @samfbiddle, International Business Times, @jim_newell, Poynter, New York Post, Politico, @adamclarkestes, Mediaite, @zackseward, @johngapper, The Wrap, USA Today, Mother Jones, Talking New Media and Wired
RELATED:
Joel Johnson / Gawker:
Former Gawker editorial director discusses details of business model, explains Kinja's failure, and says several sites have been shopped around — Congratulations, Edit! — Congratulations, Edit! I think unionizing was a smart, brave decision, and one that gives you a chance at security in a turbulent environment.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Alibaba Invests $194M Into China Business News To Build A Financial Data Platform — Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, is currently focused on investing internationally to grow its business, but is also continuing to build out operations at home. In the latest move, it has invested $193.6 million …
Discussion:
Business Wire and Quartz
RELATED:
Patrick Frater / Variety:
China's Alibaba Pictures Raising $1.6 Billion in Share Sale
China's Alibaba Pictures Raising $1.6 Billion in Share Sale
Discussion:
Deadline, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Bloomberg Business
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Comcast Has Agreed To Acquire Ad Tech Firm Visible World — Cable giant Comcast Corp. has agreed to acquire the TV ad-targeting firm Visible World, according to a person familiar with the matter. — The deal, if completed, could put the cable giant into a stronger position …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable and Variety
CNNMoney:
Leaked Arianna Huffington memo shows focus on continued global expansion, investment in video, acquisitions, and a global newsroom — Read Arianna Huffington's plan to ‘dominate the industry’ — CNNMoney has obtained a copy of the Huffington Post's strategy for growth …
Discussion:
@lisahopeking and @gjbarb
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Politico's VandeHei on aiming for influencers, cheapening content in search of scale, and keeping editorial and business separate — Politico's Jim VandeHei: Scale is a ‘deal with the devil’ — At a time when publishers are grappling to diversify their revenue beyond advertising, Politico has an enviable business model.
Discussion:
@jasonclampet, @digiday and @gaberivera
Women's Media Center:
Study: men wrote 62% of print stories, 58% online, 62% of wire content, and 62.1% overall — WMC Divided 2015: The Media Gender Gap — Women's Role in U.S. Media: Still Dismal? Getting Stronger? The Women's Media Center - founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem …
Discussion:
Poynter and @talkingbiznews
Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Songs must be played five to seven times on Spotify's free service to generate the same royalties as one play on Premium — How the Cash Flows in Spotify Streams — Songs on the free version pay a lot less in royalties, and that's just one of the quirks
Discussion:
TIME
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
SoundCloud signs deal with licensing agency Merlin to pay 20K independent labels for music streams, deal covers yet-to-launch subscription service — SoundCloud signs licensing deal to pay independent labels for music streams — Partnership with licensing agency Merlin also covers …
Discussion:
New York Times, Music Ally, Variety, hypebot and Consequence of Sound
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Songkick And CrowdSurge Merge, Raise $16M To Combine Concert Discovery And Ticketing — Half of concert tickets go unsold because fans don't know the shows are happening. To fix that, 10 million user concert discovery app Songkick is merging with white-label artist-to-fan ticket seller CrowdSurge.
Discussion:
@joshconstine, @frantaclaus, PR Newswire, Guardian, Songkick Blog, @joshconstine, Billboard, hypebot and Re/code
Ryan Lawler / Medium:
TechCrunch writer Ryan Lawler to join 500 Startups as venture partner — Breaking: TechCrunch Writer Becomes An Investor — Let's not bury the lede: I'm leaving TechCrunch next week and, after taking a bit of a vacation, I will be joining 500 Startups as its newest Venture Partner come August.
Discussion:
@ashleymayer, @dmac1, @samfbiddle, @thestalwart, @ryanlawler and @eringriffith
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Yandex Launches Yandex.Radio, A Curated Free Music Service For Russian Users — Amid reports that Russia will be one of the first countries to get access to the new music service that Apple is reportedly launching next week, Russian search giant Yandex is enhancing its own.
Discussion:
StreetInsider.com, The Next Web and AllAccess.com
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Virtual-Cable Startup Layer3 TV Lands $51 Million Funding, Plans 2015 Launch — Layer3 TV, the secretive startup that calls itself a “next-gen cable company,” announced that it has closed $51 million in second-round funding, led by previous investors Evolution Media Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.
Discussion:
New York Post, Denver Post, Hollywood Reporter and Light Reading
Ryan Knutson / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Dish in early stage merger talks with T-Mobile US; combined company likely to have Charlie Ergen as chairman, John Legere as CEO — Dish Network in Merger Talks With T-Mobile US — Dish, T-Mobile Have Agreed Charlie Ergen Would Be Chairman, John Legere CEO