Top News:
Bloomberg Business:
Sources: music labels are seeking close to 60% of proceeds from Apple's new music service, more than the 55% Spotify pays — Apple's Pushing to Complete Streaming Music Deal Before Event — Just days before Apple Inc. plans to reveal a music streaming service, the company is still negotiating with record labels over terms.
Discussion:
App Advice, Business Insider, The Next Web, TIME, AppleInsider and MacRumors
Glenn Peoples / Billboard:
Spotify Royalties Grew to $300 Million in First Quarter — Spotify may have its critics, but the embattled music subscription service can routinely point to growing pile of royalties it has paid to rights holders. Billboard has learned the music subscription company paid out $300 million …
RELATED:
Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:
Fusion, Re/Code, and Vox demonstrate that scale is vital for new media startups to survive — Fusion, Re/code, Vox and what it takes to survive as a media startup — After what seemed like years of blue skies and growing traffic, recent stumbles have led to rumblings that the optimism …
Discussion:
@samanthamcgarry, @jpmanga, @petersterne, @herbscribner, @hblodget and @fromedome
Anna Clark / Columbia Journalism Review:
Columnist builds a Facebook following of 130k by sharing news and civil discussion — How Connie Schultz built a unique community on Facebook — In an era when journalists feel pressure to use social media to build their personal brands, Connie Schultz has done something far more interesting.
Discussion:
@annaleighclark, @ebnert, @mediadissector and US News
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
Instapaper Launches ‘Notes’ To Let Users Annotate Text — Instapaper, the app that lets you save and share online articles, has just launched a new annotation functionality called Notes. — The feature allows users to select a piece of text from an article or other work, and make comments on that text.
Discussion:
MacStories
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC vote on local franchise fees for basic cable TV helps both big and small providers — FCC helps big and small cable TV providers avoid rate regulation — Vote declares cable TV faces competition nationwide; cable companies rejoice. — Cities and towns will have a more difficult …
Agence France-Presse:
Kuwait shuts private TV station critical of government — Kuwait on Thursday closed the privately-run Al-Watan satellite television channel, which has been critical of the government, citing financial reasons. The commerce and industry ministry said it has revoked the commercial licence …
Discussion:
The Express TribuneThe …
Jared Malsin / Guardian:
Egypt court hears closing arguments for three al-Jazeera journalists being retried — Defence lawyers for Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste refute charges of spreading ‘false news’ and aiding Muslim Brotherhood — Defence lawyers for three journalists on trial in Egypt …
Discussion:
Associated Press, sbs.com.au and Globe and Mail
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Reporters at the Washington Post Will Soon Be Able to Check Their Articles' Traffic — Deal between union and management will let journalists see how their stories do on the Web. — The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild and the Washington Post's management have reached a “tentative agreement” …
Discussion:
Washingtonian and @nickwoltman
Globe and Mail:
Canadians who use VPNs to watch US Netflix are stealing, says new Bell Media president — Bell Media president urges behavioural shift to prevent ‘stealing’ — The head of one of Canada's largest media companies has taken a bold stance on piracy, equating the use of workarounds to get access …
Discussion:
AlphaBeatic, Winnipeg Free Press, Canada Business, CBC News, Mashable and TorrentFreak
Bruce Houghton / hypebot:
Rhapsody, BandPage Partner For More Personalized Streaming, Direct To Fan Commerce — From its humble start as a Facebook enhancement app, BandPage has promoted itself as an artist marketing and monetization tool. Over the last year, thanks to a much evolved offering and key partnerships …
Discussion:
Business Wire and Billboard
Bloomberg Business:
Vodafone Said to Discuss Options Including a Merger With Liberty — Vodafone Group Plc and Liberty Global Plc are discussing a range of potential transactions, including an outright merger, amid consolidation in the telecommunications industry, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Discussion:
Poynter, New York Times, Telegraph and Wall Street Journal