Top News:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify reports Q1 revenue up 20% YoY to €3.6B, MAUs up 19% YoY to 615M, below 617.9M est., subscribers up 14% YoY to 239M, and a €168M operating income — - Subscribers to paid Spotify tiers jumped 14% to 239 million — Swedish audio-streaming company posted record operating profit
Discussion:
Billboard, Spotify, Reuters, Fast Company, Fortune, Music Business Worldwide, The Hollywood Reporter, MarketWatch, The Wrap, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, @eldsjal, Variety, @mukund, Digital Music News, Billboard, @xpangler, @spotifynews, Agence France-Presse, @thetranscript_, Music Ally and @lucas_shaw, more at Techmeme »
Chris Morris / Fortune:
Taylor Swift's new album smashed streaming records; Spotify says it had 300M+ streams on launch day and became 2024's most-streamed album within just 12 hours — Never bet against Swifties. — Taylor Swift's loyal fan base not only sent the singer's latest album, The Tortured Poets Department …
Discussion:
Spotify, SIDE-LINE, CNN, Music Business Worldwide and Digital Music News
Elle Griffin / The Elysian:
Penguin vs. DOJ transcripts: top publishing houses spend most of their money on book advances for big celebrities like Britney Spears and franchise authors — In 2022, Penguin Random House wanted to buy Simon & Schuster. The two publishing houses made up 37 percent and 11 percent of the market share …
Seb Joseph / Digiday:
For the third time, Google delays the deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome, pushing back its plans to early 2025 amid regulatory scrutiny — Google is delaying the end of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser — again. In other unsurprising developments, water remains wet.
Discussion:
The Privacy Sandbox and Ad Age, more at Techmeme »
Amy Graff / SFGATE:
KQED, a Bay Area NPR and PBS affiliate, is initiating buyouts, and may have layoffs or a hiring freeze; in 2023, revenue hit $90.4M and expenses $100.9M — KQED is initiating staff buyouts, an effort to reduce costs in the face of a budget deficit, SFGATE has learned.
Discussion:
Current
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Puck hires veteran journalist and TV commentator John Heilemann as its chief political columnist and partner, as the outlet expands its presence in Washington — - The company, which will host its first event for the White House Correspondents' Dinner this week, has built out a broader slate …
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, @pucknews, @coryweinberg, @eriqgardner and The Hill
Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
PEN America cancels its 2024 literary awards ceremony, set for April 29, after months of protests over the organization's response to the war in Gaza — The event had been set for April 29, but weeks of escalating criticism of the organization's response to the war had led nearly half of the prize nominees to withdraw.
Kate Lyons / The Guardian:
Australia's ABC South Asia correspondent Avani Dias says India refused her a standard visa renewal, after issuing a takedown notice to YouTube for her stories — Despite eventual visa backflip by authorities, ABC's south-Asia correspondent Avani Dias left after being made to ‘feel so uncomfortable’
Discussion:
ABC, @avanidias, @opindia_com, @free_thinker, Sydney Morning Herald, Hindustan Times, @adityamenon22, @ptrmadurai, @baxiabhishek, Committee to Protect …, @emilyzfeng, @behlihyi, Deccan Herald, Daily Mail, The Indian Express, @derekobrienmp, @avanidias, @parthpunter, @cathedavison, @johnreedwrites, The Independent, The New Indian Express and The Wire
Adam B. Vary / Variety:
The Blair Witch Project cast requests retroactive residuals and “meaningful consultation” on future projects, after Lionsgate and Blumhouse announced a reboot — The directors and producers of the groundbreaking 1999 horror film release a separate statement in support …
Discussion:
Joshua Leonard, @themythtraveler, @asap17, The Guardian, IGN, Vulture, @rickbur1n, The Independent, Joshua Leonard, @mothrasattorney, @nash076, The Independent, @drewmcweeny, @discussingfilm, Joshua Leonard, Joshua Leonard, @newbyrichard3, New York Times, ComingSoon.net, The Wrap, Screen Rant, Deadline, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, Inverse and People
Isabela Raygoza / Billboard:
RIAA: Latin music revenue in the US grew 16% YoY to $1.4B in 2023, with total streaming revenue up 17% to $1.3B and paid subscription revenue up 21% to $915M — Latin music revenues in the United States continue to hit an all-time high, exceeding the $1 billion mark for a second year in a row …
Discussion:
Digital Music News, RIAA, Music Business Worldwide, RADIO ONLINE and Variety
Financial Times:
WPP-owned agency Ogilvy forms a unit specializing in health influencers to help pharmaceutical companies promote health content and combat misinformation — WPP-owned advertising agency seeks to tap trend for seeking medical information on social media — WPP's Ogilvy advertising agency …
Discussion:
Ad Age, @wi_john and @dineshgovender
Rolling Stone:
Ex-AMI CEO David Pecker testifies about agreeing to be Trump's “eyes and ears” and how the National Enquirer used Michael Cohen's prompts to bash Trump rivals — David Pecker testified about his efforts to help Trump win the White House, including by publishing bogus stories about rivals like Ted Cruz
Discussion:
HuffPost, NBC News, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, New York Post, New York Times, @littlemissmarxist@threads.net, Axios, NPR, Reuters, Forbes, Deadline, CNN, CBS News, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, The Hill, Politico and The Wrap
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