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08 Jan 2016
Business
  • SFX Entertainment has announced a settlement with Spotify, the result of a breach of a $10m recoupable advance and licensing agreement caused at least in part by CEO Robert Sillerman’s own failure to fund a $15m investment in SFX. (Pollstar)
News and Features
  • Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 560m allegedly infringing links from its search engine in 2015, an increase of 60% compared to 2014. (TorrentFreak)
  • Potentially lethal 'Lion' pills are said to be in circulation in the UK, with two deaths on Boxing Day and five hospitalisations across New Year being linked to the drug. (Mixmag)
  • Spotify UK has launched a monthly ‘In Residence’ show hosted by Rob da Bank. (RotD)
  • Nielsen Music's 2015 end-of-year figures for the US show overall album sales, physical and digital combined, declined by 6%. Without Adele's 25, album sales would have dropped by 9%. There was a 93% lift in on-demand streams. Digital album sales fell by 3%. Digital song download sales fell by 12% to 965.7m. 61 songs sold at least a million downloads, down from 82 in 2014 and 106 in 2013. Vinyl album sales were up by 30% to 11.9m. (Billboard, NYTimes)
  • Global communication tool Chew – marketed as “Twitch for DJs” – have announced that they are opening up the company to investment from their global community of DJs. (DataTransmission)
  • Goldie has been awarded an MBE in the UK's 2016 New Year's Honours list. (Resident Advisor) 
  • Artists and government promise tougher times for UK ticket touts. (FT)
  • Jersey-born musician Guru Josh, the man behind hit single Infinity, has died at the age of 51. (Mixmag)
Digital
  • Panasonic will release two versions of the new Technics 1200 turntable - a 50th anniversary limited edition in summer, followed by a non-limited edition before the end of 2016. (Wired)
  • Apple, Samsung and others have agreed to pay €5-7 for each smartphone or tablet imported to Germany, with the money distributed among creative professionals, including musicians. (BusinessInsider)
  • Twitter's Venture arm is now part of a $10m investment round for Muzik, a ‘connected headphone’ company developing wireless, touch-sensitive listening and fast-tweeting experiences. (Recode, DMN)
  • Apple is said to be replacing the 3.5mm headphone jack on the forthcoming iPhone 7. But this may also coincide with a push towards wireless, Bluetooth-connected headphones. (DMN)
  • The BoomStick allows users to improve the dynamic quality of all of their headphones with the addition of a single, portable device that plugs into a device’s headphone jack. (TechCrunch)
  • Universal's previously unreleased dance catalogue hits Apple Music, Spotify And Beatport. (Mixmag)
Live
  • Richie Hawtin's ENTER. party will not continue at Space Ibiza in 2016. (DJ Mag)
  • Pendulum are set to reunite for Ultra 2016. (EDM.com)
  • KINDISCH has announced a majestic one-night event in Tulum, Mexico on January 10 at Cenote Dos Osos, featuring the likes of Bedouin, YoKoO and Blond:ish. (XLR8R)
  • Coachella has announced Guns N' Roses, LCD Soundsystem and Calvin Harris are to headline the bill. The two-weekend festival is scheduled for April 15-17 and 22-24. (Billboard)
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • The evolving music industry is turning top managers into moguls - operating across media, tech and consumer brands. (Medium - Eric Peckham)
  • How Spotify pays (or doesn’t pay) songwriters. (MTP)
  • From digital disappointment to the end of the app era, here are eight trends for 2016. (TechCrunch)
  • 2016 social media marketing predictions from the experts. (SME)
  • Brands and advertisers are falling over themselves to tap in to the colossal success of EDM, and many of its stars are happy to help the marketing effort – with conditions. (Guardian)
  • Drugs policies and electronic music culture. (RA - Luis-Manuel Garcia)
Clubs
  • Despite rumours to contrary, Ibiza club DC-10 will not be forced to close in 2016. (Pulse)
Artist and Music Features
  • Q+A: Jackmaster. (Mixmag)
  • Five EDM reunions and triumphant returns to look forward to in 2016. (EDM.com)
  • Australian duo Slumberjack stated in a recent interview that “EDM will never die”. (EDM.com)
  • Sigma’s dance tracks are everywhere — even Kanye West can’t escape them says Ed Potton. (Times2)
  • Whatever Happened to the Future: How will club music move forward in 2016? (Thump)
  • Steve Aoki: "You can't go in and buy the culture". The Dim Mak boss and DJ extraordinaire discusses whether brand sponsorship is making EDM become overly corporate. (EDM.com)
  • Five of our favourite dance music interviews from 2015. (Skiddle)
  • 10 new year's resolutions that dance music needs right now. (Thump)
  • Sharam of Deep Dish and Richie McNeill of SFX Live sit for an unfiltered discussion about the industry at IMS Asia-Pacific. (IMS)
Artist News
  • Chilled Velvet and Illenium have teamed up for a new collaboration on their genre-defying track Jester. (EDM.com)
  • Anthony Child, better known as Surgeon, will deliver his seventh solo album later this month via his own Dynamic Tension label. (XLR8R)
  • Renowned ghost producer Maarten Vorwerk has compiled a 100-page production guide for aspiring producers. (EDM.com)
  • Hypercolour is releasing a special selection of reworked tracks from Luke Vibert's '4', featuring remixes from Ricardo Villalobos, Head High and Kink. (Mixmag)
  • Aphex Twin has uploaded a new piece of music using his 'user18081971' SoundCloud account. (Mixmag)
  • RJD2 has remixed Tycho’s track Apogee, which will be released via Ghostly International digitally on January 15 and physically on May 20. (XLR8R)
  • Scottish musician and producer Rustie took to Twitter to announce that all upcoming shows have been cancelled "due to addiction and mental health problems." (EDM.com)
  • Mura Masa has won the 2016 Blog sound poll. (VPME)
  • Flume has announced his new album, Skin, with a teaser mini-mix. (Thump)
  • LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy has announced they will be releasing a new album and touring this year. (Mixmag)
  • Deadmau5 has written a detailed, lengthy apology for his recent actions, sharing his personal struggle with depression in the process. (EDM.com)
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