Streaming music service SoundCloud finalized a deal with Sony Music to increase the number of songs listeners can access via SoundCloud and also allow Sony Music Entertainment artists to make money from their tracks hosted on its service. The deal with Sony Music is just the latest in several that SoundCloud has inked with other music publishers including Merlin (representing 20,000 indie labels) in June 2015, Universal Music Group earlier this year, and Warner Music in 2014. Continue reading With Sony Music Deal, SoundCloud Reaches 18 Million Artists

Flipagram is a mobile storytelling app that allows users to create short slideshows (or “Flipagrams”) by stitching together video content, photos and music. The company has made a significant step towards becoming one of the first such apps to incorporate modern music in a major way by signing licensing deals with top record labels and landing an additional $70 million in funding. According to CEO Farhad Mohit, Flipagram has attracted 33 million active monthly users in its first year. Continue reading Flipagram Inks Music Deals, Raises $70M in Round B Funding

Panelists at the Entertainment Merchants Association’s Digital Media Pipeline 2014 conference last week considered what defines a premium experience for consumers and how to best deliver it. Execs from Inception, MovieLabs, The Orchard and Sony discussed today’s variety of platforms, ways to keep consumers connected to content, meeting consumer demands, the need for a universal specification that supports multiple platforms, using social tools for search and discovery, and more. Continue reading Digital Media Pipeline: Making Digital a Premium Experience