Oct 8, 2019

Music - Issue #44

Issue #44 — View online — Suggest a link

Music

Startups and change makers leveraging music and music technology to curate a more creative world.

Good Morning!

Hope you are all having a great week so far.

This Week’s Highlights

We found a slide deck from Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke who is the Research Director at Spotify. She was speaking at Web Conference 2019 about the BaRT algorithm at Spotify and how it functions.

YouTube is entering the personalized algorithm playlists it was announced this week.

Tik Tok has garnered the interest of Hollywood (that took a minute.

Startup Spotlight

Startup spotlight this week is on A&R focused startup Andrsn. The company has a website where you are allowed to upload your music and it says it will deliver it to music industry people looking for new music. It seems to have a more hands on approach to A&R than other data and trend focused startups in this space. Nonetheless it is still an interesting take on a problem more labels and platforms are looking to solve.

Have a great week!

Corey & Josh

Recommending and searching at Spotify

These are the slides I used for my talk at the BIG Track at the Web Conference 2019.

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Facetune maker Lightricks expands with a trio of apps for small businesses

Fresh off its recent raise of $135 million, Lightricks, the maker of popular selfie editor Facetune and several other top consumer-focused photo editing applications, is branching out.

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YouTube Music is launching three new personalized playlists

YouTube Music is preparing to better challenge Spotify and others with the launch of three new personalized playlists — Discover Mix, New Release Mix and Your Mix — said YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan in an onstage interview this morning at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2019.

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With Instagram Threads, Facebook doubles down on the DM

The app appears to be Facebook’s first new messaging-focused product since Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would shift its focus toward private online spaces.

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Is There a Fairer Way for Streaming Services to Pay Artists?

After years of industry debate, one company—Deezer—is finally trying out the user-centric approach to streaming royalties.

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Pandora puts its personalization powers to work in a revamped app

Pandora is doubling down on personalization and revamping its app in order to better compete with rivals like Spotify and Apple Music. Today, the company is introducing a new mobile experience that includes a dedicated “For You” tab where a continually updated feed of content is presented to users, including both music and podcast recommendations.

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A Critical Look At Spotify PR Firm Virtuoso Music

In this review, Brian Hazard of Color Theory walks us through his recent experience using the Spotify PR service Virtuoso Music, whether the service delivered on it’s promises, and whether or not it might be right for you.

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Melodrive launches 24-hour Twitch channel of AI-generated music

Melodrive says that the music will change in response to people’s comments in the stream’s chat-window, using sentiment analysis to detect emotions like joy, anger, sadness or tenderness in people’s comments.

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TikTok Stars Spark Interest in Hollywood

With almost 120  million (mostly young) users in the U.S., the quirky video-sharing app has become a surprisingly effective launchpad for unknown talents  —  and a valuable marketing platform for brands seeking to court Generation  Z.

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How Spotify’s Algorithm Knows Exactly What You Want to Listen To

To compete with music services from Apple, Amazon Prime, and Google, Spotify’s algorithms use your music and personal details to shape your custom listening experience.

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Techstars Startup Digest Music is curated by:

	Corey Crossfield - Music Digest Curator corey.crossfield@startupdigestmail.com
	Josh Ford josh.ford@startupdigestmail.com

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