Streaming
Page: 29
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The age-old question of whether or not men and women can just be friends is answered in the 2011 movie One […]
Spotify will pass-on the music streaming tax imposed by the French government by hiking its subscription prices in that market.
As previously reported, France’s National Assembly last December approved a so-called “CNM Tax” on streaming brands, the funds from which would finance the national public body, The Centre National de la Musique (CNM), which was created in 2020 and is already partly financed by the live music industry.The tax was predictably decried by the streaming services. For platforms that earn more than 20 million euros ($22 million) in annual turnover — including Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer — a new tax charge of 1.2% would be applied on all streaming revenue generated in France in addition to their existing tax duties. Social media platforms including Facebook and TikTok, which license and feature music, would also be subject to the taxes.
Spotify, the global market leader, said it couldn’t absorb the Macron government’s new costs and would offset them one way or another.After announcing back in December that the streaming giant would pull its financial support to a number of local music festivals, Spotify today (March 7) confirms a price increase for its premium packages – applied only to subscribers in France. Reps from Spotify claim the tax doesn’t add up. This new fee “will generate approximately 15 million euros, when the CNM’s administrative budget (office fees, personnel, capital expenditure, media monitoring or professional training etc.) sits at 20.2 million euros,” reads an open statement issued today.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Our concern is that possibly less than half of its overall 146.9 million euros budget will find its way toward effectively aiding music.”Spotify, the message continues, “has proudly championed French artists for the past 15 years; we certainly didn’t wait for the CNM to be created in 2020 to help artists find success in France, and outside of France; to help promote French repertoire and grow the royalty pool for French rights holders. Spotify’s payments have totaled close to 225 million euros in 2022 alone (or about 1/4th of all the French recorded music industry revenues for that year). That is up more than 200% percent since 2017.”The price increase isn’t laid out, though Spotify promises to update its French subscribers over the coming weeks with full details.
Trending on Billboard
“To put it bluntly, all French users will see their subscription plan fee go up,” the message confirms. “French users will now pay the highest subscriptions across the European Union.”
Read Spotify’s open-letter below.
Spotify Premium subscribers in France will soon experience a price increase due to additional costs on music streaming services imposed by the government, as part of the “CNM Tax.” While we worked very hard to encourage the government to avoid adding this tax, unfortunately they decided to move forward.
Perhaps you’ve never heard of the CNM – it’s a public body that commissions studies on the French music industry, and provides financial aid to record labels and the live industry. At the end of 2023, as part of its 2024 budget, the French government decided that digital music streaming services will now have to pay a new tax in order to finance it. Our worry, on top of what would be equivalent to a double payment on our part, has been that this tax will not go directly to artists, nor will it have a tangible output visible to fans; instead, it will simply come at the expense of listeners, and create an additional middleman – the CNM. In fact, this tax will generate approximately 15 million euros, when the CNM’s administrative budget (office fees, personnel, capital expenditure, media monitoring or professional training etc.) sits at 20.2 million euros. Our concern is that possibly less than half of its overall 146.9 million euros budget will find its way toward effectively aiding music.
Spotify has proudly championed French artists for the past 15 years; we certainly didn’t wait for the CNM to be created in 2020 to help artists find success in France, and outside of France; to help promote French repertoire and grow the royalty pool for French rights holders. Spotify’s payments have totaled close to 225 million euros in 2022 alone (or about 1/4th of all the French recorded music industry revenues for that year). That is up more than 200% percent since 2017.
Yet, with the creation of this new tax, Spotify would be required to give approximately two-thirds of every euro it generates to music to rights holders and the French government. Of course, this is a massive amount and does not allow for a sustainable business. As we have long said, we simply can’t absorb any additional taxes. Even after making the difficult decision to reduce our artist marketing budget and support of French music festivals – which is an essential vehicle for Spotify to continue to drive hundreds of millions of euros to the music industry – it still continues to impede our ability to operate in France. Accordingly, over the coming weeks and months, we’ll need to make changes to our price plan in France.
To put it bluntly, all French users will see their subscription plan fee go up. French users will now pay the highest subscriptions across the European Union.
Spotify is increasing prices in France in order to offset these new costs. We’ll come back to our French subscribers over the coming weeks with the full details on the upcoming price increase.
For more information on the global streaming economy, the players, and the process, visit our website Loud & Clear.
GYROstream, the Australian-owned music distribution company, assembles a new-look leadership team at home and abroad, as the business pursues its goal to become the country’s No. 1 net exporter of music, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Leading the changes is Adrian Burke, former label partnerships lead at Spotify Canada, who is tapped to steer its North America activities, which include GROUP SPEED, GYROstream’s recently-launched boutique artist services company.
Based in Toronto, Burke is named GM at GROUP SPEED, with duties for guiding strategic direction for the new business in North America and liaising with the group’s team to help “elevate artist careers,” reads a statement.
Trending on Billboard
Burke completed a seven-year stint with Spotify, where he cultivated key partner relationships for the streaming giant, developed global artist campaigns and implemented data-driven strategies to help create millions of incremental streams for artists worldwide, reads a statement.
Burke is one of several new faces at GYROstream, which, across all brands, boasts 39 employees in seven countries, including company co-directors Andy Irvine (CEO), Viv Mellish (CMO) and Alex Wilson (head of distribution and customer service).
New faces at the tech business include Harry Young, who steps into the newly-created role as senior A&R manager role across the group, working alongside Burke. Young served in A&R capacities for more than a decade with Dew Process Records + Publishing, where he discovered Mallrat and worked with a roster that includes Spacey Jane, Tkay Maidza, Allday, YNG Martyr, Tyne-James Organ, Alice Ivy and more.
The fleshed-out A&R team includes Benjamin James, now appointed as global head of A&R across all brands; and Australia-based A&R and streaming partnerships coordinators Molly Jackson and Taylor Dwyer, a new recruit based in Los Angeles with a primary focus on GROUP SPEED.
Among the key arrivals at GYROstream is trailblazing digital strategist Alison Bremner, who is named as head of artist marketing strategy, a prominent music post working across both GROUP SPEED and GYROstream. Bremner is recognized for her part in @thexhan’s success on TikTok as the short-video platform’s most-followed creator in Australia with 18 million fans, and for facilitating partnerships with Gucci, Red Bull and other blue-chip clients.
(From left to right) GYROstream’s Alex Wilson, Adrian Burke, Viv Mellish and Andy Irvine.
GYROstream
Based in Brisbane, GYROstream expands its core operations team at its headquarters, adding staff in customer service, distribution operations, product development and royalty management, topped off with a fresh website.
“Expanding our artist services offering globally through GROUP SPEED and opening it up to new markets as a standalone product is the next evolution of our business and we can’t wait to see what this team achieves together,” comments group CEO Irvine. Exporting Australian and New Zealand music to the world is a critical piece. “We believe we are well on the way to becoming Australia’s leading net-exporter of recorded music within five years and this new team are determined to achieve that goal,” he continues.
Founded in the Queensland capital in 2018, GYROstream represents thousands of artists across Australia and New Zealand for artist services and global digital distribution, and delivers to upwards of 100 digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple, TikTok, Amazon and YouTube.
In 2021, GYROstream took out The Music Network’s Tinnie award for Music Distributor of the Year; the following year launched Find My ISRC, a tool to assist DIY artists, managers and labels to keep track of their recordings online; and in 2022 established the GYROrecords label.
Today, its suite of activities include royalty payment splits, publishing administration via GYROpublishing, publicity through GYROpr, digital marketing through GYROdigital, and the white-label distribution platform DistroDirect.
Key staff have made the long haul for SXSW 2024 for DistroDirect’s official showcase event next Tuesday, March 12 at Las Perlas, in Austin, TX.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Disney is turning back time with another reboot of a classic Disney Channel show in the works. Wizards of Waverly Place is the latest series confirmed to be revived, joining Raven’s Home and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Selena Gomez and David Henrie are confirmed to appear and produce the revival together with the main cast already announced.
Trending on Billboard
A premiere date for the reboot of Wizards of Waverly Place has yet to be announced, but before it airs, you can catch up on the original series to catch any hidden easter eggs and callouts the revival may include.
Keep reading to learn the streaming options available to watch the original Wizards of Waverly Place online.
How to Watch Wizards of Waverly Place Online
Wizards of Waverly Place was a Disney Channel original series with four seasons that are now available to stream online on Disney+. If you already have a Disney+ subscription, you can watch Wizards of Waverly Place for free when you log into your account.
Don’t have a Disney+ subscription? The streaming platform offers streaming plans starting at just $7.99/month.
You can currently pick between two plans: Disney+ Basic and Disney+ Premium. The Basic plan is ad-supported at $7.99/month and includes thousands of movies and TV shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic as well as the ability to watch content on multiple screens at once, up to seven profiles and personalized recommendations.
The Premium plan gives you an ad-free experience for $13.99/month and includes everything in the Basic plan as well as the ability to download content to watch offline.
In addition to watching Wizards of Waverly Place online, you can stream shows like Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Bluey, Echo, Loki, Good Luck Charlie, Ms. Marvel, Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Descendants, What If…? and more.
The streamer doesn’t offer a free trial, but you may be able to find one through Verizon.
If you want to expand your content offerings, you can also bundle Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ for just $14.99/month. For live TV offerings you can bundle the streamer with Hulu + Live TV.
Wizards of Waverly Place: Streaming, Download, Rental Options
Prime Video has all episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place available for purchase if you’d prefer to own the series digitally. Episodes start at $1.99 per episode or you can buy an entire season starting at $14.69.
You don’t need to be a Prime member in order to buy the episodes — after purchasing, the episodes or full seasons will be automatically downloaded to your library to watch whenever your want.
Collectors can also stock up on the DVDs through Amazon including Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie for $10. And for the ultimate nostalgic trip you can buy Wizards On Deck With Hannah Montana on DVD for $7 on Amazon.
What Is Wizards of Waverly Place About?
In case you need a refresher on what Wizards of Waverly Place is about, it follows three teenagers: Alex, Justin and Max Russo (Jake T. Austin) who come from a long line of wizards. The teens are trained to control their powers by their dad Jerry Russo (David DeLuise) who gave up his magic in order to be with his human wife. As the teens help run their family’s sandwich shop in Manhattan, they also run into all sorts of problems both normal and magical.
Other cast members include Jennifer Stone, Maria Canals-Barrera, Dan Benson, Gregg Sulkin, Bridgit Mendler and Jeff Garlin.
Wizards of Waverly Place Reboot Cast, Spoilers
As mentioned above Selena Gomez and David Henrie will reprise their roles in the Wizards of Waverly Place reboot. The “Single Soon” singer so far will only be seen in the series premiere — reprising her role as Alex Russo — while Henrie will return as a series regular, playing Justin Russo. According to Deadline, the revival will take place after mysterious events at WizTech lead Justin to trade his powers for a normal life with his wife and two sons. That is, until a young and powerful wizard shows up at his door in need of training.
TIDAL will combine its HiFi Plus and HiFi tiers as of April 10. The benefits of the pricer HiFi Plus plan will now be available to those on the more affordable HiFi plans; the single tier will be simply dubbed TIDAL. An individual TIDAL plan will cost $10.99 a month. HiFi Plus used to cost […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Ariana Grande is blessing Arianators with a seventh studio album titled Eternal Sunshine, which from the teasers the “Yes, And?” singer has been posting on Instagram, takes inspiration from the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This isn’t the first time that Grande has used her favorite movies as themes for albums of course — she famously paid homage to Mean Girls in the video to 2019’s Thank U, Next.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
As for Eternal Sunshine (the film) and Grande, the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper recently posted photos of herself dressed exactly like the film’s character Clementine, played by Kate Winslet, while holding up vinyls of Eternal Sunshine (the album). The most obvious callout to the film is in her teaser video announcement for the single “We Can’t Be Friends,” which shows Grande in a waiting room while going over a consent form that is just like the one from the movie.
Trending on Billboard
If you’re new to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or want to rewatch the movie before the “NASA” singer’s new album drops on Friday (March 8), you have some streaming options.
How to Stream Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Online
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is available to stream online on Peacock. If you’re already a Peacock subscriber, you can watch the movie for free when you log into your account.
Don’t have a Peacock subscription? The streaming platform doesn’t offer a free trial, but it does provide a few affordable plan options, with pricing as low as $6/month. Your subscription includes access to the entire Peacock library — including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
You have two different plans to choose from: Peacock Premium or Peacock Premium Plus. The cheapest plan is Peacock Premium, which is $5.99/month (or you can save 17% off with an annual plan for $59.99/year). You’ll gain access to more than 80,000 hours of new and hit TV shows, movies and originals as well as live sports and events, current NBC and Bravo content, and more than 50 live channels.
Peacock Premium Plus is $11.99/month (or $119.99/year), and comes with everything in the Premium plan with no ads, your local live NBC channel and the ability to download and watch most content offline.
Along with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you can stream Peacock originals and exclusives as well as programming from NBC and Bravo like Yellowstone, Willie Nelson & Family, America’s Got Talent, Based on a True Story, Bel-Air, Love Island Games, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Real Housewives of Potomac, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, Vanderpump Rules, Below Deck and more.
Other Ways to Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Online
If you’d rather rent Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind online, Prime Video is offering rentals for $4 or you can purchase the movie to own in your digital library for only $8.
You don’t need a Prime membership to buy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind either — just choose how you want to watch the film, then after you purchase the movie, it’ll automatically download and be available to watch in your video library. Rentals are available for 30 days after purchase and will disappear 48 hours after starting the movie.
If you’re a collector, you can take advantage of 40% off the 4K DVD edition on Amazon for a limited-time. Normally, the movie is priced at $40, but with the deal you can take Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind home for just $24.
Amazon
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” 4K UHD [Blu-ray]
$23.79
$39.95
40% off
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind DVD includes a 4K disc as well as a Blu-ray edition. Each disc also contains special features to learn more about the making of the movie as well as audio commentary by director Michel Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.
What Is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind About?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind asks the question: if you had the option to erase all of the painful memories from a breakup, would you? Winslet’s character Clementine decides she’s going to erase her ex-boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) by undergoing a non-invasive procedure that can detect and delete painful memories — ultimately causing her to forget someone completely. When Joel finds out that she’s done this, he decides to go through the procedure as well, but as the painful memories begin to disappear and he can only remember the happy ones, he starts to fall back in love with Clementine all over again.
Other cast members include Kristen Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson.
Check below for a trailer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
[embedded content]
The European Union leveled its first antitrust penalty against Apple on Tuesday, fining the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc’s competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals.
Apple banned app developers from “fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside of the app,” said the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer.
That is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Apple behaved this way for almost a decade, which meant many users paid “significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions,” the commission said.
The 1.8 billion-euro fine follows a long-running investigation triggered by a complaint from Swedish streaming service Spotify five years ago.
Trending on Billboard
The EU has led global efforts to crack down on Big Tech companies, including a series of multbillion-dollar fines for Google and charging Meta with distorting the online classified ad market. The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service.
The commission’s investigation initially centered on two concerns. One was the iPhone maker’s practice of forcing app developers that are selling digital content to use its in-house payment system, which charges a 30% commission on all subscriptions.
But the EU later dropped that to focus on how Apple prevents app makers from telling their users about cheaper ways to pay for subscriptions that don’t involve going through an app.
The investigation found that Apple banned streaming services from telling users about how much subscription offers cost outside of their apps, including links in their apps to pay for alternative subscriptions or even emailing users to tell them about different pricing options.
The fine comes the same week that new EU rules are set to kick in that are aimed at preventing tech companies from dominating digital markets.
The Digital Markets Act, due to take effect Thursday, imposes a set of do’s and don’ts on “gatekeeper” companies including Apple, Meta, Google parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance — under threat of hefty fines.
The DMA’s provisions are designed to prevent tech giants from the sort of behavior that’s at the heart of the Apple investigation. Apple has already revealed how it will comply, including allowing iPhone users in Europe to use app stores other than its own and enabling developers to offer alternative payment systems.
The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service, and the company has promised to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment system to rivals in order to resolve it.
French streaming company Deezer‘s revenue grew 12.1% to 130.7 million euros ($141 million) in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year revenue to 484.7 million euros ($524 million), up 7.4% year over year, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 28).
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ABITDA) was roughly halved to -28.8 million euros (-$31 million) and net loss was cut by almost two-thirds to 59.6 million euros ($64 million).
This year, Deezer expects to achieve a 10% growth in revenue — to roughly 533 million euros ($575 million) — and again halve adjusted ABITDA to -15 million euros (-$16.2 million) behind improved gross margins and cost controls.
Trending on Billboard
Deezer’s subscriber count grew 11.5% to 10.5 million from 9.4 million at the end of 2022. The entire gain in subscriptions came from business-to-business partnerships, which grew by 1 million to 4.8 million. Last year, Deezer launched new partnerships with home audio company Sonos, media company RTL in Germany and e-commerce company Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico to power those companies’ branded music streaming services. It also renewed partnerships with mobile carrier TIM in Brazil, retailer Fnac Darty in France and mobile carrier Orange in France.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) from B2B subscribers rose from 2.6 euros ($2.81) to 2.8 euros ($3.03) per month. “Our partnership strategy is bearing fruit, driving our overall growth and helping us win market share outside France,” CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said in a statement.
Deezer’s direct subscribers remained flat at 5.6 million but those user’s ARPU increased from 4.7 euros ($5.09) to 4.9 ($5.31) euros per month. Last year, the company raised monthly subscription fees in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from 10.99 euros to 11.99 euros with “minimal churn” on its subscriber case, according to the earnings release.
The company also announced Wednesday that Folgueira is stepping down “to pursue personal projects.” Folgueira joined Deezer as CEO in 2021. During his tenure, Deezer went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, I2PO, in 2022, and forged a partnership with Universal Music Group in 2023 to introduce an artist-centric model for royalty calculations.
Shares of Deezer rose 0.5% to 2.18 euros ($2.36) Wednesday before the company released earnings results. The stock has almost doubled its 52-week low of 1.19 euros ($1.29) on April, 2023, 13 but is well below its 52-week high of 3.19 euros ($3.46) set on Nov. 2, 2023.
Jeronimo Folgueira is resigning from his position as CEO of the streaming service Deezer, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 28). Folgueira previously held the role of CEO and director of the board at Spark Networks — an online dating company — before he joined Deezer in 2021. ”I am extremely proud of what we have […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
It’s not every year you can experience an extra day in February, and to help you celebrate the special occasion, Amazon Prime Video is discounting the hit 2010 film Leap Year for 67% off.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
If you’re new to Leap Year, it stars Amy Adams as Anna who decides to take matters into her own hands after another anniversary with her boyfriend ends without a proposal. She decides to embrace the Celtic tradition where women are allowed to propose to their significant others on Feb. 29 (a.k.a. Leap Day), leading her to fly to Dublin to execute the perfect proposal. What she doesn’t expect is to end up on Emerald Isle with the handsome Declan (Matthew Goode), who may just teach her what true love really looks like.
Aside from Adams and Goode, other cast members in the hit romantic comedy include Adam Scott, John Lithgow and Kaitlin Olson.
Trending on Billboard
Keep reading to learn the streaming options available to watch Leap Year online.
How to Watch Leap Year Online
You can watch Leap Year (2010) online right now through Prime Video, which has the option to rent or buy the movie. Right now, you can get a digital download of the movie for 67% off, dropping the price from $14.99 to just $4.99 (which means it’s only $1 less to rent the movie).
The download is yours to keep so you can watch Leap Year on-demand in HD whenever you want. Click here or use the button below to score the deal.
You don’t need a Prime membership in order to stream Leap Year at home — just make your purchase and the movie will automatically download into your video library. If you decide to rent Leap Year, you’ll have the film for 30 days and for 48 hours once you start watching it. Rent Leap Year on Amazon here.
Is the Movie Leap Year Streaming Anywhere?
Leap Year currently isn’t streaming on any platforms for free, but in addition to Prime Video, you can also purchase the movie on Apple TV for $5 or rent it for $4. An Apple TV+ subscription isn’t required to purchase or rent Leap Year online, you just need the Apple TV app or an Apple TV streaming device. The app is free to download and from there, you’ll be able to buy or rent the movie.
After you’ve made your purchase, the movie will automatically be downloaded and added to your video library. You’ll have 48 hours after starting the movie to finish it.
If you’d prefer to own Leap Year on DVD, it’s available to buy on Blu-ray through Amazon and Walmart and for as low as $9 for a limited time.
Amazon
“Leap Year”
$8.99
$14.98
40% off
$13.99
How Does Leap Year Work?
One year usually equates to 365 days, but according to NASA, it actually takes 365.25 days for the earth to complete its orbit around the sun. To help make up the difference, about every four years, a leap year occurs, giving us one extra day. This tends to happen in February, giving us 29 days instead of the usual 28 days.
To help you take advantage of the extra day in the year, author Gay Hendricks has just released a new book titled Your Big Leap Year. Hendricks, who has grown popular for publishing books that offer tips and tools to living your best life writes about how taking a little “leap” can help improve your love life, wealth and creativity. The Leap Year-inspired book was released on Feb. 13 and is available to buy on Amazon now.
Amazon
“Your Big Leap Year” by Gay Hendricks
Hendricks is back with another exploratory book that aims to inspire and help you achieve your goals in life. Your Big Leap Year came out on Feb. 13 and presents techniques to expand you happiness ceiling. The hope is that by utilizing the techniques presented in the book alongside the extra day due to Leap Year, you may be able to find yourself living your best, happiest life.
As for the movie, watch the trailer for Leap Year below and stream Leap Year online on Amazon.
[embedded content]