Streaming giant Deezer raises $186 million

PARIS -- Global music streaming platform Deezer said Thursday it had raised 160 million euros ($186 million) in fresh funds from investors, including the Saudi sovereign fund Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), and French telecoms giant Orange.

The cash injection takes Deezer's valuation past the one billion euro mark, it said.

"Big news! We are raising €160 million from new and existing shareholders," the company tweeted.


The funds will be used to finance the acceleration of its development, it said, and strengthen its presence in its key markets such as France and Latin America, CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said in a statement.

Deezer also said it had signed an exclusive agreement with Rotana, a KHC-owned label with a strong presence in the Near and Middle East with a view to distributing music and video content in the Middle East and North Africa.

Deezer, founded in 2007, says it has 14 million active users and a catalog of 53 million music tracks available in 180 countries.

That makes the site, founded by Frenchman Daniel Marhely, the world's third-biggest music streaming service after leader Spotify of Sweden and Apple Music.

But more competition is underway, including from Google's video platform YouTube which has launched a premium music streaming service, from Amazon via its Prime offering, and even from car maker Tesla which wants to enter the streaming market which experts say is now the engine of the entire music industry.

International music sales rose robustly for the second straight year in 2017 to show growth not seen in two decades thanks to the rapid adoption of streaming, industry body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported in April.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Adele decides no streaming for new album '25'

LOS ANGELES - British singer Adele's much-anticipated album "25" will not be available for streaming on any digital music services, including Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, the companies said on Thursday.

Apple Inc confirmed "25," released on Friday, will not be available to stream on Apple Music. It did say in a statement that Adele's latest single "Hello" will continue being available for streaming, and that it was "thrilled to offer" the album to buy on its online store iTunes.

Spotify also confirmed that its followers would not have access to the new album.

"We love and respect Adele, as do her 24 million fans on Spotify. We hope that she will give those fans the opportunity to enjoy '25' on Spotify alongside '19' and '21' very soon," the company said in a statement.

Tyler Goldman, chief executive, North America, of music streaming company Deezer told Reuters that the service would not offer "25" at launch.

Adele's representatives declined to comment on the decision.

A music industry source said Adele's XL Recording label had decided to withhold "25," expected to be the biggest album release of 2015, from streaming platforms when it is released. The New York Times first reported the move.

"She's benefiting from paid subscriptions, but she's using this as an opportunity to try and sell more CD's or downloads," Deezer's Goldman said. "If all artists did this, we wouldn't have the growth in subscriptions we have."

Other streaming services, including Pandora and Google Play, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Adele's "25" is the first by the singer since "21" in 2011, which sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

"25" had been expected to sell more than 1 million units in North America in its first week, according to estimates by Billboard magazine.

The move by Adele and her management mirrors Taylor Swift, one of the most powerful names in pop music, who refused to offer her "1989" album to streaming services last year, saying music should not be free. She did put the album on Apple Music in July, after it agreed to pay artists during a free trial.

"1989" became the biggest-selling album in the world in 2014 with estimated sales of more than 8.5 million copies.

Swift's decision to withhold "1989" did not have a material financial impact for streaming services and neither will Adele's, said Goldman. "One individual artist is not going to change the inevitability of streaming," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com