Cultura Voice

A free, ad-supported YouTube Music service has been rolled out for Google Home users. Starting today (April 18), the free service is available on smart speakers  in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, and Austria and will be available in more countries soon. Not only is it for free on Google Home devices, but also on other third-party, Google Assistant-powered speakers, manufactured by the likes of Panasonic, JBL, Sony and others. To set up YouTube Music as the default music service on Google Home, if you already have a Google Home device, you’ll need to navigate to Account Settings in your Google Home app, tap Services and select Music. Then, select YouTube Music as the default music service. If you are setting up a new Google Home speaker, choose YouTube Music as the default music service during the setup process. “THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE...

A recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling brought great news for songwriters in the US – with royalty rates for streaming and other mechanical uses set to rise 44% in the market. Spotify and Amazon have now officially come out in opposition to the ruling, in what the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has called a “shameful” move which equates to “suing songwriters”. On January 27, 2018  on the CRB’s landmark decision, which stated that royalty rates paid to songwriters in the US from on-demand subscription streaming would rise by 44% over the next five years. That decision was ratified last month (February 5), when the CRB published the final rates and terms for songwriters. Streaming companies were given 30 days to lodge official opposition to the ruling if they wished. The likes of Apple Music declined to do so – but it’s a different case for Spotify and Amazon, which have now both filed a notice of appeal. Pandora and Google have also asked the CR...