MPs in the British parliament are to examine the economic impact music streaming is having on “artists, record labels and the sustainability of the wider music industry.” Through a new enquiry entitled Economics of Music Streaming, parliament will investigate a number of core aspects of streaming, including what the business models of the streaming companies, how algorithms and playlists have shaped music consumption and what the long term economic impacts of streaming might be on the wider industry. 

The majority of streaming listeners want musicians to be paid more by their respective platforms, a survey says.

In a recent survey conducted by YouGov for #BrokenRecord, a campaign calling for changes to music streaming to benefit artists and songwriters, 2,069 British adults were asked about streaming services.

Instagram has introduced a new pop up to warn users when it detects they are using copyrighted music in a live stream. The new pop up is designed to give streamers a chance to stop or change the music before their stream is muted or simply taken down. How much time the user will have isn't specified.

Spotify has launched a new feature, Group Sessions, that will allow premium users to listen to a shared queue of music at the same time.

The beta version of the feature went live yesterday (11th May). Host users who create a queue of music can share a barcode with other users, who can then listen along to the selections in real time, as well as pause, play, skip, and select upcoming tracks. 

A campaign has been launched by two leading UK music associations calling for an increase in streaming royalties for artists in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Newly released figures reveal just how many plays your tracks would need to have on streaming platforms in order to make the equivalent of the UK minimum wage. 

With data acquired from The Trichordist, PRS For Music’s Tom Gray shared the breakdown of major streaming platforms’ average payments per play. The chart shows how many streams an artist would need to rack up to earn £1, and how many they would need in order to make one hour of minimum wage pay in the UK (£8.72).

Music documentary festival, Doc’N Roll, has released 16 films that can be streamed from home.

Following the cancellation of the most recent Doc'N Roll festival, scheduled to take place at the end of March, the organization have shared a new service, Doc'N Roll TV, which allows users to stream music documentaries online.

Contrary to what might have been assumed, streaming numbers in the US are down amid widespread self-quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures are instead pointing to a radio boom, with Global, the company that owns Capital FM and talk station LBC, stating that online radio listening had risen by 15%.

"These figures indicate that the public are turning to radio in times of crisis," a spokeswoman for Global told the BBC.

SoundCloud has partnered with Twitch to launch a new service that will help artists monetize their content amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music Business Worldwide have published a review of the most recent figures from Universal, Sony and Warner, showing that streaming generates over $1 million an hour.