We’ll be rounding up the top news from the music industry. Check out the biggest stories highlighted this week!
1) Sony Music Hires Amanda Collins as Global Head of Corporate Communications 
“Amanda is a highly respected executive who understands the media and entertainment landscape and the important role that strategic communications play in successful collaboration with the creative community and our business partners,” said Stringer in an announcement. (Read more)
2) Mom + Pop Music Promote First Female Co-General Managers
Indie record label Mom + Pop Music have promoted Hallie Anderson and Jessica Page as the company’s first female co-General Managers. Simultaneously, Anderson will serve as head of marketing while Page will manage digital efforts.
Label founder Michael Goldstone said in a statement, “Their growth here has been meteoric and impactful. Jess and Hallie have both embraced taking over the day-to-day operations of the label and made it a seamless transition for Thad and myself. We’re incredibly grateful to be able to work with them for the years to come.” (Read more)
3) Myspace Loses 50 Million Songs During Server Migration 
During a recent server migration, social media platform Myspace lost approximately 50 million songs uploaded by artists between 2003 and 2015. The music has been deemed unrecoverable.
Reports of broken media files began over a year ago, with Myspace initially claiming that they were trying to fix the problem before eventually confirming that the files were corrupted during the migration process. Their official comment states, “As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your back up copies.”
Some users are skeptical of the platform’s claims, asserting that this “accident” could have been done purposefully, as it would have cost Myspace an extraordinary amount to migrate and host such a large amount of music. (Read more)
4) Former eBay Executive Joins Universal Music as Chief Information Officer
Dan Morales, former eBay Chief Information Officer, has been hired by Universal Music Group as CIO. He will manage all global IT operations and will lead the company’s efforts around analytics and data platforms. Morales will be based in Santa Monica, California and will report to Chief Financial Officer Boyd Muir.
“With Dan as CIO, we are adding an executive with immense talent and experience in building technology and software solutions on a global scale and leveraging technology to deliver growth,” said Muir. (Read more)
5) Music Licensing Platform Songtradr Finishes $12M Series B Funding Round 
Songtradr, a California-based music licensing and distribution platform, recently completed Series B funding at $12 million, bringing their total funding to $21.5 million.
Founded by tech entrepreneur Paul Wiltshire in 2014, the platform was launched in 2016 and is now home to 400,000 artists and catalogs from over 190 countries. “The completion of our Series B funding is an exciting step that allows us to further implement our growth and acquisition plans to create the world’s most intelligent, frictionless licensing experience for both music creators and music licensees,” said Wiltshire. (Read more)
