5 things you need to know in the entertainment business: Hulu for students and more

Facebook makes offer to music labels and publishers

Facebook is reportedly working with the leaders in the music industry to create a system that identifies and tags music copyrights throughout the website. In the meantime, the social media platform has offered music rights-holders “hundreds of millions of dollars” to allows the site’s users to play copyrighted tracks. Leading the negotiations for Facebook is former Warner Music Group and YouTube executive Tamara Hrivnak, who joined the Facebook staff back in January.

Spotify and Hulu unveil new bundle for students

Music streaming service Spotify and video steaming service Hulu have announced that they are partnering to offer college students in the U.S. a premium entertainment streaming bundle. The bundle will allow students to stream music, tv, and movies through a single subscription plan. This is the first time Spotify has partnered with a TV and movie streaming service. The plan will cost subscribers $4.99 a month.

AEG to launch new festival

Festival producer AEG Presents is planning to launch a new festival next summer at Knebworth Park in England, according to Music Week. The multi-day festival, which has not yet been confirmed, would be the first event to be held at the Hertfordshire venue since the 2014 Sonisphere festival. The Rolling Stones are currently rumored as a headliner for the festival. AEG is also producing the Stones’ upcoming European tour, which kicked off on September 9 in Hamburg, Germany.

Festival producer AEG Presents is planning to launch a music festival in Knebworth Park in England next summer. (Source)

Spotify to host first UK concert

Spotify is set to host its first ever concert in the United Kingdom this November. In a collaborative effort with promoter SJM Concerts, the event will feature artists such as J Hus, Bugzy Malone, Giggs, and Stefflon Don. The event, named Who We Be Live, was inspired by the streaming services popular Who We Be playlist, which was curated by Spotify’s in-house urban music team and has over 140,000 followers. The concert is being held at Alexandra Palace in London on November 30. General tickets to the event go on sale September 11 at 10 am.

Popular music ripping site shut down

The most popular stream ripping site on the internet, YouTube-mp3, shut down this week after being faced with a legal campaign led by the music industry. The site, which was started in Germany, has been used by millions of music listeners to convert YouTube videos into mp3 audio files. Representatives from the music industry said the site averaged 60 million visitors a month and accounted for more than 40% of music stream ripping worldwide.  Despite a consistent increase in revenues and widespread growth in the music streaming industry, music industry representatives have claimed that stream ripping had grown by 50% between 2013 and 2015.

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