Pandora has hired David Grimaldi, a veteran of congress, as the Internet radio company faces music-licensing regulations on multiple fronts. Grimaldi joins Pandora at a time when the market-leading Internet radio service faces many negotiations and legal arguments related to the cost of music it streams, and the U.S. government's regulation of that cost.
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Much has been said about the 'connected dash' in recent weeks: the concern that radio has plenty to lose from forthcoming internet-connected cars, that'll offer internet radio, Spotify-like services, and plenty more. Guest columnist James Cridland says that if you're a radio broadcaster, you should start worrying right now.
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Media giant Clear Channel today announced iHeartRadio Networks, an advertising sales program that puts CC's vast, multi-medium inventory on a unified platform. The values for advertisers will be simplified media buys, greater reach, and targeting capability across different media environments.
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Today's Pureplay of the Day takes you off the beaten path -- way off. The entire Pigpen Radio experience is an exercise in purity, from the all-indie playlist to the beautifully simple website, and the ease of its built-in player. Pigpen Radio disregards genre classifications -- you'll whip across genre boundaries in an exhilarating sonic experience.
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Beats Music is reportedly signing up subscribers at a slower pace than hoped. Beats is taking one costly step to streamline the sign-up process: the service now allows users to sign up within the iPhone and iPad apps. By acceding to Apple's business structure, Beats Music appears willing to swallow a 30% reduction in some of its subscription revenue.
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Addressing this issue should be a major concern for AM/FM broadcasters, since hugely-long spot breaks are cited regularly, at least anecdotally, as a reason consumer are spending less hours per week with broadcast radio and more hours per week with satellite and Internet radio each year. RAIN founder Kurt Hanson offers ideas.
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Last month we reported the start of Milk Music, Samsung's service targeted to Samsung phone users only. Milk Music launched with the most streamlined possible sign-up process: None. Now, a captured (leaked?) screenshot of a Samsung internal marketing graphic indicates that the ground is being laid for Milk's next stage.
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Record Store Day might seem to be an anachronism to some, but the annual event (held this past Saturday) is fun, well-attended, good for the stores, and nice promotion for many musicians and bands. For me, it's all about the memories. For many years I lived in Princeton, NJ, home of a famous independent music store.
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Stitcher, a leading podcast-listening app, raised $3-million dollars in new funding, according to CrunchBase. VentureBeat points to an SEC filing indicating that Stitcher's offering to venture capitalists is $5.1-million, of which $3-million was sold. $2.1-million is "Remaining to be Sold," according to the filing.
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Introducing Internet Radio REWIND, an audio recap of the week. This weekly program is a quick (six minutes) and concise catch-up of the week's top stories. Click the Play button and be ready for the coming week. this week: Bette Midler, Spotify and Sprint, Pandora's latest lawsuit, Rdio's Brazilian blockbuster, and Pono Music.
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Sonos, market leader in the WiFi-speaker space, announced on its blog an important product update, eliminating the requirement to plug a Sonos component directly into the home's wireless router. The upshot for new buyers will be a slightly less expensive complete system. For existing users, the benefit will be better speaker placement.
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