Crowdsourced listening platform 8tracks upgraded its web browser interface, pushing new features for both sides of the 8tracks equation — listeners and playlist creators. We spoke with Founder asnd CEO David Porter to understand what’s new. Continue Reading
Last week we covered AudioHQ’s launch as a new audio ad network, partnering with 8tracks as a music-service partner. CEO Matt Cutair told us that his company seeks to facilitate a “middle market” between high-end premium sales and programmatic buying. To follow up on the content side, we spoke to David Porter, founder and CEO of 8tracks. Continue Reading
AudioHQ, a digital audio ad-repping company, entered the market today with an announcement of a launch partnership with 8tracks, the crowdsourced uploading and listening platform. AudioHQ started in May of this year, and RAIN spoke with CEO Matt Cutair about his company, the digital audio advertising marketplace, and the 8tracks alliance. Continue Reading
8tracks, the profitable and uniquely differentiated music platform, has reportedly obtained a funding round of $1.28-million. Investor identity is not disclosed in a Series D form filed with the SEC. that form indicates that the total investment, after a second portion closes, will be worth $1.4-million. Continue Reading
When we read that Feature.FM would be supplying sponsored music to 8tracks, we took the opportunity to catch up with David Porter, 8tracks founder and CEO, to discuss that deal and native advertising generally. Our conversatijon also went into data science and user personalization. Continue Reading
by Brad Hill
Google’s acquisition of Songza is widely regarded as a buy-in of Songza’s unique “Concierge” delivery of personalized music, based on each user’s activity and mood combined with other data signals. The backbone of Songza programming is assembled by a team of 60 music specialists, and their work is supplemented by a Big Data-fed algorithm which refines the output based on the listener’s history of song votes and song skips.
Songza’s formula, and those of other music services, which determine what a listener hears, all fall under the broad term “curation.” All music services that provide some degree of interactivity deploy a curation strategy. The underpinning of that strategy is subject to trend and vogue. How has music curation evolved, and what is the trend this year which is driving acquisitions?
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We recently reported that Google was (or is) in acquisition talks with Internet radio service Songza. Part of that report indicated that Google might have been talking to other (unnamed) streaming-music platforms also. today, a report emerges that Google attempted to buy 8tracks, a popular and profitable listening service that specializes in crowd-sourced playlists. Continue Reading
8tracks, the highly differentiated music service that encourages users to create “online mixtapes,” today released a top-to-bottom redesign of its iOS app, and disclosed its latest audience and business metrics. “”We’re hoping this will be a big event in our history,” CEO David Porter told RAIN. Click for the app review. Continue Reading
Founded in September, 2008, Mixcloud (“Making Radio Better”) is a music-sharing service that solicits user-DJ uploads and pays the royalties to rights-holders to keep it legal. More than a podcast platform, listening in Mixcloud is rewarding and satisfying. The company hopes to differentiate from SoundCloud and on-demand services. Continue Reading
8tracks, the popular platform for user-created music playlists, has joined a small group of selected music apps in Microsoft’s Xbox gaming and set-top system. The app landed in Xbox on Monday, and there will be an official 8tracks announcement later today. Founder David Porter talked to RAIN. Continue Reading
David Porter founded 8tracks in 2007 and launched it the next year (on 8/8/08) with a loan against his 401k. The business took its first institutional funding round in October, 2011. We talked to him about mood-activity music discovery, which his service originated. Continue Reading
On February 5, RAIN Summit NYC – Pureplays and Podcasts will be hosted by RAIN Enterprises CEO Jennifer Lane and founding editor Kurt Hanson. The event will take place at WNYC’s The Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Continue Reading