On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. The latest changes are a departure at Shazam, a promotion at Saga Communications, a new hire at Rhode Island Public Radio, and a switch from Rdio to Google Play. Continue Reading
Rdio has introduced a new advertising product dubbed Promoted Music Experiences. This native advertising package is meant to leverage Rdio’s main features, including branded stations, branded profiles, and branded home stories. For brands that want the Promoted Music Experience, Rdio’s curation team will work with them to select songs and content that will best evoke a certain personality or tone. Continue Reading
On-demand music service Rdio announced the addition of Live Radio to its feature set. It combines dynamic pureplay listening with live broadcast radio, plus the ability to save songs played on the radio directly to personal playlists. It is meaningfully competitive, and we review the new app. Continue Reading
Next Big Sound released its summer report, and the focus for this season was streaming and social media. Even though Pandora purchased the music data specialist this spring, the company is still able to provide compelling insight across several streaming platforms. In fact, Next Big Sound has already tracked more than 1 trillion online plays in the first six months of the year. That covers activity from YouTube, Vevo, Vimeo, Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud, and new owner Pandora. Continue Reading
Rdio has added new label stations to its existing category, with additions appearing in various localized editions of the Rdio app. Label stations are promotional playlists that highlight small and medium sized label artists, and are curated collaboratively. Continue Reading
Rdio is reportedly planning to expand Rdio Select, its mid-price subscription plan, across Europe in the next few months. Rdio Select was introduced last month, and in our coverage we described it as “driving a wedge” between free listening and fully on-demand music subscriptions. Continue Reading
Rdio has added a new subscription tier focused on mobile listening to its available offerings. Rdio Select offers elements of both lean-back and on-demand listening on mobile devices for $3.99 a month. It is an innovative, carefully considered competitive gambit. Continue Reading
Songkick has partnered with Rdio to pull in playlists from that streaming service and use them as a basis for live concert discovery. The service scans locally stored music as well as song choices from streaming platforms to recommend shows happening in the user’s vicinity. The two companies first announced a collaboration at SXSW, which saw Songkick’s database of tour information added to artist profiles on the streaming service. Continue Reading
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An eight-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming audio.
THIS WEEK: Anthony Bay announces Rdio Live; IFPI global music revenue report; Is Spotify worth $8.4-billion?; 6 Seconds streaming app; EFF wins podcast patent pushback. Continue Reading
Rdio CEO Anthony Bay gave a keynote at RAIN Summit West focused on the need to reimagine what radio can be in an increasingly digital world. In addition to his summary of the role radio and broadcast can play for today’s listeners, he also announced plans for how his company will be pushing for that integration with an upcoming feature called Rdio Live. Continue Reading
Rdio has hired Iain Morris to serve as the company’s new vice president of global music publishing. In his new capacity, Morris will lead the negotiations with music publishers and collection societies. The newest exec joins the company from Warner/Chappell Music Publishing, where he was the head of digital for the EMEA region. Continue Reading
Sponsored by AudioBoom
A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming audio.
THIS WEEK: Streaming surpasses CD sales in 2014 RIAA report; iTunes Radio goes to programmatic sales; Rdio’s new social features; Rhapsody plays on Twitter; BBC seeks to reinvent radio. Continue Reading