RAIN Hotspots — the five most-read articles of the past week. “Where is the radio in this car” wondered guest columnist Steve Goldstein … bitll and Twitter launched new charts … a tribute to Neil Young … rounding up the best coverage of Apple/Beats … Google partners with Sonos for longer streaming trials. Continue Reading
A little more detail spilled out of this week’s important industry consolidation, as Apple acquired Beats Electronics. According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Apple’s valuation of Beats Music, the subscription streaming service, was $500-million. Too much or too little? Continue Reading
Radio Explorer, a beta work-in-progress from the BBC, hooks into the resurgence of podcasting and the archived radio trend. It aims to provide instant listening to talk programs in response to search queries. A focus on depth at the expense of breadth makes for an experience that feels carefully curated. Continue Reading
Amazon, long rumored to be formulating a streaming-music service, will reportedly launch one this summer with a catalog of non-current music. The music service will be bundled into Amazon Prime, a subscription-only plan that cobbles together on-demand streaming movies, TV shows, and free two-day shipping of Amazon products. Continue Reading
Wells Fargo, the 4th-largest U.S. bank, has been spotted in Pandora this week with the bank’s new “Small is Huge” campaign. The placement uses Pandora’s most attention-getting ad unit in the desktop-browser player. Click for screenshot and video. Well Fargo recently changed its lead creative agency. Continue Reading
SoundExchange and a coalition of recording artists launched an awareness campaign called Project72, coordinated with the introduction of new legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives called The RESPECT Act. At stake is the earning power of records released before February 15, 1972. Continue Reading
Joining the emergent movement of online radio stations with local focus, RadioStPete (www.radiostpete.com) went online last summer. Covering local music and events in the Tampa/St. Petersburg, the station aspires to bring back radio with local values, an attribute its founders believe has been lost in the era of deregulation. Continue Reading
RAIN News announces the fifth annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards to recognize the creative, strategic, and technological achievements of the industry’s best webcast services. Webcasters and broadcasters in the Internet radio industry can enter the competition for awards in five categories. Continue Reading
Apple and Beats Electronics reached a final merger agreement in which Beats is folded into Apple, probably by September. Facts are emerging and suppositions are flowing. We voraciously scanned coverage around the web to deliver a hotlist of must-read reporting and opinion. Continue Reading
Ending its exercise in delayed gratification, Apple turned rumor into reality by acquiring Beats Electronics for $3-billion. Tellingly, Apple’s press release leads with the streaming music service. “Apple today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software.” Continue Reading
On one hand, Google’s newly-announced partnership with Sonos, which builds a highly regarded line of home WiFi speakers, is just another distribution agreement. On the other hand, the six-month trial represents the latest supposition that short trials of streaming services don’t convert well to paying accounts. Continue Reading
As expected, Spotify announced at a press event today that the music service is now available to Brazilian users. The expansion marks the 57th country of Spotify’s global reach. Brazil owns one of the ten largest economies in the world by any reckoning — by some accounts the sixth-largest. The country houses a population of 200-million people. Sixty-two percent of Brazil’s citizens are 29 or younger. Continue Reading