Beats Music created a short documentary film to honor the 25th anniversary of Spike Lee’s hit movie “Do The Right Thing.” The production revisits the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant that served as the movie’s setting. The movie, subtitled “A Beats Music Experience,” does double-duty as an innovative marketing vehicle. Continue Reading
This year’s big debate over consent decrees has consequences for more than just the music industry. Today, concerns over consent decrees led to a surprising agreement between long-standing enemies. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association made a submission to the DoJ calling for the regulations to stay in place. Continue Reading
As we continue to reveal semifinalists in the Fifth Annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards, today we are pleased to announce five non-U.S. music services in the “International Excellence in Online Audio” category. The single winners of all five categories will be revealed and honored at RAIN Summit Indy, September 9, in Indianapolis. Continue Reading
Market-leading music-identification app Shazam has added Spotify to its list of music services that will play full tracks identified by Shazam. The updated app can hook into Rdio (in a longer-standing relationship), Beats Music, and Spotify. Continue Reading
Disney announced that it is closing 23 of its 24 terrestrial stations, laying off nearly 200 people in sales and operations. The reason is massive migration of listening from terrestrial signals to streaming platforms. Click through for the internal memo. Continue Reading
Reading that automaker BMW eliminated AM terrestrial reception from one of its new car models was a “Hold everything!” moment. The hazy future of AM is generally troubling to someone of a certain age, who grew up listening pretty evenly to the AM and FM sides of the dial. But there is something more sharply distressing in seeing AM ripped out of a car, laregly because of the baseball connection. Continue Reading
Continuing the rollout of semifinalists in the Fifth Annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards, today we are pleased to announce the six webcasts moving into the semifinal round of the Streaming Broadcast Station category. The single winners of all five categories will be revealed and honored at RAIN Summit Indy, September 9, in Indianapolis. Continue Reading
Pandora CFO Mike Herring answered questions in front of investors at the Oppenheimer 17th-annual Technology, Internet & Communications Conference on Wednesday. P stock rose over 10% during the day, probably due less to Herring’s remarks than to investment house Stifel issuing a Buy rating for Pandora. Meanwhile, Mike Herring delivered his talking points in response to 32 minutes of questioning about audience size, ad sales, and music licensing. Continue Reading
NuVoodoo Media Services released new research that found Pandora and broadcast radio may have a more symbiotic relationship than expected. The survey of 1,100 in the PPM markets revealed that 62 percent of the Pandora users listened to the online radio service for at least half an hour per day, and 56 percent of Pandora users spent that much time listening to broadcast radio. Continue Reading
New Nielsen research focused on the role Asian-American listeners play in digital music. Spotify was more popular in this demographic than in the general population, by a margin of 14.4 percent to 7.6 percent. Many listeners also gravitated toward services… Continue Reading
Spotify announced a new partnership with BandPage that will integrate a digital storefront to artists’ presence on the streaming platform. Musicians will have an option to sell their BandPage merchandise and show tickets, or promote unique fan experiences, from their artist pages on Spotify. The new feature is free for the artists to use, and could be a way for them to turn the streaming service into a hub for fan engagement and revenue. Continue Reading
RAIN Summit Indy is around the corner, and we booked some phone time with keynoter Darren Davis, president of Clear Channel Networks. Following are excerpts from a conversation with the irrepressibly enthusiastic Mr. Davis — about integrated advertising, iHeartRadio, and his commitment to Clear Channel. Continue Reading