This guest contribution by Michael Robertson, founder of Internet Radio Search Engine and DAR.fm, was originally posted on Google Plus. On that site, the article is followed by an interesting comment discussion featuring James Cridland, a frequent RAIN contributor. Here, Roberston takes NextRadio to task. Right or wrong? Leave a comment! Continue Reading
Idiosyncratic Transmissions bears the signs of careful and knowledgeable curation. While dishing out surprising and rewarding discoveries of eclectic music (mixed with a few standard rock/pop gems), there is a comforting, easygoing quality to the listening. We had it on for hours this morning, and the song mix had us looking up to see what was playing several times, without intruding with any attention-getting blasts. Continue Reading
Apple’s music platforms — iTunes and iTunes Radio — have issued innumerable album previews and exclusive releases. Promotions of those events seek to drive sales in an era when streaming is eating into music ownership. Taking the concept a step further, Apple bundled U2 released U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, globally, by dumping the album directly into iPhones, iPods, and iPads throughout its vast user base. Much gnashing of teeth ensued. Continue Reading
Jason Feinberg has joined Pandora as head of artist marketing. He takes on the newly created role at the streaming service after working at Epitaph Records as vice president of digital strategy. The new job will focus on providing analytics, fan communication tools, and other resources to the artists on Pandora. Continue Reading
Kurt Hanson introduced Norm Pattiz, special presenter at RAIN Summit Indy, as, “One of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of broadcast radio.” Pattiz, founder of Westwood One, now owns and operated PodcastOne, producer and aggregator of Internet audio programs. Continue Reading
Month-over-month webcast listening was flat in July, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. Our analysis also looks at the year-to-date view, and (for the first time), a three-year that incorporates Pandora’s monumental listening growth. In percentage terms, Clear Channel has nearly kept pace. Continue Reading
Yesterday, we learned about the latest updates to the NextRadio app, as disclosed at The Radio Show in Indianapolis. Also at the event, some insight emerged as to when other carriers might begin including the app in their smartphones. Continue Reading
AT&T’s Drive Studio and Ericsson released a study that found that connected car services were of high importance for prospective auto buyers. The survey targeted customers who were likely to buy a car within the next five years, and the respondents were located in the U.S., Germany, Brazil, Japan, and China. The results showed that half of all those surveyed would switch car brands to get connected car services, and 72% would delay their purchase by a year in order to get those services from their preferred brand. Continue Reading
Sirius XM shared strong subscriber growth in its second-quarter conference call, but recently increased its projections for that metric. In the call, the company predicted that it would add 1.25 million new subscribers for the year. Now it has increased that guidance, and is expecting to add 1.45 million for a total subscriber base of 27 million. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Cmd.fm turns SoundCloud into a radio stream; app for streaming Indonesian indie bands; Universal ties up with Cambodian telecom. Continue Reading
Spotify’s director of economics, Will Page, spoke at the Bigsound conference in Brisbane, Australia, about the impact of legal streaming services on piracy. His data showed that, in the year from December 2012, the volume of BitTorrent files downloaded by Australians dropped by more than 20%. Spotify launched in Australia on May 21, 2012. Since then, he said one in six Aussies have tried out the music service. Continue Reading
Pandora has signed a U.S. license agreement with music rights management company BMG for its complete catalogs of both ASCAP and BMI music. Few details about the multi-year agreement were disclosed in Pandora’s press release, but it did point to mutual business and marketing perks for all parties involved. Continue Reading