Emmis Communications unveiled new a feature for its NextRadio smartphone app called Live Guide. This update is a visual representation of the currently playing music on local stations, an addition meant to make browsing easier. The app also got updates to its navigation tools and will now show listeners extra information about station songs and programming events during broadcasts. Continue Reading
RAIN Summit Indy, held on Tuesday in Indianapolis, was a packed day of panel discussions, keynotes, and special presentations. Audio was recorded, and is hosted, by Audioboom. Click through to select and listen to any of the day’s events. Continue Reading
In a special presentation at RAIN Summit Indy on Tuesday, Larry Rosin, President of Edison Research, broke out new statistics from the “Share of Ear” study conducted earlier this year, and initially summarized in June. Attempting to quantify how American adults listened to audio from all sources, Share of Ear attributed 11.6% of listening to Internet Radio — in the study context, that meant both non-interactive services like Pandora, and interactive services like Spotify. In the RAIN Summit presentation, Larry Rosin unpacked that metric to illuminate more detailed findings. Continue Reading
Apple didn’t share any big streaming-centric news at its product reveal yesterday, but the music updates that did come out of the major tech event still serve as a sign of the trends to look for both on- and offline. U2 was the musical guest at the event, and the band closed the performance by announcing that its new album would be available for free to all iTunes customers. The other big development was a silent change that didn’t take place on stage: Apple discontinued the classic iPod. Continue Reading
Spotify unveiled a new blog that will focus on trends and concepts stemming from its various data collections. Dubbed Spotify Insights, the information will be a combination of the global listening numbers that Spotify tracks and the recommendation-based data from its subsidiary The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
Deezer has made significant inroads in the streaming ecosystem of Europe, but soon it will make its first landing in the U.S. The first service it will offer to American listeners is called Deezer Elite. For a monthly subscription of $19.99, listeners can stream lossless FLAC files. Initially, the plan will require listeners to use a Sonos speaker system to stream the tunes, although those people will get a discount on the monthly fee. Continue Reading
The 5th Annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards concluded yesterday at RAIN Summit Indy, when the final winners were announced by RAIN News founding editor Kurt Hanson and managing editor Brad Hill. The RAIN Awards honor excellence in five categories, covering pureplay streaming, broadcast webcasting, international excellence, digital strategy, and the best overall online radio service. Continue Reading
RAIN News is pleased to partner with Edison Research in the 2014 search for Audio’s 30 Under 30, honoring top talent in radio and audio. The 30 recipients of this singular recognition were announced today at RAIN Summit Indy.
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Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Billboard’s critical response to GhostTunes; WholeWorldBand app offers mobile online collaborations; livestreaming concerts and lessons with DoclerMusic. Continue Reading
Two recent articles reviewed the international scope for Rdio. The service is available in 60 countries, but its top markets outside of the U.S. are Canada and Brazil. Mediacaster reviewed Rdio’s business activities in Canada, the service’s second-largest market. While smartphone use in third-largest market Brazil is on the rise, ZDNet cautioned that the country does struggle with the quality of its mobile Internet services. Continue Reading
A mere month after Grooveshark announced that it would be supported on the Chromecast dongle, the streaming service was suspended for violating Google’s Terms of Service. The problem stemmed from allegations by the RIAA that Grooveshark was infringing on artists’ copyright. Continue Reading
Serendip announced that it will cease operations on Sept. 22. In an email to its members, the company said the costs of processing all the posts and serving up playlists on both web and mobile apps were more than the small team could handle. The Israel-based startup was designed to be a music service with a social angle. It pulled music recommendations from a person’s connections on Facebook and Twitter to create playlists. It also had a lean-back radio listening component. Continue Reading