In what could be described as a refutation of Spotify’s feature-bristling desktop app, subscription music service Rhapsody is prompting desktop users to try a beta refresh which streamlines the look-and-feel. We’re sold. Continue Reading
In the latest move to bring order to the legal wild west of its video landscape, YouTube has added extra information to the YouTube Audio Library. This database now gives information about what happens when you upload a particular song to accompany your video. This means you can check whether the song might be deleted by the rights holder or if restrictions apply before uploading the audio clip. Continue Reading
Bop.fm rolled out its first mobile app today for iOS devices. I’ve been following this company closely of late because its big claim to fame is syncing up multiple music services under one umbrella. For anyone who listens to lots of music styles across many platforms, the idea is certainly appealing. The new mobile program doesn’t have quite as many streaming options as the desktop version, but it still links up three popular ones: YouTube, Spotify Premium, and Soundcloud. Continue Reading
adStream is an ad-stalking journal in streaming audio.
We usually study audio ads in adStream, but when our eyes are on the screen it is impossible to ignore the steady parade of banner ads in some music services. Interestingly, TUNE released a whitepaper study of the effectiveness of app-download ads. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Will Spotify restrict free listening?; Napster and the ‘culture of free’; mobile boosts global ad revenue. Continue Reading
Australian telecommunication company Telstra announced that it is shuttering Bigpond Music, its online music download store. “The download-to-own music market has changed a lot,” a rep from Telstra said. “We believe the best way for us to continue to provide great music services to our customers is via a partner model.” Continue Reading
Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Ratings Media Research has published some recent data about pureplay listening in a LinkedIn post. “Something interesting is happening on the internet streaming front,” Van Dyke writes. He projects that time spent listening to pureplay streaming will exceed terrestrial simulcasting by next year. Continue Reading
“A wide stream of great music awaits you,” the tagline of The Wise Choice promises. It is definitely wide. Today we heard obscure world music and classical guitar mixed up with Elton John and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Enya. Sting. Armik. Carole King. If you like your listening to leap over genre boundaries, you’ll have an enjoyable time with this station. Continue Reading
Month-over-month webcast listening was moved upward in September, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. The upward movement was nearly unanimous among the top-20 entities measured by Triton. Year-over-year and year-to-date gains were also apparent in September. Continue Reading
In an interview with Dow Jones, Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino discussed how the company might be able to stay afloat by completely legal avenues. The streaming platform is expected to launch a radio app called Broadcasts in January. A rep from the company called Broadcasts the “first compliant app” for Grooveshark. Continue Reading
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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: Spotify’s geo-targeted advertising; WTMJ ultra-mobile live webcasts; Pandora’s new app; Rhapsody’s birthday stats; Podcast One argues with Stitcher; Music Freedom expands. Continue Reading
Shazam jumped on the bandwagon of 2014 roundups with a listing of the top tracks and artists tagged in the song ID program. The findings fell pretty well in line with what Spotify and other music services have been reporting, but Shazam added some interesting predictions to its blog post by noting some of the artists it expects to break out in 2015. Continue Reading