American teens listen to more streaming audio than AM/FM radio, according to fresh survey data from Edison Research in its ongoing Share of Ear research. The age group (13-17) represents so-called Digital Natives, whose consumer choices might be predictive of future mainstream behavior. Continue Reading
BRS Media announced the release of the top .FM websites from 2014. The rankings are based on server hits for the domain. “This year’s ranking continues to show a significant growth within China and the surrounding Asian region,” said George T. Bundy, BRS Media’s chairman and CEO. China held the top spot with douban.fm, and hosted three other properties in the top 10. Continue Reading
Sonos may be planning to open up its API to third-party apps. GigaOm noticed a job posting at the WiFi speaker company seeking a software test engineer to guide projects aimed at “allowing third party music services to easily integrate their apps with Sonos.” Since the job posting only recently appeared, it’s unclear when Sonos might be ready to open the doors to its API. Continue Reading
More than half of Norway’s radio listeners are using digital radio, according to a survey carried out by TNS Gallup. Digitalradio Norge CEO Ole Jørgen Torvmark said that the data included DAB, Internet, and digital TV in the definition of digital radio. The results showed that 53% of the country’s listeners have switched over to digital, with 36% using DAB radio and 17% using the Internet. Continue Reading
The year kicked off with some intriguing announcements about niche streaming services, such as The Overflow for Christian or gospel songs and ClassicsOnline HD for classical music. The latest niche to enter the online music scene isn’t a genre-centric one. Cadence & Cause is looking to attract listeners with altruism. Continue Reading
Coleman Insights has launched a new series of blog posts about listening and engagement habits for music across various platforms. The first post addresses questions of timing and shelf life. An analysis of 26 consecutive weeks of Billboard’s on-demand charts to determine the age of songs that people most choose to listen to, then compared that song vintage metric with Billboard’s top 10 radio hits. Continue Reading
Social music apps have become a crowded industry of late, and a new company called Nusiki has joined the fray out of Chicago. Co-founder Ben Hewitt described the service as “if Instagram and Spotify had a kid.” Continue Reading
Pinguin is a Dutch station that brings a sometimes eclectic, occasionally international mix into its stream. The high-bitrate streaming was flawless in our testing, and the music kept us interested and energized. Try it. Continue Reading
Beatgasm came to life when a Miami radio station opted to make the move online. Rather than just keep a pureplay rendition of the station, Beatgasm expanded into a network of lean-back EDM stations. Today, the platform has a range of prepared playlists, focused by subgenre, mood, energy level, or city. There is also a suite of curated stations by the Beatgasm team. Continue Reading
Windows Phone might be a forgotten stepchild of mobile devices, but its market share has more than doubled since 2011. Spotify announced an upgrade to its Windows Phone app which brings beauty and essential features that Android and iOS users are accustomed to onto the platform. Continue Reading
Every now and again – and perhaps more frequently these days – one encounters a technological change that immediately speaks to you and says: “You will never go back.” Continue Reading
In 1962, a confluence of events occurred that eventually disrupted and transformed U.S. retailing. RAIN News founding editor Kurt Hanson examines what went wrong with retailer Target in Canada, and extracts lessons for broadcasters in the digital era. Plus…his dog goes shopping. Continue Reading