Intellectual property attorney Angus MacDonald examines the 2014 royalty collections by SoundExchange, and Pandora’s earnings reports, to determine that Pandora accounts for more than half of all SoundExchange revenues distributed to artists and labels. What does the future look like as the Copyright Royalty Board prepares a ruling of webcaster royalty rates for 2016-2020? Continue Reading
Universal Music Group has entered into a partnership with Bradesco, a Brazilian bank. Bradesco Music will stream audio and video from Universal’s catalog and deliver music-related editorial through an application for both desktop computers and mobile devices. Continue Reading
Rdio has hired Iain Morris to serve as the company’s new vice president of global music publishing. In his new capacity, Morris will lead the negotiations with music publishers and collection societies. The newest exec joins the company from Warner/Chappell Music Publishing, where he was the head of digital for the EMEA region. Continue Reading
RAIN Summits are famous for their thought-leadership discussion panels. RAIN Summit West also features numerous special presentations in a knowledge-packed day of information and networking. Larry Rosin, Kurt Hanson, Pat Higbie, Amanda Brown, Matt Saraceni, Brian Burdick, and keynoter Anthony Bay are featured presenters. Continue Reading
The flood of news for Tidal continues apace today. The latest update is that the hi-res streaming service helmed by Jay-Z has found a new stakeholder in Sprint and its parent company SoftBank. Unnamed sources told the New York Post that the minority stake is likely worth about $250 million. Continue Reading
New Zealand owners of Samsung Galaxy mobile devices will now have access to the tech company’s Milk Music streaming service. The free, Slacker-powered app has about 150 radio stations and includes options for personalizing the listening experience. Continue Reading
As we reported on March 17, SoundExchange and National Public Radio (NPR) reached an agreement for webcast music licensing in the 2016-2020 royalty period. NPR agreed to increase the number of stations providing detailed census reporting of the music they play in webcasts. We spoke to Rusty Hodge of SomaFM about whether those reports are difficult to produce. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: An example of powerful broadcast advertising, much podcast news, and an international array of links. Continue Reading
ASCAP has appointed a new executive to its upper management. Alice Kim has joined the performing rights organization in the role of executive vice president, chief strategy and development officer. In this capacity, Kim will lead work on strategy, business development, product development, and administration services for the company. Continue Reading
The growing use of smartphones for managing all aspects of digital life is a pertinent issue for the entire audio industry. A newly-released study from the Pew Research Center defines the smartphone usage footprint across age groups, and tracks how music/podcasts are consumed. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. This week: the Orchard CEO speaks out after Sony Music acquisition; Poland expands DAB+; Radio ad revenue in India. Continue Reading
Hi-fi streaming service Tidal has benefited from a great deal of publicity recently. One of the subscription pitches hinges on exclusive content, available only on Tidal. But when it comes to streaming, exclusivity is hard to control. Continue Reading