Apple hosted a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings this week, and the talk briefly touched on Apple Music. The tech company’s top brass didn’t reveal many hard numbers about the streaming platform’s first weeks. CEO Tim Cook said that “millions and millions” of consumers are enrolled in free trials and added that Apple is “thrilled about the response” to the service. Continue Reading
IFPI Norway has released its data on the domestic music industry for the first half of 2015. Music sales for the country increased 6.5% during the period. Streaming showed healthy growth, and revenue from those platforms accounted for as much… Continue Reading
SFX Entertainment has entered into a partnership with Spotify. This new arrangement will bring music and video content from Beatport to Spotify’s streaming service. Brand new Beatport CEO Greg Consiglio said that the company is in the midst of building out new content partnerships with other distribution channels, but Spotify is the only one that will get access to Beatport’s new music exclusives. Continue Reading
Rhapsody and Napster have reached the 3 million subscriber milestone. It has been a year of fast growth for the streaming services, which announced 2.5 million listeners in February and 2 million listeners last July. Continue Reading
Spotify’s newest product, the Discover Weekly playlist, is streaming’s latest attempt at perfect music programming. What is perfect programming? The mixtape metaphor is often invoked. Can data or humans best create the perfect listening experience? Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James’ review of the new BBC iPlayer Radio app; how radio can intersect podcasting; changes at CBS Radio Continue Reading
SFX Entertainment is reorganizing its leadership, a move that will see a new CEO overseeing EDM project Beatport. Greg Consiglio will serve as president and CEO for the online store and streaming service. According to the press release, the structural changes were made so SFX can focus on brand-level operations. Continue Reading
Three European rights agencies have inked an agreement to form a joint venture and launch a hub for digital rights. The participants are PRS for Music in the UK, GEMA in Germany, and STIM in Sweden. The goal of this hub is to make digital rights management faster and more efficient for single- and multi-territory licenses. Continue Reading
9to5Mac has been surveying its readership to assess the crowd reactions to Apple Music. More than 17,400 people have weighed in to the poll so far. Although the responses are naturally skewed with a strong predilection for Apple, the breakdown of where new customers are coming from is insightful. Continue Reading
Steve Goldstein started Amplifi Media in March, leaving a 30-year executive career at Saga Communications to apply his knowledge of content and production to on-demand audio. This week his team drew up an infographic snapshot of podcasting’s scope and demographics. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: IAB study of programmatic advertising; Alibaba expands music ventures in China. Continue Reading
The headline isn’t breaking news, but a new research report by Clammr quantifies a couple of realities of the podcast industry. Apple’s apps drive a majority of mobile (and probably all) podcast listening. Continue Reading