As we reported last month, famed radio host Art Bell is returning to the air tonight, with a new talk program called Midnight in the Desert. We spoke with the famed radio personality on the phone about his imminent return to radio, and the newness of creating an Internet-first program. Continue Reading
Universal Music Publishing Group has made updates to its Royalty Window portal, a B2B tool offering transparency into royalty collection. The new features include balance updates as royalties are processed during a period and requests for advances against incoming royalties without any additional fee. Continue Reading
Spotify has launched a new feature called Discover Weekly. This is a two-hour playlist personalized to each individual listener. The song choices for the Discover Weekly list stem from your particular music taste and what other similar fans are listening to. Spotify is billing it as a custom-made mixtape delivered each Monday morning. So how good are the recommendations? Pretty solid. Continue Reading
Worthy news items and interesting reads from around the web. Today: Analyzing Pandora programmatic; YouTube is bigger than cable; inside Spotify’s new playlist. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Neil Young exaggerates; FTC and Apple; how do high-schoolers listen? Continue Reading
Italy’s music sector grew 22% to €65.5 million in the first half of 2015, according to the Italian Music Industry Federation. Audio and video streaming secured 26% of the total market. Both types of streaming generated €17.3 million in the half, up 37% from the year-ago period. Continue Reading
Tidal is in the midst of a lawsuit regarding rapper Lil Wayne, who launched the “Free Weezy Album” on the streaming platform as an exclusive earlier this month. Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne’s longtime label, is suing Tidal for $50 million on allegations that it still has exclusive rights to Lil Wayne’s music. Continue Reading
Pandora has taken a step forward with its Artist Messaging plans. The online radio service has updated its terms of use with language about communication with artists. The company started testing audio messages from artists in February. Continue Reading
MusicWatch and Eventbrite teamed up for a survey of how music discovery impacts listeners’ purchases related to live music. The results showed that 42% of the respondents cited streaming as a music discovery platform, and 51% of those streaming listeners bought tickets to a show by an artist they found on those services. Plus 29% of streaming discoverers attend two or more shows a month. Continue Reading
When should a brand extend to a new and different product, and when not? Kurt Hanson applies the question to coffee, hamburgers … and radio. Continue Reading
IFPI Sweden released half-year data for the nation’s music industry. Streaming revenue increased 7.4% to 425.8 million kroner. That sector generates 83.9% of total sales, with all digital revenue accounting for 88% of Sweden’s music sales. Continue Reading
Neil Young is back in the headlines after he announced that he will remove his catalog from streaming services. His complaint is about sound quality. “I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution,” he said in a Facebook post. “When the quality is back, I’ll give it another look.” Continue Reading