Pushing forward the digital initiatives that complement its vast over-the-air holdings, iHeartMedia has hired veteran media executive Carter Brokaw as President, Digital Revenue Strategy. Brokaw will report to iHeart’s head of sales, Tim Castelli. Continue Reading
Rdio has added new label stations to its existing category, with additions appearing in various localized editions of the Rdio app. Label stations are promotional playlists that highlight small and medium sized label artists, and are curated collaboratively. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia announced the launch of a new Hispanic brand management team. The new group will offer strategic guidance to the company’s Hispanic brands and connect advertisers with iHeartMedia’s Hispanic audience. Hispanic listeners are a growing category for the U.S. radio and music markets, and many media companies are working to better serve them. For instance, last week, Univision announced plans for an IPO. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: A global roundup of reaction to Apple’s new Beats 1 radio … and more. Continue Reading
the legal issues around pre-1972 music royalty disputes are complex, tangled by conflicting federal and state regulations. State-court lawsuits in New York and California have favored plaintiffs seeking royalties from Pandora and Sirius XM, but a recent decision in Florida went the other way. Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford untangles. Continue Reading
The British Phonographic Industry released half-year data about music sales in the UK. The report showed that there have been 11.5 billion tracks played in the first six months of 2015, compared with 14.8 billion plays in all of 2014. Dedicated audio streaming services see about 480 million streams a week. Stream Equivalent Album consumption for the first half was 11.49 million, up 79.5% from the year-ago period. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Today, SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe responds to a column in The Hill. Should music licensing costs to Internet radio be escalated or decreased? Continue Reading
Radio Vintage, a Chicago-based pureplay, offers deep sonic nostalgia — the same sort of musty romance you get when walking into a vintage clothing boutique in the East Village. Continue Reading
A newly released Nielsen Music U.S. Mid-Year Report delivers a dramatic message: On-demand music streaming nearly doubled over the first half of 2014. “The growth of streaming continues to accelerate,” says Nielsen. Continue Reading
Looking at what a regular, non-techy person must do to listen to Beats 1, the flagship product of Apple Music, it seems as if Apple is making discovery as difficult as possible. Continue Reading
Radio group Cumulus Media and audio platform Audioboom have announced a major strategic partnership to produce and distribute on-demand audio. Westwood One will be the exclusive ad-rep agency for Audioboom’s monetization efforts of the content. Continue Reading
Samsung has resolved its legal issue with the Korea Music Copyright Association over the Milk Music app. The tech major has inked a new contract with distributor Soribada that will take effect from the start of July 2015. The deal got the KMCA seal of approval on the condition that Milk “will strengthen its premium service,” according to the Korea IT Times. Continue Reading