Financial intelligence company SNL Kagan has given RAIN News an advance copy of Economics of Mobile Music, 2015 edition. The detailed report projects subscriber growth rates and revenue for the top nine music subscription services. Continue Reading
The business of an ad-supported radio service can be a tricky one, balancing the listeners’ demand for free content with the need to stay afloat and make money to keep delivering that content. And with so many well-established players such as Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio already sitting in comfortable positions, it’s extra challenging for a new face to break through the crowd. Yet Google is trying to do just that and it’s using native advertising to stand out. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes in the audio industry. The latest moves happened at ASCAP and NPR. Continue Reading
Pono Music announced that it will upgrade customers’ purchases to higher resolutions as they become available from labels at no charge. This new policy, dubbed the PonoPromise, is meant to avoid the cycle of re-purchasing songs as they become available on better or more convenient formats, such as from cassettes to CDs to MP3s. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: A talent agency gets into podcasting; radio targeted in pre-1972 lawsuit; Apple disagrees with MusicWatch research; Deezer wants big bucks; Mad Genius Radio shuts down. Continue Reading
IFPI Denmark released data on the first half of 2015 for the country’s music industry, which showed a strong performance by streaming. Revenue from streaming platforms rose by 14% in H1 2015 compared with H1 2014. Recorded music overall rose just 0.4% since the same period last year, which physical sales dropping 35% and downloads falling 13% from the year-ago period. Continue Reading
In addition to the disruptive challenges faced by traditional radio as streaming continues to grow, there might be a perceptual challenge for the industry’s relationship with advertisers. That’s what Westwood One sought to reveal in a commissioned study from research company Advertiser Perceptions, the results of which can be interpreted to indicate that radio has greater consumer reach than buyers perceive. Continue Reading
Pioneer Electronics has launched a new collection of after-market in-car entertainment systems that feature smartphone connections. The new line is partly targeted to smartphone listeners who are not (yet) in the market for a new car with built-in digital listening. Continue Reading
We’ve seen a large number of new apps promise an experience that combines music with social interactions, each with their own particular angle on the subjects. The new player in this field is Geekin Radio. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: An examination of pay-to-playlist; spotify changes its privacy policy to the disgruntlement of a Forbes columnist. Continue Reading
AudioHQ has announced a partnership with talent agency Paradigm to create long-form digital audio content. The two companies will collaborate on developing, distributing, and selling this on-demand audio programming along the traditional Hollywood studio model, which the two companies say is a new approach at large scale. Continue Reading
Beatport announced a partnership with T-Mobile to offer exclusive content to the customers of both companies. Members of T-Mobile Backstage will get access to ticket giveaways and special access to SFX events sponsored by the telecom. Continue Reading