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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: 200-page BBC report reinvents the mission; record-setting royalty collections in the U.S.; Pandora celebrates an anniversary; more. Continue Reading
MixRadio is setting its sights on the Indonesian market. In an interview with the Jakarta Globe, Asia-Pacific Director Jamie Robertson explained that the music service is making Indonesia one of its top three priority markets. Indonesia has a reputation as a market with extensive piracy, but Robertson does not see those activities as a threat to the legal streaming option offered by MixRadio. Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the BBC released its plans for adapting its services to support digital and online media platforms. The report was mostly about the big picture plans, but a new blog post goes into some detail about the vision for a new radio experience. Mark Friend, interactive controller for BBC Radio and Music, explained the goal of letting every listener have their own personalized radio station. “This will be based on understanding what you normally listen to, what you like, what you don’t like and linking this to factors such as time, location and what device you’re listening on,” he said. Continue Reading
by Ari Shohat
Music curation means different things to different people…and to different services. Guest columnist Ari Shohat, CEO of Digitally Imported, explains how curation can be at the front end of buuilding a catalog, creating a good listening experience and freeing resources. Continue Reading
Performing rights organization BMI announced its financial results from the past year, including total revenue of $1.013 billion. Money from digital sources – including Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube – rose 65% over the previous year. Continue Reading
ABS Entertainment has embarked on a legal crusade to collect royalties for its pre-1972 recordings. ABS filed suits against broadcast radio groups in California earlier in the summer, and now it has put two digital platforms in the crosshairs as well. RAIN News received a copy of a lawsuit filed earlier this week by the pair against Sirius XM and Pandora. Continue Reading
Radio stations have been grappling with simulcasting questions for many years. Within the growing imperative to get a station (or station group) online, there is another question. RAIN Summit Atlanta will examine the issue with thought leaders from broadcast, technology, and marketing. Continue Reading
A newly released survey from Technorati is formatted as a report card on programmatic advertising efficacy, from the viewpoint of the buy- and sell-sides. In it, there is a sharp point of disagreement over the key values of programmatic platforms. Continue Reading
It’s full-steam ahead at Apple, which hosted an event to unveil several new products yesterday. The big star was a major update to its Apple TV set-top box. The new Apple TV features a new interface and voice integration thanks to Siri. Most of the entertainment updates were focused on video services, but the company did announce that its own Apple Music will be available through the device. Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the BBC unveiled its commitment to making its service more Internet-friendly, including plans for a streaming music service. Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI, addressed this as-yet non-existent streaming service by demanding that it pay to license the songs whenever it does come to be. “The starting point for some of the BBC’s suggestions around how such a service might work involved launching such a service but paying no money for it – and I just don’t think that’s viable,” Taylor said. Continue Reading
Ad-tech company AdsWizz announced today the hire of Pierre Naggar as VP, Programmatic Demand in Europe. Naggar will report to AdsWizz President of Europe Gary Goodman, and will lead the company’s efforts to connect European audio publishers with advertiser demand on automated software platforms. Continue Reading
Stephen Colbert debuted as the new host of “The Late Show” on CBS last night. One of the highlights was seeing the return of live-copy testimonial advertising from the show’s host. It was hilarious, and effective. Kurt Hanson connects the creative tactic to podcasting and music streaming. Continue Reading