Facebook is not a very musical service, and has never seemed to care about audio content. Now, though, a report emerges that the 1.5-billion-user social platform is working with Warner Music to test a new product called Slideshow. Continue Reading
Increasingly vocal critics of YouTube have a heroic new champion, not new to the cause, but willing to dramatically escalate its rhetoric. Five-time Grammy-winner Maria Schneider, who has testified before Congress on “safe harbor” issues that affect musicians, released two blazingly critical documents. Together they comprise the harshest and most articulate indictment of an anti-YouTube stance taken by an increasing number of music rights-holders. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: One ex-radio career news specialist decries the downfall of an award-winning station; pirates interfere with licensed radio; Microsoft kills off its in-phone radio tuner. Continue Reading
VuHaus, the public radio music video destination (profiled by RAIN News in January) is nearing its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, it plans to live-stream part of the NON-COMM Convention in Philadelphia on May 19. In January VuHaus obtained a renewal of its operating grant from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Continue Reading
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Audience measurement in podcasting is the most notorious issue that producers and network distributors face. But, infamous though podcast analytics are, not everybody is unhappy. One thing for sure though: Data drives digital audio forward. Continue Reading
SoundCloud Go received a French rollout this week, bringing the subscription tier to a new European market. The debut also brings ad-supported listening to that nation. SoundCloud’s advertising monetization is being exclusively managed by AdsWizz. Continue Reading
U.K. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale addressed the British House of Commons today, and released a whitepaper, laying out operational and programming principles that will formulate the next BBC Royal Charter — that is, in Whittingdale’s words, the constitutional basis for the BBC. The next 11-year term of the charter begins in 2017. Continue Reading
A coalition of performers staged an event dubbed Fair Play Fair Pay Day, gathering at Capitol Hill in support of proposed legislation that would charge royalty fees for sound recordings played on terrestrial radio. T-Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, and more than 40 other artists participated in the press conference. Speakers addressed both the topic of payment for radio airplay and safe harbors in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Continue Reading
Universal Music Group posted its Q1 financials, which carried on the strong performance by streaming from its full-year 2015 report. Total revenue for the recorded music business edged up a fraction of a percent to €1.119 billion. Continue Reading
Subha Modur, Director of North American Media at travel company KAYAK, has joined the speaker roster of the Streaming Audio Advertising Summit, June 2 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. Modhur will engage in a live interview session to explore the marketing opportunities, advantages, goals, and ideal outcomes of streaming audio advertising from the perspective of a brand advertiser. Click through for details. Continue Reading
Eddie Sotelo, popularly called Piolin, has signed with new podcast network reVOLVER, which programs and targets the Spanish-language audience. ReVOLVER launched in February with bilingual on-demand audio aimed at a multicultural audience. The startup will assume exclusive distribution and ad representation of the Mexican’born star’s podcast. Continue Reading
Apple Music is expected to get an overhaul to its user experience, and now the rumor is that there will be changes to the Connect social feature. According to 9to5Mac, Apple may lose its prominent place as a standalone tab in the new redesign. Continue Reading