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Drake, streams, and charts: Views’ success reinforces need for consistent metrics

Drake has been a huge force in the U.S. music scene this year with the release of new album, Views. Music Ally made some calculations and determined that the Canadian rapper’s latest album has hit some impressive milestones on both Spotify and YouTube. The numbers this album is putting up are yet another reminder of how critical it is for charts to consistently account for streaming data in assessing an album’s success. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s Future of Radio: New sleepy radio station, the iPod’s 15th anniversary, and the start of #lazyantiqueradiophoto

by James Cridland

James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Radio for sleepy listeners. An anniversary for the iPod. Good reads about radio, DAB+ and more. Continue Reading

RAIN Summit Europe a huge success in London

The famed British Museum received over 200 online audio professionals on Wednesday, piling into the BP Lecture Theater for a full day of knowledge and networking. Radio, podcasting, and streaming experts from all over Europe (and Latin America) spoke in panels, interviews, and special presentations. Over 80 companies sent representatives to RAIN’s fifth annual European gathering. Continue Reading

U.S. music industry calls for support of EU law to address “value gap”

The U.S. music industry is petitioning its European counterparts to make copyright reforms that would address royalty payments made by online music distribution services. Several music industry organizations signed an open letter about the value gap in services that do a great deal of user traffic but make comparatively small royalty payments. It asks U.S. government representatives in Europe to support Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposed by the European Commission. Continue Reading