Quick Hits: Analyzing Sprint/Tidal; a look at Tencent; Hulu’s musical VR
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Why is Sprint throwing money at Tidal? A profile on China’s Tencent. Hulu’s VR music reality show. Continue Reading
Month: January 2017
YouTube boosting Alphabet to $26 billion Q4 revenue
YouTube is making contributions to the bottom line at parent company Alphabet, according to the tech firm’s fourth-quarter earnings report. “Our growth in the fourth quarter was exceptional — with revenues up 22% year on year and 24% on a constant currency basis,” CFO Ruth Porat said. “This performance was led by mobile search and YouTube.” eMarketer added its own assessment of the Alphabet numbers. Continue Reading
PodcastOne adds two show partnerships
PodcastOne announced the addition of two new shows to its lineup. One is Larry Mac: America’s Crew Chief. The other program joining PodcastOne is The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro. Continue Reading
Billboard genre album charts will now include streaming numbers
Billboard is converting its genre album charts to a consumption methodology that accounts for listening on streaming music services. The company first transitioned its Billboard 200 chart to this new accounting system in 2014. The first genre charts with the new methodology will be published on January 31. Continue Reading
Otto Radio hires programming exec
Personalized streaming audio company Otto Radio has hired Reenita Malhotra Hora as its VP of programming and audience development. Hora will be responsible for leading Otto’s curation and creation of spoken-word audio content. Continue Reading
Veritone steps into streaming with TuneIn partnership
Veritone, the artificial intelligence platform with a focus on audio, is announcing today an agreement with streaming giant TuneIn. TuneIn will use Veritone’s Cognitive Media Platform (CMP) to capture, archive, and analyze its sports, news, and talk programming. Continue Reading
Bandcamp saw sales growth in 2016 (even for CDs)
Bandcamp posted its 2016 year in review. The direct-to-fan music platform saw digital album sales up 20% and track sales up 23%. The results are markedly different than the industry report from Nielsen, which has seen sales from downloads and physical formats mostly declining in recent years. Continue Reading
Wrapify and CBS Radio: Not exactly digital, or streaming, but definitely alternative
CBS is partnering with Wrapify, the San Diego-based startup (founded in 2015) which wraps selected American cars with advertising, and shares revenue with the car owner. think of it as Uber without passengers. CBS Radio will use the alliance to drive revenue in the D.C. Metro market. Continue Reading
Two new hires for SoundCloud’s Aussie ad team
SoundCloud announced two new hires for its advertising team in Australia. Shaun Alexander has joined as the company’s commercial director of Australia New Zealand. Marta Bonzanini, the second new hire, will lead SoundCloud’s efforts in sales strategy and brand partnerships. Continue Reading
Yandex.Music tripled subscriber base to a quarter million in 2016
Russian music streaming platform Yandex.Music tripled its paid subscriber base during 2016. A representative for the service said that it had 250,000 paid subscribers at the end of the year. Continue Reading
Long-awaited AudioHQ-produced drama “Bronzeville” set for Feb. 7 release
The most star-packed podcast we’ve seen, both in the cast and production team, is set for its 10-episode launch on Feb. 7, nearly a year after it was announced. Developed by audio advertising sales company AudioHQ, in collaboration with Cinema Gypsy Productions and TateMen Entertainment, the show is called Bronzeville. With its Hollywood power, the venture might a new benchmark for production value and talent investment in the audio drama category. Continue Reading
NY:LON Connect conference talks streaming prices, indie successes
Music Ally’s NY:LON Connect conference yesterday gathered experts and leaders from the music business to discuss some of the industry’s top topics. One session debated the prices for streaming music access and asked whether a lower monthly rate would help bring in more paying listeners. Another session focused on labels and how they can address the large share of media consumption given to video. This included a presentation by Charles Caldas, CEO of indie label network Merlin. Continue Reading