As Facebook assembled a sizable music team, the expectation was that the social network might apply that expertise to video content. The company does appear to be following that plan, with the addition of 1,000 free audio tracks to the Facebook Sound Collection that can be used as background for videos. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Subscription radio for nursing homes in Australia. Radio’s earliest tweeters. Recognition for Global. Continue Reading
Over the weekend TechCrunch broke news from undisclosed sources in Apple that the tech giant was close to acquiring market-leading music-ID platform Shazam — Apple confirmed the acquisition this morning. The enormously popular and influential Shazam has historically taken the role of Switzerland, standing in the midst of Spotify, Napster, Apple Music and others, offering to funnel ID’d songs to the user’s preferred listening platform. That could change. Continue Reading
Spotify and Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced that they will acquire minority stakes in each other. Tencent Holdings, which owns a majority stake of Tencent Music Entertainment, is also making a separate investment in Spotify and will own a minority stake. This development hit the rumor mill last week. Continue Reading
Amazon Music Unlimited and the Amazon Echo have rolled out into 28 new countries. The on-demand streaming subscription service debuted in the United States in October 2016, and Amazon made voice controls and smart speaker access central components of using the music platform. It even offers tiered pricing for people who are part of its Prime program and who own an Echo device. Continue Reading
YouTube is throwing its hat into the music subscription ring one more time. Bloomberg reported that the video platform is planning to launch a paid music subscription in March 2018. Internally dubbed Remix, the platform would reportedly offer on-demand streaming and elements from YouTube such as video clips. Continue Reading
Podtrac released two special podcast ranking charts. The first lists the top 20 podcasts in the United States for 2017. The second chart is the top 10 new podcasts that were published for the first time during this year. In an impressive performance, S-Town topped both Podtrac lists. Continue Reading
Bridge Ratings has published its recap of 2017, drawing several broad trends in the music and audio industry. The company’s wrap-up said that the number of streams in 2017 increased 40% over the total for 2016. It also offered insights on programming for on-demand streaming, such as using data about a playlist’s specific audience to encourage more frequent listening and when to ease up on a song that could be over-exposed to today’s highly connected listeners. Continue Reading
Quincy Jones is helping to create a new digital hub for jazz enthusiasts. Qwest TV is an online library for video content across the genre. The subscription site is slated to go live on December 15. Continue Reading
Tidal’s iOS app is now compatible with Apple CarPlay. The streaming service announced the app update on Wednesday. Subscribers can use the app to access their favorite songs, albums, and playlists in the vehicle infotainment center. Continue Reading
Deezer is making its debut in Japan. The streaming service is rolling out its Hi-Fi tier, which offers high-resolution, CD-quality audio files to listeners, beginning December 8. The subscription will cost 1,960 yen ($17) a month. Continue Reading
In the past few years, as streaming services grew to hold larger shares of music industry revenue and consumer listening hours, the key drivers have been mainstream genres. Pop and hip-hop usually feature in the lists of top performers. This week, we’ve collected several developments focused on classical music in the streaming space. Continue Reading