8tracks announced that it is removing the weekly listening caps it had placed on people in its free access tier. The company initially instituted a limit on free listening in 2016 to counteract the high costs of music licensing. Continue Reading
Amazon Alexa is getting more options for actions that can be incorporated into the voice AI’s routines. This feature lets users assemble a set of actions from the smart speaker triggered by a single voice command. Initially limited to news, weather, traffic, and smart home skills, routines can now incorporate music, podcast, and radio content. Continue Reading
Gimlet Media has had some shifts in its upper ranks. Three of its employees are taking on new roles, and one position is currently vacant as the company pursues new strategies in the podcasting and multimedia space. Continue Reading
Podcasting company and RawVoice subsidiary Blubrry announced a deal with SourceAudio, a B2B music licensing specialist, that will allow podcasters to use music in their shows. Blubrry’s customers will have access to the library of licensed music for their podcasts at a discount. Continue Reading
Google is joining the music and tech industries’ push into India, with the Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers expected to become available in the country, possibly later this month. When they do arrive, they’ll have support for two popular local streaming services. Continue Reading
SoundCloud reportedly exceeded $100 million in revenue for 2017. CEO Kerry Trainor shared the update with the Financial Times, adding that the audio company’s user base also grew in all of the last three quarters. Continue Reading
Daniel Ek, founder and CEO of Spotify, has often been quoted taking the long view of the streaming music industry, and the destiny of his company. Today is a milestone in Spotify’s business history, as SPOT begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Memorializing the moment, Ek posted a letter on his company’s internal blog. “We are only in the second inning,” he said. Continue Reading
Things are looking good for Amazon’s musical efforts these days. Amazon is amassing a growing music audience that now numbers “tens of millions” of paying customers, while its Amazon Music Unlimited program has more than doubled its subscriber count in the past six months. The success of smart speakers and a growing number of Prime membership subscribers have been the main factors in Amazon’s music audience expansion, according to a top exec. Continue Reading
Podcast company Podbean has unveiled an update to its statistics, making them fully compliant with the IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines. The revised system will be released starting April 3. The company noted that the changes will probably lead to a reduction in the numbers reported to its users. Continue Reading
Rhapsody International has promoted Brian Ringer to a new role within the streaming music company. His new position is as executive vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific, and he’ll be responsible for strategic growth in the market. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Many sources weigh in on the death, life, and longevity of radio, plus plenty of other news from across the audio world. Continue Reading