BBC Sounds is the latest effort by the BBC to reach a broader and younger audience in the digital market. However, the mobile app has been raising eyebrows and questions among users since its launch. A recent dust-up around one of its podcasts being announced as exclusive to BBC Sounds has put the broadcaster on the defensive. Continue Reading
SoundCloud’s 2017 financial results included global revenue of €90.7 million ($102 million), up 80% from its 2016 total of €50.3 million. Subscription revenue nearly doubled to €72.6 million. Continue Reading
Amper Music, a company specializing in AI music creation, announced several developments yesterday. Its latest service is Amper Score, an end-to-end platform for music composition by artificial intelligence. Amper also announced that its API can be integrated into the tools and platforms of third-party companies. Continue Reading
SACEM, the French songwriter and composer collection society, announced that it is restructuring. The group is consolidating its licensing, international, and operations divisions into a single department. Continue Reading
Targetspot has announced a new sales director for the company’s Toronto office, which was opened last year as part of an international expansion. Mark Kates, who has held executive sales positions in several organizations since 2004, will lead Targetspot’s Canadian digital audio ad sales initiatives. Continue Reading
Listen Notes creator Wenbin Fang is back in action. The podcast platform programmer is building a name for himself with bare-bones platforms for podcast listening and discovery. The latest one is Listen Explorer. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James recaps an action-packed week in the UK audio industry. Continue Reading
Triton Digital and Edison Research have set a date for the release of the latest data from their Infinite Dial research report. The survey will be broadcast live and online on Wednesday, March 6 at 2pm Eastern. The Infinite Dial regularly assesses habits and trends for audio in the United States, including topics such as podcasting, smart speakers, and AM/FM radio. Continue Reading
Sonos may be looking to diversify its product lineup beyond speakers. Sources told Bloomberg that the company is developing high-end, wireless, over-the-ear headphones. As with its smart speakers, the new headphones would reportedly take an agnostic approach, supporting multiple music services and digital assistants. Continue Reading
Rumblefish and 7digital have broadened their existing relationship. Rights administration service Rumblefish is a division of the Harry Fox Agency. Under the new deal with B2B music specialist 7digital, Rumblefish will leverage its rights management solution to speed the launch of services and streamline administration for music distribution models powered by 7digital. Continue Reading
AdsWizz has unveiled a new program for certifying advertisers’ expertise in digital audio. The Digital Audio Expert Program will test participants on their knowledge of advertising in this format as well as building new skills in audio. OMG Programmatic is the first agency to complete the certification program. Continue Reading
Omny Studio announced that it has partnered with social media video company Headliner for a new deal. Under the terms of the arrangement, Headliner will provide Omny clients with one-click access to create podcast audiograms from within their content management workflows. Continue Reading