Sonos is planning to roll out new software infrastructure for its audio devices in June. The company said that it expects to roll out a new operating system and app for controlling its hardware. For now, the update is being called Sonos S2. Continue Reading
Podcast Radio, the London all-podcast DAB station, sent us a note announcing it is giving over three hours a day to Health Info Radio, a coronavirus-focused DAB multiplex station. Podcast Radio will link into it 10am, 1pm, and 5pm London time each day. Continue Reading
Tencent Music Entertainment released its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year of 2019. Tencent Music reversed its quarterly loss of 875 million yuan from Q4 2018 to a profit of 1.04 billion yuan ($149 million). The company said that for the quarter ending December 31, it had total revenue of 7.29 billion yuan ($1.05 billion), up 35.1% on-year. Continue Reading
In Statista’s Digital Music Worldwide study, global revenue in the digital music segment is projected to be $14.3-billion in 2020, rising to nearly $17-billion in 2024. In this study, “digital music” is defined as must which is heard or… Continue Reading
A weekly column from the preeminent Radio Futurologist. THIS WEEK: Tesla is remotely removing AM/FM radio from its cars, plus other news items unrelated to the pandemic (and some that are). Continue Reading
As podcast aspire crossover to TV and films, a key Hollywood film production company plans its crossover to podcasts. Cavalry Media, founded by Dana Brunetti, has announced a launch slate of podcasts for the Cavalry Audio division. Continue Reading
The podcast industry has been exploring different paths for monetization besides advertising. One of the early efforts in a subscription program was Slate Plus. Recently Saanya Jain of Atlantic Media interviewed Heidi Strom Moon, the Slate product manager who oversees the membership program, about Slate Plus’ development over the past six years. Continue Reading
Amazon Alexa is getting some more updates for users to better control their music playback. Listeners can now request particular versions of a song when using an Amazon Music account. Continue Reading
Podtrac released its chart with the top 20 podcasts for February 2020. Most of the titles have not changed from the January ranker. The entire top eight is identical to the previous month’s results. Continue Reading
eMarketer has released original research showing that Spotify serves more U.S. listeners than Pandora (a U.S.-only streamer) does. This info catches up with Spotify’s U.S. ascendancy in stream listening, as charted by RAIN’s tracking of Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics. Continue Reading
In a day when baseball, basketball, hockey, Disney, schools and many other cultural institutions were suspended, yesterday also brought an announcement closer to RAIN home: Edison Research and Triton Digital have canceled the first live-audience presentation of The Infinite Dial, the annual public snapshot of American listening. The webinar is a go; click through for the registration link. Continue Reading
Spotify’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand is stepping down. Karen Lawson took on the role last June, and has not shared reasons for her departure. Continue Reading