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
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
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
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
Amazon is launching analytics for performers using its streaming service. Amazon Music for Artists is available as an app for Android and iOS devices, with a companion website. The app is launching as a beta. Continue Reading
Apple has reportedly signed new licensing agreements for its streaming service. Financial Times reported that the company secured multi-year deals with the three majors. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Radio World tracks the digital AM push stateside. Take your Rolling Stone reporter to work. Tencent’s not-so-Chinese roots. Continue Reading
Disgraceland is the latest podcast making the leap to the small screen. The show, hosted and launched by Jake Brennan in 2018, has told the tales of scandal and drama from the music industry. Continue Reading
Soundstripe, a production music startup, announced two new plans offering access to royalty-free music for enterprise businesses. The company said it envisions larger operations such as creative marketing agencies, higher education institutions, media companies, and film production companies as its clientele. Continue Reading
Voice assistants have been a growing topic of interest for the audio industry, and businesses are still finding ways to further develop the technology. Last month, Spotify received a patent on a new way to make a voice assistant that can be responsive to human emotions. Continue Reading