Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Highlights from the Third Coast. How much do analytics matter in podcast advertising? Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, even when it’s holiday music. Continue Reading
AudioBoom has announced its membership in IAB UK, the United Kingdom arm of the Internet Advertising Bureau. It is the first podcast network to have accredited membership into the UK branch of the organization. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s latest album has landed on all streaming services. The pop singer kept Reputation off streaming services for three weeks after its November 10 release date. At launch, the album was only available by digital download or as a physical copy. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has reached 1 million registered users in Australia. The online audio company rolled out a new app for iHeartRadio Australia in February and also rolled out its podcasting library this year. Continue Reading
Sirius XM has added support for Apple CarPlay to its iOS app. The in-vehicle support means car owners with the CarPlay can connect their phone to access channels, on-demand episodes, and other favorite content. Continue Reading
Spotify is reportedly in talks with China’s Tencent Holdings about a potential swap of stakes in advance of both companies’ planned public listings. The possible development first appeared in the Wall Street Journal (paywall), which reported that the two businesses trade stakes of up to 10%. Continue Reading
Mobile app Stationhead is bringing more music into its platform. The service lets users try their hand at DJing, turning playlists into a radio-like broadcast on the app. It launched using Spotify’s API, but has now added access to Apple Music. Continue Reading
Last year, Spotify tapped into its data troves for a clever marketing campaign. This year, it’s back in action, all themed around resolutions for 2018. The push is dubbed “2018 Goals,” and it again highlights some of the unusual factoids and data points from Spotify listeners. The campaign was developed and executed in-house and covers 18 markets. Continue Reading
Indie label group and distributor Merlin has entered a deal with Dubset Media to open up new revenue streams. Under this arrangement, Merlin’s catalog will be added to MixBANK and MixSCAN, Dubset’s platforms for identifying music samples used in remixes and DJ sets. Continue Reading
Amazon shared some insights from its sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The Echo Dot was the top-selling product on Amazon, regardless of segment or manufacturer. Amazon didn’t reveal any specifics of sales numbers for the Dot, but they likely numbered in the millions. Continue Reading
With the holiday shopping season now upon us, the top tech toys are in position to make a lot of sales. The smart speaker niche seems likely to be a strong performer at the end of 2017. Jacobs Media Strategies, jācapps, and Sonic Ai have collaborated on a survey into consumer sentiment toward voice-activated smart speakers going into December. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has announced two new integrations for its listeners. First, its podcasts are now supported on the Apple CarPlay. The second development is a partnership with Comcast that will roll out iHeartRadio on the Xfinity X1 set-top box. Continue Reading