South Korean tech and mobile conglomerate Kakao has assumed ownership of MelOn, the country’s top streaming and downloaded music provider. Buying out the 76.4% stake in parent company Loen Entertainment for 1.87 trillion won (about $1.55 billion) adds an entertainment facet to Kakao’s diverse holdings. Continue Reading
Nielsen has released data reviewing 2015 for the Canadian music market. Total number of streams in the year exceeded 25.6 billion, with 7.8 billion of those from audio and a sweeping 17.8 billion for video. The results from Canada, especially in album performance, mark an interesting contrast to the big U.S. Nielsen report released last week. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has raised 300 million krona (about $35 million) in debt funding. A representative for the online audio platform confirmed the arrangement with investment firm Tennenbaum Capital Partners. Continue Reading
Apple Music has reportedly surpassed 10 million paying subscribers. Inside sources told Financial Times (paywall) that the new streaming platform reached the milestone after just six months on the market. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads, another round of articles stemming from CES. Read on for connected cars vs radio; Pandora SVP’s car talk; and iHeart partners for VR. Continue Reading
NPR announced that Anya Grundmann will be its new vice president of programming and audience development. She had been working in that capacity on an interim basis, during which time she led the launch of several new content additions. Continue Reading
AudioBoom announced a partnership with India-based Eros International. According to the heads of terms agreement, Eros will work with audioBoom for its upcoming launch into the Indian market. Continue Reading
A study presented at CES reveals consumer interest in a range of music delivery options. Of the more than 4,000 respondents, wireless providers emerged as a strongly preferred music delivery provider. Continue Reading
We’ve got our hands on the full Nielsen 2015 Music Report. The results offer fascinating insights into radio, streaming, music discovery, music spending, and how dominant Adele really was last year. Continue Reading
WiFi speakers have been a recurring topic of interest at CES, and this year’s show has not disappointed. Several tech companies, both large and small, have presented new products in this vertical.
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7digital announced that it has added its first MQA, or Master Quality Authenticated, content. As a result of the partnership with MQA, 7digital’s B2B clients will be able to access indie label content at the high-res audio format beginning Jan. 11. Continue Reading
We knew going in that CES 2016 would be a showcase for technology exploring the topic of high-res audio. More and more brands have hopped on the hi-res bandwagon, many of them at slightly less exorbitant prices. That change on the business end could mean that this year marks a shift in how the general consumer thinks about audio quality. Continue Reading