Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Pandora is using social to think local; Jelli co-founder explains how programmatic works; Russian government could assume royalty collection duties. Continue Reading
The BBC Trust, governing body for the BBC, recently provided guidance on what content the organization’s radio stations can put online prior to the actual broadcasts. Based on the new rules, the BBC can put speech-based programs online up to one week ahead of their air time. However, music radio programs will not be allowed to appear online first. Continue Reading
Today, iBiquity announced that car manufacturer Subaru will make HD radio receivers standard across its range of vehicles. Subaru cars with the technology are currently available at dealerships nationwide. The manufacturer joins Bentley, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mini, Rolls Royce, Scion, Tesla, and Volvo in making HR receivers standard. As of the 2016 collection, more than 200 car models across manufacturers will have HD capability. Continue Reading
Rdio has introduced a new advertising product dubbed Promoted Music Experiences. This native advertising package is meant to leverage Rdio’s main features, including branded stations, branded profiles, and branded home stories. For brands that want the Promoted Music Experience, Rdio’s curation team will work with them to select songs and content that will best evoke a certain personality or tone. Continue Reading
Japan’s listeners have been resistant to adopting digital options for music, but the first half of 2015 revealed some progress for streaming in the country. Streaming subscriptions increased 43% in the first six months of the year to 5.04 billion yen ($42 million). Continue Reading
Pandora has opened a new office in Minneapolis that will help bolster the online radio company’s local advertising efforts. The team will be tasked with developing new contracts and renewing existing ones among advertisers in the area. Jeff Mikitka, regional vice president of Pandora, told The Star Tribune that having a team on the ground makes a big impact in advertising. Continue Reading
Baboom joined the ranks of of new digital music properties with its launch last week. The company blends several promising ideas from other digital upstarts, such as the direct-to-fan patronage of Bandcamp and the stream/store combination of Beatport. The result is a product that feels new and more promising than most other musical startups. Continue Reading
Neil Young wrote an update about his hi-res Pono Music company on Facebook. Young gave nods to the other brands Pono works with, both in and out of the music industry, but explained that the company has many partners but “no proven business leader,” in his own words. He added that Pono is working to set up shop in multiple countries despite a lack of resources. Continue Reading
Judge Philip Gutierrez has chosen not to add the latest pre-1972 royalty lawsuit to his docket. ABS Entertainment filed a suit against CBS, Cumulus, and iHeartMedia in an effort to collect royalties for those radio groups’ use of songs recorded prior to the adoption of federal copyright law. The plaintiff tried to have the case transferred to Gutierrez since it focused on potential infringement under the same statute as the suit filed by Flo & Eddie against Sirius XM. Continue Reading
The business of an ad-supported radio service can be a tricky one, balancing the listeners’ demand for free content with the need to stay afloat and make money to keep delivering that content. And with so many well-established players such as Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio already sitting in comfortable positions, it’s extra challenging for a new face to break through the crowd. Yet Google is trying to do just that and it’s using native advertising to stand out. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes in the audio industry. The latest moves happened at ASCAP and NPR. Continue Reading
Pono Music announced that it will upgrade customers’ purchases to higher resolutions as they become available from labels at no charge. This new policy, dubbed the PonoPromise, is meant to avoid the cycle of re-purchasing songs as they become available on better or more convenient formats, such as from cassettes to CDs to MP3s. Continue Reading