SoundCloud has taken its podcasting service out of beta and made it live for all users. The new podcast hosting additions include RSS feed distribution, embeddable podcast players, integration with social networks, and timed comments. Continue Reading
The legal saga centered around the Grooveshark name appears to be getting a bizarre epilogue. Last week, Grooveshark finally resigned itself to its fate and shuttered its doors. However, the long-beleagured site and its legally uncertain approach to streaming music appears to have returned to the web. Continue Reading
The music industry has been waiting for Apple to unveil its new vision for Beats Music, and the streaming service’s debut is expected to happen during the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference next month. However, Billboard has reported that Apple allegedly may not have any of the licensing deals with major labels that are necessary for the service to meet that launch date. Continue Reading
The FCC has granted Pandora broadcast approval permission to own a terrestrial radio station. This means that Pandora has cleared the major hurdle to complete its $600,000 purchase of the KXMZ station in Rapid City, South Dakota, which it started in 2013. Continue Reading
ASCAP’s board of directors has completed its officer election and announced its new set of leaders. Paul Williams was elected to a fourth term as the organization’s chairman and president. The board added a new publisher member in the form of Jody Gerson, who is also chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. Continue Reading
AudioHQ announced an internal promotion within its management. Brian Conlan has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and operations, reflecting growth of the AudioHQ sales team. Continue Reading
7digital announced that over the past month it has entered into new or expanded contracts valued at £1.8 million. The company sent out a press release noting that it has seen an uptick in interest as broadcast organizations look into finding new options in the streaming audio space. “It’s particularly pleasing to see one of the key areas which we identified for growth – the radio industry – starting to deliver significant business,” CEO Simon Cole said. Continue Reading
Two streaming services operating out of Asia announced new integrations or partnerships that add a live music angle for their listeners. India-based streaming service Saavn announced plans for a series of live acoustic shows and musician interviews. KKBox, a music streaming service from Taiwan, has invested in ticket vending startup WalkieTicket and is now its largest institutional shareholder. This could be a new business trend for the streaming market. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Continue Reading
We’re always looking for new podcasts to add to our listening queue, and so today we took a listen to a new program called Musonomics. It’s a twice-monthly podcast about the music and culture industries that just debuted its first episode last week. Larry Miller is the host, and the program has backing from the NYU Steinhardt Music Business Program, where he is a professor. The first episode includes an in-depth discussion about Record Store Day and the resurgence of vinyl. Continue Reading
The German Music Publishers Association held its annual meeting yesterday and royalty rates from streaming services were a hot topic. President Rolf Budde had some strong words about the state of compensation for songwriters. “The 60,000 composers, lyricists and music publishers must not be sacrificed on the altar of digital music,” he said. Continue Reading
Tidal is continuing its efforts to get more musicians on board with its premium streaming service. The latest plan is for a new feature called Discovery that bypasses the third-party distribution model for independent artists. Instead, those musicians will be able to directly upload their tracks to Tidal. Continue Reading