As YouTube has risen to prominence as a music discovery tool, more businesses are looking to get involved with finding and developing its vast talent pool. One of those businesses is PopShack, a multi-channel network that aims to support the best up-and-coming pop performers. PopShack continues to grow with the addition of former Warner Music exec Conrad Withey as its CEO. Continue Reading
Apple seems to have made another musical purchase, this one with a focus on data. According to MusicAlly, UK media data startup Semetric changed its registered address to the same one as Apple Europe. The company also appears to have appointed Apple’s vice president of corporate law as a director in October. Financial details have not been formally disclosed, but the deal has been pegged at about $50 million. Continue Reading
Shazam is now valued at more than $1 billion, thanks to a recent $30 million investment in the audio-identification app. The new funding will go toward increased service capabilities and new market sectors for the service, which has more than 100 million monthly active mobile users. Shazam has received more than $100 million in venture capital funding since 2009. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Marriott trials in-room streaming entertainment; why big brands go indie for ad music. Continue Reading
BRS Media announced the release of the top .FM websites from 2014. The rankings are based on server hits for the domain. “This year’s ranking continues to show a significant growth within China and the surrounding Asian region,” said George T. Bundy, BRS Media’s chairman and CEO. China held the top spot with douban.fm, and hosted three other properties in the top 10. Continue Reading
Sonos may be planning to open up its API to third-party apps. GigaOm noticed a job posting at the WiFi speaker company seeking a software test engineer to guide projects aimed at “allowing third party music services to easily integrate their apps with Sonos.” Since the job posting only recently appeared, it’s unclear when Sonos might be ready to open the doors to its API. Continue Reading
More than half of Norway’s radio listeners are using digital radio, according to a survey carried out by TNS Gallup. Digitalradio Norge CEO Ole Jørgen Torvmark said that the data included DAB, Internet, and digital TV in the definition of digital radio. The results showed that 53% of the country’s listeners have switched over to digital, with 36% using DAB radio and 17% using the Internet. Continue Reading
The year kicked off with some intriguing announcements about niche streaming services, such as The Overflow for Christian or gospel songs and ClassicsOnline HD for classical music. The latest niche to enter the online music scene isn’t a genre-centric one. Cadence & Cause is looking to attract listeners with altruism. Continue Reading
Coleman Insights has launched a new series of blog posts about listening and engagement habits for music across various platforms. The first post addresses questions of timing and shelf life. An analysis of 26 consecutive weeks of Billboard’s on-demand charts to determine the age of songs that people most choose to listen to, then compared that song vintage metric with Billboard’s top 10 radio hits. Continue Reading
Social music apps have become a crowded industry of late, and a new company called Nusiki has joined the fray out of Chicago. Co-founder Ben Hewitt described the service as “if Instagram and Spotify had a kid.” Continue Reading
Beatgasm came to life when a Miami radio station opted to make the move online. Rather than just keep a pureplay rendition of the station, Beatgasm expanded into a network of lean-back EDM stations. Today, the platform has a range of prepared playlists, focused by subgenre, mood, energy level, or city. There is also a suite of curated stations by the Beatgasm team. Continue Reading
Several startups have sought to blend online music with a social sharing angle. This Is My Jam, Tapely, and Musx have experimented with how people share and discuss music with the latest technologies and streaming platforms. Another company has joined that social music space, but this one may have an edge thanks to securing support from labels. BOOMiO officially launched out of beta this week. Continue Reading