The battle of the bills continues in Washington, as over-the-air radio’s music royalty exemption is again under scrutiny by the 115th Congress. In the latest development, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif) has introduced a new bill with a new solution which gives artists the right to forbid airplay of their music without payment. Continue Reading
One of the highlights of the recent Radiodays Europe conference in Amsterdam, attended by more than 1,500 public and private broadcasters from across much of Europe (see Part 1 of my report here) was an update on Norway’s current year-long, region-by-region shutdown of the FM band, designed to move listeners to DAB+ channels. RAIN News Publisher Kurt Hanson’s “Part 2” from the conference. Continue Reading
Research firm Morning Consult has released results of a consumer survey which queried over 2,200 adults about how they use virtual assistants. In framing the results of this study, it’s important to understand the scope of “virtual assistant” in this report. Continue Reading
When was the last time you saw 20 influential thought-leaders in a dynamic and fascinating industry gathering, and got back to your office after lunch? If that seems implausible, you haven’t been to a RAIN half-day conference on digital audio advertising. Click through for details. Continue Reading
When Beasley Media acquired Greater Media in November, Steve Meyers — Director of Digital Operations for Greater — slid into the same position for the combined group under the Beasley brand. Now Caroline Beasley announces a promotion in which Steve Meyers rises to Executive Vice President of Digital. Continue Reading
National Public Radio (NPR) will launch Up First, a 10-minute, 6:00AM podcast news bulletin drawn from its widely distributed Morning Edition syndicated radio show. In starting an online-only podcast that seemingly competes with the live daily radio show which spawned it, NPR intends to address a discrete audience that might not be familiar with NPR radio programming, and possibly drive that audience into a deeper involvement with the NPR ecosystem. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Will Podcasting Save the News Media Industry? Pondering a potential Pandora purchase. How much does a Spotify playlist boost popularity? Continue Reading
Kurt Hanson, RAIN Founder and CEO of AccuRadio, attended Radiodays Europe (RDE) this week in Amsterdam for RAIN, part of the media partnership between RAIN and RDE. This is Part 1 of his on-the-ground report. Continue Reading
Emmis Communications has announced a three-way technology partnership which will more smoothly repurpose program content for online, on-demand distribution. The solution announced today is a blend of technologies offered by Omny Studio, which has specialized in easy-to-use program clipping and archiving, and Triton Digital, which brings its Tap Podcast monetization platform into the mix. Continue Reading
A Piper Jaffray analyst, bullish on Pandora stock, surveyed existing users of the free Pandora radio service to determine the level of demand for Pandora Premium, the fully interactive on-demand music platform launched on March 13. Survey results indicate a 15% “intent” among non-paying Pandora users to upgrade into the Premium product. Continue Reading
Wednesday is the final day of early pricing for reservations to the RAIN Digital Audio Advertising Summit on April 12 at the House of Blues in Chicago. The half-day knowledge and networking event features deep dives into creative audio, programmatic advertising, podcasting, and new research. Continue Reading
GM and AT&T have partnered to provide in-car WiFi across the GM model line of cars equipped with OnStar 4G LTE WiFi hotspot technology. The headline is the price: $20 a month for unlimited data. That dollar number is a milestone that could accelerate the challenge faced by terrestrial radio in connected cars. Continue Reading