The chief officer of the BMG label issued downward sentiment when he talked about the prospects of a music industry revival powered by streaming. “I am very cynical about the view that the good days have returned,” said Hartwig Masuch as quoted in Financial Times. Streaming drives the music industry now, and artists are set to demand a bigger cut from their labels. Continue Reading
BuzzAngle unceremoniously released its first-quarter 2017 music industry consumption numbers today — and only the numbers, without comment or executive summary. No problem there, as the numbers tell a clear story. Continue Reading
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal broke anonymously sourced news (e.g. rumor) that Spotify is planning an “open listing” method of becoming a publicly traded company. In the ensuing media swirl, that method has been termed an IPO-less IPO. Media reactions range from “weird” to “logical.” Continue Reading
The latest PodcastOne content partnership is with the renowned Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, and results in the launch of Geffen Playhouse Unscripted podcast. The new show dropped its first episode this week. Continue Reading
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