8tracks, a unique playlisting service that has moved in and out of profitability during the last several years, sent an email to investors yesterday disclosing results of a funding campaign, and announcing an upcoming shift of its business model. 8tracks will move away from ad-supported listening, becoming mainly a subscription service. Continue Reading
Audio ad sales company AdLarge and media software company Marketron have announced an alliance to develop a new programmatic platform for radio. The platform will leverage Marketron’s Mediascape marketplace, and promises to deliver key values of programmatic advertising. Continue Reading
AERO, the Spanish Online Radio Association, has announced that it will develop a comprehensive certification of Spanish internet radio stations and podcasts. The work will culminate in a “Certified Directory of Online Radio,” to be published in December.Internet radio stations and podcasts which can demonstrate Spanish listenership may request participation. Continue Reading
In France, the Syndicat National de l’Edition Phonographique (SNEP) is the trade body which advocates for the French record industry and compiles music charts. This year SNEP changed its chart calculations to factor streaming. There is a twist here. Continue Reading
Heidi Browning, Senior Vice President, Strategic Solutions at Pandora, is leaving the company to become Chief Marketing Manager at the National Hockey League. Browning describes herself as a “digital marketing passionista,” and has spoken at RAIN Summits. Continue Reading
Triton digital announced today that it will represent XAPP Ads on Slacker Radio, adding a new business dimension to Triton’s repping of Slacker’s audio inventory. XAPP Ads are voice-activated audio commercials created by XAPPmedia. Continue Reading
With its announcement of on-demand subscription services, iHeartMedia is stepping into a music-service pool swimming with sharks like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, and others. Stiff and more or less established competition, but none of those existing services has the gigantic promotional leverage of iHeart’s radio network, which has been activated already. Continue Reading
In another victory for the idea that online radio is “real” radio, St Louis-based TheRoots.fm has won the Reader’s Choice award for Best Radio Station in the Riverfront Times. Two years ago, the station helped reverse a decision that online radio stations were ineligible for the aware. Continue Reading
Ever since first getting wind of it, we have gotten a kick out of the name collision occurring between this column’s title and the new collaborative research project of DMR/Interactive and Texas A&M University: The Download on Podcasting. We also learned more about what the year-long research project is hoping to achieve. Continue Reading
The percentage of media buying strategy dedicated to digital audio will grow from 7.5% today to 14.8% in two years, nearly a doubling of commitment to digital audio. That is the headline result of a newly released survey collaboration produced by AdAge and The Trade Desk. Continue Reading
Following last year’s Discover Weekly, and this year’s Release Radar, Spotify today injected a new auto-generated playlist feature called Daily Mix into iOS and Android mobile apps. It is a strong feature, musically and strategically. Continue Reading
SHOUTcast, the webcast solution platform owned by Radionomy Group (which acquired it from AOL in 2014), has released new client software. In the release, SHOUTcast introduces monetization and analytics features intended to give webcasters a turnkey solution to starting and maintaining an internet radio station. Continue Reading