VuHaus, the public radio music video destination (profiled by RAIN News in January) is nearing its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, it plans to live-stream part of the NON-COMM Convention in Philadelphia on May 19. In January VuHaus obtained a renewal of its operating grant from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Continue Reading
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Audience measurement in podcasting is the most notorious issue that producers and network distributors face. But, infamous though podcast analytics are, not everybody is unhappy. One thing for sure though: Data drives digital audio forward. Continue Reading
U.K. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale addressed the British House of Commons today, and released a whitepaper, laying out operational and programming principles that will formulate the next BBC Royal Charter — that is, in Whittingdale’s words, the constitutional basis for the BBC. The next 11-year term of the charter begins in 2017. Continue Reading
Eddie Sotelo, popularly called Piolin, has signed with new podcast network reVOLVER, which programs and targets the Spanish-language audience. ReVOLVER launched in February with bilingual on-demand audio aimed at a multicultural audience. The startup will assume exclusive distribution and ad representation of the Mexican’born star’s podcast. Continue Reading
Comedy has been part of music services for years, though it doesn’t get much trade ink. While you can listen to tracks from comedy albums in music services, there are problems which combine to under-serve comedy fans. A new startup aims to fix those problems with a dedicated comedy streaming service that has unique technology under the hood. Continue Reading
Digital audio advertising platform TargetSpot announced an alliance with LiveRamp, a tech company that helps advertisers connect with targeted audience segments. The deal becomes part of a complex data ecosystem which lifts streaming audio above linear audio in its ability to target precise audience groups and satisfy advertiser demand for data-rich audio campaigns. Continue Reading
Australian company Omny announced that is has developed podcast consumption analytics as part of Omny Studio, its publishing and hosting platform for on-demand audio. The intent of new analytics is to raise the game from traditional download metrics to a more granular view of how the programs are listened to. The company would like to develop an industry-wide standard. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia President Rich Bressler called digital “a nice add-on to broadcast radio,” particularly in the social outreach of its main brand and its hundreds of stations. And he had more to say about programmatic advertising keeping the company in parity with natively digital media. Continue Reading
SNL Kagan generously sent RAIN News a copy of its annual Economics of Internet Music and Radio report. The 41-page document provides a detailed overview of major players, growth projection in revenue terms for webcasting traditional radio and pureplay internet radio (and how the two trendlines compare), and an outlook for in-car listening. Continue Reading
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The news that Pandora acquired its second streaming podcast deal underscores the sometimes uncomfortable division in how podcasts are consumed — download or stream? Technically, the difference is artificial. But it becomes more important as a usability issue, and in audience measurement. Several mostly-music services are prioritizing podcast streaming, and stretching the definition of podcast consumption. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling of new webcast royalty rates to labels was published in the Federal Register yesterday, per process schedule. Now begins a one-month appeal window, during which participants may file litigation which contests the ruling. Who is permitted to appeal, and who is not? Click for details. Continue Reading
RAIN News has learned that Radionomy has pulled its stations from TuneIn’s U.S. listening audience, over the cost of music licensing under the new Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) royalty rates. Radionomy told RAIN News that the company asked TuneIn to geo-block the U.S. from Radionomy streams. It is the latest disruption in the webcast industry coming from CRB rates implemented on January 1. Continue Reading