Rhapsody surprised the industry with an un-forewarned announcement that it would consolidate around its subsidiary brand Napster, which it acquired in January, 2012. Napster has been the public-facing brand of the Rhapsody on-demand music service in non-U.S. markets. The announcement is bare-bones. Napster is a trademark with a rich history. Continue Reading
This week Spotify will release the newest edition of its ongoing consumer survey that seeks to measure listening reach — specifically how Spotify Free compares to local AM/FM radio. The results offer a view of radio listening that unites traditional broadcast with Spotify Free, the ad-supported listening tier. Continue Reading
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, long an advocate of recording artists getting paid by terrestrial radio, blew some oxygen into that crusade with an OpEd column published online. The debate of this issue might seem simple, but has underlying complications. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in April continued its upward trajectory, growing by 2% compared to March, and notched a 16% rise year-over-year climb. These numbers courtesy of Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, released this morning. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Troy Carter goes to Spotify — is it a trend signal? Also The Pirate Bay returns to its original domain and Apple’s App Store is getting a big revamp. Continue Reading
WGMC-FM in Rochester, New York (Jazz90.1) announced a plan to launch an original pureplay station starting in August. The originally programmed stream will feature blues on weekdays and big band tracks on weekends. Jazz90.1 is owned by a school district in Greece, NY (near Rochester) and is publicly funded, drawing support from listeners and businesses. Continue Reading
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Ten semifinalists were named in Radiotopia’s “Podquest” contest. These 10 producers are developing shows whose descriptions illustrate a high level of podcast creativity, and their topical descriptions cut an oblique angle through the traditional podcast categories presented by Apple. One winner will emerge. How will the other nine fare when Apple’s old-fashioned categories have so much clout?
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Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Women gain more voice in podcasting; three Afro-American women add color to Seattle’s podcast scene; are streaming music services re-calibrating to reduce free listening? Continue Reading
The National Association of Broadcasters’ (NAB’s) Pilot research division has complete a survey of FM capability in U.S. smartphones sold in 2015. While FM reception continues to advance in the U.S. smartphone footprint, it remains mostly absent, and one unfortunate fact is likely to keep it that way. Continue Reading
Media conglomerate E.W. Scripps has acquired podcast listening app Stitcher from global music service Deezer, which acquired Stitcher in October, 2014. The acquisition places Stitcher within Midroll Media, a podcast distribution and sales company, which Scripps purchased in July of last year. We spoke to Midroll exec Lex Friedman about what this means for Midroll Media. Continue Reading
In a keynote interview at MIDEM over the weekend, Pandora CEO Tim Westergren talked about Pandora’s plan to build an on-demand service to complement its market-leading streaming radio platform, and the company’s support of the music industry. Along the way, Westergren reiterated his company’s explicit mission to replace broadcast radio, and why that’s a good thing for listeners and musicians. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has announced streaming stations that focus on hits from single years. Called Class of Radio, the idea is to pick your graduation year. In our test, we heard an ad-free station sponsored by a student loan refinancing company — a nice campaign tie-in. Continue Reading