One of the most interesting aspects of the full determination just released by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is the detailed argument put forward by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) that radio simulcasts should pay a lower music royalty rate than pureplay webcasting (e.g. Pandora). The copyright judges praised the NAB witness presentations, but ultimately rejected the attempt. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published its full determination, as expected following the very brief announcement of new webcast royalty rates on December 16. To whatever extent small webcasters cast a hopeful wish that the complete royalty rate decision would offer some sign of a special provision for low-revenue Internet radio, that hope is dashed. Continue Reading
Yesterday. There were acquisition rumors. There was an earnings call. There was a jittery-up-and-down stock price. In the middle of all that, Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews laid out the company’s key lines of strategy in this ambitious and pivotal year. Continue Reading
This week in 2010, Spotify was still 18 months away from opening in the U.S., and music subscription streaming had not caught the imagination of American consumers. We throw back to pundits wondering whether “renting” music would ever catch on. Continue Reading
Edison Research presented new research at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville this week. The slide presentation is a dazzling, Star Wars-influenced “Ear Wars” show complete with deep-space Lucas-style video backgrounds. Within, Edison reveals new numbers from its ongoing Share of Ear study. Continue Reading
Sacramento rock fans enjoy a refreshingly uncommercialized option as “The Brew” launches today on 107.1-FM with a 10,000-song commercial-free promotion of its Rock-formatted station. We chatted with Program Director Paul Boris. Continue Reading
Weekends were invented for catching up on new podcasts. We’ll check the historical accuracy of that statement, and in the meantime we present new and almost-new shows for your consideration. Happy Friday. Continue Reading
Miami-based audio advertising company Audio.Ad has hired Nestor Perinot as VP of Sales, bringing the company’s technology and business development to the U.S. Audio.Ad, which is owned by Cisneros Interactive, has marketed its advertising solution mainly in Latin America. Continue Reading
In an executive shuffle along the newly established migratory path between radio and streaming, Chris Price of thought-leading consultancy New Slang Media will join BBC 1 and Xtra as Head of Music, replacing George Ergoutadis. Continue Reading
Radionomy-owned digital advertising platform TargetSpot announced a new partnership with Internet radio platform MixRadio, to sell inventory in France, Germany, and Switzerland. The alliance starts this month. Continue Reading
The burgeoning podcast category is enjoying growing audience, investment, and revenue. At the same time, success and potential are compromised by confusion and disagreement about how to measure consumption and listening. Today sees the release of a proposed standard of podcast measurement, created by a working group of public radio station representatives, and intended to unify data collection and analysis of public radio’s on-demand audio. the long-term intent is to drive a technical measurement standard for all podcasting. Continue Reading
This week’s Q4 earnings call for Sirius XM provided a snapshot of company financials and projections, as these calls always do, and some color around company strategy and aspirations. Click through for excerpts. Continue Reading