Digital music distributor TuneCore announced first-quarter results — as usual, not in terms of revenue to the company, but through the lens of payouts to musician clients. Artists earned over $36-million in Q1. Continue Reading
Sirius XM released its first-quarter earnings report yesterday in an investor call that was proud, confident, and featured upward revisions to future guidance of subscriber growth and revenue. Beyond the shhining statistics, Sirius executive talked about licensing, streaming, and Spotify. Continue Reading
Edison Research announced a strategic relationship with Southern Cross Austereo, Australia’s largest radio company. The agreement will include bringing Edison’s research advancements to the Asia Pacific region, and representation of SCA’s innovations in North America Continue Reading
Last week iHeartMedia hosted a “Soundfront” to introduce a slate of new podcasts to advertisers. Today NPR is hosting a podcast upfront, promoting its most successful existing programs. The era of podcast upfronts has arrived. Continue Reading
We hadn’t heard much from Play.it, the CBS podcast listening site, when an announcement of eight added programs came across the screen. Marilu Henner and Jayson Williams are featured celebrity hosts. Continue Reading
European media giant Bauer Media has acquired Nordic broadcaster SBS Discovery Radio, from Discovery Communications pending regulatory approval. Terms of the acquisition have not been reported. Continue Reading
Yesterday in Washington, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) held an opening hearing to start the trial portion of Webcasting IV, the music royalty rate-setting process for the upcoming 2016-2020 royalty period. We spoke to sources who were in the (apparently rather small) room). Continue Reading
adStream is an ad-watch journal of interesting commercial sightings in streaming audio.
Some brands are hungry for social engagement, as much as product engagement. That’s the case with McDonald’s, which is running audio/companion ads on Pandora that lead to uniquely persistant connection with regional Twitter feeds. Continue Reading
Webcast listening rose 3% month-over-month in March, and 42% year-over-year, according to the Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker just released by Triton Digital. Pandora and Spotify drove monthly growth. Click through for historical trend charts. Continue Reading
For nearly two years, Pandora has attempted to close its $600,000 purchase of KXMZ, a Rapid City radio station. There are signs of movement now as FCC Chair Tom Wheeler has reportedly asked FCC members for a waiver in this case. Pandora would benefit from lower music royalty costs. Continue Reading
Thousands of radio stations have their simulcasts available on mobile devices. Radio stations spend billions in paid-equivalent value promoting these apps. Yet, all rolled into one they are getting a small share of listening. Continue Reading
After a six-month pause, the trial of UMG vs. Escape Media resumes today with a jury in place to set damages after a ruling of copyright infringement last September. Escape Media is the parent company of Grooveshark. the damages verdict could range as high as $736-million for the full statutory penalty. Continue Reading