Crowdsourced listening platform 8tracks upgraded its web browser interface, pushing new features for both sides of the 8tracks equation — listeners and playlist creators. We spoke with Founder asnd CEO David Porter to understand what’s new. Continue Reading
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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: RAIN Summit Europe, Taylor Swift and Spotify, SoundCloud and Warner Music, licensing news, Beats Music on airplanes, a new podcast network, and streaming audiobooks. Continue Reading
Advertising and monetization of streaming audio was a key topic at RAIN Summit Europe (Nov. 4 in London). In the “Streaming Ad Sales Strategies” panel, programmatic advertising got a lot of attention. Read highlights and listen to the entire panel. Continue Reading
Thanks to sponsoring partner AudioBoom, the audio recordings of RAIN Summit Europe (Nov. 4 in London) were posted in nearly real-time. Below is the AudioBoom playlist of the whole day’s sessions. Stay tuned for videos, coming soon. Also, in days to come we will post reports of key panels, quotes, news, Twitter updates, and other details from RAIN’s third annual European trade conference for the online audio industry. Continue Reading
Pop princess Taylor Swift remains one of the most visible holdouts on Spotify and she has taken a bold action in the ongoing fight between artists and streaming platforms. She withheld her much-anticipated album 1989 from Spotify upon its initial release on Oct. 27. Today, she has chosen to remove her entire back catalog from the platform as well. Continue Reading
Media technology company WideOrbit announced the hiring of Brian Burdick as EVP of Digital and Programmatic. Burdick will step in as head of WO Central, the company’s buying and selling platform, as well as recent acquisitions Fivia, Abacast, and Admeta. WideOrbit is investing aggressively in acquisitions and talent. Click through for details. Continue Reading
Triton Digital announed today that it is DAAST-compliant, among the first technology providers to fully adopt the proposed audio advertising standard. DAAST was developed by the IAB and its Digital Audio Ad Serving Template Working Group. Triton’s announcement applies to its recently launched Tap advertising platform, released in September. DAAST is a technical ecosystem in which advertisers, publishers, agencies, and consumer playback devices are aligned to coherently deliver and track streaming audio advertising. Continue Reading
Will the Future of Audio panel at RAIN Summit Europe, Nov. 4 in London, answer every question facing the industry? Possibly! For sure, it will be a fascinating discussion with an expert panel representing different dimensions of audio. We reached out to the panelists to capture glimpses of the future. Continue Reading
Always on the lookout for good pureplay music represented by an easily usable interface, we are delighted to recommend Blue North Radio on both counts. Why north? The station features Canadian blues artists in the playlist, alongside standards. We’re picky about the blues. This station is a keeper. Continue Reading
A new online radio service launched this week: Mad Genius Radio. It is technically and legally a non-interactive online radio platform (like Pandora). But the interface invites much more customization than other lean-back services. It is fun, addictive, and an interesting new user experience in streaming audio. Continue Reading
STRATA, a media buying platform that connects advertisers with media publishers, has re-positioned Pandora’s ratings profile on its dashboard, separating it from radio stations, according to Inside Radio and RAIN News sources. The action represents the latest twist in a long path of Pandora competing against U.S. broadcast radio for advertising dollars. RAIN spoke to several sources for comment. Continue Reading
Programmatic advertising is well established in the web display industry, and growing fast in video. Radio (broadcast and streaming) lags behind, but awareness is growing as ad-buying software platforms become more sophisticated for audio. What is the future? For Gordon Borrell, the answer is clear: Programmatic will take over audio ad buying and selling, and sales reps face elimination and changing roles. Continue Reading