iHeartRadio is the first streaming music service to plant its flag in the Yo App Index. Yo is a simple social messaging service that launched in April, and has about two-million users. Continue Reading
The biggest podcast hit today is “Serial,” a wholly original spinoff of This American Life. The true-crime show which investigates a real-world murder case, delivers 1.5-million downloads per episode, and iTunes (the most important distribution point for podcasting in general), noted today that Serial was the fastest podcast to reach five-million downloads and streams. The program is seeking donations to spin off from “This American Life” for a second season. Continue Reading
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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: YouTube Music Key subscription service; Irving Azoff prepares to sue; Beats Music in iOS; Uber & Spotify invent the connected taxi; Pandora is king of mobile; Billboard chart is modernized for streaming; NPR streaming metrics; listening to sports on TuneIn. Continue Reading
TuneIn has built a powerful differentiation in sports streaming this year, and today announced another notch in its belt. The streaming platform has partnered with IMG and Learfield Sports to carry broadcasts of 85 men’s college basketball teams, including top-ranked programs. Continue Reading
“I have good news and I have bad news,” states Steve Mulder, Director of User Experience and Analytics at NPR Digital Services. He analyzed third-quarter metrics of stream performance across 173 NPR stations (data sourced from Triton Digital). Continue Reading
Installing Beats Music as a built-in iOS app creates headlines, and is an obvious maneuver, but it barely lessens the challenge faced by Apple in the brutal music subscription space. It will not, by itself, move the needle for Beats or Apple. A crucial new effort is needed, and Apple has not demonstrated creativity in the music space for years. Continue Reading
With the “freemium” model of ad-supported, semi-interactive listening under attack in some quarters, YouTube has formalized whole-album listening in its new YouTube Music section. The impact might be to raise consumer expectation of a highly interactive feature in a free, ad-supported service. Continue Reading
Radical.FM, an innovative online radio service that has been available only in mobile, extended its presence by launching a desktop version for computer listening. We took a tour through the multi-genre mixer that defines Radical.FM’s interface, and spoke with Tom McAlevey, founder, CEO, and serial online radio entrepreneur. Continue Reading
In a brisk 51-minute conference call with investors yesterday, Pandora described its strategy in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceeding, explained why it thinks music licensing costs (to labels) should be lower, and fielded questions about the company’s key partnership with Merlin labels. Although Pandora executives often speak at investor conferences, and conduct quarterly earnings calls, the single-topic focus of yesterday’s call was unusual. Continue Reading
NextRadio, the Emmis-owned smartphone app that tunes in FM station over the air, has employed New York ad agency DeVito/Verdi to build an awareness campaign, according to a press release from the agency. The NAB “is supporting” the agency choice. NextRadio rrecently passed the million-download milestone. Any awareness campaign faces complicated messaging. Continue Reading
Freemium — the layer of streaming music which is designed to funnel users into paid music subscriptions at services like Spotify, Rdio, and Slacker. Freemium streaming is ad-supported, and we were curious about spot load in Freemium listening. We put it to a test. Continue Reading
In an initiative marked by repeated long delays, it is perhaps unsurprising that Music Key, YouTube’s new music subscription service which was supposed to start today, has been pushed back to tomorrow. In other Music Key news, it is widely reported that a rumored subscriber connection between Music Key and Google’s audio-only subscription service, All Access, will indeed happen. Continue Reading