Brief news items and worthy reads from around the Internet: Prince criticizes U2; do lawsuits for pre-1972 royalties threaten digital music?; Spotify’s semi-secret info sessions; what’s up at The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. Should on-demand music streaming cost less? Or, because the ad-supported listening model is preeminent, is is Apple’s initiative a non-starter? Continue Reading
The long-awaited dot-RADIO domain (e.g. BrandName.radio) is a step closer to becoming reality, but not without a new chapter in a controversy which started last October. Today, BRS Media, which administers the purchase of dot-FM and dot-AM domains, will announce it has filed a Reconsideration Request to ICANN against its preliminary choice for administrator — the European Broadcast Union (EBU). We spoke to BRS Media CEO George Bundy for his insights. Continue Reading
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An eight-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. The weekly update of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio, from RAIN News. This week: Sirius XM, Rosanne Cash, audio on the brain, Grooveshark, Google, eMusic, Spotify, and the RIAA. Continue Reading
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is accepting comments for the Digital Audio Ad Service Template (DAAST), which was released on September 8. Click through for a link to the review document, and how to submit comments. Continue Reading
Inside Radio tells us that Verstandig Broadcasting is pushing back against the recent magistrate recommendation that the case be thrown out. Verstandig is suing SoundExchange, seeking an exemption from paying royalties for recordings used in the online streams of Verstandig stations. the case hinges on an argued loophole in the Copyright Act, which potentially allows a royalty exemption for retransmitted music in a 150-mile radius, representing a typical terrestrial signal reach. It’s all a bit obscure, but significant. Continue Reading
The latest outburst in the high-profile Spotify debate does more than just criticize streaming, it condemns it. Rosanne Cash, who testified in a congressional music-licensing hearing this summer, stirred up mixed reactions with two recent Facebook posts in which she equated streaming with music piracy, and also continued her impassioned campaign to alter U.S. copyright regulations. Continue Reading
As reports emanate from Advertising Week in New York, RAIN is preparing to continue the focus on digital audio advertising at RAIN Summit Europe, November 4, at 1 Wimpole Street, London. Produced in cooperation with the IAB UK, the conference agenda features four panel discussions which will explore the topic of advertising strategies in streaming audio: Continue Reading
Radionomy announced a new version of RadioManager, its software for producers who manage Internet stations on the Radionomy platform. New features of the upgrade include greater control of commercial placement and workflow automation for payment to producers. Importantly related to income, the new workstation opens monetization of audiences in Spain and Germany. Continue Reading
It’s Advertising Week in New York this week. Jennifer Lane was there, and attended a panel sponsored by XAPP Media featuring a discussion of online audio ad campaigns. Bryan Moffett of NPR, Brian Benedik of Spotify, and Cathy Csukas of AdLarge talked about the push to offer innovative opportunities to advertisers. Continue Reading
In a wide-ranging conversation with Digitally Imported executives,, RAIN learned that the leading Electronic Music online radio outlet is planning an ambitious evolution of the service. The new Digitally Imported, details of which will be divulged later this month, will position itself as a complete music consumption platform for EDM and other sub-genres of electronic music, combining music discovery and buying functions in a way that founder Ari Shohat describes as “integrated in unique, special ways.” Continue Reading
adStream is a journal of ad-stalking and interesting commercial sightings in online audio services. It had been a while since we had turned our ad-stalking attention to Slacker Radio. We wanted to see whether Slacker deployed a similar full-court press as Pandora, which frequently covers our phone screen with a graphic ad that must be manually closed to see what’s playing. Continue Reading