Author: Brad Hill

RAIN Poll results: Would you pay for a YouTube music service?

Posted on by Brad Hill

In our latest RAIN Poll, we surveyed readers with a single Yes-or-No question: Would you pay for a YouTube music service? Such a service is on the way, reportedly later this summer, offering ad-free listening/watching on some kind of YouTube-ish platform. The result of our informal poll was definite: NO. Eighty-three percent or respondents declared a negative vote on this question; 17% said they would pay. Click through to read selected comments. Continue Reading →

Vadio partners with Vevo, provides “Radio worth watching”

Posted on by Brad Hill

Last week Vadio, a video-technology platform, announced a partnership with Vevo, a music video portal. The deal gives Vadio access to Vevo videos, for inclusion in curated video streams that Vadio synchs up with radio station webcasts. Vevo embodies a catalog of 100,000 high-quality song videos, concert events, and original programming. The alliance allows Vadio to enhance its existing repertoire of videos from which it curates programming for radio stations and other clients. We talked to Vadio CEO Bryce Clemmer to get more context. Continue Reading →

U.K. top-40 chart will include streaming data

Posted on by Brad Hill

Back in February we reported that the U.K. top-40 music chart would soon incorporate online streams into its analysis of song rankings. The U.K.’s top-40 list, compiled by the Official Charts Company, will be informed by data from Spotify, Deezer, Napster (Rhapsody’s non-U.S. music-service brand), Xbox Music, Music Unlimited, and Rara, starting with the list published on Sunday, July 6. Continue Reading →

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Amazon Firefly: A twist on Shazam and SoundHound

Posted on by Brad Hill

Amazon released its much-awaited Fire phone this week, stepping into competitive waters with Apple and Google on the hardware side. At the same time, Amazon is stabbing into the music-identification space dominated by Shazam and SoundHound, each of which gives users quick song recognition and the ability to store “finds” in partner music services like Rdio and Spotify. Amazon’s most remarkable Fire phone feature is Firefly, which identifies music and much more. Continue Reading →

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Rusty Hodge: Unfairness in T-Mobile’s unmetered music streaming

Posted on by Brad Hill

Rusty Hodge is founder and general manage of SomaFM, one of the most enduring and successful pureplay Internet radio outlets. Started in 2000, SomaFM now operates 20 stations, of which Groove Salad is perhaps the best known. In this guest column, he proposes that T-Mobile’s unmetered music-streaming initiative is unfair to independent online radio stations, possibly violates net neutrality principles, and can be solved. Continue Reading →

Easter for Earbits: A music service resurrected

Posted on by Brad Hill

Less than a week ago, interactive music service Earbits announced its sudden closure. Details were scant, but lack of funding seemed to be the problem, when CEO Joey Flores said, “We bit off more than we could chew.” Today, Flores sent a celebratory note to registered users announcing that a heroic (and unnamed) investor had stepped in to revive the service, which had been dark for five days. Continue Reading →

SoundExchange introduces the Digital Radio Report, explaining royalties paid to artists

Posted on by Brad Hill

SoundExchange released the first edition of a new quarterly royalty breakdown called Digital Radio Report — an animated infographic that promotes SoundExchange’s contribution to the economy of streaming music (plus comedy), and reveals general music-licensing information to demystify how royalties work. Continue Reading →

RAIN Poll: Would you pay for a YouTube music service?

Posted on by Brad Hill

Would you pay for a YouTube music service? That’s a choice YouTube users will have by the end of the summer, according to recent reports.

It’s an unusual value proposition, because YouTube is already the most popular music-listening (and watching) platform in the world, with over a billion users. We don’t know many details about the new subscription service Google will roll out for YouTube, but we know it will be ad-free.

Vote your choice, and leave a comment! Selected comments will be published with poll results. Continue Reading →

T-Mobile game changer: Unlimited data for music

Posted on by Brad Hill

Wireless company T-Mobile announced a change to its cell-phone service plans that potentially impacts how consumers choose their telecom providers, music services, and even cars. Called Music Freedom, it affords unlimited music streaming for “major” music services, regardless of the plan’s data cap. A related deal with Rhapsody sweetens the package. In an era when paying for data can be more burdensome than paying for music, this initiative could turn some heads. Continue Reading →