Author: Brad Hill

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Rhapsody unRadio: Shrewdly targeting Pandora and Spotify

Posted on by Brad Hill

In its most important structural change in years, and a meaningful expansion of its business model, on-demand music service Rhapsody has announced unRadio, and added the new listening experience to all its apps. At the same time, Rhapsody is starting a partnership with T-Mobile, wherein unRadio is available free of charge to T-Mobile wireless cell-phone customers.

As a stand-alone service, whether through T-Mobile or not, unRadio shrewdly combines lean-back listening, similar to Pandora, with on-demand interactivity, similar to Spotify and Rhapsody’s own Premier plan. Rhapsody is effectively straddling the gulf between free listening supported by advertising, and the full interactivity of a celestial music jukebox. It could hit a sweet spot for some music-lovers. Continue Reading →

Introducing RAIN News job listings

Posted on by Brad Hill

We are pleased to announce that we now offer job listings on the site. RAIN News reaches a concentrated audience of industry professionals in Internet radio, broadcast, and vendors to both industries, plus a more general readership of industry observers. A recent reader survey revealed that over 70% of respondents visit RAIN News at least once a week. Over 70% characterized RAIN News as “the leading industry publication for online audio.” Continue Reading →

Edison Research releases “Share of Ear” study: AM/FM at 52% of all listening sources

Posted on by Brad Hill

Edison Research has released a summary of what it characterizes as a “groundbreaking” study of what American adults and teens listen to. Called Share of Ear, it is a new research franchise for Edison, which earlier this year released the 22nd edition of its annual The Infinite Dial study.

All told, the study reveals that Americans listen to just over four hours of audio per day. AM/FM radio accounts for 52.1% of those four hours each day. Internet music listening gets 11.6% of the “Ear.” Owned music, which represents non-streamed and non-broadcast listening, takes 20.3% of listening in the study. Continue Reading →

A survey of crowdfunded podcasts

Posted on by Brad Hill

Podcasting is a surging content category in online audio, but still off the mainstream path compared with Internet radio and music-service giants and their multi-billion-dollar valuations. Aggregators and producers such as Podcast One and Midroll Media are leveraging new platforms to raise awareness, and revenue, of online-only talk programs. Out on the fringe, some podcast creators are seeking funding and visibility on crowdfunding platforms.

Knowing about The Media Podcast project inspired us to survey crowdfunders Kickstarter and Indiegogo to observe how podcast creators are using them, and to what extent they are succeeding. Continue Reading →

adStream: Spotify to pitch video sponsorships of entire playlists

Posted on by Brad Hill

At RAIN Summit NYC in February, Gary Liu, Global Head of Industry Development at Spotify, suggested a novel advertising strategy during a panel session. Liu speculated that music-service listeners might be willing to play ads on demand, in order to clear out advertising for an extended stretch of uninterrupted music listening. There were some chuckles in the audience over that, but a report in AdAge indicates that Spotify will pitch a similar idea to advertisers at this week’s Cannes Lions festival. Continue Reading →

iHeartRadio 5.0: new app, focus on personalization

Posted on by Brad Hill

Review by Brad Hill

Clear Channel updated its iHeartRadio app, overhauling the design with a more compact and usable presentation, while adding a level of instant personalization for new users. We tested the upgrade in its Android version, which was released slightly before the iOS version for Apple devices. Long-time users will appreciate the tightened, more intelligent design choices in the new app.

iHeartRadio 5.0 is seems to have a dual targeting strategy: attracting new users, and improving the experience for existing audience. It’s a big audience: 345-million app downloads and 50-million registered users Continue Reading →

RAIN Summit Indy to present vital copyright issues

Posted on by Brad Hill

In what most observers regard as a crucial year for music licensing, copyright, and royalties, RAIN Summit Indy will face the issues head-on with a panel of experts to demystify the complexities and throw light on the issues. The Royalty Reset session will discuss the potential impact on the Internet radio industry of possible changes to the U.S. music-licensing regulations. It comes at a time when, remarkably, nearly all parties involved (music rights owners, performing rights organizations, senators and members of congress, musicians) agree that current law is broken. But there is no accord on which parts need overhaul. Continue Reading →