Author: Brad Hill

Streaming continues to supplant music sales: Nielsen mid-year report

Posted on by Brad Hill

Nielsen Soundscan’s annual mid-year report, issued each June, shows the first half of 2014 continuing a definitive consumer migration from purchasing albums to streaming songs. The main takeaway from Nielsen’s mid-year report is that the trend toward streaming appears to be accelerating. In January, Nielsen’s full-year report of 2013 indicated 32% growth in streaming compared to 2012. In 2014, the year-over-year pace is +42% rise in streaming at the year’s midpoint. Continue Reading →

The impact of mobile at RAIN Summit Indy

Posted on by Brad Hill

When Jason Calacanis delivered his powerful keynote address at RAIN Summit West in April, he ended with a declaration: “Mobile is the only thing that matters. Mobile is the only thing that matters. Mobile is the only thing that matters.” Calacanis was projecting into the future, and his conviction is documented in the present, with trendlines showing that audio is increasingly a walk-around activity.

RAIN Summit Indy will bring these trendlines and much more to the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on September 9, in the Mobile Is the New Black panel. Continue Reading →

Curation: The programming buzzword for 2014 which drives acquisitions

Posted on by Brad Hill

by Brad Hill

Google’s acquisition of Songza is widely regarded as a buy-in of Songza’s unique “Concierge” delivery of personalized music, based on each user’s activity and mood combined with other data signals. The backbone of Songza programming is assembled by a team of 60 music specialists, and their work is supplemented by a Big Data-fed algorithm which refines the output based on the listener’s history of song votes and song skips.

Songza’s formula, and those of other music services, which determine what a listener hears, all fall under the broad term “curation.” All music services that provide some degree of interactivity deploy a curation strategy. The underpinning of that strategy is subject to trend and vogue. How has music curation evolved, and what is the trend this year which is driving acquisitions?
Continue Reading →

Google acquires Songza

Posted on by Brad Hill

After a few weeks of speculation, Google has acquired Internet radio platform Songza. Financial details have not been disclosed.
Google’s announcement says that no immediate changes will happen to Songza, but “Over the coming months, we’ll explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music. We’ll also look for opportunities to bring their great work to the music experience on YouTube and other Google products.” Continue Reading →

RAIN Internet Radio Awards are for broadcasters, too

Posted on by Brad Hill

Nominations are flowing into the five award categories of the Fifth Annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards. The nomination deadline, July 20, is approaching. As in previous years, broadcasting brands are included in the Best Streaming Broadcast Station category. This award is for the single broadcast station that has executed the best streaming strategy. Nominate your station now! Continue Reading →

The Songza business: Conversation with Elias Roman, CEO

Posted on by Brad Hill

Internet radio platform Songza has built its reputation on the so-called Concierge method of music curation. The Concierge service seeks to understand the user’s mood and activity, match it to time of day, local weather, and other signals, combine all that with historical music preferences, and deliver a perfect soundtrack (playlist) for the moment.

This method of playlist discovery has been imitated, most recently by “The Sentence” in Beats Music. Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, and others have also gone down this path to varying extents.

Wanting to know more about the anatomy of Songza Concierge, and also how it ties into monetization through ad sales, we spoke with Elias Roman, CEO. Continue Reading →

David Oxenford: Pandora Petitions FCC for Ruling to Acquire Radio Station

Posted on by Brad Hill

Remember when Internet radio leader Pandora bought a radio station last June? The idea was to get more favorable music licensing terms, but the deal was blocked by ASCAP and remained unclosed pending FCC approval. Now, that small station in South Dakota is in the news again, as Pandora files a petition with the FCC to declare Pandora’s eligibility to acquire the terrestrial broadcaster. Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford, who is involved in the case, explains everything. Continue Reading →