Earbits, an interactive music service specializing in independent music with unique business and revenue models, is closing as of Monday. Earbits went down an unusual path in providing new kinds of value to listeners and artists, connecting its audience to bands via artist merchandise, mailing lists, and social sharing. Continue Reading
This weekly podcast is a quick and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories.
This week: Apple’s announcements …. The future of the music industry … the U.S. government might change music licensing … and independent labels throw YouTube under the bus. Continue Reading
RAIN Hotspots: the five most-read articles of the week. Triton Digital webcast metrics…SoundExchange CEO says radio hurts music sales…KCRW launched gleaming new website…iTunes Radio goes broadcast…review of Amazon’s Prime Music Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthwhile reads from around the web: Is Amazon Prime Music the future of digital music? And an obituary for East Village Radio. Continue Reading
File this under Friday Fun. Apple will pay $3-billion for all of Beats (the electronics and music-service divisions) when the deal closes later this year. Source reveal that the Beats Music portion of the merger is accounted at $500-million. Yielding to temptation, we ran the numbers and hereby propose (not with an entirely straight face) some stratospheric prices. Continue Reading
Amazon’s gleaming-new music subscription service stepped into the market today, and we dove in quickly for a test drive.
Prime Music feels like a beta service on its first morning. We found problems with playing music, and an unwieldy system for streaming whole songs, albums, and playlists, which should be easy in an on-demand streaming service. The catalog is demonstrably small, with obvious voids in which one’s listening hopes are extinguished.
But all this might not matter to the intended audience, which is (for now, at least) existing Amazon Prime members. As of today, Prime Music is instantly one of the largest music subscription services in the world. Continue Reading
Rumor turned to reality fast, as yesterday’s reports of an imminent Prime Music launch came true this morning. With Amazon Prime membership estimated between 10-million and 20-million existing subscribers, Prime Music instantly becomes one of the largest subscription music services in the world. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthwhile reads from around the web: Cassette Store Day, Dr. Dre, an unusual Spotify protest Continue Reading
SPECIAL COVERAGE
On Tuesday the U.S House Judiciary Committee held the first of two hearings in its review of music licensing. These hearings potentially affect all stakeholders: radio stations, online music services, webcasters, performers, and creators.
Sharply-worded arguments politely flew around the House chamber. One congressman issued a powerful and comprehensive call for change. It was momentum vs. inertia, reform vs. status quo. Four main issues were in play:
Los Angeles radio station KCRW has launched a newly designed website containing archived and feature content in addition to a live webcast stream. The new site kicks off a $10-million initiative that will invest the money in technology and programming. Continue Reading
“Redefining classical radio” is how Spacesfm (www.spacesfm.com) markets its Internet-only station. It’s a whopping redefinition, but one that many non-classical listeners relate to. It is possible (even advisable) to spend long amounts of time on Spacesfm. We plan to. Continue Reading
As previously speculated, Apple has added ESPN Radio and a selection of local NPR radio stations to its online radio streams. In doing so, Apple borrows a page from leading radio-station aggregators TuneIn and iHeartRadio. We found minor glitches. Continue Reading