Anyone interested in buying, selling, or supplying technology for digital audio advertising should know about the upcoming standard specification for audio ads — DAAST (Digital Audio Ad Serving Template). Next Thursday, October 30, the IAB will host a webinar to introduce the proposed standard in a different format. Registration is free and open to everyone. Continue Reading
Programmatic ad buying is established in web display, but still a fairly new alternative for online radio and streaming audio. “It is a very important that we offer it as part of the mix,” Alexis van der Wyer, CEO of ad-tech company AdsWizz told RAIN. “I strongly believe that although it’s small in volume today, it will continue to grow. It will be an important component.” We spoke with the AdsWizz CEO before he takes the stage at RAIN Summit Europe. Continue Reading
Buying media is easy. Getting people to watch commercials is not. That’s the premise behind Pandora’s new Sponsored Listening program. The new initiative just launched with two brand partners, Fox and Sony PlayStation. Continue Reading
Last week we wrote about pre-roll ads, their benefits, with an example from Live365. This week we were on the prowl for streaming music ads that are invoked by skipping songs in an online radio station. We turned to iHeartRadio for examples, and were quickly rewarded. Continue Reading
As webcasters have submitted their royalty-rate arguments to the Copyright Royalty Board, the fight for favorable music licensing rates shifts into high gear. Broadcast law attorney Davide Oxenford takes stock of key points in the submitted briefs, clearly summarizing complex considerations. Continue Reading
Woofer Radio is the Pureplay of the Day. There are many thousands of genre pureplay Internet radio stations. Much rarer are pureplays that fearlessly cross genres with great sensibility and taste. The best examples of that sort of station build loyalty quickly for their great and unpredictable music curation that creates a surprising and satisfying experience. Continue Reading
Month-over-month webcast listening was flat in August, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. Our analysis also looks at the year-to-date view. Monthly growth was led by Idobi Radio; year-over-year gains were topped by Townsquare. Continue Reading
Demonstrating how blockbuster business deals can quickly change, AT&T has stopped offering new Beats Music subscriptions to its customers. Existing Beats subscriptions that were launched within the AT&T phone plans will continue unaffected. What directional guidance does this news offer on the question of how Apple will incorporate Beats Music? Continue Reading
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This week: Sirius XM loses again in court; NextRadio milestone; SoundCloud’s struggles; SONY publishing threat; TuneCore payouts; Twitter’s new music feature Continue Reading
Digitally Imported (DI.fm) announced details and partnerships related to its upcoming platform overhaul, which RAIN News previewed two weeks ago. The ambitious plan to build interactive features on top of a renowned electronic-music pureplay radio site is now fleshed out with key content partnerships. Continue Reading
We have liked Journal Broadcast Group’s digital initiatives since the launch of its breakthrough Radio League app in March. Radio League is a pureplay Internet radio outlet; one of its stations is called Now Trending Hits. Journal has launched a Now Trending website wich complements the pureplay station, and delivers a BuzzFeed-like assortment of newsy items. Continue Reading
David Lowery, musicians’ advocate and the foremost critic of streaming music, posted a column in which he prescribes solutions to “fix” the streaming music business model — or, more accurately, his issues with it. Lowery’s arrows are pointed at Spotify, and his suggestions are surprising. Along the way, he misses some reality points. Continue Reading