The news of Sirius XM’s $480 million in Pandora wasn’t the only big development for the audio company today: Pandora has sold Ticketfly to Eventbrite for $200 million. Here, we also get a little more insight into what the outlook is within Pandora, both on the recent business activities and on its future direction. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has acquired CMRRA (Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency). CMRRA licenses mechanical and reproduction rights for streaming platforms, physical formats, satellite radio, and analog broadcasting. This purchase marks SoundExchange’s first move into publishing rights. Continue Reading
Spotify announced that it has acquired Mediachain Labs. The company specializes in blockchain research and open source protocols for data management. Mediachain employees will join Spotify’s New York City team. Continue Reading
7digital has made another acquisition. The latest purchase is FlowRadio, an aggregator of live radio stations, on-demand radio programs and podcasts. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Continue Reading
B2B digital audio services provider 7digital has acquired competitor 24-7, according to an exclusive report from MIDiA Research. The music services provider has assumed full ownership of the long-time rival business from MediaMarktSaturn, a German retail company. Continue Reading
Spotify has acquired a UK startup, further growing its behind-the-scenes tech capabilities. Sonalytic, which was just founded in April 2016, specializes in audio detection. No financial details were disclosed. Continue Reading
Nielsen has completed its acquisition of Gracenote. Nielsen has predicted that the Gracenote purchase will have a neutral impact on its 2017 financial results and will be slightly accretive in 2018. The buyout was first announced in December 2016. Continue Reading
In an answer to the industry-wide question of how CBS Radio will separate from parent company CBS, we learn today that it will merge with Entercom. In this venture, CBS Radio abandons the much-speculated IPO path. Entercom, now the fourth-largest U.S. commercial radio group, will grow to 244 stations. Continue Reading
Independent label services company [PIAS] has acquired Inertia Music, another business within that indie niche. Inertia is an Australian company specializing in independent music sales, distribution, and label services. It also runs an in-house label, which has signed popular artists such as Sia, M83, and Robyn. Continue Reading
SESAC has been acquired by the Blackstone Group. The collection and licensing society bills itself as the only one in the U.S. handling public performance, mechanical, synchronization and other rights under a single umbrella. Financial details of the acquisition have not been revealed, but the deal is projected to close by the end of Q1 2017. Continue Reading
Rumor has come to fact as Nielsen has acquired music data company Gracenote from parent company Tribune Media. The market-leading metadata company for music, video, and sports content, Gracenote instantly gives Nielsen an extraordinary level of intelligence about what’s playing, and where. Continue Reading
BandPage announced several upcoming changes to its feature set as part of its acquisition by YouTube earlier this year. The video platform bought the direct-to-fan service in February. Starting March 1, 2017, several core features of the BandPage service will be discontinued, including Bandpage.com public-facing profiles and the BandPage store and events. Continue Reading