Audio production and media syndication company Benztown announced a partnership with ConnectPal, a content marketplace for independent creators. Benztown will put its talent assets into ConnectPal’s monetization platform, and has also taken a financial stake of an undisclosed amount in ConnectPal. Continue Reading
According to a press release from Aspiro, the owners of WiMP and Tidal, the company has been approached with a bid for a public takeover. The roughly $56 million offer came from Project Panther Bidco, which is indirectly owned by S. Carter Enterprises. That sounds like a fairly routine acquisition, aside from the pertinent detail that S. Carter stands for Shawn Carter, better known as rap icon Jay-Z. Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify “has expressed a desire” to raise $500-million in private investment, and is working with Goldman Sachs to achieve it. Meanwhile, in an unrelated analysis, past RAIN Summit keynoter Jason Calacanis predicts that Facebook will acquire Spotify. Continue Reading
In a development that could impact streaming audience share of the competitive music-service market, Sony announced that it will launch PlayStation Music with Spotify as an exclusive partner. This means an integrated music service is coming to the PlayStation Network’s 64 million active users. Continue Reading
Ad-tech company XAPPmedia and mobile app developer jacapps have partnered to create JAX, a premium advertising service for the mobile audience. The alliance integrates voice-activated XAPP Ads into the jacapps mobile platform. Continue Reading
Triton Digital today announced an exclusive partnership with eXelate to develop the first Data Management Platform (DMP) dedicated to streaming audio. The streaming audio industry is getting its first dedicated Big Data-crunching platform, better enabling participation in cross-channel ad campaigns. Continue Reading
If audio-on-demand is a key phrase for 2015, a new partnership sets the stage. On-demand audio hosting platform AudioBoom has partnered with mobile services company Nobex Radio to provide on-demand audio listening to radio station listeners on their mobile devices. Continue Reading
Beleaguered retailer Tesco, which owns 3,300 stores in the U.K., and a portfolio of media assets under the Blinkbox brand, has reportedly sold its video Blinkbox service to phone company TalkTalk. Blinkbox Music, which announced a million streams last September, is not part of the deal, but a buyer is reportedly lined up. Continue Reading
Deezer announced that it has bought Muve Music, a streaming service for phones only, from Cricket, a U.S. wireless carrier. Muve will be expanded to include Deezer’s song library and open up smart radio stations. Deezer will still be offering Muve to Cricket customers; the service will cost $6 for those who are signed up for a monthly cell phone plan of at least $35. Continue Reading
SoundHound released an upgrade to its Android app, adding the ability to throw a tagged song into a Spotify playlist. Long-time users will say “Finally!” to the app refresh, which brings this essential feature in Android up to parity with SoundHound for iOS. Continue Reading
Universal Music Group has entered into a new partnership with Havas Group to form the Global Music Data Alliance. This data-centric entity will use Havas’ algorithms to analyze information about UMG artists, from ticket sales to streaming counts to social media stats, to look for new revenue opportunities. In particular, GMDA will examine behavioral data to better understand the relationships between artists, fans, and brands. Continue Reading
Audio ad-representation firm AdLarge continues a recent streak of news by announcing an exclusive national advertising sales-rep agreement with Hotspot.fm, an Internet radio app. Spokespeople for Hotspot.fm told RAIN News that the app is recently launched to the U.S. market. Continue Reading