KKBOX, a leading Asian streaming music platform, has obtained a $104-million venture investment from GIC, which the company calls “Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.” The company says it will use the money to develop its listening platform and expand to new markets. Continue Reading
iStreamMedia, an Internet radio directory and streaming-music company, announced that it has partnered its iStreamRadio division with Radionomy’s online radio platform. iStreamRadio is a directory service that highlights online-only pureplay stations, and was launched in June of this year. Continue Reading
As the latest in a series of sports-related announcements, TuneIn has struck a deal with IMG College to stream audio play-by-play of hundreds of college football games. The collaboration involves 60 teams, including Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Washington, and Washington State. TuneIn has emphasized sports content all year, as a key platform differentiator. Continue Reading
Pandora inked its first direct record-label deal thanks to its new partnership with Merlin. Under this arrangement, Pandora will negotiate its payments directly with the independent rights group for the music Merlin represents rather than paying the Copyright Royalty Board’s statutory rates. Continue Reading
Rhapsody is bringing two music discovery startups into the fold with acquisitions announced today. Statements from Rhapsody about the acquisitions seemed to imply that neither standalone product would immediately be shuttered, but it does seem likely that the new team members will be putting their expertise toward some new features for the streaming platform. Continue Reading
Following its purchase of the platform in July, Google has revamped Songza’s terms of service. Songza members are required to agree to the new ToS from Google and its privacy policy, as well as agree to transfer their personal information from Songza to Google. Users who don’t agree to the Google terms will not be able to log in to their old accounts. Continue Reading
Sources said that Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers will be overseeing iTunes Radio going forward in addition to his leadership of the Beats streaming service. The Wall Street Journal reported that having Rogers at the head of both the iTunes Radio and Beats Music could help keep a cohesive feel across the two services. Continue Reading
Apple issued an official welcome to Beats Music and Beats Electronics, indicating that the acquisition, announced in May, is now finalized. “Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do,” the statement on Apple’s website read. Continue Reading
As part of its acquisition, Apple has allegedly let go of some Beats employees who were in redundant roles. Reports suggested that Beats Electronics would lose 200 jobs, although the impact on the streaming side of the business, Beats Music, was not clear. Apple’s rep later gave clarification about the rumored job cuts. Continue Reading
On Monday we reported a possible sale of Swell Radio to Apple for $30-million dollars, citing unnamed sources talking to Re/code. That rumor has been substantiated now by thoday’s shutdown of the Swell site. The iOS app fails to connect to Swell servers, except for a brief audio message thanking listeners for using Swell. Continue Reading
Internet radio service Radionomy announced today that its platform of independent stations have been added to Sonos, the wireless speaker system. Sonos represents an important new distribution angle for Radionomy, and is also a win for Radionomy’s station owners, and Sonos users. Continue Reading
Vevo is keeping its eyes open for a buyer, but is trying to make internal changes first to make it a more appealing target. The service generates 6 billion views a month, and a large portion of those views are YouTube music videos. Is the window of opportunity shrinking as YouTube prepares its own music-video service? Continue Reading