Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. We asked readers: Is Apple right? Would a lower subscription cost stimulate the subscription side of the streaming business? Or doesn’t it matter? The result was conclusive in an unexpected way Continue Reading
The British Phonographic Industry group reported that UK listeners have streamed 10.2 billion tracks to date this year, almost double the 5.4 billion tracks streamed last year in the same period. People are listening to tunes more than 300 million times each week. Continue Reading
Nielsen published its latest insights on the outlook for connected cars. The high-tech vehicles are appealing for the cool factor; 60% of future auto intenders said they want one to experience emerging technologies. But the desire for entertainment on the road was a close second, at 58% of future auto intenders. In fact, the Nielsen results revealed that 36% of connected car users streamed audio every time they got in their vehicle during the second quarter of 2014. Continue Reading
Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. Should on-demand music streaming cost less? Or, because the ad-supported listening model is preeminent, is is Apple’s initiative a non-starter? Continue Reading
iHeartMedia, the conglomerate formerly known as Clear Channel, released new data from a study in partnership with Neuro-Insight about the brain’s response to different types of communication. The results showed that radio advertisements performed better than television advertisements for the same companies. Continue Reading
Mark Kassof shared data from a recent survey about the attitudes of teenagers toward FM radio. The 506 online surveys of respondents aged 13 to 20 revealed that only 7% listened to FM radio the most for music. Even online streams of terrestrial stations had limited reach. Just 16% of respondents said they listened to online radio station streams often, while 31% said the did so sometimes. Twenty percent hardly ever listened and 26% have never done so. Smartphone apps for AM and FM radio stations also had limited reach: 49% have never listened on those services. Continue Reading
Apple’s forced distribution of U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, is widely regarded as a public relations catastrophe that damaged both brands. We asked RAIN readers what they thought about free music landing in their devices. Welcomed gift, or abhorred gaffe? The results are fairly definitive. Continue Reading
The RIAA released sales and revenue numbers for the first half of 2014. At the top line, a decrease of 4.9% in overall revenue. Streaming posted 28% growth during the half-year — those services supplied 27% of total industry revenue during the front half of the year, drawing close to the 28% share represented by physical music sales. Click through for more. Continue Reading
UK media regulator Ofcom found a 9.1% decline in digital audio broadcasting sets sold in the year ending in June. The annual digital radio report revealed that at 1.7 million sets, the past year had the lowest number sold since at least 2009. The report also showed flat performance for digital radio’s share of all radio listening, holding steady at 36.8%. Its findings for the popularity of digital radio indicated that the UK listeners are scattered in their preferences. Continue Reading
Recent info from Edison Research’s Share of Ear study puts listening to Internet radio/Music in the US, among persons 12+ at 11.6% of overall listening to all legitimate sources of audio. Right around the same time we were discussing this study at RAIN Summit Indy, similar information was being presented at the Nextrad.io conference hosted by RAIN friends James Cridland and Matt Deegan. RAIN will be examining the online audio marketplace in the UK and across Europe in November at RAIN Summit Europe which will take place in London on November 4th. Continue Reading
Apple’s universal distribution of U2’s new album — the controversy that won’t die. As the dust slowly settles, we’d like to know how it shakes out for you, whether you’re an Apple device user or not. Was the free (and forced) album a huge blunder? Or is all the complaining a waste of bandwidth? Vote your opinion! Leave a survey comment, too — as always, selected comments will be published with the poll results. Continue Reading
BIA Kelsey released its annual Local Media Forecast for 2015, moving its publication timing to the fall “to align with the annual strategic planning season.” The report breaks out predicted spending growth and decline for a few broad categories, and forecasts the overall local ad-spending market to 2019. Continue Reading