RAIN Notes: Wednesday, June 2
Jottings of Note
— Nominated (British Podcast Awards)
— Closing a Gap (Ossa)
— Podcast Marketing, Mais Oui! (Ausha)
News
YouTube paid $4B to music industry in the last 12 months
In what appears to be a report timed to the end of Q1, YouTube paid $4-billion in music royalties in 12 months. More than 30% of that payout to the music industry came from monetization of user-uploaded music. Continue Reading
SiriusXM, Pandora, Stitcher launch new channels, podcasts, and events for Black Music Month
June is Black History Month, siriusXM is marshalling its sprawling inventory of audio platforms in a combined celebration and promotion. The company, along with its Pandora and Stitcher subsidiaries, announced the launch of three exclusive limited-engagement channels, a groundbreaking original podcast, and specialty music programming. Continue Reading
Apple fails to launch podcast subscriptions in May as promised; postpones to June
Publicly heralded, quietly postponed. Promised for May, now it’s June in an email to participants. Apple acknowledges problems and notes that thousands of creators and networks around the world submitted their plans for subscriptions and channels. Those business plans disrupted. Continue Reading
SiriusXM CEO: “We’ll continue to be opportunistic,” and predicts double-digit growth “for years to come”
In an interview at this week’s J.P. Morgan Technology, Media & Communications Conference, CEO Jennifer Witz held forth about SiriusXM’s business strategies and accomplishments. She predicted revenue growth, noted that podcasting is still small, and promised an opportunistic approach to acquisitions. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio unleashes metrics: Users, downloads, social
iHeartRadio sent out an email blast headlining 150-million registered users of the audio app, and 3-billion app downloads. The company historically does not disclose monthly average users. Continue Reading
Apple and Amazon Music crush the Hi-Res added-value model, adding HD audio to regular subscriptions
Hi-Res audio (also called Hi-Def, HD, HiFi, and other nicknames) has been an added value feature in music streaming apps since Tidal charted that course with its 2x pricing model. Now that business model is at risk of being debunked. We test Amazon’s ULTRA HD. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Monday, May 24
Jottings of note:
— Striking a Blow (Mark Mulligan)
— Apple vs Spotify (James Cridland)
— Another Podcast Event (Asian American Podcasters Association)
— Aclass (Acast)
Podcast dominance unchanged as Triton Digital releases April U.S. Podcast Report
A remarkable stability is revealed in Triton Digital’s latest U.S. Podcast Report. Click through for details. Continue Reading
New CEO for Deezer as Hans-Holger Albrecht moves to board
Deezer announces its first CEO change since Hans-Holder Albrecth took the lead position in 2015. The new chief executive of the global streaming audio platform is Jeronimo Folgueira, who comes to Deezer from a CEO/Chair position at Spark Networks. Continue Reading
RAIN Global Audio Revolution Summit offered fascinating studies of current and future trends in audio
The RAIN global Audio Revolution Summit, an international Zoom event produced today, was designed to shine light on the current, and prospective future, states of radio, podcasting, and digital audio advertising. The event was presented by Targetspot and AllMediaDesk, with additional sponsorship support from AdsWizz and AccuRadio. Click for summaries and quotes. Continue Reading
Amazon Audio Ads collaborates with GroupM to benefit clients
Amazon Audio Ads, a division of Amazon Music, is working with GroupM to evangelize digital audio advertising and give the agency’s clients favorable access and terms. Click for details. Continue Reading