Vevo has split with president and CEO Erik Huggers. According to the company, Huggers is stepping down after two years at the helm of the music video service to pursue other opportunities. Alan Price will act as interim CEO in addition to continuing his work as CFO. Continue Reading
Pandora has partnered with Comcast to launch the its full suite of services on the Xfinity X1 set-top box. All of Pandora’s features across all membership tiers have been integrated into the Comcast hardware, including support for voice commands, which work with the Xfinity X1 voice-controlled remote. Continue Reading
Cumulus Media announced that it has launched Amazon Alexa voice skills for 300 local radio stations, which it says marks the largest collection of custom Alexa skills in the United States. This push includes popular Westwood One brands and Christmas radio. It partnered with XAPPmedia for the project. Continue Reading
Deezer has launched its own mobile audio identification tool. Deezer SongCatcher can identify the artist and track title for audio playing near your smartphone. The feature is currently in beta and will be open to Premium+ subscribers. The rollout will begin on Android and is slated to arrive on iOS next year. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board judges have set the new royalty rates and terms for Sirius XM. The company will pay 15.5% of gross revenues for the period of January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2022. That’s a 40% increase from the 11% share Sirius XM has been paying for royalties. Continue Reading
Facebook is reportedly pulling yet another exec away from the major labels. Perry Bashkoff is the SVP of global content and revenue development at Warner Music Group. Music Business Worldwide is reporting that Bashkoff will be joining the social media network next year. Continue Reading
Spotify’s valuation may have reached $19 billion thanks to private trading. That’s up from a rumored valuation of $16 billion in September. Sources familiar with the trades claimed that the private trades for the streaming music services were happening at a price of more than $4,000 per share. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has entered a partnership with Jibo to launch Jibo Music. The music features have been added to the Jibo product, a cross between a voice-activated smart speaker and a cute robot. Jibo owners will automatically get access to iHeartRadio music through a software update beginning on Monday. Continue Reading
A report from Norway’s Dagens Naeringsliv claims that Tidal is in serious financial trouble. The article claims that company lost $44 million dollars before taxes in 2016 and says Tidal only has six months of cash left. It reportedly based the information on the accounts of parent company Project Panther Bidco. But is there any truth to it? Continue Reading
Triton Digital announced a partnership with 365 Digital, a digital publisher solutions business in South Africa. In the new deal, 365 Digital will leverage Triton’s a2x programmatic exchange and will promote its benefits to local publishers and advertisers in the country. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Podcasting is on the rise, and as with any hot concept, several startups have already emerged to fill specialized needs. Here’s a look at three newcomers: Descript, Backtracks, and Shortcut. Continue Reading
Deezer announced an expansion into Israel. The company’s free tier and its Premium+ options will be available at launch, as well as a Family plan. The company expects to roll out Deezer HiFi in the coming months. Continue Reading