Amazon announced a new option for its Alexa voice-activated assistant designed for companies and enterprise operations. Alexa for Business can assist with tasks such as starting conference calls, scheduling meetings, and ordering office supplies. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio Canada has unveiled an enhanced version of its app that adds support for several more compatible platforms. The free service is now available on Apple Watch, Apple CarPlay, Android Wear, and Android Auto. It has also been made available for Sonos wireless speakers. iHeartRadio Canada said more platforms will be announced in the coming weeks. Continue Reading
Indian streaming music service Gaana announced that it has 50 million monthly active users. “It’s a proud moment for Team Gaana, not many home-grown brands have achieved this kind of milestone and very few brands in the entertainment space has been able to reach to this kind of scale in India,” COO Prashan Agarwal said. Continue Reading
Kobalt has signed a music licensing deal in China with NetEase Cloud Music. This arrangement will see the Chinese company take responsibility for licensing and distributing the Kobalt catalog and for the catalog of its AWAL recorded music operation. The deal covers more than 600,000 songs and recordings. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Highlights from the Third Coast. How much do analytics matter in podcast advertising? Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, even when it’s holiday music. Continue Reading
AudioBoom has announced its membership in IAB UK, the United Kingdom arm of the Internet Advertising Bureau. It is the first podcast network to have accredited membership into the UK branch of the organization. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s latest album has landed on all streaming services. The pop singer kept Reputation off streaming services for three weeks after its November 10 release date. At launch, the album was only available by digital download or as a physical copy. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has reached 1 million registered users in Australia. The online audio company rolled out a new app for iHeartRadio Australia in February and also rolled out its podcasting library this year. Continue Reading
Spotify is reportedly in talks with China’s Tencent Holdings about a potential swap of stakes in advance of both companies’ planned public listings. The possible development first appeared in the Wall Street Journal (paywall), which reported that the two businesses trade stakes of up to 10%. Continue Reading
Mobile app Stationhead is bringing more music into its platform. The service lets users try their hand at DJing, turning playlists into a radio-like broadcast on the app. It launched using Spotify’s API, but has now added access to Apple Music. Continue Reading
Last year, Spotify tapped into its data troves for a clever marketing campaign. This year, it’s back in action, all themed around resolutions for 2018. The push is dubbed “2018 Goals,” and it again highlights some of the unusual factoids and data points from Spotify listeners. The campaign was developed and executed in-house and covers 18 markets. Continue Reading
In what could be described as the Kerry Trainor era of SoundCloud, starting when the Vimeo ex-CEO took over the Berlin-based streaming platform, a quickened pace of product development seems to be in progress. It’s good news for the creator/uploader community which pays a lot of SoundCloud’s bills via subscriptions for cloud storage of tracks. Continue Reading