Facebook’s musical hiring spree is rolling merrily along. The social media company has posted several job openings in recent months, looking to fill positions in music-related duties from business development to negotiation. Continue Reading
RAJAR has published its Q2 2017 data about radio listening in the UK. The weekly radio population continues to stay steady, with 90.3% of the population tuning in each week. The figure did rise by about 500,000 adults over the second quarter of 2016, but it has hovered around 90% for several quarters. Continue Reading
Tencent appears to be spinning off several of its divisions, and music may be the next one up. Financial Times reported that Tencent has already filed plans to spin off an online publisher and the search engine, and experts have predicted that China Music could be the third subject. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Jane Huxley as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand. She will start in this position on Sept. 1. The MD role was most recently held by Kate Vale, who departed Spotify in May after a five-year tenure. The hire is extra noteworthy coming on the heels of Pandora’s ANZ shutdown. Continue Reading
Spotify has made several developments this week aimed at expanding its footprint for podcasts. First, Bloomberg reports that Spotify will promote podcasts in its mobile app and in advertisements in exchange for positive buzz from show hosts. Second is a distribution deal with Australia’s Omny Studio. Continue Reading
Amazon is hiring for hundreds of positions in Australia, with a heavy focus on the music department. This has sparked speculation that the tech giant will be launching its Amazon Music streaming platform in that market in the coming months. Continue Reading
Pandora has posted its financial results for Q2 2017. The audio company’s performance over the three month period showed growth in several important metrics, although its sale of Ticketfly did have an impact. Continue Reading
Spotify has reportedly reached a new subscriber milestone. Sources familiar with the streaming company told the Financial Times that it now has 60 million paying listeners. The milestone would mean that Spotify added 10 million subscribers since March. Continue Reading
GfK MRI conducted a study that explored the popularity and audience trends of podcasting. The Survey of the American Consumer determined that about 8.6% of U.S. adults, or about 21 million people, either downloaded or listened to a podcast in the past 30 days. That rate rose from 7% in last year’s survey. Continue Reading
Bloomberg has reported that SoundCloud may be nearing deal with private equity firms. If the news is accurate, this development could mark a turning point in the audio company’s financial health after a year of job cuts and high-profile exits. Continue Reading
A new company has joined the ranks of podcast networks. Podglomerate offers production, distribution, promotion, and monetization services for podcasts. Jeff Umbro, who hosts the Writers Who Don’t Write podcast, is the owner of Podglomerate. Continue Reading
Apple’s mobile devices have been keystones of its product family for much of its present-day business. In 2017, we are seeing the shifts in where Apple is putting its resources and what it views as trends for music, where the company has long worked to position itself as a leader. First, this year marked the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone. Second, Apple has discontinued both the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. Continue Reading