Spotify used Twitter to announce its milestone of 50-million subscribers, and to thank its customers. By any standard, Spotify’s subscriber growth has been impressive. The company noted 40-million paying users in September, and 30-million less than a year ago. Continue Reading
Digital media veteran Kavi Halemane has joined iHeartRadio as GM/Digital Programming, iHeart announced. He is positioned in the product team, reporting to Chief Product Officer Chris Williams. The appointment starts immediately. Continue Reading
Pandora stock watchers have been following the dance moves of Sirius XM, which continues mentioning the leading internet radio company, even while denying any interest in acquiring it. This week, Pandora stock has dipped and bobbed a couple of times. Continue Reading
Classical music metadata specialist Dart Music has filed for bankruptcy. According to a note from founder and CEO Chris McMurty, the company will restructure through the Chapter 11 proceedings. Continue Reading
Pandora has appointed Naveen Chopra as its new chief financial officer. Chopra joins the online audio company from TiVo, where he was interim CEO from January 2016 until the firm was acquired by Rovi. Pandora’s most recent CFO was Mike Herring, who is now the company’s president. Continue Reading
SoundCloud announced a shift to its subscription offering. The SoundCloud Go platform is being changed to a $4.99 per month fee. The full on-demand service is now called SoundCloud Go+ and costs the industry standard of $9.99 a month. Continue Reading
Shazam’s director of EU partnerships, Jon Davies, shared some statistics about the app at the FastForward conference in Amsterdam. The audio identification is generating 30 million clicks a month to music streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music. That’s in addition to sparking 400,000 daily song downloads from digital marketplaces like iTunes. Continue Reading
Universal Music Group posted its financial results for 2016. The company reported total revenue of nearly €5.27 billion ($5.83 billion) and total recorded music revenue of €4.19 billion ($4.63 billion). Streaming revenue outpaced physical music sales for the first time at UMG. Continue Reading
PRX and iHeartRadio are collaborating on a day of live podcast performances at SXSW. Podcasts are usually put through re-recording and editing in order to get a polished final episode, so the trend of live recordings poses a challenge for the producers. Continue Reading
Gracenote has launched connected databases for video, music, and sports metadata. By connecting these three topics, Gracenote makes a broad set of information available to global entertainment providers and makers of smart devices. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Andy Bowers talks podcasting’s future. Alex Da Kid discusses independent music companies. Continue Reading
PayPal led a survey about digital media consumers. The global survey covered 10 markets and about 10,000 consumers about their digital media habits. According to the results, 86% of music consumers listen on their smartphones, making it the top hardware choice for listening. Continue Reading