Streaming goes purple for Prince catalog
The return of Prince’s catalog on Sunday has been cause for celebration across streaming services. Today, the purple flag flies proudly at Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and more. Continue Reading
News
Pandora earnings: A pivot point, mixed financials, and biggest new product in years comes to market
“2016 was a very significant year for Pandora, with progress on every important front. We enter 2017 with a clear set of strategic priorities and a solid plan to execute against them.” That was Pandora CEO Tim Westergren starting his company’s Q4 earnings call yesterday. Always optimistic, he laid out 2017 goals at a pivot point for the company he founded. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Stevie Wonder pens editorial; analysis of Spotify’s Katy Perry promo
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Stevie Wonder speaks out for radio fairness. Spotify doubling down on artist relations. Continue Reading
Prince will return to streaming on February 12
Prince’s catalog from Warner Bros is confirmed for release to streaming services on Sunday. NPR received word of the date from Napster, and the songs are expected to be available on most other streaming platforms as well. iHeartRadio has some purple plans for celebration. Universal has secured rights to manage the rest of Prince’s catalog. Continue Reading
TargetSpot launches new ad-serving tech, promising next-generation monetization & analytics
Digital audio advertising sales and technology company Targetspot is announcing a new ad-serving and analytics platform called TargetSpot Passport. the platform is native to streaming audio publishers — TargetSpot lives alongside Radionomy and SHOUTcast as subsidiaries of media giant Vivendi. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Songs sales still key for radio; a very Gaga Super Bowl; Ticketmaster music hire
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Should radio still care about song sales? Super Bowl spike for Lady Gaga. Ticketmaster makes a music hire. Continue Reading
Google is combining its musical product teams
Google is combining some of its separate music teams in a move that could signal changes for its many products down the line. The groups working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being joined. Continue Reading
Billboard Power 100 list recognizes several of streaming’s top dogs
Billboard published its Power 100 list for 2017. The ranking includes several prominent leaders in the streaming music industry from companies including Apple Music, iHeartMedia, and Pandora. Spotify Chairman/CEO Daniel Ek took the No. 1 spot. Continue Reading
Vevo hires new chief sales officer
Music video platform Vevo has hired Kevin McGurn as its chief sales officer. McGurn was previously head of sales at YouTube multi-channel network Fullscreen. Continue Reading
EU passes cross-border access rule for online services, including music streaming
The European Union has passed new rules aimed at advancing plans for a unified digital market in the bloc. The recent ruling allows online service subscribers from one nation to access those platforms when they travel to other countries in the EU. Streaming music falls under the umbrella of this “portability” rule. Continue Reading
Vevo pausing subscription plans to focus on expansion and original content
Vevo has been working on towards a subscription tier for at least a full year, but it seems that the wait will continue. CEO Erik Huggers said in an interview that the subscription plans are on hold while Vevo focuses on international expansion and producing original content. Continue Reading
New York Times offers Spotify bundle deal
The New York Times has a deal with Spotify. New digital subscribers who buy a year of access to the newspaper for the will also get access to the premium version of the streaming service. Continue Reading