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
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 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 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
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
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 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
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
YouTube has added live streaming to its mobile version. Creators with more than 10,000 subscribers can take advantage of this feature, although it will roll out to all users “soon.” Continue Reading
MIDiA Research has frequently explored questions of pricing in the streaming economy. Its latest report is titled Streaming Music Pricing: Inelastic Stretching, and it examines the standard $9.99 price point for on-demand streaming. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group posted financial results for the first quarter, marking a strong start for streaming in the new fiscal year. At 48.4%, digital sources are now responsible for nearly half of Warner’s total revenue. Continue Reading
The RIAA often leads the industry charges in legal actions for the digital music space and it has ridden into the fray once more. It is suing a streaming website and app called Spinrilla on behalf of several major record labels. The RIAA said it found more than 21,000 copyrighted sound recordings uploaded to the platform. Continue Reading