Guvera announced that it raised $100 million in a financing round over the holiday weekend. The streaming service’s leaders said they would next be turning their attention to an IPO, with plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange or Nasdaq. “It’s a pre-IPO round…but we haven’t set any timeline,” CEO Darren Herft told The Australian Financial Review. Continue Reading
Part of Pandora’s exclusive deal with the second season of hit podcast Serial, announced earlier this month, is streaming rights to the first season. That started on Tuesday, and gave us a preview of the unique presentation planned for the… Continue Reading
In the wake of Pandora’s announcement that it would acquire Rdio assets in a bankruptcy auction, which included a general reference to Rdio “winding down” under the stewardship of CEO Anthony Bay, Rdio has put more specifics into the plan. Continue Reading
Pandora and iHeartRadio sent us music metrics for 2015 — perhaps on the premature side, considering three huge releases (Justin Bieber, One Direction, Adele) in the past two weeks. We’re betting that audience preference data will be significantly altered by December 31. Continue Reading
Do public station heads make too much money, as non-profit executives? The answer is in the beholder, and the American University School of Communication has made it easy to behold, by posting salaries and station expenses. Continue Reading
The sometimes beleaguered music industry is rejoicing as two album releases come into the market as record-breaking successes. But the jubilance goes in two different directions. Adele is on a record-breaking pace of sales, while justin Bieber shatters a streaming record. what does it all mean? Continue Reading
Serial entrepreneur Michael Robertston has launched OnRad.io, consolidating two previous services (Radio Search Engine and 6 Seconds) into one platform that can locate songs playing on a global array of 100,000 radio stations. It makes linear radio programming searchable and interactive. Continue Reading
AdWave, the global audio advertising platform created by AdsWizz, just got more global. The company has cut a partnership deal with TOKYO FM, Japan’s biggest broadcaster, to establish that country’s first digital audio ad market. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: YouTube aiding in some fair use cases; FCC commissioner voices support for FM chip activation; Dash Radio’s multichannel technology. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Rdio enters bankruptcy, Pandora takes it over and announces dramatic expansion of its strategic vision for 2016; podcast advertiser sentiment study; Adele holds back from streaming. Continue Reading
Today in ‘news you never imagined reading,’ Pope Francis is releasing a rock album. Yes, the real Pope. The album is slated for a physical release on Nov. 27, but it is getting an early streaming launch exclusively on Deezer. The lone English language track is also up to stream on SoundCloud. Hallelujah! Continue Reading
Russ Crupnick, Managing Partner of MusicWatch, sent us a graphic of on-demand music subscription services, charting their comparative brand awareness and usage. The startling image helps explain this week’s news that Rdio has entered bankruptcy proceedings. Continue Reading