Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: BitTorrent 2015 artist survey; Cumulus CEO Berner’s plans for stability, programming; Apple rumored to explore high-res; the Drake Effect and the Nicki Effect. Continue Reading
Rdio’s closure meant some scrambling for an unusual partner. The now-shuttered streaming service was the music partner for Tesla’s Model S series of electric cars. Rdio has now been replaced by Spotify for the vehicles in Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong. Current Tesla owners in those markets will see Spotify replacing Rdio through an over-the-air software update. Continue Reading
The year kicked off with a flurry of new companies trying to carve their niche in the music business. And the year is ending with many of those companies closing their doors. The latest one to shut down is Domino.fm. Continue Reading
Pandora has signed another direct deal, this time with Downtown Music Publishing. The rights management firm has music by writers ranging from The Beatles to Hans Zimmer and Jewel to One Direction in its catalog. The press release contains the same type of language that was in the announcements of Pandora’s recent licensing agreements with publishers such as Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV, and SONGS Music Publishing. Continue Reading
Kickstarter has hired Molly Neuman as its head of music. Neuman steps into the newly created role from A2IM, where she was interim president following the departure of Rich Bengloff. Adding a new high-level leader to the management team shows that Kickstarter isn’t just looking to remain static in music. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has inked a multi-territory licensing deal with PRS for Music, a UK-based organization representing songwriter and publisher rights. This arrangement will cover SoundCloud’s use of PRS’ repertoire since the audio service launched. Continue Reading
Christmas may come early this year for fans of The Beatles. Billboard’s sources couldn’t come together on an exact date, but a hard day’s night of negotiations could see the lads from Liverpool arriving on interactive, on-demand services by Dec 24. Continue Reading
NPR has announced plans for an experiment in audio on Facebook. In this new post format, listeners will be able to hear particular moments or stories within the social platform. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board delivers new webcaster royalty rates for payments to record labels. Also, Vivendi takes a majority stake in Radionomy’s online radio platform. Continue Reading
Nicki Minaj weighed in on the role of streaming in an Instagram post celebrating one year of her album The Pinkprint. She called for streaming performance to be accounted for in sales figures. “The music business doesn’t really seem designed to reward our culture with the sales & accolades we deserve,” she wrote. Continue Reading
DGital Media is at it again, adding another sports show to its roster. Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, usually nicknamed Woj, is hosting the new program, which debuted today and quickly rose to the No. 2 spot in the iTunes charts. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. Today’s moves include shuffled positions for iBiquity leaders now that the DTS acquisition is finished. Also CueSongs has promoted within its licensing department. Continue Reading