iHeartRadio is going social with its latest partnership. The online audio company has signed on with social media app Snapchat to be one of its featured Discover brands. According to Snapchat, it brought on iHeartRadio and BuzzFeed in an effort to provide more content variety to its users. Continue Reading
The IFPI has thrown its hat into the ring to discuss streaming royalties paid to artists. The group’s CEO Frances Moore penned a blog post about this delicate subject based on IFPI’s own research into the music industry’s financial situation. “The issue is not that artists are getting lower royalty payments from digital services – they are not – but that the overall recorded music market has shrunk, which means smaller revenues for all involved,” she wrote. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasts is a weekly feature sponsored by PodcastOne.
Podcasting goes back to 2003, with its technology underpinnings stretching back even further. But for iTunes, which added shows in 2005, and therefore for most of the podcasting listenership, the category is 10 years old this summer.
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TuneCore released data on its Q2 payments. Artists received more than $35 million through the distribution and publishing administration service during the period. The total marks a 6% increase from payments in the second quarter of 2014, but a slight decline from the $36 million paid out in the first quarter of this year. Continue Reading
In this week’s earning call (see RAIN News coverage here), Sirius XM CEO James Meyer and CFO David Frear answered investor questions about connected cars, online streaming, and the recently settled pre-1972 lawsuits. Continue Reading
Even a cursory glance at the music industry headlines and market research will show that mobile is the wave of the future. We communicate, we entertain ourselves, everything happens on smartphones. In response, we’ve been seeing a surge of startups and programmers exploring just what the mobile music space might look like. This morning I explored an entry into the field of mobile apps for social music. This one is called Cymbal. Continue Reading
Cumulus/Westwood One leveraged Amazon Prime Day by commissioning an Ipsos study of advertising effectiveness in promoting the event. With the result favoring traditional radio ads, the survey turned a pure digital story into a testimonial of analog reach and power to drive consumer action. Continue Reading
BPI and the Official Charts Company reported that weekly audio streams in the UK have exceeded the 500 million milestone. It’s the first time to reach that metric. The country is now forecast to reach 25 billion audio streams by the end of the year. Continue Reading
Samsung has entered into a partnership with Google Play Music, offering the owners of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices a free subscription to the service for six months. This new arrangement means the end of Samsung’s bundle with Deezer, which gave six months access to the Premium+ plan. Continue Reading
Apple Music has reportedly signed up more than 10 million people in its first month. The data point comes from Hits, which credited unnamed sources from major labels. Apple Music is still in its free trial stage for any listeners, so these alleged millions haven’t yet paid for the service. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Scripps acquires Midroll Media in first-ever deal of its kind; more. Continue Reading
“I’m looking forward to discussing our strong quarter, and the progress we’ve made across several business initiatives.,” said Brian McAndrews, CEO of Pandora, to start the Q2 earnings call. By any reckoning the call was a success, and for the first time in several quarters, the stock price responded with an upward swing in after-hours trading. Continue Reading