One of Tidal’s artist-owners has confessed that the launch of the boutique streaming service was a bit disastrous. Win Butler, frontman of The Arcade Fire, also pointed to the major label demands as a factor in Tidal’s pricing at $20. Continue Reading
Apple Music had two big business developments break yesterday. First, the streaming service debuted a surprise mixtape by hip-hop superstars Drake and Future. Then a new commercial marked a shift in rhetoric for the streaming platform. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Two new and unusual stations; Nielsen report on streaming and music; podcast research; more. Continue Reading
SFX announced that it has secured $60 million in new financing. The company also refinanced its $30 million revolving credit facilities for a total of $90 million. Its founder had made an effort to take the company private but was unable to secure backing as share prices have been dropping. Continue Reading
Pandora CFO Mike Herring participated in a session at a Goldman Sachs conference, fielding questions from one of the financial company’s analysts. His talk touched on how Pandora measures its advertising, it’s latest efforts in mobile ads, and the looming CRB decision. Continue Reading
Deezer has created its first ad spot for UK televisions. The colorful ad shows a series of characters that rhyme with the streaming service, such as geezer and crowd-pleaser. This spot is the first in a series of four, which promise to get ever-zanier with the rhymes. Continue Reading
Jacobs Media and the Public Radio Program Directors conducted the seventh edition of its annual survey to learn more about the preferences of public radio listeners. Among those respondents, public radio saw continued transitions to digital, with 19% of weekly usage happening on those channels. The survey also covered on-demand listening, mobile options, and sustaining memberships. Continue Reading
There’s a new mobile radio app on the horizon. It’s called Mr. Yep, just Mr. It’s the work of Shellanoo, the same company behind the Music Messenger program. The service bills itself as “the world’s easiest to use music radio app.” And technically, that may be accurate. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Interview with Midroll Media’s Erik Diehn; Ministry of Sound on the business of playlist curation; Microsoft’s Groove Music on Sonos. Continue Reading
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A new study finds that people stick with short podcasts more than long podcasts. Obvious? Maybe, but podcasting is replete with 60-minute (and longer) shows. The new research also addresses other audience habits. Continue Reading
TuneCore announced the addition of two new team members and a new office to its U.S. operations. Gillian Morris will be the company’s vice president of publishing. Amy Lombardi joins as a manager of artist relations. Continue Reading
In one of the more unique partnerships we’ve seen, iHeartRadio announced that it will be airing a station that combines information about Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. with smooth jazz music. POPE Info Radio will have updates on the religious leader’s time in the country – including event schedules, traffic and weather updates, and interviews with organizers and officials – mixed in after each song of the smooth jazz programming. Continue Reading