Australia’s music industry is adding a new weekly chart to reflect the popularity of streams. The Australian Recording Industry Association will launch the Top 40 Audio & Visual Streaming Chart on Monday, May 18. It will incorporate plays from all official music videos on YouTube. Continue Reading
Rdio has added a new subscription tier focused on mobile listening to its available offerings. Rdio Select offers elements of both lean-back and on-demand listening on mobile devices for $3.99 a month. It is an innovative, carefully considered competitive gambit. Continue Reading
Today brings a fresh batch of rumors and sneak peaks into Apple’s forthcoming music service, as usual courtesy of 9to5Mac. Unnamed industry sources told the site that despite being based on Beats Music, the new platform is likely to be called Apple Music. It is also expected to integrate social features similar to ones that Apple previously experimented with in the form of Ping. Continue Reading
Ad technology company XAPPmedia announced the closing of a $3.8-million round of new capital funding. The private investors were not disclosed. After a previous funding round of $3-million, XAPP’s total funding now stands at $6.8-million. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Vox on how radio plays into music’s future; Australia’s challenges with a digital radio rollout. Continue Reading
XAPPmedia released a new edition of its ongoing study of streaming audio advertising, the Internet Radio Ad Load Report. In addition to updating data released in the first report, this edition (PDF here), which covers Q1 2015, is enhanced with… Continue Reading
Ten years ago, when podcasting was relatively new, it was mainly downloaded content. Things have changed, thanks to high-speed mobile bandwidth, and consumer acceptance of streaming access as opposed to stored ownership. Why have some podcast apps failed to get with the times? A case study in frustration. Continue Reading
CD Baby announced the launch of its Pro tier in the UK. The Pro service includes publishing administration for collecting royalties. The company already has more than 35,000 artists using its distribution service in the UK. Continue Reading
TuneCore announced a partnership with digital entertainment network DanceOn. Under this deal, TuneCore will offer its independent artists more options for creating content and reaching audiences on YouTube. DanceOn is a dance-centric entertainment network that has generated more than 3 billion views and 20 million subscribers on Google’s video service. Continue Reading
The general trend in the music industry has been a steady decline in sales of downloads, and that appears to be impacting even niche stores. EDM and DJ specialty platform Beatport’s financial information was released in the quarterly filings for parent company SFX Entertainment. In the first quarter this year, the company’s revenue from digital downloads totaled $8.9 million, compared with $11.6 million for the same metric in the year-ago period. Continue Reading
SoundCloud made two big business announcements today. First is a new hire: Sonia Flynn is assuming the role of vice president for international at the audio platform. The second item improves SoundCloud’s global presence with the addition of Brazilian Portuguese as a second language option. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Report on music services and social engagement; infographic of Grooveshark legal fees; latest iOS 8.4 beta shows more music updates. Continue Reading