Brad Hill, the editor of RAIN News, guested on The New Media Show to discuss podcasting. The conversation roamed through the state of podcasting, the potential future of the category, podcast metrics, RAIN Summit West, and much more. Click to listen. Continue Reading
The goal with Dash Radio is to return to FM radio’s original music discovery roots, presenting playlists and personalities that felt they were being squeezed out by the dominant media companies taking control of the airwaves. These stations are on the digital air 24/7 and without commercial breaks, all for free. It also has a mobile component, with apps for both iOS and Android. It’s a bold plan and so far it’s bearing out well. Continue Reading
One day after Jay-Z-owned Tidal launched with a highly publicized and live-streamed event, a new service called Auricular was announced by a consortium of audio technology specialists. RAIN News spoke with the founders about the new service and plans for the future. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: 26 podcasts you should be listening to; NPR’s podcast strategy; BMG partners with Alibaba; Beatport launches an app; Tinder for music. Continue Reading
Spotify has entered into another telecommunications partnership. This one is with Rogers Communications and it brings a free subscription to the streaming service to Fido customers for an impressive 24 months. Spotify has engaged in several deals with telecoms across the globe, partnering with mobile and wireless carriers in France, Australia, and Ireland, but none have offered the subscriptions for as long as two years. Continue Reading
Tidal may still be a small player in subscriber numbers, but the high-res streaming platform is taking up a lion’s share of news in recent months. Today, we have more information about what Tidal will look like under the helm of Jay-Z and his business enterprise. The idea of being a streaming service for and by the artists is a fine one, but it still needs to make a pitch to listeners in order to stay afloat. Continue Reading
U.S. radio group Cumulus announced hiring Tommy Page as SVP of Brand Partnerships. Page comes from Pandora, where he held a similar role as VP of Artist and Brand Partnerships. Page’s career has wended through music, publishing, and online music service. Continue Reading
Cisneros Interactive, a digital advertising company addressing the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American audiences, has purchased a majority stake in Audio.Ad, a Latin American digital audio advertising network. Cisneros Interactive will exclusively market Audio.Ad digital inventory, through its RedMas subsidiary. Continue Reading
With podcasting top-of-mind in the online audio industry, a potential new player is Spotify, according to unnamed sources reported by Bloomberg Business. Competition with Apple? Catching up to Deezer? Continue Reading
Listeners in the UK are getting a new set of DAB station options next year thanks to a new national digital radio multiplex getting assigned an operator. Sound Digital, which is a consortium of Arqiva, Bauer, and UTV Media GB, will run the set of 14 new stations. The consortium will be responsible for upgrading the equipment at these stations and reaching 75% of households with the set of stations. It will be required to begin broadcasting the new DAB stations by the middle of 2016. Continue Reading
Jay-Z’s efforts to purchase streaming services Tidal and WiMP from Aspiro generated a bit of drama, but the hi-res streaming service is relaunching today with even more celebrity backing. Performers including Madonna, Kanye West, Deadmau5, and Beyonce took to social media to tout the platform with the #TIDALforALL hashtag. While the star power can certainly help raise the profile for business (it currently has just 17,000 paid subscribers), it’s unclear whether the service will be getting any changes to its features or design under the new management. Continue Reading
Sony has launched its new music service for PlayStation video game consoles, completing a previously announced integration of Spotify into the gaming console. The so-called PlayStation Music platform is a close collaboration between Sony and Spotify. Continue Reading