Milk Music began its life as a free mobile streaming service for the owners of Samsung mobile devices. Now it is open to listeners on any platform with the launch of a version for listening in browsers. Continue Reading
Pandora is experimenting with plans to launch a different approach to accessing its subscription tier. This potential one-day pass would grant access to the paid Pandora One service, which offers ad-free listening, more song skips, and higher audio quality for $4.99 a month. Twenty-four hours with the paid service is projected to cost 99 cents. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Q&A about the Songwriters Equity Act; Mad Genius hits crowdfunding goal; Bandcamp hits $100 million in artist payouts. Continue Reading
Mexican-born radio star Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo has a new distribution outlet, and PodcastOne enters a new market, as El Show de Piolin begins a new run on the podcast network. It is the first Spanish-language program on PodcastOne, joining a portfolio of 200 shows that are downloaded 120-million times a month. Continue Reading
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THIS WEEK: Beats Music relaunch; “The Infinite Dial” research; a podcast ratings service of the future; second time around for songwriter legislation; digital radio in Europe; another retailer cools on CD sales Continue Reading
We at RAIN wrote about the rise of platform-agnostic listening services last month, and today we’ve learned about a new use for them. Bop.fm has signed a deal with Billboard and Twitter to power integrate streaming into the companies’ real-time music charts. Since the Billboard + Twitter Real Time Charts often include tracks that aren’t part of a formal album release – they are more often covers or live performances – they aren’t as easy to find on a single listening platform. Continue Reading
Today, the big buzz is about Beats. Apple has one of its press events happening on Monday, but the rumors are that the company’s new vision for Beats Music will not be making its debut at the Spring Forward event. Instead, it seems that the introduction will happen in the summer, at Apple’s WWDC conference. Continue Reading
Mobile analytics company App Annie released its list of the top app publishers of 2014. Pandora landed at number 37 in the rankings. Many of the 52 companies focus on mobile games or social media, and some of those companies put out dozens or even hundreds of apps. Pandora, even with its narrow focus, was one of the few music-focused brands to secure a spot on the list. Continue Reading
Nielsen announced its acquisition of data technology firm Exelate. Exelate serves the digital marketing ecosystem, specializing in audience intelligence and segmenting. The acquisition is a programmatic move for Nielsen. Continue Reading
A power-packed podcasting panel will highlight RAIN Summit West, April 12 in Las Vegas. Called On Demand Is In Demand, the panel will gather podcast personalities and podcast network executives onstage to discuss their shows, and the future of this hot industry segment. Continue Reading
WideOrbit announced this morning the launch of WO Streaming, a re-branding and integration of the Abacast Clarity product in the company’s software suite. WideOrbit acquired Abacast last June. Clarity (now WO Streaming) is Abacast’s cloud-based streaming and ad-insertion solution. Continue Reading
CDs are having a tough time of it on the sales charts, and some retailers seem to be throwing in the towel. Starbucks announced that it will no longer have discs for sale at its counters. Grocery chain Whole Foods may be considering the same move. Continue Reading