Pandora isn’t the only one getting in on the SXSW fun. NPR also is gearing up for the music facet of the event with the launch of an interactive app called The Austin 100. It features 100 songs from its recommended performers to see at the festival. Continue Reading
RealNetworks has released its 2014 financial data, and it includes a snapshot of the performance for Rhapsody. Rhapsody posted net revenue of $173.48 million in 2014 with a net loss of $21.34 million for the year ending Dec.31. Continue Reading
Later this month, creatives, thought leaders, pundits, and music fans alike will converge on Austin for SXSW. Pandora will be hosting a concert series at the event. In its blog post announcing the lineup, Pandora said that it would provide live broadcasts of all the performances. It already has the dedicated SXSW station up and running. Continue Reading
Lots of leaders and startups in the music industry have been exploring options for improving sound quality in online listening. We’ve seen lots of new platforms touting their hi-fi, lossless sound, but one of the top criticisms of those services is that people listen to them with mediocre headphones. A new Kickstarter project aims to literally amp up the sound quality for people even without top-shelf headphones. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Beats vs. Spotify; proposed new streaming model Continue Reading
ASCAP posted revenue of more than $1 billion last year, the first performance rights collector to do so. The company distributed more than $883 million in royalties to songwriters, composers, and publishers. ASCAP also said that it doubled the number of performances that it has processed for payment, paying out royalties for 500 billion musical moments. Continue Reading
Talk to app developers, psychologists, or productivity experts, and you’ll likely hear about the concept of gamification. The goal is to offer perks for completing tasks, turning an activity that could be a chore into a fun system with rules and rewards. It’s been used for educational purposes, for changing habits, and now some enterprising folks have turned gamification theory onto music discovery. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Tech and telecoms; Twitter music exec to exit. Continue Reading
SoundCloud shared some insights about its program to help creators monetize their tracks. The On SoundCloud campaign has more than 100 people signed up as Premier Partners. Since the program launched in August, it has paid out more than $1 million in ad revenue to labels, audio partners, and artists. Continue Reading
It’s too much to say that the RAIN News editorial office is obsessed with Star Trek, but everyone here is a fan. As with many other people around the world, the momentous death of Leonard Nimoy affected us strongly. To find a streaming audio tribute, we turned to a source that is obsessed with Star Trek: Kurt Hanson’s AccuRadio. We weren’t disappointed. Continue Reading
Triton Digital is announcing today that it will launch audience measurement for podcasts, in partnership with Edison Research. The new product, called Webcast Metrics On Demand (WCMOD), is slated to be released later this year. Continue Reading
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THIS WEEK: Local Radio Freedom Act hits Congress; a new podcast network; Led Zeppelin loosens the leash; streaming audio growth projection; something new for Radioplayer; Russell Brand podcast; Starbucks leaves behind CDs. Continue Reading