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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming audio.
THIS WEEK: Podcast listener behavior; Pandora’s growing reach; Apple iTunes earnings; SoundExchange artist payments in 2014, Spotify joins PlayStation; iHeartRadio’s audience milestones. Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify “has expressed a desire” to raise $500-million in private investment, and is working with Goldman Sachs to achieve it. Meanwhile, in an unrelated analysis, past RAIN Summit keynoter Jason Calacanis predicts that Facebook will acquire Spotify. Continue Reading
A recent IFPI survey revealed insights into the music industry in Norway. The survey found that streaming secured a larger portion of the country’s annual market sales value at 75%. Downloads were just 11% and physical formats were 14%. In 2013, streaming accounted for just 66% of the market, and physical sales had a 22% share. Continue Reading
Apple released some mind-boggling financial figures from the first quarter in its latest SEC filing. The company’s net income for Q1 was $18.02 billion on net sales of nearly $74.6 billion. Underneath the huge revenue, though, the news was not so good for iTunes. Continue Reading
Several streaming services were recently approached with a potential class-action lawsuit focused on pre-1972 song copyright protection. Rdio was initially one of the defendants, but the company has reportedly been dropped from the legal action. Continue Reading
The Streaming Audio Marketplace, a RAIN News webinar and whitepaper sponsored by TargetSpot, is now freely available in two formats: a 50-page whitepaper, and the webinar slides. Click through to see the slides, and link to the whitepaper. Continue Reading
Ad-tech company XAPPmedia and mobile app developer jacapps have partnered to create JAX, a premium advertising service for the mobile audience. The alliance integrates voice-activated XAPP Ads into the jacapps mobile platform. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that it paid recording artists and labels $773 million in 2014. The record figure is 31% greater than the $590 million it paid out the previous year. The final quarter of 2014 boosted the full-year performance with more than 38,800 payments totaling approximately $183 million, improving on the already strong payments from Q3. Continue Reading
The Italian Music Industry Federation released its 2014 year-in-review. The data, compiled by Deloitte, revealed overall growth of 4% for revenue of €122 million in 2014, up from €117.6 million the previous year. Digital listening accounted for a greater proportion of that overall performance in 2014: up to 38% of the market, compared with 32% in 2013. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Spotify drops longstanding PR firm; continued piracy problems and potential solutions. Continue Reading
New data from Nielsen highlighted the massive shift to online listening. The Music 360 2014 study found that 93% of Americans listen to musicmore than 25 hours a week. Many do so while at work, doing chores, and in the car. The meat of the new report is how convincingly listeners have shifted online. Continue Reading
TuneCore, a digital distribution service for musicians who wish to place their work in streaming music services, released a summary of its 2014 business. It’s a growth story from 2013, as the company added new distribution outlets, tracked more streams, and paid out more royalties to artists. Continue Reading