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“Serial,” a milestone moment for podcasting, seeks independence

The biggest podcast hit today is “Serial,” a wholly original spinoff of This American Life. The true-crime show which investigates a real-world murder case, delivers 1.5-million downloads per episode, and iTunes (the most important distribution point for podcasting in general), noted today that Serial was the fastest podcast to reach five-million downloads and streams. The program is seeking donations to spin off from “This American Life” for a second season. Continue Reading

Internet Radio Rewind #021

A weekly podcast from RAIN News

Sponsored by AudioBoom


A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: YouTube Music Key subscription service; Irving Azoff prepares to sue; Beats Music in iOS; Uber & Spotify invent the connected taxi; Pandora is king of mobile; Billboard chart is modernized for streaming; NPR streaming metrics; listening to sports on TuneIn. Continue Reading

Beats Music will be standard in iOS starting in 2015

Apple’s integration of Beats Music took a step forward today with the announcement that the app will become a standard part of its mobile operating system in early 2015. The tech company has added Beats’ merchandise at its physical and digital stores, but the inclusion of the app will give the subscription streaming service visibility on millions of iPhones and iPads. Continue Reading

BitTorrent opens pay-gated Bundle torrents to all artists

BitTorrent drew attention for its collaboration with Thom Yorke, where it made the Radiohead frontman the first artist to sell a pay-gated torrent of his new solo album. The company announced today that the direct-to-fan Bundle approach can now be used by any artists. The pay-gated platform’s opening was linked with an anniversary album release from DJ and producer Diplo. Continue Reading

Music Key update: launch delay, and All Access bundling

In an initiative marked by repeated long delays, it is perhaps unsurprising that Music Key, YouTube’s new music subscription service which was supposed to start today, has been pushed back to tomorrow. In other Music Key news, it is widely reported that a rumored subscriber connection between Music Key and Google’s audio-only subscription service, All Access, will indeed happen. Continue Reading