UK retailer Tesco is in the process of selling off its Blinkbox streaming platform. The video arm went to phone company TalkTalk, and Financial Times reported that the music arm is expected to sell to Guvera. According to its unnamed sources, the deal with Guvera is due to close in the next month or so. Continue Reading
Amid the public relations nightmare of Sony getting hacked last month, sleuths found email correspondence among top brass discussing the potential sale of Sony/ATV. Since then, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the company is not considering a sale of the publishing arm. Sony/ATV’s Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier also issued a memo to his team reassuring them that the parent company was not selling off the division. Continue Reading
Spotify announced that it kicked off 2015 with 60 million active users, including 15 million paying subscribers. The company also shared a short celebratory playlist on its blog in honor of the milestone. Continue Reading
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Reddit, the popular and influential social recommendation site, is aboard the podcasting train with a new show called Upvoted. The program’s mission, which perhaps rides on the coattails of Serial’s investigative reporting style, is to dig deeper into Reddit’s most popular (i.e. upvoted) stories. Continue Reading
One of Spain’s music charts announced the launch of a new Top 100 Songs list that will incorporate streaming numbers as well as downloads and physical sales. PROMUSICAE (Productores de Música de España) will use the new joint chart to replace its weekly Top 50 Songs and Top 100 Streaming charts. Several charts organizations worldwide have made shifts to include data about streaming. Continue Reading
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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: CES! Plus: CBS launches a podcast network; Deezer acquires Muve Music; Naxos super-serves classical streaming; SiriusXM deliver 2014 results. Continue Reading
Now that we’ve set off on a fresh new year, we’re getting some interesting and insightful perspectives on everything that transpired in the music world during 2014. Data scientists have had the time to collect final numbers and finish analyses. On Jan. 2, we got a preliminary look at the work of Nielsen SoundScan team, which showed a general trend of increased streaming and decreased sales. Today, we have the 2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report to expand on those first finds. Continue Reading
In an impactful announcement, CBS launched Play.it, a web-based podcast network. The venture brings CBS’ significant talent assets, program brands, and promotional power to the growing podcast network industry. The initiative is co-developed by CBS Radio and CBS Local Digital Media. Continue Reading
Kickstarter shared a slightly belated year-in-review, compiling data about the projects that were successfully crowd-funded on the platform in 2014. Music was the top category, barely edging out Film & Video with just over 4,000 projects funded. Continue Reading
It’s a big week for Rivet Radio, an up-and-coming listening platform for on-demand audio. A new partnership with American Public Media (APM), the second-largest producer of public radio programming, is complemented by new connected-car distribution agreements. Continue Reading
The well publicized success of audio programming Serial, which achieved cult status and breakthrough metrics for a pureplay podcast (online only, not an archived radio show), has the podcast industry hoping for rising tide which lifts all boats. It’s not only podcast creators looking at 2015 as a potential growth year for the category. Distribution platforms have much to gain from an anticipated surge of interest in on-demand talk-based audio. Continue Reading