Apple’s forced distribution of U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, is widely regarded as a public relations catastrophe that damaged both brands. We asked RAIN readers what they thought about free music landing in their devices. Welcomed gift, or abhorred gaffe? The results are fairly definitive. Continue Reading
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An eight-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: RIAA, Shazam, Apple, U2, copyright ruling, Beats Music, WBUR, Google Glass. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Thom York to sell new solo album on BitTorrent; Neil Young’s next album goes hi-fi; social media success for iHeartRadio Fest. Continue Reading
The RIAA released sales and revenue numbers for the first half of 2014. At the top line, a decrease of 4.9% in overall revenue. Streaming posted 28% growth during the half-year — those services supplied 27% of total industry revenue during the front half of the year, drawing close to the 28% share represented by physical music sales. Click through for more. Continue Reading
Vevo has had an interesting summer, from looking for a buyer to not looking for a buyer. Now the video hosting platform has expanded into original content. Vevo has three new shows that spread its reach beyond music videos, but all of them are still centered around the music industry and artists. Continue Reading
Amazon’s head of digital music and video has departed the company. Bill Carr has spent 15 years with the online retailer, and was at the helm when the company entered the markets for both online music and streaming video. He was responsible for launching Amazon’s streaming music service for customers with Prime memberships. Continue Reading
Shazam belatedly shared its financial information from the second half of 2013. In that six-month period, the music ID program reported pre-tax losses of £5.3 million, up from losses of £1.3 million for the whole of 2012. Revenue for the second half of 2013 totaled £16.9 million, down from £31 million during the first half of that year. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Classic rock’s high prices and good exposure from ads; Pandora CFO on repairing licensing relationships; Wonder.fm offers SoundCloud hit discovery. Continue Reading
Data from App Annie revealed that music services are among the top performers for in-app purchases in August. The analytics firm found that Spotify, Pandora, and Apple’s music apps were among the leaders for in-app revenue. All three ranked in the top 10 revenue generators for non-game apps. Continue Reading
Pandora seeks to disrupt radio by competing for share of listeners, and ad dollars. At the same time, Pandora watches its audience growth, which has been more or less stable at about 76-million users per month. To further that second priority, Pandora is launching its first online ad campaign with a $5-million buy on socially oriented sites like BuzzFeed, Twitter, and Facebook. Continue Reading
Radio (terrestrial or online) is best when delivering a rich-discovery stream of music that repeatedly makes you say, “Who is that?” and “I’ve got to hear more of that band.” When those revelations happen with nearly every song, you know you’ve found something special, and that was our experience with La Noche del Hombre Lobo. (Night of the Werewolf.) Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the Internet. TODAY: Who buys CDs? Sirius XM mulling more out-of-car options. Debate continues over uniform global album-release day. Continue Reading