John LoFrumento has announced his retirement as CEO of ASCAP., Billboard reported. He will depart the the performing rights organization as of Jan. 1 after 17 years at the helm. Most recently, his company has been involved in the discussions about collective licensing and digital rights. Continue Reading
A-list recording artist Ed Sheeran offered counterpoint to recent Spotify-bashing which has become something like a music industry sport. Backstage at the BBC Music Awards, Sheeran said his career wouldn’t be possible without Spotify. He also explains why he’s different from Taylor Swift. Continue Reading
Line, a social and messaging app based in Japan, has announced a new foray into streaming music. Thanks to a partnership with Sony Music and Avex Digital, the company will launch a service called Line Music. According to a brief news post on Line’s website, the three businesses are still working on the details of what Line Music will look like. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: The return of cassettes; the return of vinyl; Nielsen on marketing to millennial men; more on Merlin/Pandora. Continue Reading
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A six-minute blast of news you need to know in streaming music and online audio. This week: Slacker reboot; Shazam sharpens its sword; Grooveshark plans redemption; Warner Music makes money from streaming; Webcast metrics for September; SoundCloud’s fundraising; Spotify tracks your listening Continue Reading
Soundcloud joins the year-end rush of app updates with an adjustment to its IOS app (iPhone only; iPad promised for next year). Playlisting has been added. Playlisting has been a sorely missing feature on the iOS side since June, when the current ultra-simple app was launched. Continue Reading
Joining Shazam, Spotify, and others, Pandora today released its top 25 spins for 2014. In addition to the top 25, Pandora has built a top-80 stream — warning users: “This is not your typical Pandora listening experience.” Continue Reading
Warner Music Group posted its financial report for the year ending Sept. 30, and the results included some impressive figures related to streaming. The company’s revenue rose 5.2% to $3.02 billion, it’s highest number since 2009. That total was bolstered by an increase of $150 million in revenue from streaming music. Continue Reading
ComScore’s latest data covered trends in the U.S. smartphone market, including an assessment of the most popular apps as of October 2014. Only two music apps make the top 15: Pandora with 41.6% reach and iTunes Radio/iCloud at 21.9% reach. Continue Reading
An up-and-coming streaming service named Musx announced seed funding of $500,000, according to VentureBeat. It’s an iOS app designed for social sharing of music. Members can post songs from YouTube or SoundCloud. As has become common in these mobile apps, users can create their own playlists. Musx adds a collaborative angle, so friends can build playlists together. Continue Reading
Rdio announced a tighter integration with the Roku set-top box. Roku remote controls in the U.S. will add a shortcut button for the music service for direct access to the app. The Rdio channel has also be redesigned with improved navigation, and it will appear by default in the “My Channels” section of the navigation menu. Continue Reading
SoundCloud is in discussions to raise new funding to the tune of $150 million at a valuation of more than $1.2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to two sources familiar with the negotiaions, the music platform is looking to raise money as it works to secure licensing deals with major labels. If SoundCloud successfully secures its high valuation and large funding, then it may be in a better position to play ball with Universal Music Group or Sony Music Entertainment. Continue Reading