Money is pouring into online audio.Recently-launched Beats Music has completed a new funding round totaling at least $60-million. (The exact amount is undisclosed.) News of this investment comes in the wake of Beats competitor Spotify acquiring a $200-million line of credit, and acquiring music-data leader The Echo Nest for a reported $100-million. Continue Reading
The company is silent, but Spotify reportedly has arranged a $200-million line of credit. In addition, Spotify has $538-million total venture funding. When so much external money is in a company which carries an unprofitable balance sheet, it sometimes foretells a “liquidity event” such as an IPO. Continue Reading
M. Luke McDonell is a writer, artist, and photographer living in San Francisco. A veteran of South by Southwest, she is contributing daily bulletins from the 2014 show. This SXSW photo gallery is from the first day of SXSW Interactive. Continue Reading
Weekend Perspective is a quick and consie catch-up of the last week’s most important developments in Internet radio and online audio. iTunes Radio advertises on FM … Triton Digital receives local-ratings accreditation … The INfinite Dial 2014 research survey … Apple’s CarPlay … Spotify acquires The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
The five most-read articles of last week: iTunes Radio advertising on … FM radio; Triton Digital local ratings system for streaming media gains accreditation; The INfinite Dial 2014 reviews; Apple announces CarPlay; Spotify acquires The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
In a very interesting, potentially impactful maneuver, Samsung has launched a new streaming music service. Called Milk Music, the mobile-only app does not require any sort of registration or payment, and is ad-free. The music is powered by Slacker. Milk Music is available as an Android app only to selected Samsung phones, of which there exist about 200-million on the street. Continue Reading
The acquisition of The Echo Nest by Spotify represents an important potential alteration in the anatomy of streaming music services. The Echo Nest has a broad footprint in the industry, we wondered what the acquisition means for the many music services which rely on The Echo Nest, and their millions of users users, who, even if they don’t know it, are really listening to The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
In joint press release, Spotify and The Echo Nest announced this morning that Spotify has acquired The Echo Nest. Spotify is a leading interactive, on-demand music service. The Echo Nest is the leading music intelligence tech company, providing technology that powers song recommendations to over 400 listening platforms. Continue Reading
Audiam, a seven-month-old startup, announced closing a $2-million investment round. Notably, the coalition of investors comprises musicians, small-label owners, and producers. The company solves a unique problem, by identifying unauthorized use of recorded music on YouTube, and generating royalties for rights-holders. Continue Reading
Jake Sigal describes himself as a passionate music lover, and he founded Livio in 2008 with a $10,000 loan from his parents. He is a featured speaker at RAIN Summit West, April 6th in Las Vegas, where he will be on the Dashboard Dynamics panel. We spoke to Sigal by phone. Continue Reading
Terrestrial radio has a newly official ratings competitor on the local level: Internet radio. In a culmination of a rigorous two-year evaluation period, Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics Local ratings product has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC). Continue Reading
UPDATE: The two sides of this dispute have reached an out-of-court, non-financial settlement. The Spotify playlists in question, which replicate compilation albums produced by British label Ministry of Sound, will be removed from Spotify’s search engine, but not removed from the service. Continue Reading