Revenue for music apps grew 77% in 2013, year-over-year, according a the App Annie Index: 2013 Retrospective report. The report studied income derived from both free (with in-app upgrades) and paid apps. Pandora led the field. Continue Reading
As expected, Beats Music made its TV-ad debut with a Super Bowl commercial starring Ellen DeGeneres. It hit Beats’ consistent marketing angle of delivering music that is just right for each listener. How does Spotify’s marketing contrast? Continue Reading
Slacker has hired Nintendo exec Duncan Orrell-Jones to be CEO of the Internet radio company, replacing existing CEO Jim Cady, who will stay on the board of directors. The Slacker press release notes that the music service began in 2010, but we peg the company launch in 2007. Continue Reading
The five most-read posts of the past week. Apple ignores iTunes Radio; SoundCloud raises cash and competes with YouTube; guest columns by Kurt Hanson and Patrick Reynolds; Continue Reading
Time is running out for webcasters, large and small, to file for participation in the royalty-setting process of the Copyright Royalty Board. The outcome will determine the cost of recorded music to webcasters for 2015-2020. Continue Reading
Pandora bulls are stampeding. Goldman Sachs issued an investor report which projected a potential doubling of stock value. P stock vaulted well into uncharted territory, and into a new valuation realm with a $7-billion market capitalization. Continue Reading
Expanding a deal struck earlier this month, Rdio and Shazam now announce that their collaboration is extended to 29 non-U.S. countries. The still-new feature lets Rdio subscribers create an auto-playlist that holds all of their Shazam-ID’d music. Continue Reading
The ultimate in music discovery? Forgotify is based on a startling Spotify factoid that was revealed in the service’s fifth birthday anniversary last year: 20 percent of its vast music catalog goes unheard — not even a single play. Continue Reading
A just-released report claims that iTunes Radio does not have much power to drive music download sales in iTunes. Music-recognition app Shazam might have an answer to that. Over five percent of Shazam users clicked “Buy” on Grammy night. Continue Reading
Sweden released industry metrics for 2013, showing deepening loss of CD and download sales, countered by a large year-over-year gain in streaming revenue. How should American musicians prepare for a similar transition from sales to streams? Continue Reading
For those focused on music and online audio, it’s easy to forget that Apple is not a music company, but a hardware vendor. iTunes Radio is just a feature in a network ecosystem of products and services. And…not mentioned in yesterday’s earnings call. Continue Reading
A social manager gone rogue? Drunk tweeting? We don’t know, but Mashable was keeping a sharp eye on Spotify’s Twitter feed during the couple of days last week when Beats Music was down and out with connection problems. Continue Reading