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
In December we reported revenue declines for CBS-owned Last.FM. Now the company has cut costs with a new video-music player powered by YouTube. The Scrobbler function, which has been Last.FM’s distinguishing feature, connects to the new player. Continue Reading
As the Copyright Review Board gears up for the two-year royalty rate-setting process, we spoke with attorney David Oxenford, about what was special about this royalty cycle, and whether the seven-year process can keep pace with a fast-changing streaming market. Continue Reading
It seems like a done deal, as Nielsen quickly started integrating Arbitron into its operations after a September acquisition, setting up the Nielsen Audio division and making small changes to ratings measurements. But a second part of the deal starts now. Continue Reading
John Popper, best known as the front man of Blues Traveler, clearly did his homework to prepare for questions about Pandora and streaming music. In a video interview on CNBC, when asked about songwriter royalties, Popper delivered a history lesson. Continue Reading