Rumor has turned to reality. Two weeks ago we reported that music service Spotify and telecom carrier Sprint were talking about a bundling plan that would put Spotify in front of Sprint’s 54-million customers. Today, the deal is done. Click for details. Continue Reading
The quest for great blues finds another watering hole in Aardvark Blues. This Internet-only station had us at Ana Popovic, the Serbian blues-rocker. If you tire of the blues, the same no-nonsense programming is available from the same Aardvark outfit on the rock side, at Aardvark Rock. Continue Reading
Yahoo has partnered with Live Nation in an agreement to co-distribute live-streamed concerts at a blistering pace — one concert a day (or night) “for several years.” Yahoo’s main competitive focus in this venture is Google, the leader in video content. Yahoo and Live Nation will funnel users to the the real-time concert stream, only highlights of which will be available later. Continue Reading
In a Hollywood Reporter interview, singer Jared Leto of the band 30 Seconds to Mars offered his thoughts about streaming music. Leto has his doubts about the sustainability of streaming for musicians. But he points a huge measure of accountability at record labels. Continue Reading
Brian Lakamp is the President of Digital at Clear Channel, and is the product owner of iHeartRadio, which he characterizes as “the national consumer brand” of Clear Channel. In a wide-ranging phone conversation, we spoke with Lakamp about iHeart’s digital strategy, listening to radio in the car, Clear Channel’s partnerships with record labels, and operating in a “six-screen world.” Continue Reading
Welcome to Internet Radio REWIND, an audio recap of the week. This weekly program is a quick and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories. Click the Play button, refresh your neurons, and be ready for the coming week. This week: CarPlay comes out to play; a field day for earnings; Samsung spills its marketing for Milk; the Electronic Frontier Foundation tries to rescue podcasting; and a birthday of the man who probably didn’t invent radio. Continue Reading
Spotify’s European head of label relations, Kevin Brown, told a British music publication that Spotify has gained one-million listeners in the U.K. over the past four months. This data point is spawning headlines that Spotify is bigger than iTunes in Europe. It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. Continue Reading
HEADLINE: Pandora met Wall street expectations in Q1, and grew key usage and revenue metrics.
HEADLINE: Pandora stock (P) is savagely down 15% as of this writing.
Why? The answer might lie in the company’s future guidance Continue Reading
Last month we noted real estate site Trulia’s launch of a $45-million ad campaign promoting its mobile house-seeking app. Since then we’ve had an eye out for the ads, curious about what sort of placement Trulia would occupy in Pandora’s portfolio of ad units and rich-media options. We got one answer this week. Continue Reading
As in the car, so on Wall Street … today. SiriusXM and Clear Channel (including iHeartRadio information) released quarterly earnings reports this morning. Pandora comes to bat at 5:00pm EDT. Here are two summaries and one preview. Continue Reading
XAPPmedia announced its acquisition of a $3-million round of venture funding, led by Frank Raines, a co-founder and current Executive Chairman. The money will be invested in developing and distributing the company’s flagship product, XAPP Ads. Continue Reading
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a kind of sheriff’s office for civil liberties on the Internet, has received an encouraging ruling from a government office that regulates patent reviews. The judgment clears the way for the EFF to challenge the validity of a controversial lawsuit against podcaster Adam Corrola and other podcast publishers. Continue Reading