In this guest column, RAIN Enterprises CEO Jennifer Lane explains why it’s crucial to focus on digital platforms. Core spot revenue is still important to the industry, but recent news developments indicate that broadcasters would be well served to be aggressive in growing their share of the digital pie. Continue Reading
Debates over the digital music industry have been raging fast and furious of late. This week, INgrooves Music Group CEO and Founder Robb McDaniels wrote a guest post for Hypebot with his opinions on the current state of affairs. He highlighted how much (or how little) artists can monetize on YouTube. Continue Reading
Tom McAlevey is the founder of Radical.FM, an Internet radio platform, whose resume includes founding TomsRadio, a different, pre-Spotify music service. He has posted an interesting, and intentionally provocative blog entry that explains how Pandora and Spotify could be profitable today, and pitilessly predicts the demise of AM/FM radio. Continue Reading
Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford writes about the Department of Justice review of ‘consent decress,’ which govern how ASCAP and BMI operate. “All music services need to watch and stay involved as this process develops,” Oxenford advises. “There are obviously important and complicated issues that will be considered in this review.” Continue Reading
“The once-ubiquitous FM radio is today primarily enjoyed in the car, where a growing variety of audio consumption occurs. But stored and streamed content on mobile devices is steadily marginalizing the broadcast portion of in-car listening, sucking the audience lifeblood out of the medium.” Connected-car analyst Roger Lanctot contributes this guest column that examines how Sprint is handling its NextRadio implementation of FM in smartphones. Continue Reading
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson reports from Tokyo, where he surveyed the tech, culture, and audio landscapes. This is his third illustrated report — including beer gardens, one-price menus, and their business implications. Continue Reading
Guest columnist James Cridland looks at NPR One, a new mobile app from National Public Radio. while U.K.-based Cridland admires the app’s features, he wishes for something similar from the BBC, which would inject local content for British users. Continue Reading
adStream is a journal of ad-stalking and interesting commercial sightings in online audio services. In Pandora, Promoted Stations are sponsored playlists branded by advertisers, and co-created with Pandora’s curation experts. The program launched in May with several advertising partners, but the sponsored stations are difficult to find. We found one. Continue Reading
In this Part 3 of his Summer of Copyright series, broadcast law attorney David Oxenford writes about a new music licensing comment period established by the U.S. Copyright Office. It is first an opportunity for all stakeholders and interested parties to weigh in. Second, the detailed request for comments illuminates how the Copyright Office seems to be prioritizing possible changes to music licensing. Continue Reading
Over the past 14 years, RAIN has reported to you from around the world — including publishing a week’s worth of early RAIN issues from an Internet-enabled café in Copenhagen, reporting on a popular new trend among young people in Prague called “texting” (way back in 2002), and producing an early cellphone-only version of RAIN in Tokyo, and more.
Now, founding editor Kurt Hanson sends a bulletin and photos from Tokyo, where he is observing the tech and online music scenes. Continue Reading
Patrick Reynolds notes that the television industry is in a golden age, even as audiences fragment among many hit programs, good and bad. In that context, how brightly does the radio constellation shine? Continue Reading
At a recent neighborhood potluck someone asked me about my business. As usual, once I started talking about online audio, everyone at the table identified with Pandora. After a discussion of the types of stations they like to listen to on Pandora, one person mentioned the problem they’ve been having of hearing the same two ads over and over whenever they listen. Continue Reading