James Cridland’s Future of Radio: iHeart’s spammy texts, the ABC’s multiplatform future, U.S. media job stats

by James Cridland

James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: A few iHeart items; Australian Broadcasting Coroporation and a multiplatform future; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on media jobs; much more. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s Future of Radio: Microsoft pulls FM out of phones, plus consumption changes and pizza

by James Cridland

James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Microsoft removes FM radio from mobile devices; numbers for Netflix; streaming vs downloading podcasts; much more. Continue Reading

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Mark Mulligan: The Two Spotify Charts You Need To See

by Mark Mulligan

Spotify’s recently released 2015 financials created an interesting story: strong revenue growth and market domination, along with widening losses at the bottom line. Midia Research founder Mark Mulligan peels back the layers to analyze underlying dynamics. “Rights costs are the Spotify’s Achilles Heel.” Can scaling audience growth give Spotify enough leverage to gain better label rates? If not, the outcome might be unwelcome to those rights-holders. This guest column is a must-read. Continue Reading

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Why radio should sell music

Radio has been selling music for a long time. Just not directly. No broadcaster claims it as a primary goal, compared to generating ratings and advertising revenue, but radio’s ability to create a sales story is certainly at the heart of its resistance to the latest music industry call for a performance royalty. No matter where you land on that issue, radio is more valuable to the music business if it can demonstrably generate purchases, and if there are still purchases to generate. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s Future of Radio: DAB-enabled smartphone launches in UK and Australia; and Broadcast Bionics’ object-based editing

by James Cridland

James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Missives from the launch of the first digital radio smartphone in the UK and Australia. Great video from Broadcast Bionics. Also pieces about Serial, NPR One, NTS, and much more. Continue Reading

James Cridland’s Future of Radio: Podcasts come to Google, more UK music for Radio 1, Indonesia switches on DAB+

by James Cridland

James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: A look at podcasts in Google Play, coverage from RAIN Summit West, the BBC’s British programming, and DAB+ rolls out in Indonesia. Continue Reading