“We’re still in the early innings and the market is growing rapidly,” said Pandora CEO Roger Lynch at the top of yesterday’s Q2 earnings call. He deployed the “early innings” metaphor in Q1 also. This time, Wall Street took a swing at that pitch, sending P stock up 20% in Wednesday morning’s early trading. Continue Reading
Acast, podcasting host and audio company, announced a deal with UK broadcaster ITV. Under this partnership, Acast will host and expand ITV’s podcast lineup, which includes Love Island: The Morning After, Tour de France Podcast and World Cup Podcast. Continue Reading
Australian digital audio company Whooshkaa has inked a deal to connect local advertisers with the HowStuffWorks podcast network. The network already boasts more than 50 million global downloads each month, including at least 2 million in Australia and New Zealand. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia announced that Bobby Bones has been promoted to the role of VP, creative director of iHeartCountry. The radio personality hosts The Bobby Bones Show and Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones, and will continue to lead those programs following the promotion. He’s also an established podcaster. Continue Reading
Sony has released its latest quarterly earnings. In its fiscal Q1 (calendar Q2), Sony’s revenue from recorded music and music publishing reached 121.3 billion yen ($1.11 billion), with operating income of 32.1 billion yen ($294.3 million). Continue Reading
Pandora is taking the next step with its programmatic advertising strategy. After announcing the beta launch of a private programmatic marketplace in February, the audio company has now opened up the exchange to general buying. Continue Reading
Troy Carter will be departing his position as global head of creator services at Spotify in September. He will remain with the streaming service in an advisor. Continue Reading
The parent company of Universal Music Group has been considering options for its next steps with the major label, and has landed on the decision for a sale. French media conglomerate Vivendi has announced that it plans to sell half of UMG and is seeking potential strategic partners. Continue Reading
Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein reflects on last week’s Podcast Movement conference, and a list of interesting takeaways. One key fact: More than four out of five people do not listen to podcasting weekly. Upside? Yes, and also challenges. Continue Reading
Spotify’s UK team has promoted Austin Daboh to head of shows and editorial, as well as promoting a new team lead for the unit. Daboh’s new position fills the vacancy left by George Ergatoudis’ departure last month. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has launched a new music discovery feature called Your Weekly Mixtape. The playlists can contain 30-75 songs, refreshed every Monday. The blog post announcing the feature notes that the playlists will also include “new releases and personalized trending music.” Continue Reading
SoundExchange distributed $208.7 million in sound recording performance royalties during the second quarter, bringing its 2018 distributions to date to more than $398.6 million. The performance royalty distributor had several other noteworthy activities in the period that it shared in its most recent report. Continue Reading