ART19 has closed a Series A financing round of $7.5 million. Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and DCM Ventures led the round, with United Talent Agency, Gallo Digital, Zach Coelius, and Array Ventures also included as investors. The podcast technology company is now predicting 300% revenue growth in 2017. Continue Reading
AdLarge Media announced the addition of hey, girl. to its cabana brand of podcast services and digital audio ad buying. Author Alex Elle created the program, where she interviews inspiring, interesting women for this show about self-discovery, sisterhood, and storytelling. Cabana is AdLarge’s division for podcast creation and ad representation. Continue Reading
RAIN Summit is heading to Australia! RAIN Summit Australia will take place in at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on October 13, in collaboration with Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), and will be produced as part of Radio Alive 2017, the Australian radio industry’s annual national conference. Continue Reading
Sony Music has signed a deal with Dubset, a startup that helps with the management of rights in remixes and DJ sets. This agreement will allow artists to monetize their work when it is used in those modified formats, while the creators of those remixes and sets can be legally distributed to Apple Music and Spotify. Continue Reading
Australia-based Nova Entertainment hosted a contest to help the discovery of new podcasts in the country. The winner of the company’s second Podquest competition is Wendy John with her show Doomsday. Her prize is a production and marketing grant, along… Continue Reading
Billboard announced a revamp of its Emerging Artists chart. The new chart will be a break-out of the overall Billboard Artist 100 chart and replaces the weekly Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists chart that debuted in 2014. The Emerging Artists will be identified by the same formula behind several other Billboard charts, with a combination of album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming, and social media buzz. Continue Reading
The United States had astronomy fever yesterday as a total solar eclipse dazzled science fans across the country. Excited viewers were apparently united on the perfect soundtrack for the celestial event. Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart” posted huge jumps in popularity on music platforms. Continue Reading
Spreaker and BlogTalkRadio have agreed to a merger. The two audio companies will join forces to create a single combined entity comprising more than 50,000 podcasts and millions of listeners worldwide. The new company will offer services for podcast creation and monetization in an all-in-one solution. Continue Reading
Spotify’s slow ride toward going public has hit some unexpected bumps in the road. After much speculation that the streaming service would seek an IPO, the new trajectory appears to be a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. However, both investors and regulators have started reacting to this new business plan, indicating that a direct listing may not be the clear-cut action the company hoped. Continue Reading
AirKast, a provider of mobile apps to radio stations, announced that it will provide free Alexa skills for all of its customers. That means more than 800 North American radio stations, syndicated radio hosts, and podcasters will receive voice commands so their work can be accessed on the Amazon Echo smart speaker. Continue Reading
Nielsen is running a report series focused on Millennials, the frequently coveted demographic aged 18-34. The latest edition examines how this group uses digital communication and entertainment. Other Nielsen research has pointed to a different breakdown in how Millennials use media, with much less time spent watching TV or listening to radio than older generations, and this new data set reinforces that trend. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James has updates from the wide world of audio, including news from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. Continue Reading