A new report from McKinsey & Company examined the streaming music industry in southeast Asia. The region has a range of digital music market sizes, with some large and firmly established while others are still on the grow. Across the area, digital music growth is happening faster than the global rate (8.8% a year compared with 0.4% a year between 2011 and 2015). Continue Reading
Understandably lost in last week’s giant election news was a significant announcement from Google. Its Android Auto product, already rolling out with 200 car models, and likely to forever change radio listening patterns, received a major boost. Continue Reading
In a startling announcement, Samsung Electronics revealed that it will acquire Harmon International for $8-billion. The strategy targets the car as the next milestone mobile device. Harmon is best known as the builder of car audio systems (JBL and Harman/Kardon brands). Continue Reading
Napster posted a profit for its third quarter of 2016. The streaming service’s Q3 results included a profit of $1.63 million for the period. The positive quarterly result is a strong turn for Napster after the service reported a spike in annual net losses for 2015. Continue Reading
Amazon Music Unlimited has made its first international expansion. This new streaming subscription from the tech conglomerate has landed in the UK and is slated to launch in Germany and Austria later today. Continue Reading
Google Play Music relaunched today, announcing an update that makes machine learning a bigger part of its listening experience. That means the platform will combine listeners’ individual music tastes with contextual information such as time of day and location to offer improved song recommendations. It all happens behind the scenes, based on Google’s understanding of the user. Another step closer to the “Me Button.” Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Studio-less radio stations. Several podcasting reports and discussions. DVR for radio with streemr. Much more from around the world of radio and audio. Continue Reading
Consent decrees are back in the headlines. This time, it’s because the Department of Justice is appealing the decision by federal Judge Louis Stanton about fractional licensing. The DoJ response means that the second circuit court of appeals will hear the case. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Wrap-up from the WorldDAB conference; a connected car report for automakers; touring Pandora’s Minneapolis office. Continue Reading
YouTube has rolled out an app for watching its videos in virtual reality. All the videos on the platform allow the viewer to see the action as if they were physically present on the scene. This news is still interesting as a forecast for what digital entertainment might look like in ten years. Continue Reading
Nielsen’s latest data is a Live Event 360 report, which analyzes fan behavior around concerts. People who attended at least one concert or festival in the past year spent 60% of their average annual music budget on attending those performances. Although the Nielsen report is focused on finding brand and marketing opportunities around live shows, there’s also an intriguing perspective for digital music platforms. Continue Reading
Spotify made its first foray into Japan earlier this year, and the streaming music service has now ended its invite-only phase. During that period of limited access, the top track in Japan pulled in just 8,700 daily plays. Continue Reading