BPI, the British Phonographic Industry, has created a new initiative focused on bringing technology into its work in new ways. The BPI Innovation Hub will meet quarterly to connect tech companies with record labels. Continue Reading
According to Cowen & Co., Amazon Prime’s U.S. membership is about 49.5 million people. The third-party analysis is based on a panel of 2,500 U.S. consumers, since Amazon has not explicitly shared its Prime data. Continue Reading
Pandora is expanding its options for sponsored listening packages in the lead-up to the holiday season. The new choice is related to the audio streamer’s Pandora Plus mid-priced tier of subscription access, which allows listeners to replay songs and have more opportunities to skip tracks. Pandora’s latest ad addition is sponsored playbacks and replays, where non-Plus listeners can get those features for a limited time in exchange for watching a video ad. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Streaming and writing pop songs. Exploring podcasts for children. Continue Reading
CBS Radio Inc. has filed its Form S-1 SEC registration for an expected Initial Public Offering. The mile-long document explains the basic business, summarizes financials for the first nine months of 2016, and discloses investment risks. We examined the prospectus and made notes of the digital aspects. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: BBC World Services expands its language offerings. PRX offers podcast training to radio. Big changes for Brisbane’s breakfast radio. Continue Reading
NextRadio has introduced a newsfeed as a new way to present radio station content to listeners. The feed includes items from stations such as trending tweets from a particular user’s favorite programs and other related content such as artist and song facts or concert information. Continue Reading
Nielsen has launched its Music Connect data product in Canada. This rollout offers clients more in-depth listener data, including for streaming and broadcasting. It covers 72 metropolitan areas across Canada, and has analytics including airplay, sales, and social media activity. According to Canadian music industry specialist Alan Cross, it could “shake up” what listeners hear on Canadian Radio. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Bob Lefsetz on Recode Media podcast; innovations at WNYC; interview with Radiolab founder; what’s next for political podcasts? Continue Reading
South Africa-based podcast and audio company iono.fm has received a new influx of seed funding. The company secured $175,000 (2.5 million rand) in a round led by Clifftop Colony. The financing will support strengthening domestic operations and investing in streaming services. Continue Reading
We covered the early results from Music Biz Consumer Insights and LOOP’s latest study of in-car listening, but the final report offers some more detail into the breakdown of technology choices and listener ages. For in-car listening, 75% of respondents said they listen to AM/FM radio. CD listening came in a distant second with 38%, while digital music files had 18% and streaming Internet radio had 15%. Podcasts secured just 6%. Continue Reading
Metallica is out with a new album and the band has gone an unusual route with distribution. Hardwired… To Self Destruct has been released on most of the usual digital outlets, but it is also on YouTube in its entirety. Metallica’s adoption of streaming distribution contradicts the band’s earlier resistence, and contains some irony. Then there is Radiohead, once a hold-out, which is now streaming on Spotify. Continue Reading