Amazon Music Unlimited may be the new kid on the block for streaming subscriptions, but it’s moving quickly to match the features of its more established competitors. The service has now added a family subscription plan to its tiers. Continue Reading
Some might say that you haven’t truly made it in the music world until Weird Al Yankovic has spoofed your song. This American Life’s show Serial has now hit a similar degree of pop cultural cache for podcasts, as it is the subject of a new parody show on Wondery. Continue Reading
PRX, a leader in the creation, marketing, and distribution of on-demand audio, has launched Project Catapult, a training program for selected radio stations. The project will select five stations from a pool of applicants to attend a 20-week “boot camp.” At the end, each station will have created a 20-week show series. Continue Reading
A new survey from Music Biz Consumer Insights and LOOP examined the growing role of digital audio for millennial drivers. Respondents aged 34 and younger are more likely to listen to digital audio in vehicles; 28% said they had streamed Internet radio in their cars in the past week, and the same percentage listened to digital files. Continue Reading
Tidal has been boasting that it had access to stream music from the late and great Prince, but the performer’s estate is raising an eyebrow about those claims. The estate says that Tidal was only permitted to stream Prince’s most recent albums rather than the entire catalog. Continue Reading
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