Spotify’s push for new video content is continuing at break-neck speed. The latest release is an animated series titled “Drawn & Recorded.” The ten episodes will share stories from pop music history. Videos will appear on Spotify’s mobile and desktop versions. Continue Reading
Beatroot Music has raised £125,000 ($155,000) in equity funding for its work in metadata management. The financing came from Creative England, and follows a seed funding round in March 2015. Beatroot automatically generates metadata for back catalogs. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in September gained 2% compared to August numbers in Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics monthly Top 20 Ranker, released today. Perennial leader Pandora was flat from august, while Spotify jumped 7% (same as the previous month). iHeartRadio, third on the list each month, inched down 2%. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia released financial results for the third quarter. In announcing the results, iHeart’s leadership kept the focus forward on upcoming digital projects. “This quarter, we were excited to announce the reimagining of live radio with our two new subscription services, iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access,” Bob Pittman said. Continue Reading
Internet radio platform SHOUTcast has sealed a partnership with Nobex Partners, the two companies announced today. Under this arrangement, Nobex will make available white label mobile apps for SHOUTcast’s 73,000 stations. Continue Reading
Pandora unveiled a new look to its web version. The changes reflect Pandora’s recently revised branding and clearly integrate the key functions for its new Pandora Plus paid subscriber tier. The redesign will begin rolling out today. Continue Reading
Imagine a grocery store which puts out a free coffee bar for customers. Now image the grocery store accusing customers of shoplifting for using the coffee bar. That’s the perception of a Cease & Desist letter reportedly sent by the Canadian Broadcasting Coporation (CBC) to podcast apps, ordering them to stop distributing CBC podcasts. Pundit opinion is frowning, but the CBC is legally sound. Continue Reading
Dash Radio is getting in the Election Day spirit, hosting a Rock the Vote pop-up station. The special station is aimed at encouraging youth voter turnout. It will only air Nov. 7-8 and is available from the Dash home page. Continue Reading
A new study investigated how an exemption in the U.S. Copyright Act impacts songwriters and composers in Europe. The law in question allows certain small restaurants and retail businesses from getting licenses for music played on the television or radio in their establishments. Continue Reading
Podcast network Wondery has hired two new executives. One is a senior vice president of brand partnerships and the other is director of audience acquisition. Continue Reading
Vevo has added a new feature for making animated GIFs from its hosted music videos. Not all videos in the library are available for creation of the five-second looping clips at launch, but Vevo said it is working to have the rights to include as many as possible. Continue Reading
Apple allegedly played a part in the shut-down of Omnifone earlier this year, hiring 16 of the B2B music company’s employees and snapping up some amount of its technology assets. TechCrunch reported that Apple made the purchase and talent acquisition back in August. Continue Reading