YouTube has reportedly implemented a new approach to its digital supply chain that could help improve rights management. YouTube, the world’s largest distributor of music, has been criticized recently for its operating model which permits user uploads of tracks and albums, and responds in different ways to take-down requests from rights-holders. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Francis Keeling as its new vice president, global head of licensing, effective June 1. Keeling joins the streaming service after a 14-year tenure at Universal Music Group. “Francis is one of the very best in the business,” said Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer. Continue Reading
Public radio WBAA in West Lafayette, Indiana, is discontinuing broadcasts of This American Life after the show entered into a deal with Pandora. In a brief blog post titled “Mission vs. Economics,” WBAA General Manager Mike Savage said that the decision to air This American Life on a paid subscription service was a key factor in the Indiana station’s decision. Continue Reading
ASCAP, one of the major performing rights organizations (PROs) representing songwriters, publishers, and composers, has reached the end of an investigation by the Department of Justice, settling matters for $1.75-million, while admitting no wrongdoing. It traces back to the Pandora rate-setting case. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. today, two examples of radio put to innovative use. In one, families send audio postcards to relatives in prison, as a follow-up to a call-in radio show. In another, an international magazine gains new readers through an investment in streaming and podcasting. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Much ado about podcasting; BBC attacked right and left; how US and Canadian radio differ. Continue Reading
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which advocates for digital radio transmission and tracks its progress, has released Market Insights: Digital Radio 2016. The report summarizes policy, technology, highlight content offerings, and the roll-out progress across 21 regions. Continue Reading
Sponsored column
This guest column by Gonzalo Alonso, Managing Director of advertising solutions company Audio.Ad, shines light on recently completed research into how and when U.S. Hispanic consumers listen to digital audio. Continue Reading
Facebook is not a very musical service, and has never seemed to care about audio content. Now, though, a report emerges that the 1.5-billion-user social platform is working with Warner Music to test a new product called Slideshow. Continue Reading
Increasingly vocal critics of YouTube have a heroic new champion, not new to the cause, but willing to dramatically escalate its rhetoric. Five-time Grammy-winner Maria Schneider, who has testified before Congress on “safe harbor” issues that affect musicians, released two blazingly critical documents. Together they comprise the harshest and most articulate indictment of an anti-YouTube stance taken by an increasing number of music rights-holders. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: One ex-radio career news specialist decries the downfall of an award-winning station; pirates interfere with licensed radio; Microsoft kills off its in-phone radio tuner. Continue Reading
VuHaus, the public radio music video destination (profiled by RAIN News in January) is nearing its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, it plans to live-stream part of the NON-COMM Convention in Philadelphia on May 19. In January VuHaus obtained a renewal of its operating grant from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Continue Reading