South Korean tech and mobile conglomerate Kakao has assumed ownership of MelOn, the country’s top streaming and downloaded music provider. Buying out the 76.4% stake in parent company Loen Entertainment for 1.87 trillion won (about $1.55 billion) adds an entertainment facet to Kakao’s diverse holdings. Continue Reading
Spotify has been hit with a second lawsuit in two weeks, again centered on licensing and royalties. The plaintiff is artist Melissa Ferrick, who said her songs have been streamed more than a million times without proper licensing. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: New research about how listeners switch radio stations; what makes a good public speaker?; new DAB+ stations in The Netherlands; more. Continue Reading
Nielsen has released data reviewing 2015 for the Canadian music market. Total number of streams in the year exceeded 25.6 billion, with 7.8 billion of those from audio and a sweeping 17.8 billion for video. The results from Canada, especially in album performance, mark an interesting contrast to the big U.S. Nielsen report released last week. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has raised 300 million krona (about $35 million) in debt funding. A representative for the online audio platform confirmed the arrangement with investment firm Tennenbaum Capital Partners. Continue Reading
Apple Music has reportedly surpassed 10 million paying subscribers. Inside sources told Financial Times (paywall) that the new streaming platform reached the milestone after just six months on the market. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Steve Goldstein sends us a second report from CES, where he was impressed by automaker commitment to digital dashboards, and, above all, the “irrefutable trend” to on-demand audio and video. Continue Reading
Things have gotten real for small webcasters. December 31 came and went like a silent specter, as the law which gave special royalty rates to hobby and semi-pro online radio stations expired, its death seemingly unattended by the institutions which have power to revive or replace it. Perspectives from copyright attorney Kevin Goldberg and StreamLicensing founder Marvin Glass. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Steve Goldstein immerses himself in CES, and writes, “Nothing has been more impactful than seeing the trail of disruption to legacy media.” Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads, another round of articles stemming from CES. Read on for connected cars vs radio; Pandora SVP’s car talk; and iHeart partners for VR. Continue Reading
NPR announced that Anya Grundmann will be its new vice president of programming and audience development. She had been working in that capacity on an interim basis, during which time she led the launch of several new content additions. Continue Reading
AudioBoom announced a partnership with India-based Eros International. According to the heads of terms agreement, Eros will work with audioBoom for its upcoming launch into the Indian market. Continue Reading