The Amazon Echo has added support for Spotify. However, the voice-controlled speaker will only work for subscribers of the streaming service. The Echo is one of many new challengers in the field of WiFi speakers and connected home audio, where Sonos has been the leader for some time. Continue Reading
AudioBoom will be one of the content providers for the Google Play store. The company is one of 11 podcast and audio partners that will appear on the redesigned store. Earlier this week, some Android users saw glimpses of the active podcast hub. Continue Reading
In an executive shuffle along the newly established migratory path between radio and streaming, Chris Price of thought-leading consultancy New Slang Media will join BBC 1 and Xtra as Head of Music, replacing George Ergoutadis. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group posted its results for the first quarter ending Dec. 31, with the music performance buoyed by streaming. A large portion of the revenue figures came from digital sources, which posted an 18% increase to $322 million. Digital revenue was responsible for 41% of the company’s total revenue, up from a 35.6% portion in the year-ago period. Continue Reading
RAJAR data for the fourth quarter of 2015 revealed a fresh snapshot at radio listenership in the UK. The report found that the average listener spends 21 hours and four minutes with live radio per week. The reach for all radio was also strong, with 48.2 million adults (or 90% of the population over age 15) tuning in each week. More than half of the UK’s adult population is tuning in to digital formats. Continue Reading
Radionomy-owned digital advertising platform TargetSpot announced a new partnership with Internet radio platform MixRadio, to sell inventory in France, Germany, and Switzerland. The alliance starts this month. Continue Reading
The Official German Album Charts will begin reflecting streaming counts starting Feb. 5. However, the update from BVMI/GfK comes with several caveats in what streams will be included and how they will be valued in rankings. Continue Reading
7digital announced that one of its production companies, Unique, will be producing a Monday night jazz show for BBC Radio 3. The new shows will start in April. The production deal is a continuation of 7digital’s relationship with the BBC’s jazz features. Continue Reading
Classical specialist Naxos has unveiled a new comprehensive world music collection for subscribers to stream. The Naxos Music Library World represents more than 150 countries and more than 6,000 albums. The music has been pulled from a range of labels and will be continually updated with new additions. Continue Reading
The burgeoning podcast category is enjoying growing audience, investment, and revenue. At the same time, success and potential are compromised by confusion and disagreement about how to measure consumption and listening. Today sees the release of a proposed standard of podcast measurement, created by a working group of public radio station representatives, and intended to unify data collection and analysis of public radio’s on-demand audio. the long-term intent is to drive a technical measurement standard for all podcasting. Continue Reading
Nielsen has turned its analytical lens to China with the launch of a new Music 360 Report focused on that country. It is the first time the company has examined a market outside North America for its music listening and consumption habits. The findings show a country with large potential interest in music, but faced with economic stratification. Continue Reading
This week’s Q4 earnings call for Sirius XM provided a snapshot of company financials and projections, as these calls always do, and some color around company strategy and aspirations. Click through for excerpts. Continue Reading