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
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the force behind the annual Grammy Awards, announced plans to create a lobbying group dubbed the Grammy Fund for Music Creators. “We won’t be the largest PAC in Washington, but we will be the loudest,” the academy’s Daryl P. Friedman said. Continue Reading
Garth Brooks has been recognized by SoundExchange as the first country artist to secure more than 1 billion streams on digital radio. The achievement means that Brooks received the SoundExchange Digital Radio Award for his popularity across digital radio. Continue Reading
Two collecting societies are considering a joint venture that would manage all public performance licensing in the UK. PRS For Music and PPL have announced a proposal to create a 50/50 company that would unite the licensing activities under a single roof. Continue Reading
Sirius XM reported its fourth-quarter financial results. Net income for the period totaled $134.63 million, or 3 cents per share, down 5.9% from income of $143.12 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue increased about 10% on-year to $1.20 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion after a third-quarter revenue total of $1.17 billion. Continue Reading
The RIAA has decided that streaming counts will be included toward albums’ gold and platinum certification. On-demand audio and video streams will be a factor in measuring performance effective immediately. Gold certification is awarded to an album with 500,000 sales, while platinum is 1 million sales and multi-platinum is 2 million. Continue Reading
Last week we reported that Spotify’s long-awaited video content, first announced last May, would finally appear in its mobile apps. Yesterday we were pleased to find a portfolio of video programming, plus audio podcasts, in a freshly updated Android app. Podcast listening in Spotify is a good experience, possibly a game-changer. Continue Reading