Pandora’s latest experiment is a personalized station dubbed Thumbprint Radio. This channel is generated from all of the tracks a user has given thumbs up to across the years. Yes, that can create transitions as strange and wonderful as you imagine it will. Continue Reading
Pandora CFO Mike Herring spoke at the Wedbush 2015 California Dreamin’ Technology, Consumer Management Access Conference. He spoke about Pandora’s vision generally, the expansion to on-demand service in 2016, Apple Music and Steve Jobs, the company’s recent acquisition of Ticketfly, the imminent CRB royalty-rate ruling, and more. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will finalize the Webcaster IV proceeding today. Here’s the background, the players, and what’s at stake.
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“Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain wrote. Pandora execs might be thinking the same thing after reading a Special Report released by Thom Callahan, President of the Southern California Broadcasters Association. We questioned Callahan about the report’s premise, assertions, and predictions. He held steady during a challenging interview, and the conversation extended to programmatic advertising, connected cars, and how radio sells ads. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. Today’s moves find execs rising through the ranks at Vevo and the National Music Publishers Association. Continue Reading
Sponsored by AudioBoom
The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: CRB royalty rates due any day; Triton Digital webcast metrics; Rhapsody grows its audience; WNYC pokes Facebook with audio; Spotify faces a decision, more. Continue Reading
Pandora has launched a new native app for the Apple TV. The program brings the core Pandora features of managing, creating, and listening to radio stations to the Apple hardware. The Apple TV poses an interesting challenge in the living room entertainment space. Continue Reading
It was a short run. Aurous has formally settled with the RIAA for $3 million and has officially shut down. Aurous appeared on the scene in October, promoting itself as a free (and ad-free) streaming platform that pulled music from licensed third-party sources. Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal has hopped on the podcasting bandwagon. The publication launched WSJ Podcasts, a suite of 12 shows covering topics in news, tech, and finance. The Panoply podcast network is partnering with WSJ for distribution. Continue Reading
We have seen increased interest among mobile service providers in letting customers use select platforms without charging their data plans. Virgin Mobile and Verizon are both making inroads into the space, but there has been skepticism about how the carriers may go about securing those partnerships. Continue Reading
Cue the listening binges: Serial is back on the digital airwaves. The first episode of season two for the popular investigative podcast launched today on its website, iTunes, and Pandora. Continue Reading
sponsored by PodcastOne
Nearly two years ago, an article that questioned why audio doesn’t go viral, went viral. The article’s complaint has not been fully answered. Recently WNYC posted one of its podcasts to Facebook, but had to wrap it in a video because Facebook doesn’t have native audio. Podcasting might be the catalyst which changes the lack of social sharing in audio. Continue Reading