Kevin Brown has been appointed chairman at the Official Charts Company. He will be replacing BMG UK SVP Korda Marshall, who held the chair spot for three years, starting January 2016. Continue Reading
App Annie has released a report on the top mobile music apps for the third quarter of 2015. Spotify topped the charts for worldwide active users, revenue, and downloads on both iOS and Android platforms. Several of the combined charts showed a heavy international bent, featuring apps based in South Korea and India rising through the ranks to land in the top 10. Continue Reading
New research by Bain & Company determined that native digital media has reached a critical mass, and give some insights into how companies in entertainment, publishing, and services could begin to adapt. “Entertainment has passed a point of no return in its transition to native digital,” the report said. It pointed to five key points that businesses would need to address in order to see the most success and shared insightful data points to support this fast-moving trend. Continue Reading
The end-of-the-year roundups continue apace, this time with Adweek’s Hot List detailing the top 24 digital brands, startups, and games from 2015. The list included nods for the ‘hottest music app,’ and if you can remember back to last year’s choices, you’ll be seeing very familiar names. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: PRS subject to anti-competition review; BBC’s Sound of 2016; Nepal’s community radio after the earthquake; dissecting Rdio vs Spotify. Continue Reading
The results are in! Sound like election night? In a sense, the release of Adele’s new album, 25, served as a referendum in many people’s minds. The issues? Magnitude of stardom, and distribution strategy. Some numbers, a bit of conjecture, and a conclusion. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Positive responses to the European Broadcasting Union’s WRC-15 decision; digital radio uptake data for Australia and the UK; several reads on the BBC; much more. Continue Reading
Australia is seeing an increase in digital radio audience. Among the major capital cities, 40% of Australians have access to DAB+ digital radio either at home, at work, or in cars. That means an audience of 3.2 million in those metropolitan areas. Continue Reading
After three years of development, Radio Rewind has launched its audio recording, archiving, clipping, and sharing platform. The service allows radio stations to auto-record some or all of their broadcast content, then reach into the archive to clip excerpts for social sharing. On the public side, anyone can clip audio and share. Continue Reading
Deezer has announced two business developments of note for its listeners. First, the streaming service has added a new section with music from the Ministry of Sound label. Second, it has added a new family plan. Continue Reading
Guvera announced that it raised $100 million in a financing round over the holiday weekend. The streaming service’s leaders said they would next be turning their attention to an IPO, with plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange or Nasdaq. “It’s a pre-IPO round…but we haven’t set any timeline,” CEO Darren Herft told The Australian Financial Review. Continue Reading
One aspect of the music licensing ruling expected from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has been delivered, as an answer from the Register of Copyrights to a question posed by the CRB. The question? Whether webcasters could pay different royalty rates to major labels and non-major labels. Continue Reading