Performing rights organization BMI announced its financial results from the past year, including total revenue of $1.013 billion. Money from digital sources – including Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube – rose 65% over the previous year. Continue Reading
ABS Entertainment has embarked on a legal crusade to collect royalties for its pre-1972 recordings. ABS filed suits against broadcast radio groups in California earlier in the summer, and now it has put two digital platforms in the crosshairs as well. RAIN News received a copy of a lawsuit filed earlier this week by the pair against Sirius XM and Pandora. Continue Reading
Radio stations have been grappling with simulcasting questions for many years. Within the growing imperative to get a station (or station group) online, there is another question. RAIN Summit Atlanta will examine the issue with thought leaders from broadcast, technology, and marketing. Continue Reading
A newly released survey from Technorati is formatted as a report card on programmatic advertising efficacy, from the viewpoint of the buy- and sell-sides. In it, there is a sharp point of disagreement over the key values of programmatic platforms. Continue Reading
It’s full-steam ahead at Apple, which hosted an event to unveil several new products yesterday. The big star was a major update to its Apple TV set-top box. The new Apple TV features a new interface and voice integration thanks to Siri. Most of the entertainment updates were focused on video services, but the company did announce that its own Apple Music will be available through the device. Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the BBC unveiled its commitment to making its service more Internet-friendly, including plans for a streaming music service. Geoff Taylor, CEO of the BPI, addressed this as-yet non-existent streaming service by demanding that it pay to license the songs whenever it does come to be. “The starting point for some of the BBC’s suggestions around how such a service might work involved launching such a service but paying no money for it – and I just don’t think that’s viable,” Taylor said. Continue Reading
Ad-tech company AdsWizz announced today the hire of Pierre Naggar as VP, Programmatic Demand in Europe. Naggar will report to AdsWizz President of Europe Gary Goodman, and will lead the company’s efforts to connect European audio publishers with advertiser demand on automated software platforms. Continue Reading
Stephen Colbert debuted as the new host of “The Late Show” on CBS last night. One of the highlights was seeing the return of live-copy testimonial advertising from the show’s host. It was hilarious, and effective. Kurt Hanson connects the creative tactic to podcasting and music streaming. Continue Reading
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The resurgence of podcasting is mostly publicized as an entertainment genre with public-facing shows in the “B2C” category — Business To Consumer. Increasingly, attention is shining on “B2B” podcasting (Business to Business), and the trend harkens back to how blogging evolved. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. The latest changes are a departure at Shazam, a promotion at Saga Communications, a new hire at Rhode Island Public Radio, and a switch from Rdio to Google Play. Continue Reading
Spotify has a new feature catering to those listeners who are ahead of the trends. It’s called Found Them First, and the tool scours your listening history to see if you were streaming any artists before they hit the big time. The streaming platform defined breakout artists as act that have surpassed 20 million total streams with a growth rate of at least 2,000% between January 2013 and June 2015. Continue Reading
DGital Media has announced new partnerships to bolster the audio content opportunities for fantasy sports experts and personalities. For those partners that do have audio programs, DGital will assume the responsibility of representing and distributing them. For the ones that do not have audio, DGital will create that original content, then monetize and distribute it. Continue Reading