“I’m looking forward to discussing our strong quarter, and the progress we’ve made across several business initiatives.,” said Brian McAndrews, CEO of Pandora, to start the Q2 earnings call. By any reckoning the call was a success, and for the first time in several quarters, the stock price responded with an upward swing in after-hours trading. Continue Reading
Yesterday’s announcement that E.W. Scripps acquired Midroll Media is a mile marker in the evolution of podcasting as an important media category. We spoke by phone with Adam Sachs (CEO, Midroll Media), and Adam Symson (SVP and Chief Digital Officer, Scripps) about the merger, its aftermath, and implications for podcasting. Continue Reading
We learned recently that the official YouTube Music Key launch has been postponed, and two new rumors circulating about the popular video platform could provide some insight as to why. First, there has been speculation that YouTube is aiming to make Music Key part of a bigger subscription video service, positioning it as a rival to Netflix and Hulu as well as to music-centric streaming platforms. The second rumor is that music labels may be questioning the current status quo of YouTube’s ad-supported model. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: Spotify’s tweet sets calculators going; commentary on Neil Young; Apple Music commercials. Continue Reading
The IFPI has another half-year report, this one from its Finnish branch. Total recorded music revenue increased 0.5% for the first half in Finland for a total of €15.12 million. Subscription streaming posted the most growth, up 39.9% to €8.95 million. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasts is a weekly feature sponsored by PodcastOne.
It seems simple in podcasting. The host reads and riffs on a sponsorship message, both elucidating major product points and offering personalization that could extend to a personal endorsement. Sounds a lot like what terrestrial radio has been doing for decades. It gets more complicated with public radio, though.
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Media powerhouse E.W. Scripps has just announced that it has acquired Midroll Media, parent company of Earwolf, Wolfpit, and Midroll. Midroll Media is a podcast ad network that sells across a portfolio of 200 home-grown and externally produced on-demand audio programs. Continue Reading
Apple hosted a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings this week, and the talk briefly touched on Apple Music. The tech company’s top brass didn’t reveal many hard numbers about the streaming platform’s first weeks. CEO Tim Cook said that “millions and millions” of consumers are enrolled in free trials and added that Apple is “thrilled about the response” to the service. Continue Reading
IFPI Norway has released its data on the domestic music industry for the first half of 2015. Music sales for the country increased 6.5% during the period. Streaming showed healthy growth, and revenue from those platforms accounted for as much… Continue Reading
SFX Entertainment has entered into a partnership with Spotify. This new arrangement will bring music and video content from Beatport to Spotify’s streaming service. Brand new Beatport CEO Greg Consiglio said that the company is in the midst of building out new content partnerships with other distribution channels, but Spotify is the only one that will get access to Beatport’s new music exclusives. Continue Reading
Rhapsody and Napster have reached the 3 million subscriber milestone. It has been a year of fast growth for the streaming services, which announced 2.5 million listeners in February and 2 million listeners last July. Continue Reading
Spotify’s newest product, the Discover Weekly playlist, is streaming’s latest attempt at perfect music programming. What is perfect programming? The mixtape metaphor is often invoked. Can data or humans best create the perfect listening experience? Continue Reading