The German Music Publishers Association held its annual meeting yesterday and royalty rates from streaming services were a hot topic. President Rolf Budde had some strong words about the state of compensation for songwriters. “The 60,000 composers, lyricists and music publishers must not be sacrificed on the altar of digital music,” he said. Continue Reading
Tidal is continuing its efforts to get more musicians on board with its premium streaming service. The latest plan is for a new feature called Discovery that bypasses the third-party distribution model for independent artists. Instead, those musicians will be able to directly upload their tracks to Tidal. Continue Reading
Nielsen held its quarterly earning call for Q1 yesterday. While much of the reporting pertained to non-audio products and initiatives, CEO Mitch Barns anwered questions about audio measurement, and the progress of Nielsen’s stream measurement initiative. “We are right where we thought we would be.” Continue Reading
Canada is extending the copyright term for sound recordings from 50 years to 70 years. The change is happening as part of the country’s 2015 budget. Many other countries, including the UK and Australia, have copyright terms of 70 years, while the U.S. term is 95 years. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Loudr officially teams with CD Baby; Bop.fm tracks embeddable in Facebook posts; Tidal iOS downloads plummet. Continue Reading
IHS Automotive has released a market report covering more than 4,000 vehicle owners planning to buy a new car about the apps they would want in their new purchase. Music was the third most popular app category for use in vehicles, securing 38% of respondents’ interest. The report also included forecasts for three of the primary digital dashboard systems: Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and MirrorLink. Continue Reading
Sara Morris has joined iHeartMedia as senior director of government affairs. She comes to iHeart from the Federal Communications Commission, where she was director of the legislative affairs department. Morris also spent time as a deputy director and telecommunications policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Congressional Affairs. Continue Reading
Malaysian pay-TV operator Astro Malaysia Holdings has launched a new music streaming service called Raku. The platform is powered by 7digital. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasts is a weekly feature sponsored by PodcastOne.
The Peabody Award bestowed on Serial is a culmination for the show’s creators, and also emblemizes the impact Serial has had on podcasting. But the podcasting resurgence is much more than Serial.
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The Internet Radio & Streaming Report is a survey conducted by RAIN News, and exclusively sponsored by XAPPmedia. Targeted to professionals in the streaming audio industry, the survey was designed to capture an insider’s view of industry dynamics today and the trajectory over the next three years. Click through to view the webinar recording. Continue Reading
Media software company WideOrbit announced that Univision has chosen to move its ad management operations to WideOrbit’s integrated suite of network sales, order transaction, and streaming solutions. Univision operates radio, television, and cable properties across many U.S. markets. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Norway FM switch-off; eight things every radio station should know; a new podcast player; more. Continue Reading