Spotify announced an executive promotion within its ranks. James Duffet-Smith will now be working as global head of publisher relations. He had been serving as the streaming company’s head of licensing business affairs, where his focus was on global music licensing concerns. Continue Reading
SiriusXM and Flo & Eddie, the company representing 60s band the Turtles, have been playing legal ping pong over the copyright for songs that were recorded prior to 1972, the date when federal copyright law took effect. The latest salvo comes from the satellite radio company, which has successfully petitioned the 2nd Circuit court to receive a review of the decisions handed down in the New York case by Judge Colleen McMahon. Continue Reading
Average listeners tuned in to BBC radio for 10 hours a week during the last quarter of 2014, according to official data from the UK broadcaster. That figure marked a drop of 14 percent from a decade earlier, when that average figure was 11.6 hours a week for the period. A representative from the broadcaster noted that although the interest among listeners is still high, many are tuning in through online or digital platforms that are not accounted for in the BBC’s traditional listening data. Continue Reading
On-demand music service Spotify has announced a new audience segment for advertisers called Playlist Targeting. Brand marketers will be offered a premium opportunity to connect with behavioral audience segments derived from user engagement with Spotify’s 1.5-billion playlists. Spotify exec Brian Benedik explains it to RAIN News. Continue Reading
TuneCore announced that it is working with Believe Digital, an independent digital distributor and services provider based in Europe. This arrangement will allow TuneCore’s existing customers the option to have a la carte access the global services offered by Believe. Continue Reading
UK media regulator Ofcom announced that it is testing a new technology that could make digital broadcasting more financially feasible for small radio stations. The new system is currently dubbed “small scale DAB,” based on freely available software rather than the expensive hardware of current DAB systems. Continue Reading
Ad-rep company AudioHQ announced a new exclusive partnership to represent inventory in a portion of TuneIn’s 100,000+ streams. AudioHQ CEO Matt Cutair told RAIN News the agreement applies to select in-stream channels on TuneIn. Continue Reading
Roger Lanctot is Associate Director of Strategy Analytics, and a thought leader in the connected-car space. In this guest article, he examines radio’s role in the car. “Radios may be more difficult to find in the car, but the radio is no less relevant and no less powerful.”
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Spotify has four more lobbying firms now supporting its interests in Washington. The newly registered firms are focused on competition, licensing, and “platform neutrality,” sources told Politico. It also added at least two firms to provide similar services in the EU. It’s likely that this push for representation in D.C. stems from the number of big legal issues that intersect with Spotify’s core business and are currently in discussion on the Hill. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Infinite choice, and a crippled use of the Internet. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasts is a weekly feature sponsored by PodcastOne.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)’s Podcast Working Group met in Las Vegas on Monday, as part of its mandate to discuss ad-supported podcasts, and “best opportunities to evangelize the space.” The agenda is secret, but podcasting is a category in need of top-level organization. Continue Reading
Music video expert Vevo has launched an app for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles in select markets. Vevo’s app includes its suite of music videos and original programming, and the PlayStation blog post announcing the launch teased some special exclusive content. Continue Reading