Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: A pureplay birthday for All Songs Considered; a roundtable on radio’s future; could a music subscriber also hear commercials? Continue Reading
A round-up of recent news in high-definition audio: A Style Jukebox release and redesign; rumored skepticism within Pono ranks; an infographic to explain it all. Continue Reading
Guest contributor Mark Mulligan examines Spotify’s recent subscriber reports (15-million paying users), and recommends pricing elasticity for subscription services. Continue Reading
ASCAP announced that Elizabeth Matthews will serve as its new CEO. The news comes after long-standing top exec John LoFrumento stepped down at the end of 2014. Matthews was the board’s unanimous choice to lead the performing rights organization and will assume the new responsibilities immediately. Continue Reading
Automaker Hyundai is planning its 2016 digital dashboards, and issued a press release with some details. The system is called Display Audio, and comes in Google and Apple flavors. It is plug-and-play, where the driver connects a smartphone to the dashboard with a USB cable. The CD player has been eliminated. Continue Reading
In an ongoing patent lawsuit against iBiquity, developer of HD Radio technology, and several U.S. radio groups, a judge has declared that the radio groups may retreat to the sidelines while iBiquity argues for the invalidity of the patent claim. The next step will be either a lawsuit dismissal (if the judge finds the patent claim invalid), or a proceeding in which the radio groups will get a clarified version of the case going forward. Continue Reading
Spotify posted strong subscriber numbers to kick off 2015, and at the same time is building its ad-supported business in its free-listening service. The company sponsored a brand impact study by comScore to investigate the streaming consumer experience. The results portray the streaming audience as one that’s accessible and open to marketing and brand initiatives. Continue Reading
Edison Research President Larry Rosin was interviewed by CNBC about the “Serial” podcast phenomenon. In this guest column, Rosin expands on his thought that Hollywood is where the impact from “Serial” will occur. Continue Reading
UK retailer Tesco is in the process of selling off its Blinkbox streaming platform. The video arm went to phone company TalkTalk, and Financial Times reported that the music arm is expected to sell to Guvera. According to its unnamed sources, the deal with Guvera is due to close in the next month or so. Continue Reading
Amid the public relations nightmare of Sony getting hacked last month, sleuths found email correspondence among top brass discussing the potential sale of Sony/ATV. Since then, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the company is not considering a sale of the publishing arm. Sony/ATV’s Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier also issued a memo to his team reassuring them that the parent company was not selling off the division. Continue Reading
Spotify announced that it kicked off 2015 with 60 million active users, including 15 million paying subscribers. The company also shared a short celebratory playlist on its blog in honor of the milestone. Continue Reading
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