The Billboard 200 albums chart will begin reflecting the numbers from on-demand streaming services and digital track sales. Starting on Dec. 4, the charts will incorporate the numbers outside the typical sales-only rankings. It is the biggest overhaul of Billboard’s algorithm since May 1991. Continue Reading
Spotify has reportedly posted a profit in France for the first time, Billboard reported. The streaming service allegedly had 66% growth in revenue during 2013 for a total of 18.75 million euros. Profit was more than 311,000 euros. Continue Reading
With the “freemium” model of ad-supported, semi-interactive listening under attack in some quarters, YouTube has formalized whole-album listening in its new YouTube Music section. The impact might be to raise consumer expectation of a highly interactive feature in a free, ad-supported service. Continue Reading
Radical.FM, an innovative online radio service that has been available only in mobile, extended its presence by launching a desktop version for computer listening. We took a tour through the multi-genre mixer that defines Radical.FM’s interface, and spoke with Tom McAlevey, founder, CEO, and serial online radio entrepreneur. Continue Reading
Pop music has long been the refuge of both the deliriously smitten and the devastatedly heartbroken. Billing itself as “the #1 love song station on the net,” Slow Radio is the place to find musical voice for whatever state your romantic life is in. Continue Reading
In a brisk 51-minute conference call with investors yesterday, Pandora described its strategy in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceeding, explained why it thinks music licensing costs (to labels) should be lower, and fielded questions about the company’s key partnership with Merlin labels. Although Pandora executives often speak at investor conferences, and conduct quarterly earnings calls, the single-topic focus of yesterday’s call was unusual. Continue Reading
Irving Azoff and his Global Music Rights PRO have intensified their scrutiny of the new YouTube Music Key streaming service. According to a written exchange between lawyers for both sides, Azoff has questioned whether YouTube has the appropriate licenses to be streaming the songs represented by GMR. The group asked for the roughtly 20,000 songs GMR represents to be removed, but YouTube has not complied. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Steve Albini on music and the Internet; Samsung launches Milk Video in U.S.; Shazam as hit-tracker. Continue Reading
NextRadio, the Emmis-owned smartphone app that tunes in FM station over the air, has employed New York ad agency DeVito/Verdi to build an awareness campaign, according to a press release from the agency. The NAB “is supporting” the agency choice. NextRadio rrecently passed the million-download milestone. Any awareness campaign faces complicated messaging. Continue Reading
Freemium — the layer of streaming music which is designed to funnel users into paid music subscriptions at services like Spotify, Rdio, and Slacker. Freemium streaming is ad-supported, and we were curious about spot load in Freemium listening. We put it to a test. Continue Reading
Spotify is expecting to expand its team by about a third, according to cofounder and Chairman of the Board Martin Lorentzon. He told reporters at a trade fair in Finland that the streaming company was recruiting around 500 new employees to join the current staff of 1,500 people. Continue Reading
Pandora was the mobile program with the most time spent in-app, according to the Mobile Metrix Key Measures report from comScore. The data reflected average minutes per visitor for U.S. adults, and Pandora clocked in with 1,271 minutes. It edged out ubiquitous social network Facebook for the top spot and had more than triple the average minutes for Netflix, the app for TV and movie streaming. Continue Reading