Rhapsody announced a major milestone this morning, reporting that it has surpassed 2 million paid subscribers across its music services. Considering the company was just touting 1.7 million subscribers in April, it’s making steady progress in attracting new listeners. In related news, Rhapsody expanded its available offerings in several international markets through its Napster division. Continue Reading
Jay Green, previously the National Account Director at PodcastOne, has joined AdLarge as VP, Digital Sales and Content Partnerships. Before PodcastOne, Green spent 12 years at Dial Global, in research and strategic operation roles. Continue Reading
Dating app Tinder created a place where members could forge new personal connections based on snap judgements of attraction. Now, two of the app’s veterans have launched a new project that applies the same idea and mechanics to music. Tinder co-founder Christopher Gulczynski and former design vice president Sarah Nick are the brains behind Next, which bills itself as a place for social music discovery. Continue Reading
Clear Channel announced today that iHeartRadio is adding the 55 Mexican radio stations of Grupo ACIR to the streaming platform. The cluster will be folded into the iHeartRadio Hispanic Network. The emphasis is on U.S. exposure to the Mexico-based programming. As part of the distribution deal, Clear Channel will take over as digital sales provider. Continue Reading
If U.S. legislative bodies and lobbying groups are neck-deep in music-licensing and copyright issues during this “Summer of Copyright,” their northern neighbors are wading into turbulent waters, too. A protest of Canadian music royalty rates, set by the government in May, is underway. Continue Reading
The European Commission has cleared Apple’s purchase of Beats. The trade regulator determined that while both companies do have overlap in goods and services sold, they don’t have a strong enough joint presence in Europe to cause competition concerns. However, the news isn’t all good for Beats and its likely new owner. Continue Reading
In this Part 3 of his Summer of Copyright series, broadcast law attorney David Oxenford writes about a new music licensing comment period established by the U.S. Copyright Office. It is first an opportunity for all stakeholders and interested parties to weigh in. Second, the detailed request for comments illuminates how the Copyright Office seems to be prioritizing possible changes to music licensing. Continue Reading
Apple is purchasing Swell in a deal worth $30 million, according to unnamed sources. The app offers personalized streams of podcasts and talk radio programs. It has raised $7.2 million as a startup project but this valuation implies that the tool has a lot more to offer Apple as it overhauls its music services. Continue Reading
When we read that Feature.FM would be supplying sponsored music to 8tracks, we took the opportunity to catch up with David Porter, 8tracks founder and CEO, to discuss that deal and native advertising generally. Our conversatijon also went into data science and user personalization. Continue Reading
Rhapsody has entered into a partnership with Flipps, an app for playing media from a mobile device on a television. Through this arrangement, Flipps will support the discovery and streaming of Rhapsody and Napster’s original video content, including music videos, live performances, and exclusive interviews. The deal is the latest in a busy year for Rhapsody. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: Verizon to throttle some users back; T-Mobile unleashes data, but might violate Net Neutrality principles; artist support for streaming. Continue Reading
Google announced that it will give U.S. Chromecast users a 90-day free trial subscription to the All Access Music service. The subscription streaming platform usually costs $9.99. Google is offering the free deal through September. Chromecast has been out for a year now, and it’s Google’s method of getting streaming media from mobile devices to a television screen. Several services, including Pandora, Beats Music, and Rdio, have added support for Chromecast. Continue Reading