Music licensing is a hot topic in 2014 in the U.S., with all constituencies — broadcast, streaming, creators, labels, artists, lobbying groups — jockeying for position to make an argument for change … or trying to halt change. The U.S. government, which regulates the maddening thicket of music licensing rules and rates, is trying to understand all the angles just as industry observers are. Continue Reading
PPL (Phonographic Performers Limited), the British collection agency of performance royalties to labels and artists, announced its 2013 revenues, showing year-over-year growth in money collected, and clients served. PPL performs a parallel function in Britain’s music ecosystem as SoundExchange does in the U.S. Continue Reading
Most publicity around Pandora is U.S.-based, naturally enough since most of its business and audience are stateside. But Pandora is available in two other national markets — Australia and New Zealand. Today comes an announcement of Pandora partnering with Samsung in a distribution agreement that puts the Internet radio platform on Samsung Smart TVs. Continue Reading
Yesterday we posted main points from Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Entertainment & Media Outlook study — an analysis and economic projection of several media industry categories that was introduced in a live webcast. PWC provided RAIN with deeper dives into the Radio and Music Industry portions of the report. Continue Reading
In the latest update of a standoff between Google’s YouTube platform and organizations of independent music labels, the labels are escalating the argument to the British and Belgian governments. The complaint centers around YouTube’s “bullying and intimidating behavior” during contract negotiations for a new YouTube music service. Continue Reading
In 1941, the U.S. Justice Department set up a music licensing system that still governs publishers, composers, and songwriters. Today, the Justice Department announced its intention to review the 73-year-old laws and consider changing them. At stake — how publishers negotiate royalty payments, how much money music creators earn, and costs to streaming music services. Continue Reading
Today Pandora released the final edition of its monthly audience metrics report, bringing to an end a two-year series of disclosures. Audience metrics were essentially flat month-ever-month, with year-over-year gains. Pandora stock (P) opened sharply lower this morning, and remains down about 2.5% as of this post. Continue Reading
Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) released its Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2014-2018, in which it forecasts growth drivers in the music business. “Music streaming explodes” is PWC’s characterization of streaming’s role in industry growth. Continue Reading
Edison Research has spun out a new segment of The Infinite Dial 2014 survey, co-produced with Triton Digital. The Infinite Dial main report was issued on March 5, and deep dives have been released periodically since then, revealing details of certain demographics and consumer segments. This week, Edison put up some interesting insights about Public Radio P1’s (frequent listeners). Continue Reading
Items of interest in the music-app realm: Google Play Music updates its Apple app, Rdio gives smoother listening to Android users, and iTunes Radio is rumored to go local. Continue Reading
The Commotion social platform provides a breakthrough and (to date) unique platform for encouraging real-time conversation among radio station listeners, while owning and shaping the experience. We spoke to CEO Ryan Burgoyne, to learn more about Commotion. Continue Reading
Hooking into the emerging trend of longer subscription trials, Spotify today announced a “Super Summer of Music” deal — three months of Spotify Premium subscription service for the one-month price of $9.99 in the U.S. Spotify Premium includes unlimited commercial-free, on-demand music selection, and unlimited track downloads. Continue Reading