Stitcher, a leading podcast-listening app, raised $3-million dollars in new funding, according to CrunchBase. VentureBeat points to an SEC filing indicating that Stitcher’s offering to venture capitalists is $5.1-million, of which $3-million was sold. $2.1-million is “Remaining to be Sold,” according to the filing. Continue Reading
Introducing Internet Radio REWIND, an audio recap of the week. This weekly program is a quick (six minutes) and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories. Click the Play button and be ready for the coming week. this week: Bette Midler, Spotify and Sprint, Pandora’s latest lawsuit, Rdio’s Brazilian blockbuster, and Pono Music. Continue Reading
Sonos, market leader in the WiFi-speaker space, announced on its blog an important product update, eliminating the requirement to plug a Sonos component directly into the home’s wireless router. The upshot for new buyers will be a slightly less expensive complete system. For existing users, the benefit will be better speaker placement. Continue Reading
An awaited radio-listening app that pulls together most or all Canadian terrestrial station streams will be launched sometime this spring. Radioplayer Canada is a joint venture of SparkNet, a digital solutions provider for Canadian radio, and audience measurement firm BBM Analytics. Continue Reading
Ad solution provider AdsWizz has signed a partnership agreement with leanStream, a streaming solution provider, to help monetize content streams playing on the leanStream platform. The agreement is the latest in a series of alliances for AdsWizz, which now provides its audio-ad technology to 27 content delivery networks (CDNs). Continue Reading
Music publication Pitchfork has produced a dazzling feature called Station to Station: The Past, Present, and Future of Streaming Music. It is a worthwhile read for anyone in the field, or interested in the evolution of music listening — if you can figure out how to read it. Continue Reading
The world’s biggest record label groups have filed a lawsuit against Pandora in an attempt to recoup royalties for music recorded before 1972, which is not protected by U.S. copyright law. The legal question hinges on a loophole in the U.S. Copyright Act. the suit is filed in New York State. Continue Reading
In a quadrennial update of rules which regulate how many stations a radio or TV company can own in a local market, the FCC rejected arguments that Internet radio creates meaningful local competition, and sustained the existing ruling of eight same-owned stations per market. Continue Reading
Apple CarPlay is one of the most interesting connected-car initiatives. Pioneer plans to offer an aftermarket solution to existing cars, via updates to its AV Receiver models. The update is firmware, which means software downloaded into the unit and permanently installed. It’s really an operating system upgrade to installed Pioneer audio units, that includes Apple’s CarPlay software. Continue Reading
We spotted a tweet from media licensing attorney and RAIN Summit participant David Oxenford, indicating that an operating-system push from AT&T turned on the FM chip in his trusty Q10 phone. He sent us his review, which includes raves for ultra-fast tuning and good reception. Continue Reading
In a deal similar to the partnership they announced with Cumulus last fall, Rdio and Grupo Bandeirantes have announced a joint venture and powerful strategic partnership encompassing marketing, distribution, content and promotions that will significantly expand Rdio’s presence in Brazil. (by Jennifer Lane) Continue Reading
“We know what you’ve come for: Music, and lots of it.” For no-nonsense, straight-ahead alt-rock with touches of top-pop, Chicago-based Wide Radius is a good choice. Today we’ve been nodding to The Imagineers, Braid, Everclear, Lorde (there’s the pop), Garbage, Audioslave, All That Remains, and more. Continue Reading