Founded in September, 2008, Mixcloud (“Making Radio Better”) is a music-sharing service that solicits user-DJ uploads and pays the royalties to rights-holders to keep it legal. More than a podcast platform, listening in Mixcloud is rewarding and satisfying. The company hopes to differentiate from SoundCloud and on-demand services. Continue Reading
GM automaker Chevrolet announced over the weekend that Beats Music will be included in selected 2015 model cars, via the Chevrolet AppShop. AppShop is an in-car download service that works similarly to Apple’s App Store and Google Play for Android apps. Continue Reading
M. Luke McDonell is a writer, artist, and photographer living in San Francisco. A veteran of South by Southwest, she is contributing daily bulletins from the 2014 show. This SXSW photo gallery is from the first day of SXSW Interactive. Continue Reading
Weekend Perspective is a quick and consie catch-up of the last week’s most important developments in Internet radio and online audio. iTunes Radio advertises on FM … Triton Digital receives local-ratings accreditation … The INfinite Dial 2014 research survey … Apple’s CarPlay … Spotify acquires The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
M. Luke McDonell is a writer, artist, and photographer living in San Francisco. A veteran of South by Southwest, she is contributing daily bulletins from the 2014 show. This SXSW report is from the first day of SXSW Interactive. Continue Reading
The five most-read articles of last week: iTunes Radio advertising on … FM radio; Triton Digital local ratings system for streaming media gains accreditation; The INfinite Dial 2014 reviews; Apple announces CarPlay; Spotify acquires The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
This is Part 2 of a two-part blog entry. “After a couple of decades of us living in a 200+ channel television universe, we’re getting back to three networks again! In this world, there are parallels and differences here for radio to pay attention to.” Founding editor Kurt Hanson analyzes changes in media consumption. Continue Reading
In his latest blog post (part 1 of 2), RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson observes that television is reverting to a three-network system, as in the 1970s. the difference is that the three content networks are Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It is a renaissance of TV, but the deck chairs are rearranged. Continue Reading
In a very interesting, potentially impactful maneuver, Samsung has launched a new streaming music service. Called Milk Music, the mobile-only app does not require any sort of registration or payment, and is ad-free. The music is powered by Slacker. Milk Music is available as an Android app only to selected Samsung phones, of which there exist about 200-million on the street. Continue Reading
Anthony Bay, appointed CEO of on-demand music service Rdio, will speak at RAIN Summit West on April 6 in Las Vegas. Anthony Bay was appointed CEO of Rdio in December after a five-month search. He was formerly GM of the Digital Media Division at Microsoft. Rdio’s business alliance with Cumulus Media creates a major entity that straddles across broadcast and Internet audio. Continue Reading
Patrick Reynolds of Triton Digital writes about the death of cinema icon Harold Ramis, and the coming of spring in the audio listening industry. In Groundhog Day, Ramis meditates on how to life live during a seemingly endless winter. As winter drags on in real life, Reynolds counts blessings in an optimistic look at how the field is evolving. Continue Reading
The acquisition of The Echo Nest by Spotify represents an important potential alteration in the anatomy of streaming music services. The Echo Nest has a broad footprint in the industry, we wondered what the acquisition means for the many music services which rely on The Echo Nest, and their millions of users users, who, even if they don’t know it, are really listening to The Echo Nest. Continue Reading