Copyright reform is the agenda of a new bill introduced to Congress by Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia. Called the Songwriter Equity Act, the bill seeks to amend portions of the U.S. Copyright Act, addressing what the bill’s sponsors call inequity in current regulations. Continue Reading
A field report from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, by guest columnist James Cridland. Will smartphone handset companies decide that they can profitably create their own music services? Nokia and Sony are promoting their home-grown music services in the Barcelona trade show. Continue Reading
The study says that Digital and HD Radio formats will never scale to replace FM, and auto manufacturers will continue to include FM receivers in cars for many years. But listening to FM will gradually be replaced by streaming radio and music services as more and more cars become connected. Continue Reading
Ford will switch from Microsoft to BlackBerry’s QNX platform to power Ford’s SYNC digital dashboard. BlackBerry’s QNX is a major player in car dashboards. An analyst says that the loss of Ford as a client would be a “funeral ceremony” for Microsoft’s automotive operating system division. Continue Reading
BandPage is adding another feather in its many-feathered cap in a distribution agreement with Clear Channel radio stations and CC-owned iHeartRadio. Both iHeart and the websites of Clear Channel’s 840 radio stations will carry BandPage’s musician tour dates and ticket-purchase links. Continue Reading
Rovi, the media guide and recommendation company, has entered an agreement to acquire Veveo, a technology developer focused on conversation-powered media search, discovery, and personalization. The deal is worth at least $62-million. Continue Reading
This week’s deal between Netflix and Comcast is an historic, first-of-its-kind arrangement between an Internet content company and an Internet access company. The second deal of its type will not be historic, but might be coming soon, according to Verizon’s CEO. Continue Reading
Edison Research and Triton Digital have scheduled the release of Infinite Dial 2014, for Wednesday, March 5. In a preliminary peek, Edison reports a few Internet listening statistics. Click through for a link to the registration page for getting the full report when released next week. Continue Reading
The five most-read articles of last week. Is the streaming-music business model fundamentally broken? (This was also our most-linked article.) iTunes Radio and Pandora: who is slaying whom? Lew Dickey (CEO, Cumulus) speaks out about streaming. Shazam starts a record label. More. Continue Reading
RAIN Enterprises announces more speakers at RAIN Summit West on April 6: Rick Ducey (BIA/Kelsey), Andy Lipset (Pandora), and Mark McCrery (Podtrac). RAIN Summit West will take place in Las Vegas, co-located with The NAB Show, on April 6. Special early registration rate is in effect. Continue Reading
In the latest RAIN Poll, we asked readers to vote their preference: lean back, or lean in? There was no majority opinion in the poll results. Forty-three percent of voters chose lean-back listening, against a 13% preference for leaning in. Another option was “Some of both.” Continue Reading