Nielsen reports that 118-billion streams were served in 2013 on a slate of measured platforms, representing a 32 percent year-over-year rise in that mode of listening. Measured listening platforms include at least 10 popular services. The report does not delineate mobile listening from desktop streams. Continue Reading
A newly-released study contains a summary of how, why, and where consumers use various audio channels. Radio is categorically described as the most popular audio platform. Pandora and Internet radio generally appear to be missing from the measured listening platforms cited in the report summary. Continue Reading
Faisal Sultan is the founder and owner of FRISKY radio, a 12-year-old EDM pureplay station. He worked for several years at AOL, as an engineer and product lead for ShoutCast, Winamp, and AOL Radio. We spoke with Faisal Sultan about how he built his pureplay station, how the business is framed, and his feelings about the ShoutCast product he helped create. Continue Reading
The 40-page report analyzes migration from analog to digital, and the projected impact of that shift for print, broadcast, and Internet media platforms. One of the most distinct and rapid changes is projected within the shift to Internet. On the mobile side, the growth is dramatic over the past five years, and will gain more through 2018. Continue Reading
It takes 14 pages, but eventually a point is quietly made: Spotify advertising revenue is forecast to rise five percent in 2014. The plain-English premise is this: Spotify has labored successfully to sell advertising in a down economy, so imagine the good times as things recover. Continue Reading
FRISKY is a capricious name for an Internet station that plays serious electronica. listeners get a beautiful stream at a high bitrate of 128 (MP3 or AAC) — actually two streams, the main FRISKY channel, and the newer CHILL stream. Founder Faisal Sultan comes from AOL, where he was a product lead on ShoutCast, Winamp, and AOL Radio. Continue Reading
Tom Cheney of Idobi, and Rob Greenlee of Allyis, are two of the speakers recently added to the session lineup at RAIN Summit NYC – Pureplays and Podcasts. Speakers at RAIN Summit NYC include a unique list of influencers who have not joined a Summit before, representing companies like Deezer, 8Tracks, Songza, and Earwolf. Continue Reading
Sitting between plug-in dashboards and full-service dashboards sits the connected-car aftermarket, where Pioneer is a leading manufacturer. The Pioneer NEX line comprises five head-unit models with a range of information and entertainment functions. Aha Radio and Pandora are promoted as built-in audio services. Continue Reading
Whyd is a so-called scraping platform. It builds its content library from sources which make their content available to other sites. YouTube and SoundCloud are the two main attractions at this point. The mechanism Whyd uses is elegant. Whyd is leveraging two fairly powerful advantages over major-league apps. Continue Reading
Existing Xbox Music subscribers are doubtless pleased today, if they carry their subscriptions on iPhones and iPads. The iOS version of the jukebox service released an important update that allows cacheing of playlists to the device, for offline listening. But — possible server crush broke our updated app. Continue Reading
Pandora is more than holding on to its 14% stock ascension yesterday, it has added another five percent as of this writing. Meanwhile, the silence around iTunes Radio resembles, well, dead air. How Pandora is trying to replace radio, and dominate Internet radio. Continue Reading
The NY Post reports unnamed sources indicating that Beats Music, headed for launch this month, will splash into the market with Super Bowl ads and other media purchases. Beats Music has a steep hill to climb, entering a crowded U.S. streaming audio market. Continue Reading