SoundCloud announced via email to its subscribers today that the “Classic” version of its site would be discontinued in one week. “We appreciate that this represents a change that some of you have been hoping we wouldn’t make,” the email stated, “but it’s something we must do.” Long-time SoundCloud users are disgruntled. Continue Reading
In a significant redesign of its platform, audio network TuneIn today relaunched its mobile apps and browser experience, and disclosed audience and content statistics. TuneIn now has over 50-million active users. The new app experience presents a dramatic redesign and re-naming of existing functions, and some new features. Continue Reading
Internet listening gained two percent in March over February, according to data released by Triton Digital in its Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. The two-percent gain from the previous month lifted total stream listening into new-high territory. March is the eighth consecutive month of Internet listening aggregate gain for Triton’s top-20 list. Click for historical charts. Continue Reading
Yesterday Amazon announced a new feature that allows Twitter users to add something to their Amazon shopping cart by replying to a tweet with the hashtag #amazoncart. “Add it now, buy it later” is Amazon’s slogan. In this guest column, Jennifer Lane suggests how radio stations can use this new program to their (and their advertisers’) advantage. Continue Reading
Last week British music service Bloom.FM abruptly shut down to new sign-ups when its sole investor withdrew funding. Bloom CEO Oleg Fomenko has been forthright and active on Twitter, raising hopes for new investment. We spoke to Oleg Fomenko about how the revival effort is going, and about his vision of a future in which music services can operate less precariously. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), a three-judge government panel charged with setting U.S. rules for music licensing and royalty rates, has posted a proposal for a change in webcast record-keeping and reporting to SoundExchange. Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford explains why every webcaster should be aware of the proposal, and participate in the call for comment. Continue Reading
Google expanded its streaming-music service into the Canadian market. The inelegantly-named Google Play Music All Access service is now available in 26 countries. Canada is a music-starved regional frontier, and Canadian music-lovers complain about poor choice of music services compared to their American neighbors. Continue Reading
Pandora’s audience grew in April, but not enough for investors, apparently, as the stock was down three percent at 10:00 AM this morning. As always, Pandora revealed three measurements in the monthly report: Active listeners, Listener hours, and Share of total U.S. radio listening. Continue Reading
Pandora announced the launch of Promoted Stations, a new music recommendation unit that features sponsor-branded listening stations by Taco Bell, Skechers, Toyota, and several other advertisers that have signed onto the program. The new ads are cycling through about 10% of Pandora’s listeners. Continue Reading
The most opulent presentation of advertising creative offered by Pandora is a combination of an interstitial commercial (either audio or video, positioned between songs) followed by a visual display. We recently spotted BMW doubling down on that commercial opportunity with two ads for the i3 model within a 30-minute listening period. Continue Reading
UPDATE: Not as dead as originally thought, according to Bloom’s CEO. British streaming-music service Bloom.fm abruptly went out of business after its primary investor withdrew funding, according to Bloom’s Tumblr blog announcement. Bloom.fm had been operating for a little over one year, and had acquired 1.1-million registered users. Continue Reading
Song-skipping is a persuasive feature of personalized radio and on-demand services, driving about 50 percent of user, according to one study. Paul Lamere, director of the developer platform at The Echo Nest (now part of Spotify), analyzed millions of users and billions of song plays to tease out how quickly and often we skip songs. Continue Reading