Early this month, journalist and researcher Sean Ross opened up a debate in his Edison Research blog about apparent consumer preferences for more-frequent but shorter spot breaks on broadcast radio. Last week, country consultant Jaye Albright has continued the conversation… Continue Reading
Pandora has hired David Grimaldi, a veteran of congress, as the Internet radio company faces music-licensing regulations on multiple fronts. Grimaldi joins Pandora at a time when the market-leading Internet radio service faces many negotiations and legal arguments related to the cost of music it streams, and the U.S. government’s regulation of that cost. Continue Reading
Much has been said about the ‘connected dash’ in recent weeks: the concern that radio has plenty to lose from forthcoming internet-connected cars, that’ll offer internet radio, Spotify-like services, and plenty more. Guest columnist James Cridland says that if you’re a radio broadcaster, you should start worrying right now. Continue Reading
Media giant Clear Channel today announced iHeartRadio Networks, an advertising sales program that puts CC’s vast, multi-medium inventory on a unified platform. The values for advertisers will be simplified media buys, greater reach, and targeting capability across different media environments. Continue Reading
Today’s Pureplay of the Day takes you off the beaten path — way off. The entire Pigpen Radio experience is an exercise in purity, from the all-indie playlist to the beautifully simple website, and the ease of its built-in player. Pigpen Radio disregards genre classifications — you’ll whip across genre boundaries in an exhilarating sonic experience. Continue Reading
Beats Music is reportedly signing up subscribers at a slower pace than hoped. Beats is taking one costly step to streamline the sign-up process: the service now allows users to sign up within the iPhone and iPad apps. By acceding to Apple’s business structure, Beats Music appears willing to swallow a 30% reduction in some of its subscription revenue. Continue Reading
Addressing this issue should be a major concern for AM/FM broadcasters, since hugely-long spot breaks are cited regularly, at least anecdotally, as a reason consumer are spending less hours per week with broadcast radio and more hours per week with satellite and Internet radio each year. RAIN founder Kurt Hanson offers ideas. Continue Reading
Last month we reported the start of Milk Music, Samsung’s service targeted to Samsung phone users only. Milk Music launched with the most streamlined possible sign-up process: None. Now, a captured (leaked?) screenshot of a Samsung internal marketing graphic indicates that the ground is being laid for Milk’s next stage. Continue Reading
Record Store Day might seem to be an anachronism to some, but the annual event (held this past Saturday) is fun, well-attended, good for the stores, and nice promotion for many musicians and bands. For me, it’s all about the memories. For many years I lived in Princeton, NJ, home of a famous independent music store. Continue Reading
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