The YouTube Music Awards played last night with an anti-TV programming sensibility, to a small anti-TV audience. A reported peak concurrent audience of 220,000 individuals streamed the event. Total viewership finalized to 873,000 people, according to the live page. The… Continue Reading
Audiophile alert. Also, classic rock alert. Oh, and vinyl bandwagon alert. VinylEars asserts to be the first all-vinyl online radio station, and that claim gets no contradiction from us. In support of that audiophilic priority, the station offers a 128k… Continue Reading
Tom Taylor notes in his morning newsletter that all-Christmas radio is breaking out early on the broadcast side. Taylor’s interpretation: “Most are an attempt to lay claim to the local market’s Christmas image — even if it irritates regular listeners.”… Continue Reading
Rough night last night? Too much fake blood and unholy reveling? Today’s pureplay, 100 Chill, lands on the easy-listening side of Lounge Chill. Inoccuous Andean flutes burble through smooth-jazzy electronics. This is hangover-friendly music, also effective for bringing you down… Continue Reading
Here are the top five, most-read article this week, published at any time. Dave Allen blog-debates David Byrne about Spotify (10/21): Continued interest in Spotify verbal wars puts the longest-running of this weeks Hotspots in the top position. [READ] Edison… Continue Reading
Spotify, which arguably has the most vigorous social environment of the interactive music services, is pushing social sharing outside of its apps, via a new partnership with Tango Messenger. Tango is a stand-alone message, game and communications service. Members can… Continue Reading
RAIN’s Pureplay of the Day celebrates Internet-only streaming stations for outstanding programming and usability. Here are recent selections. The Jazz Groove: Understated, elegant acoustic jazz. Elegant website too. Also, an iOS app for mobile listening. [STATION SITE] Streaming Soundtracks: Inspirating,… Continue Reading
The following first appeared as a Billboard.biz Guest Post I wrote as founder/CEO of AccuRadio and a member of the Small Webcaster Alliance. It appeared on Tuesday, the eve of yesterday’s subcommittee hearing.
As an Internet radio broadcaster and member of the Small Webcaster Alliance, I’ve been involved in the issue of copyright royalty rates for Internet radio for many years. And I’ve seen vividly that the current royalty rate system threatens to strangle the life out of an industry that is providing both choices for consumers and opportunities for musicians. Continue Reading
RAIN’s Weekend Perspective summarizes the week’s important events for a weekend catch-up, and revives your blasted synapses for coming week. PARTNERSHIPS The Echo Nest partners with Getty Images: Music services that use The Echo Nest’s intelligence technology will be able… Continue Reading
New York public radio station WNYC has long hosted Jonathan Schwartz, an American Songbook expert who has been called a national treasure in recognition of his vast knowledge of American standards, and his unique personal collection of recordings. Schwartz often… Continue Reading
Distribution. For most music services, the important distribution channels outside the computer are mobile and cars. Developing for mobile means creating apps for the two major device platforms: iOS and Android. In some cases format-specific app designs are made for… Continue Reading
You can’t have imagined that the Halloween edition of Pureplay of the Day would be cheery. The two stations featured today for your dark listening pleasure reach deep into goth repertoire for their creepy, thrashing, deadening effect. Abnormally Dead Air… Continue Reading