This morning Pandora released its monthly Audience Metrics bulletin, showing across-the-board growth in the company’s key indicators. Pandora’s reported listening hours grew to 1.36-billion, an 18% year-over-year gain from September 2012 (1.15B). Month over month, listening time marginally improved from… Continue Reading
RAIN Enterprises is looking for an industry-savvy sales expert to manage accounts for RAIN Summits and RAIN Publications. We are looking for someone with strong sales skills who can work independently. Knowledge of the audio marketplace, broadcast, digital or both,… Continue Reading
Spotify has long recognized that social, in its many dimensions, is a key differentiator for the music service. Spotify’s extensive (some say intrusive) sharing features set it apart not only from competing listening platforms, but represent a “killer app” that… Continue Reading
Some noise is happening around Spotify’s recently-announced and felicitously-named Spotlight feature, which aspires to highlight new and exclusive music. Today’s view of Spotlight features Drake and Arcade Fire, so it’s not exactly bleeding-edge alt. Two up-and-comers, Haim and Lorde, are… Continue Reading
Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of Internet Software and Services, and chief of iTunes and iTunes Radio, indicated in a recent interview that streaming Justin Timberlake’s new album a week before its release won’t be the last promotion of its kind.… Continue Reading
Songza partners with Foursquare: As part of its real-life focus, Internet streamer Songza has partnered with social site Foursquare. Songza users who “check in” at certain locations receive rewards — badges, access to special playlists, and temporary no-charge access to… Continue Reading
Rep. Melvin Watt yesterday introduced the Free Market Royalty Act (FMRA) which would address the lack of parity in statutory royalty requirements levied on terrestrial broadcasters and Internet radio services. (Read Rep. Watt’s statement and rationale here.) By law, broadcast… Continue Reading
Triton Digital released its August Top-20 scoresheet of webcast metrics yesterday afternoon, revealing marginal change in the ranking lineup, and nearly unanimous upward movement in both Average Active Sessions and Session Starts. Half of the top-20 webcast leaders also showed… Continue Reading
Free Market Royalty Act: As promised (or threatened, depending on one’s perspective), on Monday morning Rep. Mel Watt introduced a bill that would have broadcast radio pay artist royalties, evening the playing field (again, depending on vantage) for Internet radio… Continue Reading
There are two big differences between Napster-style file-sharing and subscription music streaming like Rhapsody and Spotify. The first is that unauthorized file-sharing is, you know, unauthorized. Ad hoc sharing on peer-to-peer platforms infringes copyright, harms musicians to some degree (to… Continue Reading
Recording artist and producer Dave Stewart (best known for Eurythmics) has reversed his previous anti-Spotify stance, criticizing Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for “not getting it.” (Yorke famously conducted an angry public withdrawal from Spotify.) A year ago, surmising from Stewart’s public… Continue Reading
PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, is a nonprofit open market for public radio programming. Open to any producer, the PRX catalog represents any length, production value, and nearly any topicality. Stations can license programs and series for use, with the… Continue Reading