Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Behind the scenes at AccuRadio: Features writer Glenn Peoples interviewed RAIN News Founding Editor Kurt Hanson in Billboard for a business profile of AccuRadio, one of the pioneer Internet radio platforms. While noting AccuRadio’s climb up the ranking of Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics report, the article examines the decision to target 35-64 workplace professionals — an under-served segment of the Millennial-focused ad market, though certainly desirable to marketers. “We’ve focused on genres and channels good for the workplace,” Hanson tell Peoples “The idea is you can show up at your desk and within one or two clicks your radio will sound great all day.”
Rhapsody arrives on Wii U: We’ve been seeing more and more music platforms inking deals with video game consoles, and the latest to get a gaming tie-in is Rhapsody. The streaming service is now available on Nintendo’s Wii U console. It’s the first on-demand listening service for the Nintendo hardware. The sibling service Napster rolled out to the hardware in Europe and Latin America in January; this month the Rhapsody brand will join for worldwide coverage.
College students and podcasts: The Post, a student-run newspaper out of Ohio University, profiled students’ growing interest in podcasts. Two media organizations at the school have launched their own podcast programs. “It’s so funny. … When TV came along it was supposed to kill radio,” said Allison Hunter, editor-in-chief of WOUB News. “Then digital came along and it was supposed to kill TV and radio. … It’s just a matter of what that delivery system is.”
New ideas for Apple Music? The Apple experts at 9to5Mac posted an opinion piece with a recommendation for a new Apple Music feature. The piece called for “private, collaborative playlists and streaming radio stations” within the service, arguing that these tools would offer more streamlined music sharing and lean-back listening. The author pointed to a new, in-development service called Pinwheel.fm as an example of what Apple Music could incorporate.