Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Cost analysis of Pandora’s anniversary celebration: Today is Pandora’s big 10-year anniversary party, which the online radio station is celebrating with 24 hours of ad-free listening for all users. Billboard did some calculations to determine the cost of this promotion. The final estimate? A cool $2.7 million in lost ad revenue. But according to Billboard’s assessment, the loss may still be worthwhile for Pandora.
Rdio on more Wi-fi speakers: Yesterday we shared news about Tidal bringing its hi-fi streaming to Harman wireless speakers. Today, Rdio is on board as well. The streaming service actually added several new tech partnerships for listening to all of its available tiers, paid and free, at home. Rdio has added integrations with Harman/Kardon and Denon audio gear and with smart TVs from Samsung. It is also expected to add integration with connected TVs from Hisense and LG in the near future.
HTC + Spotify + selfies: In a new promotion for HTC’s latest smartphone model, the tech company is using photos to seed Spotify playlists. The Mood Player tool analyzes a selfie for the person’s emotional state, then creates a playlist based on that mood. It’s basically a big interactive ad for the HTC phone, but it’s always interesting to see the different types of partnerships streaming services can find for their musical capabilities.
Focus on podcasting in India: Most of our podcasting coverage is focused on the U.S. market, but the format has been pursued by audiophiles worldwide. The Khaleej Times profiled the growth and rising popularity of podcasting in India. “Our sense is that the listener base is about a million or so, but we expect this to grow ten-fold in the next couple of years and that will bring in both the revenue and the investment,” said Rajesh Tahil, co-founder of podcaster Audiomatic.in.