RAIN Summit is heading to Australia! RAIN Summit Australia will take place in at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on October 13, in collaboration with Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), and will be produced as part of Radio Alive 2017, the Australian radio industry’s annual national conference. Continue Reading
Tidal has hired a new CEO, its fourth in about two years. Richard Sanders is the latest exec to enter a post that has become a revolving door for the niche streaming service. Former SoundCloud exec Jeff Toig exited Tidal’s top role in March. Continue Reading
In another milestone buy-in to podcasting from traditional radio, Entercom has acquired 45% of podcast development and advertising company DGital Media. We spoke with Spencer Brown, CEO of DGital Media, and Jay Green, Senior Vice President of Strategy & Analytics. Continue Reading
Borrell Associates put on a free webinar on Wednesday, hosting presenters Fred Jacobs (Jacobs Media) and Steve Goldstein (Amplifi Media) to talk about smart speakers, and their importance to radio. The program evangelized the platform’s rise as an important opportunity for radio, and offered a takeaway list of tips. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Jane Huxley as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand. She will start in this position on Sept. 1. The MD role was most recently held by Kate Vale, who departed Spotify in May after a five-year tenure. The hire is extra noteworthy coming on the heels of Pandora’s ANZ shutdown. Continue Reading
Spotify has made several developments this week aimed at expanding its footprint for podcasts. First, Bloomberg reports that Spotify will promote podcasts in its mobile app and in advertisements in exchange for positive buzz from show hosts. Second is a distribution deal with Australia’s Omny Studio. Continue Reading
A month after Pandora turned a corner with a new CEO, new board members, and new minority owner, the company released Q2 earnings. During the webcast investor call interim Chief Executive Naveen Chopra went through the basic financial metrics and took questions from investors. Click through for key points in the Q&A. Continue Reading
Congress is preparing to address the topic of royalties for pre-1972 recordings, a move that sparked positive response from several music industry players. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the CLASSICS Act to establish royalty payments for the creators of music recorded prior to the advent of federal copyright laws in 1972. Representatives from SoundExchange, the RIAA, and Pandora have all reacted favorably toward this proposal. Continue Reading
A new report has been issued by The Download on Podcasting, the ongoing collaborative study of on-demand audio from DMR Interactive and the Digital Media Research and Development Lab at Texas A&M University. In discussing audience measurement the paper spotlights Nielsen’s technology and compares podcasting to craft beer. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Several cases of the dreaded lazy Buggles headlines, countered by many reassurances that radio is not, in fact, dead. Continue Reading
Amazon announced that July 11 will be Prime Day, a promotion where the online retailer offers a swath of big discounts. For RAIN readers, the notable deals include cheaper access to some of its subscription services. Continue Reading