ASCAP announced this morning that Mark Sperling, a seasoned executive with strategy, partnership, and merger specialties, will join the performing rights organization as SVP, Strategy and Business Development. Sperling has a deep financial transaction background in mergers, partnerships, and IPOs. Continue Reading
Judge Philip Gutierrez has chosen not to add the latest pre-1972 royalty lawsuit to his docket. ABS Entertainment filed a suit against CBS, Cumulus, and iHeartMedia in an effort to collect royalties for those radio groups’ use of songs recorded prior to the adoption of federal copyright law. The plaintiff tried to have the case transferred to Gutierrez since it focused on potential infringement under the same statute as the suit filed by Flo & Eddie against Sirius XM. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Is radio news all bad? FM chips in Apple Watches, but … unactivated. Podcasting and more. Continue Reading
Pono Music announced that it will upgrade customers’ purchases to higher resolutions as they become available from labels at no charge. This new policy, dubbed the PonoPromise, is meant to avoid the cycle of re-purchasing songs as they become available on better or more convenient formats, such as from cassettes to CDs to MP3s. Continue Reading
In what has come to be known as the “freemium debate,” arguments focus on whether ad-supported listening to vast catalogs of music, with limited interactivity, effectively funnel users to music subscription plans that yield high-margin royalty payments to labels and artists. The CEO of UMG thinks it’s all about balance. Continue Reading
Fresh from its celebration over AT&T’s commitment to ask its phone builders to activate internal FM reception chips, Emmis-owned NextRadio campaigned for T-Mobile to do the same. Today CEO John Legere agreed. Good momentum for NextRadio, but still an uphill climb before radio benefits. Continue Reading
Curation is one of the biggest buzzwords in the radio business these days, and Sirius XM has hopped on the bandwagon. The satellite radio company announced the launch of four new music channels. Continue Reading
Commercial Radio Australia announced the launch of a report on DAB+ stations in the country. The data from market research firm GfK marks the first release of audience numbers for DAB+ stations since the technology launched down under in 2009. There are currently 3.16 million people in the DAB+ audience across Australia’s five main metropolitan cities. Continue Reading
NextRadio is pushing to get T-Mobile to unlock FM chips on its phones. The company has launched a campaign with the tagline “Help Get NextRadio on T-Mobile.” It asks people to turn to social media and voice their support for unlocking the chips for phones on T-Mobile plans. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasts is a weekly feature sponsored by PodcastOne.
The IAB announced a podcast “upfront” where several content and ad-repping compnies will present their shows to advertisers and agencies. Another mile-marker in an evolving industry of on-demand audio.
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Slate Group-owned Panoply, a podcast network launched in February, has acquired Audiometric, a podcast publishing platform that includes ad insertion and analytics. The deal positions Panoply for expansion and more effective management of its portfolio of shows. We spoke to Andy Bowers at Panoply. Continue Reading
Deezer has made deeper inroads into the Brazilian market thanks to a deal with UOL, an ISP and Internet portal based in that country. Under this partnership, the two companies will launch UOL Musica Deezer, an on-demand music platform intended to replace Radio UOL. Continue Reading