Apple Music is launching the new year by making one of its earliest relationships more official. Ebro Darden is now the service’s global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B. Darden is a radio host with a weekday morning show on New York’s Hot 97 station, and he’s been a host on Apple Music’s Beats 1 station since the streaming service’s debut. Continue Reading
RAIN’s most important 2018 coverage of research and metrics in digital audio. Continue Reading
The online audio industry was eventful in 2018, especially on the consolidation front. Here are the top M&A events: Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Music festivals in the streaming era. A year in musical mergers. Reflecting on Spotify’s listing. Continue Reading
Amazon is facing a fresh round of privacy concerns after an error shared a user’s voice recordings with a stranger. A German user of the Amazon Alexa voice assistant asked to hear an archive of his recordings, but the link he was sent also included 1,700 audio files from a different person. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James contributes some predictions about radio in 2019. Also he has the story of Vista Radio’s charity drive in Canada along with other items from the radio/audio industry. Continue Reading
Pandora has hired a new member of its programming team. Akim Bryant joins the audio company in the role of top 40 coordinator, curation programming. He will be based in Pandora’s New York office and will work closely with Tiana Lewis. Continue Reading
Diversification and digitization were the twin keynotes for Australian radio in 2018, according to Josh McDonnell writing in AdNews. There, he presents predictions from leaders in Australia’s biggest radio groups Nova Entertainment, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Macquarie Media, iHeartRadio Australia & Asia, and trade group for the Aussie radio industry Commercial Radio Australia (CRA). Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Next year will see the inaugural Radiodays Asia, scheduled for Malaysia in August. James has the announcement, and other audio industry news. Continue Reading
Apple looks to be closing 2018 with another music business acquisition. Platoon is an A&R and creative services company founded in 2016. The London-based company has helped early-stage artists in the U.S. and the UK such as Billie Eilish, Jorja Smith, and Stefflon Don before their major signings. Continue Reading
The Google Podcasts app seemed like a big move when it was first announced. Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein reached out to several leaders in audio and podcasting to get a better understanding of why the app hasn’t been a smashing success yet. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James discusses the need for standards and Global’s move to open up to third-party podcasts. Continue Reading