Google Play is the latest digital music platform to hop on the bandwagon of original podcasts. The show is called City Soundtracks. Each of the short episodes features an interview with a musician about the impact of their hometown on their work. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Overview of NYC Summit; music service review; Saavn’s original content. Continue Reading
Apple Music has partnered with the UK’s Royal College of Music for classical music curation. The school will create playlists on a regular basis, with help from its staff and professors. The first playlist highlights works by British composers who have connections to the conservatory. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research reviews developments centered on video content that appeared in headlines this week. Both music videos and music-related videos look to be strong categories. Continue Reading
Google is combining some of its separate music teams in a move that could signal changes for its many products down the line. The groups working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being joined. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: How the iPhone impacted radio. Beats 1 in the Apple Music strategy. 1976 radio automation. Much more. Continue Reading
Facebook has been looking personnel to join its music efforts and now the social network has a leader. Tamara Hrivnak has joined Facebook to lead its global music strategy and business development. She most recently worked as director of music partnerships at YouTube and Google Play, and before that rose through the ranks at Warner Music Group. Continue Reading
A new report from VoiceLabs examines the burgeoning market of voice-activated personal assistants. With the pushes by so many tech companies – such as Amazon, Google, and Sonos – into this space, what are device owners actually using them for? VoiceLabs’ used its Voice Experience Analytics service to give some answers to that question. Continue Reading
MusicWatch sent RAIN News a pre-release note with results of its 2016 ‘Music Streaming Wars’ study, and found that Pandora was had the largest share of weekly music listening at 28%. YouTube took second place with a 27% share. Both of those figures include the audio companies’ free and paid tiers. Continue Reading
“Music consumption is at an all-time high,” according to Nielsen Music’s 2016 U.S. Year-End Report. The analysis reveals that 2016 was another year with strong streaming growth and some compelling trends for albums. The entire music industry posted a 3.1% increase in overall volume, with total album consumption reaching 560.7 million units. Continue Reading
Harman International’s JBL brand has added a new home speaker product that offers wireless playback without a Bluetooth connection. The JBL Playlist has Google Chromecast built in, which means owners of the speaker can use the it to stream music, radio, or podcasts from their other devices. Continue Reading
Everybody seems to want SoundCloud to be acquired, though the company itself does not publicly contribute to speculation. The latest? A report of unnamed sources saying Google is now investigating a SoundCloud purchase. Continue Reading