James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: The truth behind online live, linear radio; Katz’ Stacey Lynn Schulman on the future of radio; several BBC items; much more. Continue Reading
Apple has entered into discussions with Tidal about a potential acquisition. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two parties have been in talks, citing unnamed people familiar with the proceedings. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable pairing. Both Tidal and Apple Music have been focused on creating artist-friendly services, each securing some coups in exclusive releases over the past month. But digging a little deeper, Tidal’s recent accomplishments might cast doubt on the tie-up. Continue Reading
Rhapsody is the great uncle of on-demand music subscription services. Two months ago Mike Davis took over as CEO, quickly tightening the ship with a round of layoffs. Last week came the announcement that Rhapsody would become Napster across all territories, consolidating its brand. RAIN News dialed up a conversation with Mike Davis to discuss that decision, and talk about steering a music service through a complex competitive landscape. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: A discussion of why radio leaders shouldn’t necessarily be radio people; radio shows and covering tragedy; bluetooth radio distribution in India. Continue Reading
Yesterday’s announcement that Rhapsody would rebrand as Napster across its global music service empire caused flashbacks in the minds of digital audio veterans. Matt Graves helped launch Rhapsody in 2001, and has worked in the online media fields for even longer. In this guest column he reviews the astonishing and unlikely history of Napster. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Today: Internet radio’s history; the threat of Amazon; the future of podcasting. Continue Reading
Here’s a collection of some noteworthy developments emerging from Cannes, where the music industry has descended for the Midem conference. The opening keynote for the event gathered several industry leaders to talk about the future of the music business. TuneCore CEO Scott Ackerman also gave a talk and the Worldwide Independent Network released a report. Continue Reading
Spotify’s recently released 2015 financials created an interesting story: strong revenue growth and market domination, along with widening losses at the bottom line. Midia Research founder Mark Mulligan peels back the layers to analyze underlying dynamics. “Rights costs are the Spotify’s Achilles Heel.” Can scaling audience growth give Spotify enough leverage to gain better label rates? If not, the outcome might be unwelcome to those rights-holders. This guest column is a must-read. Continue Reading
Spotify has altered the pricing structure for its family plan. Under the new pricing, a family plan includes up to six individual Premium accounts for $14.99. The feature set for the plan is unchanged. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Questioning the conglomerate approach; how voice controls are influencing music at home; album art endures. Continue Reading
Sponsored column
This guest column by Gonzalo Alonso, Managing Director of advertising solutions company Audio.Ad, shines light on recently completed research into how and when U.S. Hispanic consumers listen to digital audio. Continue Reading
SNL Kagan generously sent RAIN News a copy of its annual Economics of Internet Music and Radio report. The 41-page document provides a detailed overview of major players, growth projection in revenue terms for webcasting traditional radio and pureplay internet radio (and how the two trendlines compare), and an outlook for in-car listening. Continue Reading