The IFPI has released its annual global music report, offering a look back at the results for an increasingly international industry over the course of 2019. As we’ve already seen in so many individual markets, streaming is continuing to secure growing shares of the music market. It was responsible for more than half of the global revenue in 2019, according to the IFPI’s results. Continue Reading
With many artists struggling to make ends meet as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, more and more audio companies are promoting their tools to help them better reach listeners and continue to make money. There have been several moves in this space in the past week, so here’s a round-up of what’s happening where. Continue Reading
Sonos introduced a new content hub for ad-supported lean-back listening last month, and now we’ve learned more about what’s happening behind the scenes. Sonos tapped Targetspot for an exclusive global sales partnership for Sonos Radio. Continue Reading
Amazon released its first quarter financials. The company did see some adverse impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Its press release included some statements about measures taken to protect employees from the virus, but did not comment on the ongoing labor debates or union efforts happening among its workforce. Continue Reading
ASCAP announced that it recorded record high distributions and revenues in 2019. The performing rights organization generated $1.274 billion in 2019 revenue, up from $1.227 billion the previous year. Distributions also surpassed $1 billion for the third consecutive year. Continue Reading
Voxnest has been monitoring the race between Apple and Spotify to be the top podcast listening platform. The company shared first-quarter data from its Voxnest Audience Network. It found that Spotify made some inroads into the U.S. market, grabbing the lead in a few states during the period. Continue Reading
Latin music is seeing faster growth in the U.S. than the overall market, with streaming responsible for almost all of the genre’s domestic revenue. According to the RIAA, Latin music revenue grew 28% in 2019 to reach $554 million. Continue Reading
Apple has reported its financial results for the three months ending March 28. The performance overall showed slowing growth, although many of its important metrics still trended upwards. Continue Reading
We learned from RadioToday that Jay Walkerden has left Australian radio group Nova, and has started a podcast production and consulting company call Podshape. The exit from nova was apparently not friendly, according to the write-up, but details are short. Anyway, Podshape is the new venture for the Brisbane executive, who ran the podcast division of Nova. Continue Reading
Tom Webster (SVP, Edison Research) and Joel Sucherman (VP, New Platform Partnerships, NPR) held forth in a Zoom webinar to present the Smart Audio Report 2020, a collaboration of the two companies. The report consisted of a wealth of metrics, including specialty survey questions relevant to Covid-19, and “qualitative research” — videos of users talking about how they use smart assistants. Click for details. Continue Reading
The Mechanical Licensing Collective announced several new hires for its leadership team. The organization was formed by the passage of the Music Modernization Act and is responsible for administering the new blacket compulsory mechanical license for digital music services. Continue Reading
In this week’s Q1 earnings call from parent company Sirius XM, we learned (and reported) that Pandora experienced a drop in monthly listeners to about 61-million, down from the year-ago Q1 report of 66-million. Sirius XM executives think they know exactly why. Continue Reading