Tencent is slowly progressing with its plan to spin out its music branch into a standalone business that will eventually list in the United States. The latest move from the entertainment conglomerate was a filing this weekend with the Hong Kong stock exchange announcing its proposed change that would see Tencent Music Entertainment Group become a separate entity. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Updates from the radio and audio industry come from Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, and much more. Continue Reading
Digital music services company Kobalt announced that it has hired Rian Liebenberg as its new chief technology officer. He joins the business after holding several officer posts at Schibsted ASA and Schibsted Media Group. Continue Reading
Sonos has filed an IPO. According to the paperwork, the wireless speaker company is looking to raise up to $100 million with the public offering. It said that as of March 31, it has sold 19 million products to 6.9 million households. Continue Reading
UK media company Global and its programmatic advertising platform DAX received two certifications from UK-based JICWEBS, an oversight organization focused on developing standards for digital advertising. The specific Global and DAX certifications are for Brand Safety, and absence of Ad Fraud. Continue Reading
Nielsen has released its 2018 mid-year music report, and the analysis shows overall growth in music consumption as streaming continues to post bigger and bigger numbers. Total album equivalent consumption — which includes all of Nielsen’s metrics for albums, tracks, on-demand audio, and on-demand video — rose 18.4% on-year to 360.1 million. Continue Reading
Radio consultant and podcast entrepreneur Mark Ramsey has announced his next program venture, a six-part “biopic without pictures” podcast series about Louis Armstrong called Pops. The show has started production, and will launch in 2019. Continue Reading
The UK audio production industry has launched a new trade association. The Radio Independent Group has rebranded and relaunched itself as AudioUK. The RIGtrain branch for training and skills development is now called Audiotrain. Continue Reading
The European Parliament has voted against a sweeping and contentious copyright reform that would have meant major changes to the operation of online platforms such as YouTube. The Copyright Directive was voted down by 318 to 278, with 31 members abstaining. Continue Reading
Pandora has partnered with Bango, a company providing commerce infrastructure for mobile phones. Under the latest deal, Bango will power subscriptions through Pandora resellers in the U.S. Continue Reading
TuneIn has hired DJ Carisma to lead its curation and artist relations in hip-hop and R&B. She joins the audio company after two years as music director for KRRL FM in Los Angeles. Continue Reading
Motorsport league Formula 1 has announced plans to launch its first official podcast. The show, titled Beyond the Grid, is a weekly podcast produced in association with audioBoom and is presented by Bose. Continue Reading