The Google-YouTube family has been moving forward on a new music subscription launch, but the latest reports point to the new service being a replacement rather than an addition to the portfolio. The service, internally dubbed YouTube Remix, may be intended to replace Google Play Music when it launches. Continue Reading
Veteran digital audio executive Billy Freund has joined PodcastOne as Co-COO, according to a news release sent by the L.A.-based podcast company. Freund steps into COO responsibilities alongside Greg Batusic, who operates in New York. Freund will work in the Beverly Hills headquarters. Continue Reading
Picking up from yesterday’s Part 1 of the conversation between Pacific Media’s Steve Pratt and Google’s Podcasts Product Manager Zack Reneau-Wedeen, today’s installment in the five-part series has Reneau-Wedeen evangelizing audio and planning its rise in Google information ecosystem. “There’s no good reason why audio isn’t a first-class citizen,” he said. Continue Reading
B2B music provider 7digital shared an update on its latest business developments. During the first quarter of 2018, the company secured new contracts with a lifetime value of £2.3 million. The UK-based company is also creating an advisory board that will support its operations in the United States. Continue Reading
Spotify has unveiled a new version of its mobile app that adds select on-demand features to its freemium tier. Free listeners will get on-demand access to 15 of Spotify’s personalized discovery playlists — such as Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and the Daily Mixes — and its popular curated collections — including RapCaviar and Ultimate Indie. Continue Reading
One of the most successful audio titles, Freakonomics Radio, is moving to Stitcher this summer, according to an announcement sent out this morning by Midroll Media, which controls Stitcher. Both Midroll and Stitcher are owned by E.W. Scripps. There’s an interesting strategy for show archives. Continue Reading
The RIAA found that in 2017, U.S. revenue from Latin music increased 37% to $243 million. The genre holds a 2.8% share by value of the American music market. Streaming revenue grew 54% to $204 million, a record-high that secured an 84% share of the genre’s total results. Continue Reading
Streaming revenue has topped yet another report. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released its Global Music Report 2018, which showed a third consecutive year of increased music sales on the back of streaming growth. Continue Reading
PRS for Music, a UK collection agency, announced that it paid out record royalties to its members last year. The group’s 2017 payouts totaled £605.1 million, up 14.7% from the 2016 amounts. PRS said that 6.6 trillion performances were reported last year, a 53% on-year increase that led to a record-high collection total of £717 million. Continue Reading
Deezer is updating the signature Flow feature in its streaming music service. Flow is a lean-back option designed to deliver songs tailored to the individual’s taste with minimal engagement from the listener. Now, Deezer has added an option that gives listeners more control over what they hear. Continue Reading
Facebook has continued its spree of licensing deals, inking a bunch of agreements with groups for independent artists. On Friday, it announced deals with Merlin, [PIAS], Beggar’s Group, and InGrooves. Those four groups will make their catalogs available to the social media network’s users. Continue Reading
Google intends to double the podcast audience in a couple of years, and correct what it sees as an imbalance in Android’s share of delivery compared to iPhones. Some of Google’s podcast discovery and listening strategy is already implemented, and it shines a meaningful light on Google’s potential power to come from way behind Apple’s 13-year advantage in delivering podcasts to its iTunes and Podcasts app audiences. Continue Reading