Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Questioning the top Podtrac “Snackable Podcast.” Big holiday download numbers for Alexa on Android. Start 2018 right with a hilarious podcast parody. Continue Reading
Tidal is a perpetually up and down story. The platform ended 2017 with an upswing, as owner and hip-hop legend Jay-Z released a massive new music video for his 4:44 album exclusively on the platform. The opulently shot eight-minute music video is directed by Ava DuVernay and stars what seems like half of Hollywood’s A-list. Continue Reading
Vevo posted 2017 revenue of $650 million, and the music video platform broke even for the year. The revenue total was up 30% over the year prior, and Vevo claims it will be profitable by early 2018. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Rest in peace, Dick Orkin. Other news and updates from around the audio world looking back on 2017 and ringing in 2018. Continue Reading
Anna Washenko (RAIN News editor) and Brad Hill (RAIN president) offer a few points of outlook for 2018. China, startups, rivalries, smart OS, playlists, cars, and more. Continue Reading
LG has released a new smart speaker with Google Assistant integration. The LG ThinQ is LG’s first in the premium smart speaker niche. It uses Meridian Audio technology and offers high resolution audio for services that support lossless listening. Continue Reading
Deezer sent Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to GitHub in an effort to block tools that allowed pirating of its catalog. The streaming service appears to have been successful in its move to end access to multiple applications on GitHub, a prominent software developer platform that allowed open sharing and distribution of code programs. Continue Reading
Podtrac has published its rankings of the top podcasts and the top podcast publishers for November 2017. The company added a third chart of the top “snackable” shows for the month, but that has had little impact on the top podcasts list. Continue Reading
A RAIN News roundup of 2017’s most important stories, by month. We applied an upper limit of five stories per month to keep this feature concisely focused on the most crucial industry developments in online audio. Continue Reading
This guest column by Corey Layton, Content and Marketing Director at Whooshkaa, boldly predicts th podcast industry into 2018. Even more bravely, this article looks back at Corey Layton’s 2017 predictions. Continue Reading
In the October report of Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, overall stream listening inched upward a bit (one percent from the previous month). Hidden in that modest movement are significant gain by five of the top six entities, composed of three pure internet plays and three radio groups. Continue Reading