The New York Post’s Claire Atkinson has put SoundCloud back into headlines. The streaming platform has been rumored as a sale target for months on and off. The Post is now reporting that “a host of players” are currently interested in taking over the company. Sources have most recently pointed to Deezer and Apple as possible buyers, with private equity firms also allegedly in the running. Continue Reading
The White Night Festival in Tel Aviv was a “silent disco” attended by 30,000 people. Music was blasted out — rather, was blasted IN via personal headphones, powered by the custom-built Nobex app for Tel Aviv Radio. Continue Reading
Last week marked the release of 4:44, the much-anticipated new album from Jay-Z. The work was released as an exclusive to Tidal, which is owned by Jay-Z and Sprint, which bought a 33% stake at the start of 2017. The release has not been the smoothest of sailing, an indicator that exclusive album releases are still a contentious approach to distribution that require careful planning to be successful. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Smart audio study from Edison. No more Pandora down under. Radio 1 Vintage. Much more. Continue Reading
BuzzAngle Music has published its mid-year report, reflecting six months of growth for the U.S. music industry. Total consumption increased 9.9% over the same period in 2016. Audio streams grew 58.5% on-year to 179.8 billion. Continue Reading
The recent Infinite Dial Australia report from Edison Research shared some data points about the position of podcasts in that nation. The audio format was known to 72% of respondents, while 29% of Australians have listened to a podcast. We compare key metrics with the U.S. version of The Infinite Dial, released in March. Continue Reading
Amazon announced that July 11 will be Prime Day, a promotion where the online retailer offers a swath of big discounts. For RAIN readers, the notable deals include cheaper access to some of its subscription services. Continue Reading
Sony Music is opening an in-house vinyl-pressing plant. The new facility could open as soon as March 2018. The announcement marks Sony’s return to vinyl operations after nearly three decades; the label had shuttered its last vinyl operations in 1989. Continue Reading
Bite-sized audio platform Clammr announced that it is closing on July 2. The company shared the decision in a tweet on Wednesday. Clammr offered tools to create 24-second audio clips. “Thank you for all of the creativity and joy that you have shared with the world using Clammr,” the company said. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Stationhead blends playlists and radio. Gig.fm for music livestreaming. MUSO secures financing. Continue Reading
The breakthrough research report on smart speakers, The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, is released today after the free webinar presentation yesterday. The research was originally presented at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit on June 21, of which NPR was the presenting sponsor. Continue Reading
Spotify is converting one of its popular playlists into a concert series dubbed RapCaviar Live. The streaming platform’s RapCaviar playlist has more than 7 million followers, and is the second-biggest global playlist on the service. Continue Reading