Japanese trade body RIAJ reported that the country’s music industry saw 0.42% growth in 2016 for total revenue of 230.593 billion yen ($2.09 billion). That result ran counter to the projections that Japan’s music market would shrink during the year. Continue Reading
U.S. radio stations saw a 14% increase in online revenue in 2016, according to the latest BIA/Kelsey data. In contrast, over-the-air advertising revenue stayed static for the year, generating $14.1 billion. Continue Reading
SoundCloud has launched its subscription tiers in the Netherlands. SoundCloud Go and SoundCloud Go+ are now both available for listeners in that market. Continue Reading
The Spanish Broadcasting System saw more than 50% growth in CPM after a pilot test for programmatic digital audio advertising. The broadcaster witness the spike after participating in the WO Programmatic Digital Audio platform from ad-tech company WideOrbit. Continue Reading
The latest blog post from Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein reviews the struggles many radio stations have with their podcasting efforts. He points to the different listener expectations between a radio broadcast and a podcast. Continue Reading
Facebook is continuing a hiring spree focused on music, leading to increased speculation that the social media company will be branching beyond just status updates and Likes. There are three active job openings for Facebook. Continue Reading
One of SoundCloud’s earliest employees has departed the company. David Noël, who began as a community manager and evangelist then climbed the ladder to head of SoundCloud’s internal communications and evangelist, is leaving. He was one of the first seven… Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Many slides and missives from Radiodays Europe, plus a smattering of other news from around the audio and radio world. Continue Reading
Spotify has made another startup acquisition. This time the purchased company is MightyTV, a company specializing in video recommendations. Financial terms were not disclosed. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: “First, a Word From Our Celebrity” in the New York Times. More recap from the Infinite Dial by Westwood One. Brazilian startup exploring the power of musical chatbots. Continue Reading
Slacker Radio may be close to turning a profit. In a recent interview, Slacker Radio CEO Duncan Orrell-Jones talked about the positive effects of committing to being a niche audio service and about the pricing outlook for audio subscriptions. Continue Reading
The ranks of streaming holdouts have been slowly dwindling as the digital distribution takes hold of ever-larger market share. The latest artist to ponder a change of heart is hard rock band Tool. Sources claiming to be familiar with negotiations said members of Tool have been talking to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music about paths to releasing their music. Continue Reading