Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Bob Lefsetz on Recode Media podcast; innovations at WNYC; interview with Radiolab founder; what’s next for political podcasts? Continue Reading
South Africa-based podcast and audio company iono.fm has received a new influx of seed funding. The company secured $175,000 (2.5 million rand) in a round led by Clifftop Colony. The financing will support strengthening domestic operations and investing in streaming services. Continue Reading
We covered the early results from Music Biz Consumer Insights and LOOP’s latest study of in-car listening, but the final report offers some more detail into the breakdown of technology choices and listener ages. For in-car listening, 75% of respondents said they listen to AM/FM radio. CD listening came in a distant second with 38%, while digital music files had 18% and streaming Internet radio had 15%. Podcasts secured just 6%. Continue Reading
Metallica is out with a new album and the band has gone an unusual route with distribution. Hardwired… To Self Destruct has been released on most of the usual digital outlets, but it is also on YouTube in its entirety. Metallica’s adoption of streaming distribution contradicts the band’s earlier resistence, and contains some irony. Then there is Radiohead, once a hold-out, which is now streaming on Spotify. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Apple revising some App Store fees; rates of trial-hopping; former ASCAP exec joins CD Baby. Continue Reading
Today brings an announcement from AdsWizz that it has obtained a partnership with demand-side programmatic buying platform RTBiQ. The alliance leverages AdWave (the audio advertising platform owned by AdsWizz) to bring digital audio ad inventory to RTBiQ’s buyers. Continue Reading
TuneIn has added offline listening and downloading for its podcasts. These features were included in the latest update to the service. Listeners can store podcasts on their mobile devices for access at any time, even when they don’t have an online connection. Continue Reading
Brian Whitman has departed Spotify. He joined the streaming company as a co-founder and CTO of The Echo Nest, which Spotify acquired in 2014. Continue Reading
Sirius XM has settled its California royalty case with two members of The Turtles. The parties have been locked in legal proceedings for years about the treatment of recordings made prior to 1972, when federal copyright law was enacted. Continue Reading
Low barrier to entry — that is one of the appeals of podcasting, driving an explosion of content at the amateur, semi-pro, professional, and stardom levels. But there is a knowledge gap, and we are seeing it filled by educational initiatives that explain podcasting conceptually, as well as the technology and distribution. Continue Reading
StreamGuys, a content delivery network and streaming media provider, announced the launch of a new service for monitoring Internet stream host status. The tool is called IsMyStreamUp, and it is an automated service to track whether any online stream, content asset, or workflow is up and running correctly. Continue Reading
Talk radio startup Otto Radio has inked a deal with ride-share app Uber. Similarly to the transportation app’s deal with Pandora, Otto Radio users can connect their profiles with Uber. Continue Reading