DGital Media announced the addition of two advertising executives to its team. Suzanne Kaufman and Christine Fontana have joined the audio engagement company as senior vice presidents and account managers. Continue Reading
After cycling through two top execs (Peter Tonstad and Andy Chen) in less than one year, Tidal has named its newest CEO. Jeff Toig has taken the helm of the oft-beleaguered streaming service. Understandably, there’s some curiosity as to why an experienced music pro would join up what many have predicted to be a sinking ship. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has announced that Spreaker is the latest podcast provider to join Triton’s a2x programmatic ad exchange. Spreaker is the first U.S.-based podcast company to join a2x — Sweden-based Acast went on board in August. Continue Reading
Google announced new additions to its push to record great works in 360-degree video, this time focused on the fine arts. The tech giant has partnered with more than 60 performing arts groups around the world to create live, 360-degree experiences. I’ve seen a few experiments with this video tech before, and it has always seemed more interesting in theory than in practice to me. So I was curious to see what this meeting of high-tech and high culture could produce. Continue Reading
Dave Grimaldi, currently Director of Public Affairs at Pandora, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Public Policy for the IAB, and head of that organization’s Washington, D.C. office. Grimaldi joined Pandora in April, 2014, and was on board through Pandora’s participation in the “Webcaster IV” process which ends this month. Continue Reading
T-Mobile is continuing its shake-up of mobile music, adding 11 more streaming services to its Music Freedom plan. That means more places where T-Mobile customers can jam out to tunes without it counting against their high-speed data plans. Continue Reading
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Two recent innovations, from Pandora and Live365, indicate that podcasting is entering the realm of lean-back Internet radio. If it becomes a trend, podcasts could be woven more tightly into the streaming audio ecosystem. Continue Reading
Swedish-based podcast company Acast today announced the hiring of Sarah van Mosel as Chief Commercial Officer. Mosel, who departs her position as VP of Sponsorships at WNYC, will work in Acast’s New York office. It is not the first time Acast has recruited from WNYC Continue Reading
Kevin Brown has been appointed chairman at the Official Charts Company. He will be replacing BMG UK SVP Korda Marshall, who held the chair spot for three years, starting January 2016. Continue Reading
App Annie has released a report on the top mobile music apps for the third quarter of 2015. Spotify topped the charts for worldwide active users, revenue, and downloads on both iOS and Android platforms. Several of the combined charts showed a heavy international bent, featuring apps based in South Korea and India rising through the ranks to land in the top 10. Continue Reading
New research by Bain & Company determined that native digital media has reached a critical mass, and give some insights into how companies in entertainment, publishing, and services could begin to adapt. “Entertainment has passed a point of no return in its transition to native digital,” the report said. It pointed to five key points that businesses would need to address in order to see the most success and shared insightful data points to support this fast-moving trend. Continue Reading
The end-of-the-year roundups continue apace, this time with Adweek’s Hot List detailing the top 24 digital brands, startups, and games from 2015. The list included nods for the ‘hottest music app,’ and if you can remember back to last year’s choices, you’ll be seeing very familiar names. Continue Reading