Google Play Music All Access announced another big international push, rolling out the service to nine more countries. Hot on the heels of an expansion in July, the streaming platform made further inroads into South and Latin America. With today’s launches, Google’s streaming product is now available in 43 countries. Continue Reading
On September 9 in Indianapolis, a highlight of RAIN Summit Indy will be the announcement of five winners in the fifth annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards. Today we are pleased to introduce the semifinalists in the Best Single Stream Webcaster category, one of five which accepted nominations. Continue Reading
As in previous years, webcasting inched backward in June by three percent in Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. Across the top-20 cohort total listening dropped three percent from May to June. Pandora lost ground and ESPN gaines. Click through for RAIN’s analytical charts. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio made good use of its mobile notification mechanism this morning, pinging registered users about a special Robin Williams takeover of the service’s “24/7 Comedy” channel. Legendary comedian and actor Williams died last night in his California home. Continue Reading
CD Baby has added free customizable online music players for its members. The company, which helps indie musicians to sell digital downloads and physical copies of their music, is positioning this new feature as a way for artists to make their work easily sharable. Continue Reading
When we heard about a daring format flip at WKAZ in Charleston, WV, we tuned in to the station’s webcast to hear the mix and find out how engaging the experience was on the digital side. We haven’t tuned away in 12 hours — an unusual level of engagement in an office known for its obsessive stream-surfing, app-switching, genre-scrambling listening tendencies. Continue Reading
Tom McAlevey is the founder of Radical.FM, an Internet radio platform, whose resume includes founding TomsRadio, a different, pre-Spotify music service. He has posted an interesting, and intentionally provocative blog entry that explains how Pandora and Spotify could be profitable today, and pitilessly predicts the demise of AM/FM radio. Continue Reading
Viacom’s music group, comprised of MTV, VH1, and CMT, released summary results of survey exploring how teenagers and adults up to age 40 consume music. A survey population of 1,200 participants submitted to the quantitative study. Streaming was revealed as a mainstream behavior in the survey responses, with 78% of the group having streamed music in the past three months. Continue Reading
Niche label Blue Music Group, which specializes in Scandinavian jazz and classical artists, announced yesterday that it has withdrawn its catalog from Spotify’s on-demand streaming service. The announcement, and its wording, make an interesting illustration of the tricky decision facing content owners during a time of industry disruption. Continue Reading
Saavn has added 800,000 tracks from Warner Music and EMI to its offerings. The addition of this batch of Western music brings the Indian service’s catalog to almost 2 million. Saavn said in its press release that the deal makes it the only streaming platform in the country to offer songs from all of the big Western labels, with tunes from Sony and Universal already in its library. Continue Reading
Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford writes about the Department of Justice review of ‘consent decress,’ which govern how ASCAP and BMI operate. “All music services need to watch and stay involved as this process develops,” Oxenford advises. “There are obviously important and complicated issues that will be considered in this review.” Continue Reading
Google has started testing a new form of advertising that gives listeners a direct link to a streaming service. The Wall Street Journal reported that the music services are paying for the pots by the click, similar to Google’s other paid text link ads. “We’re happy to help users quickly find legitimate sources for their favorite movies, music and more via Google search,” an unnamed Google rep told WSJ. Continue Reading