Spotify debuted a deal with Samsung in August 2018, and that partnership has already grown. The parties announced that users will see “frictionless access” on more Samsung mobile devices. Beginning today, millions of new Samsung mobile devices will come with Spotify pre-installed. Continue Reading
German music industry body BVMI has released new figures for 2018, marking the first time that streaming generated more money than CDs. Total revenue for the year dipped 0.4% to €1.58 billion ($1.78 billion) Continue Reading
Kobalt Music Group is in the process of raising its largest funding round yet. KMG is the parent organization behind Kobalt Music Publishing, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights, recorded music operation AWAL and collection society AMRA. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board rates set for 2018 through 2022 are soon to face a legal challenge. A group of streaming and technology platforms — including Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon — filed notices that they intend to appeal the mechanical statutory licensing rates for that period. Continue Reading
Dubset is quietly collecting a growing roster of labels and libraries for its platform for quickly licensing compositions to use in remixes and DJ playlists. The latest addition is Warner Music Group, which is now one of the biggest labels to ink a partnership with the company. Continue Reading
SoundCloud is broadening its relationship with DAX, Global’s digital audio advertising arm. The parties are expanding their existing exclusive sales agreement to include Canada as a second market. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in November was 8% higher than the year-ago period, as Spotify widened its upward trend advantage compared to Pandora. This according to Triton Digital’s Top-20 Ranker, a monthly report based on Triton’s Webcast Metrics streaming measurement technology. Continue Reading
The Entertainment Retailers Association has released its annual report, and the document shows a snapshot of how the UK has shifted into a subscription-driven economy for digital entertainment. Paid music subscriptions generated revenue of £829 million in 2018. Continue Reading
Voicebot.ai and Voicify released a new survey of smart speaker ownership in the United States. The results found that as of January 2019, 66.4 million people in the country owned the devices. That total marked a rise of 39.8% in one year. Continue Reading
Sirius XM is taking new steps in its ownership of Pandora. The satellite radio company has launched a content team that will create original programming in music, sports, and talk for Pandora based on Sirius XM’s model. Continue Reading
Many people within the podcasting field have had the sense that big things are afoot in the field, and the Infinite Dial 2019 backed that anecdotal feeling with some positive numbers about consumption of the audio format. Continue Reading
The Infinite Dial always provides a snapshot of how Americans consume audio, and as more of the country shifts to streaming models, that has created tighter competition across those platforms to be the music provider of choice. With several companies expanding their content offerings to be more than just music, and with big bucks on the line in potential acquisitions, where people listen has become an even more impactful choice in 2019. Continue Reading