The BBC’s Sam Bailey has been appointed as the managing director for the new Audio Content Fund. This program, funded by the UK government, will award grants for the production of public service content for commercial radio. Continue Reading
Spotify has landed another exclusive podcast deal, further expanding its roster of original programming. The streaming service signed a partnership with Jemele Hill, a former anchor for ESPN SportsCenter. Continue Reading
Amazon’s Echo line is starting to show up in cars. TechCrunch reported that the Echo Auto, announced in September, began shipping pre-orders in December. It also has third-party options for bringing its Alexa voice assistant behind the wheel. Continue Reading
The Consumer Technology Association released a report with its projections for spending by U.S. shoppers this year. The report anticipated that the latest tech developments will spur a record-breaking $398 billion in retail revenue during 2019. On-demand music services are projected to grow revenue in double-digit percentages. Continue Reading
CD Baby announced that its artists earned more than $100 million last year. Tracy Maddux, the CEO for the distributor, spoke with Music Business Worldwide about the company’s results and the outlook for independent artists at large. Continue Reading
Google has two news items surrounding its podcasts app. First, the latest version of the app added support for the Android Auto in-car infotainment system. Second, Google Podcasts and PRX have selected the six teams to participate in a previously-announced accelerator program. Continue Reading
In today’s edition of James Cridland’s Podnews, he makes an interesting comparison. Taking the just-published list of radio’s top advertisers (from Inside Radio), Cridland has the idea of comparing it with Magellan’s recent list of top 15 podcast advertisers Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Deezer CEO interview. The year of the DIY podcast network. “Audio is going to be titanically important.” Spotify’s plan to beat Apple. Continue Reading
Voice assistants and smart speakers have been one of the hottest topics at this year’s CES, but one development between two major players is worth a little extra attention. Sonos has been promising an eventual integration with Google Assistant, but that support has been delayed past its initial target date. Google and Sonos hosted demonstrations of the voice assistant on a Sonos Beam and Sonos One this week in Las Vegas. Continue Reading
Sirius XM announced that it closed 2018 with about 28.9 million self-pay subscribers. Adding about 1.4 million self-pay subscribers helped the satellite radio company to exceed its previous subscriber guidance for 2-18 by about 40%. Continue Reading
Nielsen is continuing its data drops this week, following up its 2018 United States stats with a review of the music market for Canada. Total album equivalent audio consumption increased 21% in Canada for 2018. The growth largely stemmed from streaming. Continue Reading
Nielsen has shared its insights on music industry statistics from 2018. The analysis showed that there were 611 billion on-demand audio song streams in 2018, up 49% from the 2017 figure. The total 2018 on-demand music consumption, both in audio and video, rose 43% to more than 900 billion streams. Continue Reading