India’s music market has finalized a merger between two major players. Jio Music and Saavn have completed the union of their streaming services, creating a single entity that has a combined value of $1 billion. The joint platform is called JioSaavn. Continue Reading
Radio consultant and podcast producer Mark Ramsey is announcing today a new division of his Mark Ramsey Media company, focused on research and other services for Christian broadcasters. The effort is “built specifically to serve the unique needs of Christian broadcasters, both commercial and non-commercial.” Continue Reading
Tencent Music Entertainment has launched its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The music arm of the Chinese conglomerate Tencent is looking to raise between $1.07 billion and $1.23 billion in this move. It is targeting a valuation between $22 billion and $25 billion. Continue Reading
The acquisition of Triton Digital by E.W. Scripps has closed, the parent company announced this morning. First announced six weeks ago, the merger settles what has been an uneven path for Triton in 2018, as it adds an important piece to Scripps’ digital acquisition strategy. Continue Reading
Panoply Media’s lead data analyst, David Martin, has penned a blog post exploring the value of podcast ratings. Martin defines a rating is the number of 1-5 stars a listener gives a show, while a review is their written assessment. The podcast company’s statistics showed that about 80% of shows in the U.S. iTunes store have no ratings listed. Continue Reading
Major labels and publishers are quick to call in the copyright lawyers, and this time their target was a podcast that they claimed was illegally using music in episodes. David Oxenford explains the distinctions between different performance licenses and what podcasters should do to stay on the right side of copyright law. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group has hired Jess Keeley-Carter as its new senior vice president of global digital marketing. She will assume the role beginning January 14. She joins the label from Facebook, where she oversaw label partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Continue Reading
Apple Music will be arriving on Amazon Echo smart speakers by the end of the year. Access to Apple’s streaming service will begin for subscribers the week of December 17. Customers will be able to control playback from Apple’s library with voice commands on the line of smart speakers. Continue Reading
Fox News Radio is adding three original podcasts to its slate of free-to-listen programs. The radio network archives many of Fox’s TV shows for on-demand listening, but those programs are maintained behind a Premium firewall. On the free side, the FOX News Radio page shows 21 shows. Continue Reading
Free podcast production and hosting service Anchor is introducing a new monetization plan for U.S. podcasters. Anchor Sponsorships is an automated service which matches advertisers with podcasts, and invites podcasters to create host-read breaks and insert them in their new and past shows. It’s an interesting long-tail play for both podcasters and brands. Continue Reading
Tidal has entered into a deal with personal media library Plex. The streaming service has been fully integrated into Plex, the first company of its kind to do so. In addition to making the entire Tidal library available through Plex’s mobile and TV apps, the recommendation and discovery engines of Tidal and Plex will be able to work together, promising better suggested listening. Continue Reading
Omny Studio, the audio publishing platform, has entered a programmatic advertising partnership with Rubicon Project. This deal will see Omny Studio offering pre-roll video advertisements for podcast listens on the web. Customers will be able to connect their shows to Rubicon Project’s video advertising marketplace, adding a new monetization option for podcasters under Omny’s umbrella. Continue Reading