Nielsen is reportedly in discussions to acquire Gracenote. Variety cited sources who said such a deal would be between $450 million and $500 million. The focus for Nielsen would most likely be Gracenote’s automatic content recognition technology. Continue Reading
Spotify is reportedly testing a new feature that would, according to The Verge, introduce select on-demand features to its free tier. The feature is called Jump and it would let freemium listeners choose the songs they want to hear on select playlists. Currently, free-tier playlists work only in shuffle mode. Continue Reading
Political and genereal news sites are abuzz with the discovery of a small but crucial provision buried deep in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, which restructures governance of Voice of America, the U.S.’s official broadcast presence around the world. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Radio tagging tool AirShr closes; insights about digital-first radio; no more shortwave for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Christmasification at Boom 97.3. Continue Reading
Apple has released a new documentary feature film exclusively on its streaming music platform. The movie is titled 808 and it traces the impact of Roland’s TR-808 drum machine on a range of musical genres and artists. The trailer is watermarked with the Beats 1 logo, making the project appear to be a branded production. Continue Reading
Podcast discovery — it’s a persistent challenge that affects listeners, creators, and distributors. The headline problem? An ocean of content and no easy way to dive deep. One of the best ways to make podcast content visible in general internet searching is to post transcripts. A new service tackles the audio search challenge. Continue Reading
Spotify has been rumored as a buyer for SoundCloud for month, but it seems that the takeover is a no-go. At least for now. TechCrunch reports that it spoke to a source at Spotify who said the potential acquisition went cold last week. Continue Reading
YouTube has reached an accord with the National Music Publishers Association about royalty payments for music with unknown ownership. The settlement potentially covers any unclaimed works that appeared between Aug. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2015. Continue Reading
Podcast distributor Satchel announced a collaboration with crowd-funding site Patreon. Satchel’s premise is connecting podcasts with local listeners; it first appeared on our radar in February. Now, its podcast player can be embedded with a call to action button that takes listeners to a Patreon page. Continue Reading
The long-beleaguered SFX has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy rebranded as LiveStyle. The company is still a specialist in electronic music, but the revamped version appears to be doubling down on live events. Continue Reading
The growth of podcasting is impressive, but guest columnist Mark Ramsey puts it in perspective with a couple of key comparisons. Perhaps a valid questions becomes, why isn’t podcasting bigger? Ramsey has an answer for that. Continue Reading
Line Music has entered a deal with Tuned Global to expand its catalog. Line had been working with Omnifone to grow its library, but has been on the hunt for a new provider since Omnifone shuttered. Continue Reading