Comedy has been part of music services for years, though it doesn’t get much trade ink. While you can listen to tracks from comedy albums in music services, there are problems which combine to under-serve comedy fans. A new startup aims to fix those problems with a dedicated comedy streaming service that has unique technology under the hood. Continue Reading
Beatport announced that it is ending operation of its streaming service and mobile app. The official blog post said the change was an effort “to invest in what is most important to our business and our customers, rather than adding yet another choice to a sea of streaming services.” Continue Reading
Amazon’s video plans saw a new development with the launch of Video Direct, a new video posting platform that offers professional creators options for distribution and payment. The service is rolling out in the U.S., UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. This move does target YouTube, but only the tier of its members who are using video as a core business. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: More records for Drake’s record; a rational take on Radiohead and Spotify; Spotify exec talks Apple Music impact. Continue Reading
The American Music Rights Association (AMRA), owned by music publisher Kobalt, which claims to be the largest independent music publisher in the world, reported increased earnings from both YouTube and Spotify in Q3 2015. During its first three months of administering Kobalt’s catalog in Europe, AMRA saw a 26% increase in Spotify earnings and a 34% increase in YouTube earnings for the publishing client. Continue Reading
Digital audio advertising platform TargetSpot announced an alliance with LiveRamp, a tech company that helps advertisers connect with targeted audience segments. The deal becomes part of a complex data ecosystem which lifts streaming audio above linear audio in its ability to target precise audience groups and satisfy advertiser demand for data-rich audio campaigns. Continue Reading
France is the latest market to see the rollout of SoundCloud Go. The launch brings the extensive library of more than 125 million tracks to French listeners for a subscription cost of €9.99 on Android and €12.99 on iOS following a 30-day free trial. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Mark Mulligan projects the pace of disruption as consumers fade back from purchasing music downloads. “When new formats race to the fore it is easy to make the mistake of taking an eye off the legacy formats. This is risky because they usually still account for very large portions of existing revenue.” But a “download collapse” will happen to the iTunes Music Store. Continue Reading
Australian company Omny announced that is has developed podcast consumption analytics as part of Omny Studio, its publishing and hosting platform for on-demand audio. The intent of new analytics is to raise the game from traditional download metrics to a more granular view of how the programs are listened to. The company would like to develop an industry-wide standard. Continue Reading
The music industry critiques against YouTube have been joined by another influential voice. Irving Azoff, an artist manager and CEO/Chairman of Azoff MSG Entertainment, penned an open letter to the video platform with responses to YouTube’s recent blog post that aimed to address the current wave of artist and label concerns. Continue Reading
“Today, I’m happy to announce that on mobile alone YouTube now reaches more 18–49-year-olds than any network — broadcast or cable. In fact, we reach more 18–49-year-olds during primetime than the top 10 TV shows combined.”
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki made this announcement at an industry event targeting advertisers and agencies. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Digging into Pandora’s financial results, SEO for podcasts, and the BBC’s global news audience. Continue Reading