7digital released its financial results for all of 2015, following up on the preliminary figures shared in January. Total revenue for the year was £10.37 million, up from £10.21 million in the previous year. In addition to the financial reports, 7digital also announced the new clients it signed during the first quarter of 2016. Continue Reading
Spotify has increased its war chest of cash, taking one-billion dollars in a debt offering to institutional investors that points explicitly to a future Initial Public Offering (IPO). The deal rewards investors with discounted pricing in the event of a Spotify IPO, and Spotify is punished if the public offering is delayed. Continue Reading
Westwood One announced a promotion within its upper ranks. Kelli Hurley will now be the company’s vice president of digital sales, and will oversee all sales related to Westwood One’s digital products. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Behind the scenes at Serial; risky consolidation within indie label services; who are music’s disruptors? Continue Reading
Tidal is celebrating its first full year today. Since its relaunch after acquisition by hip-hop legend Jay-Z, Tidal has secured 3 million subscribers. Its library now numbers nearly 40 million songs, including high-quality audio tracks and several exclusives. Continue Reading
At the beginning of the year, CÜR Music laid out plans to become a player in the social, mobile music streaming space. Part of that plan involved hefty licensing fees to be paid to all three major labels. It seems that the best laid plans are already going awry. Continue Reading
Naxos Music Library World has debuted a new way to explore its newly-launched catalog. As befits a world music specialist, it’s an interactive map. The breadth of Naxos’ metadata makes the interactive map a fun new tool for world music discovery. Continue Reading
Spotify has released a new advertising campaign with a series of three quirky video clips. The spots are meant to capture the idea of a story behind each of the songs we listen to, according to agency Wieden+Kennedy New York. Continue Reading
Yesterday’s announcement that Pandora switched out its CEO, replacing Brian McAndrews with Tim Westergren, was startling both in unexpectedness and lack of explanation. Tim Westergren is Pandora’s founding visionary, a musician with technology chops. What does this change signal? Continue Reading
SoundCloud unveiled a subscription tier for its online audio platform. SoundCloud Go will give members an expanded catalog, including “the full repertoire of artists signed to independent labels and major labels alike,” clocking in at more than 125 million tracks. The tier will also allow offline access and ad-free listening. This is a move that we’ve been expecting ever since SoundCloud completed the trifecta of major label licensing deals. Continue Reading
Among the many topics and discussion formats featured at RAIN Summit West this year, podcasting will have a special focus with two dedicated onstage sessions. A “FIreside Chat” interview with the founder of PodcastOne is followed by a panel discussion of podcasting at a pivot point. Continue Reading
We received word from AudioHQ of a new on-demand audio series to start this fall. It is the first original podcast program developed by the digital audio ad sales company. Partnering with AudioHQ are Laurence Fishburne through his Cinema Gypsy Productions company, and Larenz Tate’s TateMen Entertainment company. Continue Reading