Pandora has been growing its international audience since launching in Australia and New Zealand. That base of listeners could grow even more thanks to a partnership in the region with Ford Australia that will put the radio app in up to 60% of all new cars in 2015, according to The Music Network. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel) has announced a partnership with Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group, a leading global advertising company.
The deal gives each company special access to assets, information, and technology of the other. We spoke with Jeff Howard, President, National Sales at iHeartMedia. “We’re looking for companies that want to transform the industry,” he told RAIN News. Continue Reading
SoundHound has opened a new office in Boston and also announced several additions to its sales and marketing team. According to the press release, these steps are part of the sound recognition company’s efforts to solidify its presence for ad agencies and brands looking to connect with young music fans. Continue Reading
Spotify UK saw impressive growth in revenue for 2013 thanks to a 42% spike in subscriptions. The company credited its partnership with Vodafone, which led to the inclusion of Spotify in new customer bundles, and the launch of a student discount with the jump in paid plans. Total revenue for the UK subsidiary increased 40% to £131.3 million for 2013. Profit that year totaled £2.5 million, compared with a loss of £11 million in 2012. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio re-launched its mobile apps in June, and today brings a new version of its web browser experience. We tested the experience, and found it significantly cleaner and more conducive to exploring stations and discovering music. The key change of the new desktop site is a blurring of lines between type of station, and an increased dedication to providing the user with desired sounds regardless of originating platform. Continue Reading
It had been a while since we’d prowled through iTunes Radio looking for ads, so a revisit was in order. We fired up iTunes Radio on a 5th-generation iPod, and our hunt was quickly rewarded with a video placement by Nissan, part of its “Off the Stage” campaign. Continue Reading
Samsung’s Milk Music streaming service quickly rose to the top of the app charts after launching in South Korea. Within six days of launching in the company’s home country, Milk reached the top of the Google Play free app category with more than 500,000 downloads. Continue Reading
Located in Brandon, VT, classical Vermont is the purest of pureplays — simple, uncluttered, attractive, with good programming for fans of symphonic, chamber, and solo instrumental music. Classical Vermont is straight-ahead, hardcore European and American art music. Continue Reading
Michael Hill is the Managing Director of Radioplayer, the listening platform which aggregates U.K. radio stations. In anticipation of his appearance at RAIN Summit Europe, in London on November 4, we talked with Hill about the future of listening. His comments reflected specific advocacy of broadcast radio, and an agonistic viewpoint based on Radioplayer’s non-profit status. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the Internet: Prince criticizes U2; do lawsuits for pre-1972 royalties threaten digital music?; Spotify’s semi-secret info sessions; what’s up at The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. Should on-demand music streaming cost less? Or, because the ad-supported listening model is preeminent, is is Apple’s initiative a non-starter? Continue Reading
The Pono Music crowdfunding campaign has been successful (to put it mildly) in the fundraising stage, but most of those contributors are still waiting to see what their pledges have created. Eamonn Forde of The Guardian was able to get hands-on time with one of the Pono Player prototypes and shared his experience. He said the improvements in sound quality that Pono delivered were impressive on both expensive headphones and cheap earbuds. Since that was the top promise made by Neil Young and his colleagues, that’s a relief to hear. Continue Reading