RAIN News founding editor Kurt Hanson delivered his semi-annual State of the Industry Address at RAIN Summit Indy last week. In addition to expected Star Trek references, and a disconcerting Star Wars mention, Hanson drew trendlines, isolated an important consumer demand across all media, targeted problems with certain industry products, and suggested solutions. Continue Reading
Pandora is working with car dealer Lexus to host a series of four free pop-up concerts in Southern California. According to Pandora’s press release, the streaming radio platform used its Big Data stores to determine the best artists to feature at each concert location. It will extend invitations to the Lexus Pop-Up Concert Series to Pandora listeners who enjoy the headlining musicians and similar artists. Continue Reading
In its most recent Local Commerce Monitor (LCM), an ongoing survey of advertising behaviors among small and local businesses (SMBs), BIA Kelsey found high ranking for ROI (return on investment) when advertising in streaming radio. More survey participants rated streaming radio highly for ROI than they did for over-the-air (OTA) radio. Continue Reading
“Clear Channel announced today that it has become iHeartMedia, reflecting the company’s success in becoming a one-of-a-kind multi-platform media company with unparalleled reach and impact,” according to the press release. Darren Davis, President of iHeartMedia, remarked in an email, “iHeartMedia reflects the momentum of iHeartRadio and how consumers and advertisers engage seamlessly across our diverse live media platforms — broadcast radio, digital, mobile, social, TV, outdoor and events.” Continue Reading
Shazam’s Android app now has integrations with Google Play and Google Play Music All Access. The Android marketplace is now the featured resource for buying a track tagged in Shazam. Google’s on-demand music service joins Rdio, Spotify, and Deezer as ways to stream a song you’ve identified. The streaming networks are all visible by tapping the drop-down menu with the play button icon. Continue Reading
There are two main revenue paths for online streaming audio: advertising, and subscriptions. The balance of the two differs among music services. We recently spotted some Live365 spots which use banner inventory attached to audio ads to funnel users into subscribing. Continue Reading
AudioHQ, a digital audio ad-repping company, entered the market today with an announcement of a launch partnership with 8tracks, the crowdsourced uploading and listening platform. AudioHQ started in May of this year, and RAIN spoke with CEO Matt Cutair about his company, the digital audio advertising marketplace, and the 8tracks alliance. Continue Reading
At RAIN Summit Indy last week, Jeff Wender, Nielsen SVP of Digital, spoke on the Big Data panel, during which he fielded this question from the audience: “Could you give us an update about where Arbitron [Nielsen Audio] is in measuring streaming radio, and what we can potentially see in the future?” Nielsen president Steve Hasker divulged more detail at a Goldman Sachs conference. Continue Reading
This guest contribution by Michael Robertson, founder of Internet Radio Search Engine and DAR.fm, was originally posted on Google Plus. On that site, the article is followed by an interesting comment discussion featuring James Cridland, a frequent RAIN contributor. Here, Roberston takes NextRadio to task. Right or wrong? Leave a comment! Continue Reading
Idiosyncratic Transmissions bears the signs of careful and knowledgeable curation. While dishing out surprising and rewarding discoveries of eclectic music (mixed with a few standard rock/pop gems), there is a comforting, easygoing quality to the listening. We had it on for hours this morning, and the song mix had us looking up to see what was playing several times, without intruding with any attention-getting blasts. Continue Reading
Apple’s music platforms — iTunes and iTunes Radio — have issued innumerable album previews and exclusive releases. Promotions of those events seek to drive sales in an era when streaming is eating into music ownership. Taking the concept a step further, Apple bundled U2 released U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, globally, by dumping the album directly into iPhones, iPods, and iPads throughout its vast user base. Much gnashing of teeth ensued. Continue Reading