The Download on Podcasts, a weekly feature covering the development of podcasting as a vital audio category, is sponsored by PodcastOne. Podcasts are on-demand audio programs, growing quickly in audience, programming, and revenue. Podcasting turns to viral marketing to grow… Continue Reading
Understanding podcast consumption is a notorious challenge for creators and publishers. Audio host and distributor Spreaker has addressed that concern for its customers with the launch of a new analytics portion of the service. Continue Reading
Now that we’ve set off on a fresh new year, we’re getting some interesting and insightful perspectives on everything that transpired in the music world during 2014. Data scientists have had the time to collect final numbers and finish analyses. On Jan. 2, we got a preliminary look at the work of Nielsen SoundScan team, which showed a general trend of increased streaming and decreased sales. Today, we have the 2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report to expand on those first finds. Continue Reading
Music-ID app Shazam announced a mobile app refresh in its ongoing (unspoken) battle with SoundHound for user loyalty. Charts and listening are the two pillars on which the new Shazam rests. Continue Reading
When the New York Times referred to music consumption as a “culture of free,” XAPPmedia CMO Bret Kinsella took to his keyboard to compose a sharp rebuttal. “Don’t fall for the narrative,” he cautions. Continue Reading
When a global consumer service loses the most popular product in its catalog, it’s pretty bad news on the face of it. The seriousness of Taylor Swift’s much-publicized withdrawal from Spotify is perhaps reflected in the gravity and scope of founder Daniel Ek’s blog response yesterday. But crowd opinion, and thousands of news articles, might add up to good publicity. Spotify itself is uniquely asking Taylor Swift to return, with a “Come back, Taylor!” playlist. Continue Reading
Scribd, a digital book service, launched an all-you-can-read ebook subscription program last year. Now, it has added an audiobook component to its offerings. The plan costs $8.99 a month and offers unlimited reading and listening within its catalog. It currently has more than half a million ebooks and more than 30,000 audiobooks available. The rollout of audiobooks within Scribd’s service highlights a few of the recent trends that the entertainment and media industries should be keeping tabs on. Continue Reading
“This is a very surprising decision,” writes broadcast attorney David Oxenford in this comprehensive analysis of a federal court ruling in California. Looking forward, much depends on whether the surprising decision is upheld in appeal, and whather it is replicated in other courtrooms and states. “If this decision were upheld, the potential ramifications for business in California could be great.” Oxenford, who wrote about “The Summer of Copyright” this year, declares the start of what could be an equally contentious new season — “The Autumn of Copyright has begun!” Continue Reading
Recent info from Edison Research’s Share of Ear study puts listening to Internet radio/Music in the US, among persons 12+ at 11.6% of overall listening to all legitimate sources of audio. Right around the same time we were discussing this study at RAIN Summit Indy, similar information was being presented at the Nextrad.io conference hosted by RAIN friends James Cridland and Matt Deegan. RAIN will be examining the online audio marketplace in the UK and across Europe in November at RAIN Summit Europe which will take place in London on November 4th. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan is one of the industry’s most astute observers and analysts. This guest column examines customer sharing, revenue cannibalization, and the next five years in music — “one of the music industry’s most dramatic periods of change. The last ten years might have been disruptive but the change that is coming will be even more transformative.” Continue Reading
In the world of Internet-delivered radio, at least three significant categories of devices were wiped out by the success of the smartphone and its somewhat bigger brother, the tablet. RAIN Founding Editor Kurt Hanson ties those trends from Internet radio tech to the re-emergence of the Nook e-reader. Continue Reading
YouTube is the world’s largest distributor of streaming music, and an important music-discovery platform. Does extreme YouTube music popularity (virality) boost music sales? Nielsen takes a stab at answering that intriguing question, acknowledging that the results are inconclusive. But the graphic report is interesting. Continue Reading