The music industry entered a new automotive battleground. The Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies filed a lawsuit against several car companies, including General Motors and Ford Motor Company, seeking damages for vehicles equipped with what it believes are digital audio recording devices. Ford has filed a motion to dismiss the case. The argument hinges on a key definition. Continue Reading
Nielsen published its latest insights on the outlook for connected cars. The high-tech vehicles are appealing for the cool factor; 60% of future auto intenders said they want one to experience emerging technologies. But the desire for entertainment on the road was a close second, at 58% of future auto intenders. In fact, the Nielsen results revealed that 36% of connected car users streamed audio every time they got in their vehicle during the second quarter of 2014. Continue Reading
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
Pioneer launched a firmware update that includes support for Apple CarPlay in five of its NEX systems. Using CarPlay requires an iPhone 5 or later model running at least iOS 7.1 Pioneer first announced these plans to integrate CarPlay in April. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: NYT on why CDs rule Japan; Dash Two on internet radio for advertising; GM narrowing focus for connected car apps. Continue Reading
AT&T’s Drive Studio and Ericsson released a study that found that connected car services were of high importance for prospective auto buyers. The survey targeted customers who were likely to buy a car within the next five years, and the respondents were located in the U.S., Germany, Brazil, Japan, and China. The results showed that half of all those surveyed would switch car brands to get connected car services, and 72% would delay their purchase by a year in order to get those services from their preferred brand. Continue Reading
Forbes published an article with predictions about Pandora’s audience base, estimating that its number of active users would grow from 76.2 million in 2013 to almost 120 million during the next five or six years. That’s a bold prediction, especially considering that Pandora actually posted a small dip in monthly active users in its second-quarter conference call. The expectation is based on projections for smartphone growth and connected cars, as well as a presumption that Pandora will expand internationally. Continue Reading
In a recent interview, Pandora CFO Michael Herring spoke about the company’s interest in making its services more friendly to drivers on the road. To that end, Bloomberg reported that Pandora is exploring the world beyond music, with interest in formats such as talk radio, news, and sports. Continue Reading
Things are looking pretty good for Sirius XM following its second-quarter earnings call. The company said revenue increased 10 percent, surpassing $1 billion. Net income for the period was $120 million, and the 2 cents per share earnings met the estimates set by Thomson Reuters analysts. Continue Reading
Presented by Triton Digital, this discussion will range from best ways for integration to happen (in dash, versus receiver) to identifying aggregators, to discussing best options for both listeners and streaming services during the interim stages. Moderator: Brad Hill (RAIN:… Continue Reading
From the department of mixed messages, Sirius XM reported record earnings on yesterday’s quarterly call, predicted disappointing earnings for 2014, and handed a rate increase to subscribers. SIRI stock is down over six percent on Friday, as of this post.… Continue Reading
Jacobs Media presented the second and final day of DASH, The Connected Car AudioTainment Conference yesterday in Detroit. (See Day 1 coverage here.) Day 2 added a new dimension to the previous day’s industry discussions about the future of radio… Continue Reading