In last week’s Q3 earnings call for Cumulus Media, one of the largest radio groups in the U.S., CEO Mary Berner laid out the growth of her digital business. One interesting fact: The podcast network serves 70-million monthly downloads, probably making it one of the biggest podcast publishers. Continue Reading
Shazam has entered a partnership with several broadcasting groups with the goal of creating an audience measurement solution for broadcast and digital audio. The new partners are iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Entercom, Cox and Sun Broadcast Group. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Questioning the conglomerate approach; how voice controls are influencing music at home; album art endures. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: BitTorrent 2015 artist survey; Cumulus CEO Berner’s plans for stability, programming; Apple rumored to explore high-res; the Drake Effect and the Nicki Effect. Continue Reading
Traditional radio is now a litigation target over music licensing of pre-1972 recordings, thanks to an action filed in a California state court by ABS Entertainment. Will the lawsuit reach beyond the webcast streams of the radio groiups targeted? Continue Reading
Cumulus/Westwood One leveraged Amazon Prime Day by commissioning an Ipsos study of advertising effectiveness in promoting the event. With the result favoring traditional radio ads, the survey turned a pure digital story into a testimonial of analog reach and power to drive consumer action. Continue Reading
Radio group Cumulus Media and audio platform Audioboom have announced a major strategic partnership to produce and distribute on-demand audio. Westwood One will be the exclusive ad-rep agency for Audioboom’s monetization efforts of the content. Continue Reading
In a culmination of recent business developments, music service Rdio updated its apps and refocused its experience to emphasize free, ad-supported listening as a complement to its on-demand subscription service. The revised product line fulfills Rdio’s promise to open an ad-supported, free-listening line of business, as expressed by parent-company Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey in an April earnings call. We tested the iPod/iPhone app. Continue Reading
Cumulus Media conducted its earning call yesterday, during which CEO Lew Dickey spoke about the partnership with music subscription service Rdio, and about online music generally. Dickey’s remarks evangelized the values of streaming music, and recognized migration away from downloading. Continue Reading
Internet listening remained essentially flat in December over November, according to data released by Triton Digital in its Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. Top-line listening growth barely nudged total listening into new-high territory. Click through for analysis and charts. Continue Reading
Tom Taylor’s NOW newsletter reports that Mike Pallad, EVP of Sales at Cumulus Media, is leaving Cumulus for iTunes Radio. Taylor’s blurb cites an internal call to Cumulus managers. As of this writing there is no official announcement or press… Continue Reading
RAIN’s Weekend Perspective reviews the week’s main events, and refreshes your synapses for next week. The week started with a legislative bang when Rep. Melvin Watt introduced the Free Market Royalty Act in Congress. (Just in time for a general governmental… Continue Reading