Earlier this week, RAINNews reported that an FM station in Boston – WKLB – is running spots for iTunes Radio. The spots are live reads, done by radio station personalities. When asked, the station, owned by Greater Media, issued a statement that kind of sounded like: “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” This doesn’t seem like an especially well thought-out strategy. Continue Reading
We were tipped over the weekend by Robert Maccini, who notified RAIN that he had heard an iTunes Radio commercial on a Boston FM station, WKLB. Maccini listened until he heard the ad again, and pounced with a recording device. Click through to hear the live-read commercial. Continue Reading
The five most-read articles of last week. Is the streaming-music business model fundamentally broken? (This was also our most-linked article.) iTunes Radio and Pandora: who is slaying whom? Lew Dickey (CEO, Cumulus) speaks out about streaming. Shazam starts a record label. More. Continue Reading
Research group NPD Group released a small set of survey data revealing what a sample group of smartphone users listen to on their phones. In a sample of 328 users, 71% reported listening to Pandora in the past week, and 15% listened to iTunes Radio … but, the deck is stacked. Continue Reading
Last year SoundExchange paid out $590-million to labels and performers, an all-time high. Over 10 years, it has distributed about $2-billion. 2013 was SoundExchange’s 10-year anniversary. SoundExchange collects royalties from Internet, satellite, and cable radio. Continue Reading
The five most-read posts of the past week. Apple ignores iTunes Radio; SoundCloud raises cash and competes with YouTube; guest columns by Kurt Hanson and Patrick Reynolds; Continue Reading
Kurt Hanson looks at a recent survey, and analyzes why music download sales lost ground in 2013, especially in the fourth quarter. A bit of arithmetic connects the trend to music subscription growth. Art Linkletter is unexpectedly involved. Continue Reading
A study authored by Sam Milkman of Music Forecasting seeks to understand why iTunes Radio does not drive iTunes music purchases in greater volume. The important part of the survey is what Milkman learned about usage habits and attitudes. Continue Reading
For those focused on music and online audio, it’s easy to forget that Apple is not a music company, but a hardware vendor. iTunes Radio is just a feature in a network ecosystem of products and services. And…not mentioned in yesterday’s earnings call. Continue Reading
Pandora is more than holding on to its 14% stock ascension yesterday, it has added another five percent as of this writing. Meanwhile, the silence around iTunes Radio resembles, well, dead air. How Pandora is trying to replace radio, and dominate Internet radio. Continue Reading
When Nielsen acquired Arbitron in September, visions of unification sprang into the minds of observers. Among Internet brands, Pandora arguably has the most to gain by holistic audience measurement. But as lean-back listening is more emphasized in Spotify, Rhapsody, and iTunes, many stakeholders want change in 2014. Continue Reading
Without question the biggest and most anticipated product launch of the year in streaming audio, iTunes Radio was late to the party. But for that reason among others, its appearance signified a few important pivot points. A sober observation of iTunes Radio influence might conclude that the product has been less tide-turning than expected. Continue Reading