Quick Hits: Round two from CES 2016
Brief news items and worthy reads, another round of articles stemming from CES. Read on for connected cars vs radio; Pandora SVP’s car talk; and iHeart partners for VR. Continue Reading
Pandora
Pandora’s Rdio acquisition is signed, sealed, and delivered
We’ve seen a lot of lead-up to this moment over the past month, but today it’s official: Pandora has completed its acquisition of Rdio. The online radio company now owns the technology and intellectual property of the now-defunct streaming service. Continue Reading
Pandora lands private deals with ASCAP & BMI; charges into 2016 with key relationships and rate certainty
Pandora announced breakthrough content licensing deals this morning with ASCAP and BMI, the two largest Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) representing songwriters, publishers, and composers. With two separate multi-year agreements, Pandora puts to bed acrimonious lawsuits that have troubled its key relationships for two years. Continue Reading
Pandora gets direct deal with Downtown Music Publishing
Pandora has signed another direct deal, this time with Downtown Music Publishing. The rights management firm has music by writers ranging from The Beatles to Hans Zimmer and Jewel to One Direction in its catalog. The press release contains the same type of language that was in the announcements of Pandora’s recent licensing agreements with publishers such as Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV, and SONGS Music Publishing. Continue Reading
Mid-size and small webcaster reaction to new CRB rates
While Pandora, iHeartMedia, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) are content with new CRB rates, the royalty ruling puts smaller streamers on shaky ground, we’ve heard from several sources. Click for comments by Rusty Hodge, Kurt Hanson, Brian McAndrews, and David Porter. Continue Reading
CRB webcasting rate: Pandora/iHeart say onward & upward; SoundExchange mulls its options
If it’s difficult to identify winners and losers in the new CRB webcaster rates, the official comments emanating from three major participants tell a story: Major webcasters OK with it; music industry not. Continue Reading
CRB Rate Ruling: $.0017 for Pandora et al, SoundExchange wanted $.0025
At 5:15 Eastern U.S. time, the Copyright Royalty Board released the outline of its Webcaster IV ruling, setting royalty rates paid by Internet radio to music labels for the 2016-2020. Pandora’s rate: $.0017 per stream for non-subscribing listeners. SoundExchange wanted that number to be $.0025. Continue Reading
CRB rates and Pandora
As the webcasting universe turns its expectant and apprehensive gaze toward the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which will issue new webcasting royalty rates for 2016-2020, Pandora Media has more skin in the game than any other webcasting distributor of music — in a sense. The company has another path to potentially go down. Continue Reading
Silent Night scheduled for Rdio
Not exactly a Christmas Eve shutdown, but Rdio will go silent on December 22. The company sent an email this evening to subscribers. “Goodbye … for now,” the notice cryptically started. Continue Reading
Another direct deal of Pandora, this time with Warner/Chappell
Online radio company Pandora has signed a multiyear licensing agreement with Warner/Chappell Music. The public statement about the partnership says it will offer increased rate certainty and product flexibility for Pandora, while Warner/Chappell receives improved royalties for its songwriters. Continue Reading
Pandora toes the on-demand line with Thumbprint Radio
Pandora’s latest experiment is a personalized station dubbed Thumbprint Radio. This channel is generated from all of the tracks a user has given thumbs up to across the years. Yes, that can create transitions as strange and wonderful as you imagine it will. Continue Reading
Pandora CFO: “The best thing that’s going to happen is…”
Pandora CFO Mike Herring spoke at the Wedbush 2015 California Dreamin’ Technology, Consumer Management Access Conference. He spoke about Pandora’s vision generally, the expansion to on-demand service in 2016, Apple Music and Steve Jobs, the company’s recent acquisition of Ticketfly, the imminent CRB royalty-rate ruling, and more. Continue Reading