ABS Entertainment has embarked on a legal crusade to collect royalties for its pre-1972 recordings. ABS filed suits against broadcast radio groups in California earlier in the summer, and now it has put two digital platforms in the crosshairs as well. RAIN News received a copy of a lawsuit filed earlier this week by the pair against Sirius XM and Pandora. Continue Reading
Pandora will be providing its listeners with a day of ad-free online radio listening tomorrow in honor of its ten-year anniversary. Today, the company announced that it will make that ad-free listening available beyond that celebration with the launch of a One Day Pass. Continue Reading
The comScore Mobile Metrix report for July 2015 included data about the top apps by reach across iOS and Android devices in the U.S. Pandora held the No. 7 spot with 43.9% reach. Apple Music snuck into the No. 14 with 24.1% reach. Continue Reading
App Annie always has great insights into mobile business, and the company’s latest report reviews the most popular iOS apps to date. The report has separate lists for global popularity by download and by revenue, with separate lists for games. Pandora took the crown as the highest-grossing iOS app, while Spotify ranked fifth on that chart. Continue Reading
September 9 marks Pandora’s 10th anniversary. In honor of the milestone, the online radio company announced that it will gift its U.S. listeners with a full day of ad-free music. The Listener Love Day promotion will run from 12 a.m. Eastern on the 9th to 12 a.m. Eastern on the 10th. Continue Reading
Pandora’s Australian team is seeking a new commercial director. Jon Stubley, who most recently held the job, announced his departure from the company after two years in order to spend more time with family. Before Pandora, Stubley also worked at Macquarie Radio and the Australian Radio Network. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Pandora is using social to think local; Jelli co-founder explains how programmatic works; Russian government could assume royalty collection duties. Continue Reading
Pandora has opened a new office in Minneapolis that will help bolster the online radio company’s local advertising efforts. The team will be tasked with developing new contracts and renewing existing ones among advertisers in the area. Jeff Mikitka, regional vice president of Pandora, told The Star Tribune that having a team on the ground makes a big impact in advertising. Continue Reading
The summer 2015 edition of Next Big Sound’s music industry report may be the last one to highlight SoundCloud. The online audio platform is no longer reporting to the data analytics expert. Next Big Sound tweeted to a client that SoundCloud opted to cease reporting last month, and a rep from SoundCloud confirmed the decision to Music Ally. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Westergren replies to Byrne; Bluetooth — magic for streaming audio?; brand storytelling through programmatic advertising. Continue Reading
Next Big Sound released its summer report, and the focus for this season was streaming and social media. Even though Pandora purchased the music data specialist this spring, the company is still able to provide compelling insight across several streaming platforms. In fact, Next Big Sound has already tracked more than 1 trillion online plays in the first six months of the year. That covers activity from YouTube, Vevo, Vimeo, Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud, and new owner Pandora. Continue Reading
Chris Harrison has left his position as senior lawyer and vice president of business affairs at Pandora. He was a key player in several of Pandora’s recent moves, including its purchase of a terrestrial radio station. He also served as an expert witness in this spring’s consent decree hearings and additional proceedings on music royalties in pre-1972 copyright cases. Continue Reading