On Thursday, Zenbu Magazines filed multiple proposed class-action lawsuits against several streaming services seeking to collect royalties on music recorded before 1972. The company targeted Beats Electronics, Sony Entertainment, Google, Rdio, Songza, Slacker, and Escape Media Group (which owns Grooveshark) in the complaints. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Marriott trials in-room streaming entertainment; why big brands go indie for ad music. Continue Reading
A Pandora blog post published today predicts Grammy winners in four categories. The company is calling them”your” picks, because the predictions are based on Big Data correlation of past winners and Pandora user behavior. Continue Reading
Pandora announced the hire of Alan Schanzer as Senior Vice President of Agency and Advertiser Development. With the quickly growing maturity of streaming audio advertising, and Pandora’s history of developing both local and national brand affiliations, this role is key to the company’s 2015 strategy. Continue Reading
Getting the right ad to the right listener at the right time is accomplished in different ways. We spotted examples of a matchup that is possible with streaming audio — matching product type with playlist type. Specifically, when auditioning Pandora’s “Brunch” playlist (one of Pandora’s house-built listening options, which the company has been promoting lately), we heard ads by McDonald’s and Community Coffee in rotation. Continue Reading
Pandora has entered the ring to defend itself against the lawsuit filed by the Turtles, which seeks royalty payments for songs dating to before 1972. The online radio company filed a response in California, claiming that the lawsuit infringes its freedom of speech and asking that the court block the band’s demands. Continue Reading
The best-of lists continued today with an installment from Adweek. The magazine polled its readers on the top apps of the year for a range of industries, and iHeartRadio was chosen as the Hottest Music App of 2014. iHeart secured 44% of the votes to top the list. Continue Reading
Pandora has released an infographic with data about U.S. listening habits during the holiday season. Utah clocked in as the state with the highest percentage of holiday music at 19%. Maine came in just behind at 17%. Holiday stations are vastly more prevalent for women, who are 88% more likely than men to create those channels. Continue Reading
Pandora has launched a new native app that brings the online radio service to Microsoft’s Xbox One. The app comes with voice and gesture controls through the Kinect system. According to GigaOm, listeners can use the Kinect to search, skip songs, and give ratings. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: The return of cassettes; the return of vinyl; Nielsen on marketing to millennial men; more on Merlin/Pandora. Continue Reading
Joining Shazam, Spotify, and others, Pandora today released its top 25 spins for 2014. In addition to the top 25, Pandora has built a top-80 stream — warning users: “This is not your typical Pandora listening experience.” Continue Reading
Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV, has added his voice to the criticism of rates paid to music publishers for streaming. “We at Sony/ATV want these digital music services to be successful because they are a great way for music fans to listen to music and have the potential to generate significant new revenues for everyone,” he said. “However, this success should not come at the expense of songwriters whose songs are essential for these services to exist and thrive.” Continue Reading