RAIN News

1

Pandora “Definitive Guide to Audio” report highlights listening trends chipping away at radio

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Pandora has given RAIN News a first look at its 2018 Definitive Guide to Audio, a report on the state of the industry with some statistics on terrestrial radio, streaming music, and podcasts. It’s a beautifully produced collection of data points and research that (unsurprisingly) creates a narrative showing streaming audio in a positive light. But it also does present some of the pain points facing broadcast in particular as audio consumption changes. Continue Reading →

Quick Hits: Government podcasts, radio podcasts, and augmented reality audio

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: The government gets into podcasts; duo of blog posts highlight radio and podcasting; creating audio for augmented reality. Continue Reading →

1

Nielsen: Hispanics spend more on music than the average listener

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Nielsen released the highlights from its Music 360 report for 2017 at the start of October, but this week it added some further context focused on Hispanic listeners. The Hispanic audience showed larger amounts of spending on music. Continue Reading →

1

Spotify reportedly hits H1 revenue of 1.9 billion euros

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Spotify may have reached revenue of 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in the first half of 2017. The results were first reported by The Information, citing “people briefed on the numbers.” If accurate, that first-half revenue is already 70% of the company’s total revenue from 2016. Continue Reading →

2

Lore is the latest podcast to hit the small screen

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Anna Washenko

We’ve been profiling a trend over recent months of the film and television industry of finding new source material in podcasts. The latest project in this vein to hit the airwaves, or at least your fiber optic cables, is Amazon Prime Video’s Lore. The show is based on a podcast of the same name by Aaron Mahnke featuring real-life stories of horror, witchcraft, and medical malpractice. Continue Reading →

Songkick to shut down this month

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Ticketing company Songkick is closing down at the end of October. Variety obtained the letter Songkick sent to clients announcing the decision. The company has been engaged in a lengthy legal case against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation over alleged anti-trust and anti-competitive behavior. Continue Reading →

Kobalt receives another investment round, this time worth $14 million

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Music rights management company Kobalt has raised Series D financing of $14 million. The round came from Section 32, a VC fund from former Google Ventures head Bill Maris. Maris will join Kobalt’s board of directors as a result of the investment. Continue Reading →

Another podcast startup explores audio search

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Anna Washenko

China-based CastBox is building out its podcast features with an audio search feature. The service using natural language processing to let listeners search for keywords or topics within episodes of shows in its catalog. For now, the search is only available in English, but may be expanded to other languages once the technology is perfected, according to founder and CEO Xiaoyu Wang. Continue Reading →

AudioHQ and TuneIn join for exclusive ad partnership

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Anna Washenko

AudioHQ announced that it will be the exclusive reseller for TuneIn’s audio ad inventory in the U.S. through a new multi-year deal. TuneIn has more than 75 million monthly active listeners for its content, including sports, music, news, podcasts, and audiobooks. Continue Reading →

2

Spotify for Artists launches iOS app

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Spotify has launched a mobile app for its artist service branch. Spotify for Artists now has an iOS app available from the App Store. A version for Android is due to release “really soon,” according to the blog post announcing the app. Continue Reading →

Quick Hits: Werk It Festival and a look at label services

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Highlights from Werk It podcast festival for women. How label services are changing alongside labels. Continue Reading →

2

Apple to reboot Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories TV show

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Anna Washenko

Apple had said it would be pumping $1 billion into video over the next year, and its latest programming development could explain that high price tag. The company has reportedly inked a deal to revive Amazing Stories, the mid-1980s show from Steven Spielberg. Continue Reading →