Two SoundCloud execs exit
Two top executives from SoundCloud have left the audio company. This is the second big personnel change for SoundCloud already this year as the company seeks an influx of cash from investors. Continue Reading
Do women like radio or not?
Radio is old. Online music is hot. Women can foresee never listening to music on the radio. Those are some of the messages that come from a survey of 2,000 women aged 15-54. On the other hand, three-quarters of women say radio feels like a good friend. Continue Reading
Streaming goes purple for Prince catalog
The return of Prince’s catalog on Sunday has been cause for celebration across streaming services. Today, the purple flag flies proudly at Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and more. Continue Reading
Pandora earnings: A pivot point, mixed financials, and biggest new product in years comes to market
“2016 was a very significant year for Pandora, with progress on every important front. We enter 2017 with a clear set of strategic priorities and a solid plan to execute against them.” That was Pandora CEO Tim Westergren starting his company’s Q4 earnings call yesterday. Always optimistic, he laid out 2017 goals at a pivot point for the company he founded. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Stevie Wonder pens editorial; analysis of Spotify’s Katy Perry promo
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Stevie Wonder speaks out for radio fairness. Spotify doubling down on artist relations. Continue Reading
PodcastOne/Edison study reveals effectiveness of brand advertising in podcasts
PodcastOne and Edison Research have shared the results from a series of brand lift studies, which examined the the impact of podcast ads for national consumer and service brands. The data combined three separate studies into five national brands during 2016, including analysis of brand awareness lift achieved by podcast advertising. Continue Reading
Podtrac shares podcast publisher rankings for January 2017
Podtrac released its January data for the top podcast publishers. The ranking only covers publishers that are Podtrac clients using its measurement systems. The list usually shows little change in the order from month to month, and the beginning of 2017 is no exception. Continue Reading
Prince will return to streaming on February 12
Prince’s catalog from Warner Bros is confirmed for release to streaming services on Sunday. NPR received word of the date from Napster, and the songs are expected to be available on most other streaming platforms as well. iHeartRadio has some purple plans for celebration. Universal has secured rights to manage the rest of Prince’s catalog. Continue Reading
TargetSpot launches new ad-serving tech, promising next-generation monetization & analytics
Digital audio advertising sales and technology company Targetspot is announcing a new ad-serving and analytics platform called TargetSpot Passport. the platform is native to streaming audio publishers — TargetSpot lives alongside Radionomy and SHOUTcast as subsidiaries of media giant Vivendi. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Songs sales still key for radio; a very Gaga Super Bowl; Ticketmaster music hire
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Should radio still care about song sales? Super Bowl spike for Lady Gaga. Ticketmaster makes a music hire. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan: Change Is Afoot In Music Video
by Mark Mulligan
Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research reviews developments centered on video content that appeared in headlines this week. Both music videos and music-related videos look to be strong categories. Continue Reading
Google is combining its musical product teams
Google is combining some of its separate music teams in a move that could signal changes for its many products down the line. The groups working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being joined. Continue Reading