Last week the UK-based Companies House posted Spotify Limited 2015 financials, showing before-tax, bottom-line profitability. Chief Financial Officer and board member Barry McCarthy stated in the filing’s introductory remarks: “In many ways, it was our best year ever.” Continue Reading
Pandora announced it has updated its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) with new features. The free platform now includes enhanced analytics powered by Next Big Sound, which the online audio company purchased last spring. It has also added new options for direct communication with fans. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Shortcut from This American Life; broadcast engineers’ changing roles; more BBC ponderings. Continue Reading
At RAIN Summit Nashville in September, RAIN hosted its first youth panel to hear how Millennials listen — the what, where, how, and why of their media consumption. Click through to watch the session. Continue Reading
Apple users have a new way to soundtrack their texts. Pandora is the latest app to have iMessage integration in iOS 10, Apple’s latest mobile operating system. The free extension to iMessage allows a person to share a track from the Pandora library by text. Continue Reading
Podtrac released its monthly podcast publisher rankings. The list shows the top Podtrac clients by unique monthly audience in the U.S., although it also shares the global unique streams and downloads for each publisher. After several months of little change to the order, September has a slight shake-up. Continue Reading
Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon has stepped down from his role as chairman of the streaming music service. After 10 years in the position, Lorentzon is shifting to the board’s vice-chairman, with CEO Daniel Ek assuming the chairman spot. Continue Reading
TuneCore has expanded to France. The digital music distributor and publishing administrator announced the launch of its third European market, with France joining Germany and the UK. Continue Reading
The African on-demand streaming and download platform Mdundo was launched in Kenya in 2012. Today we learn that Mdundo has surpassed 1 million users, and has expanded to be a more international resource for African musicians and listeners. Continue Reading
Deezer has partnered with Audio.ad, a specialist in audio advertising for the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic audiences. This deal will see Deezer expanding its reach in Colombia, which is already a top market for the streaming service. Continue Reading
Shazam has entered a partnership that will add music video channels to its app. The multifaceted mobile company has teamed up with video engagement business Vadio for this effort to increase time spent in its app. When a user Shazams a song, they will now see a music video channel in addition to the track’s metadata. Continue Reading
The podcast category is developing into a mature business market. Money is flowing in. Media buyers are increasingly interested in the podcast opportunity, with its distinctive qualities. But there are over 300,000 podcasts. It’s a long tail of content. Two revenue paths are opening up for indie podcasts. Continue Reading