Sonos has partnered with Ikea for a line of smart home products. The collection, dubbed Symfonisk, will be available starting in August 2019. The pairing of Sonos, known as a high-end company appealing to audiophiles, with Ikea’s inexpensive, design-for-all approach is an interesting one. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Updates and slides from Radiodays Europe. Other updates from around the global audio industry. Continue Reading
Apple Music may have outpaced Spotify in paid subscription listeners in the United States. That’s the latest report from the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the figures. Even if the numbers cited by WSJ are accurate, Spotify’s total footprint is still larger than Apple’s in the United States and on a global scale. Continue Reading
Deezer has hired Nigel Harding as its new vice president of artist marketing. Harding will lead the music company’s artist marketing efforts, including development of special campaigns and projects to appeal to its global listener base. Continue Reading
Spreaker announced that its monetization program has been expanded for use on Spotify. All of its Pro tier podcasters can take advantage of the monetization tools right away. Continue Reading
UK creative agency A Million Ads has made a public release of its proprietary Studio:Podcast platform, which creates personalized audio ads for use in podcast marketing. The platform has been operating in a non-public version, with podcast tech company Acast. Continue Reading
Boomplay Music, a streaming platform serving Africa, announced that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. The financing will support the company’s expansion efforts across Africa. The company currently has more than 44 million downloads of its app and is adding an average of 2 million new subscribers monthly. Continue Reading
Headliner, a platform for social media audio discovery, has entered a partnership with podcast platform Pinecast. Under the terms of their arrangement, Headliner will provide Pinecast users with the tools to create video clips of their content that can be posted to social networks. Continue Reading
As we reported yesterday, iHeartMedia is striking out on Wall Street with an IPO. How the new stock will fare in iHeart’s post-bankruptcy phase is anyone’s prediction. The company is pushing a message of its size and positioning through key quotes, assertions, and attitudes manifest in iHeart’s S-1 SEC filing which declared the IPO intent. Continue Reading
Apple has reduced the prices for its HomePod smart speaker in several markets. For the U.S., the cost has been cut from $349 to $299. It’s unclear whether this adjustment may pave the way for a future new product launch or if it’s a response to market trends. Continue Reading
Speaker company Sonos announced that it has hired Brittany Bagley as its new chief financial officer. Bagley has already served on the firm’s board of directors for two years, but will step away with her new appointment. Continue Reading
In light of the recent IFPI global industry report, MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan explores several of the trends that may be adapting and altering the music industry in the future. Continue Reading