RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, will be making more investments in digital radio. It announced the plans at an event last week and the radio director shared some of the details. Continue Reading
Podtrac’s podcast publisher ranking for March 2018 is now available. The results show another month with little fluctuation among the top performers putting out podcasts, and only one replacement from the prior month’s chart. Continue Reading
Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein shares his thoughts about the panel he recently moderated at a NAB show that featured insights and data about podcasts. Continue Reading
Streaming and download service Qobuz has named Yann Miossec as its new CEO. “Working with this brand, promoting its projects, is my dream challenge,” he said. The Paris-based company specializes in hi-resolution music, and it is planning a United States launch and a possible IPO in the near future. Continue Reading
8tracks announced a new partnership that will see audio ads roll out on its service in Canada. The audio platform will be exclusively represented by leanStream, Canada’s largest ad marketplace. Available ad units include pre-roll, mid-roll, or special sponsorships such as branded playlists and first impression takeovers. Continue Reading
Carl Chery has departed his role as head of artist curation for hip-hop and R&B programming at Apple Music. He’ll be joining the team at Spotify, which recently had its own big curator departure when Tuma Basa relocated to YouTube. Variety first broke the news. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has made a tactical change to its feature set, moving its thousands of curated music playlists out from behind a subscription firewall. Calling the collection Playlist Radio, these lists are now visible and playable to all iHeartRadio users — previously they had been a selling point for the Plus and All Access subscription tiers. Continue Reading
Netflix has launched an interactive audio drama on Google’s smart speakers to promote its reboot of Lost in Space. The audio experience, which was produced in collaboration between Google and Netflix, gives listeners a branching narrative with multiple-choice questions and answers that lets them aid key characters from the program. Continue Reading
Mixcloud announced that it has closed its first-ever fundraising round. The audio platform received an investment of $11.5 million from holding company WndrCo, which specializes in businesses in media and technology. The money will go toward global scaling of the company, expanding the team, and diversifying the platform. Continue Reading
Wondery is making ad partnerships in multiple markets. Along with announcing a deal with DAX in the UK, the podcast host has also inked agreements with two new partners to sell its ad inventory in Canada and in Australia. Continue Reading
Westwood One is announcing today that it has obtained exclusive representation to advertisers of the second season of In the Dark, an investigative crime podcast. The APM-produced show won a Peabody Award in its first season, and has served over 12-million downloads.
Australia posted a 10.5% increase in its recorded music industry, reaching value of A$391 million in 2017. Last year marked the first time that streaming music revenue, at A$213 million, exceeded more than half of the music market, according to the stats from the Australian Recording Industry Association. Continue Reading