With the holiday shopping season now upon us, the top tech toys are in position to make a lot of sales. The smart speaker niche seems likely to be a strong performer at the end of 2017. Jacobs Media Strategies, jācapps, and Sonic Ai have collaborated on a survey into consumer sentiment toward voice-activated smart speakers going into December. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio has announced two new integrations for its listeners. First, its podcasts are now supported on the Apple CarPlay. The second development is a partnership with Comcast that will roll out iHeartRadio on the Xfinity X1 set-top box. Continue Reading
Spotify is getting into the festive spirit with a playlist of some exclusive holiday songs. The tracks are all from sessions of Spotify Singles, where performers record a few songs in the streaming service’s studios. Now, Spotify has a collection of these exclusive songs highlighted in the Holiday section. Continue Reading
Podcast platform RadioPublic announced that public media company WGBH is now an investor. The company led a strategic investment that also included Companyon Capital, former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, and Third Sector Capital founder George Overholser. RadioPublic has raised $2.8 million in seed financing to date. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board has issued its cost of living adjustments for royalty rates in 2018. The new rate for ad-supported, non-subscription music streaming services in 2018 is $0.0018. Paid subscription services will pay $0.0023 per performance. The previous rates were $0.0017 for ad-supported and $0.0022 for subscription. Continue Reading
iHeartRadio announced the debut of a new podcast, which also marks the official start of Bobby Bones’ Nashville Podcast Network. The new show, Good Company with Jake Owen, is part of the new podcast network launched by iHeartMedia’s nationally syndicated radio host Bobby Bones. Continue Reading
Omny Studio has introduced a new tool for transforming radio broadcasts into monetized podcasts. The company has added intelligent automation to its live broadcast capture software, which allows the creation of podcasts from broadcasts without manual editing. Continue Reading
Recorded music revenue in India increased 26% in 2016. That growth exceeding the global rate of 5.9% and places the nation 19th in worldwide sales. That’s the takeaway from the Indian Music Industry’s Digital Music Study 2017. The group, an affiliate of the IFPI, noted that streaming was a key driver. Continue Reading
Triton Digital announced that its programmatic audio ad exchange a2x is now integrated with MediaMath’s omni-channel demand-side platform. MediaMath is a programmatic marketing company, and its DSP launched in 2007. The deal will allow MediaMath’s advertisers to add online audio from broadcasters and streaming music services to their programmatic, omni-channel buys. Continue Reading
A recent study examined the audio landscape in Germany, where about 46% are using some form of audio at least once a week. The ARD/ZDF online study also showed that music streaming services posted 9% growth between 2016 and 2017. Continue Reading
China is in position to be the next center of international music deals, according to a profile in the Financial Times (paywall). The publication cited data from iResearch claiming that China could see its paid online music market grow 59% this year, reaching about 3 billion renminbi ($455 million). Tencent was responsible for 78% of the Chinese market in 2016, and that dominance has allowed the conglomerate to secure licensing and copyright deals with several of the larger western music businesses. Continue Reading
Nuvoodoo dug into its latest Ratings Prospects Study of radio listeners for their reactions to advertising. The survey asked about ad relevance, and creative quality — whether the ads “sound good.” Continue Reading