Bridge Ratings’ 2017 trends: Streaming, podcasting, and smart speakers

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Bridge Ratings has published its recap of 2017, drawing several broad trends in the music and audio industry. The company’s wrap-up said that the number of streams in 2017 increased 40% over the total for 2016. It also offered insights on programming for on-demand streaming, such as using data about a playlist’s specific audience to encourage more frequent listening and when to ease up on a song that could be over-exposed to today’s highly connected listeners. Continue Reading →

Classical music streaming news roundup: Series A funding, an iOS app, and a new catalog

Posted on by Anna Washenko

In the past few years, as streaming services grew to hold larger shares of music industry revenue and consumer listening hours, the key drivers have been mainstream genres. Pop and hip-hop usually feature in the lists of top performers. This week, we’ve collected several developments focused on classical music in the streaming space. Continue Reading →

What makes a good ”audio logo”? (New research)

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Veritonic has released its 2017 Audio Logo Index, an assessment of how effective audio advertisements are and which brands in the U.S. and the UK created audio signatures that best connected with customers. The key traits highlighted in the study could be useful signposts for ad agencies looking to strengthen their in-house capabilities for audio as well as for publishers or hosts of audio content who want data to back their appeal as a source of ad money. Continue Reading →

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Google yanks YouTube from Amazon in battle that harms consumers

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Google and Amazon are at odds over access, marking a very public division between two tech giants that could cause interruptions for consumers. The two companies had appeared to resolve a question around access to YouTube on the Amazon Echo Show in late November, but Google has reversed course. Today, Google announced that it would not allow YouTube access on either the Amazon Echo Show or the Amazon Fire TV. Continue Reading →

Spotify is testing more listener controls in Discover Weekly

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist was one of the streaming service’s first forays into personalized music recommendations. Since its debut in 2015, the setup has changed little: every Monday, the platform presents 30 songs chosen based on each person’s listening habits. Now, Spotify is testing a more hands-on feature for listeners, with an option to mark songs in Discover Weekly that you like or dislike. Continue Reading →