Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: An Apple Music interview on its video future; ongoing FM shutdown in Norway; mobile leading digital ad spend. Continue Reading
RAIN News received a note from Roger King, Producer and Director of I Am What I Play, a documentary about radio DJs. The film was completed in July, 2014, has been playing in the documentary circuit, and is available to stream or download on Vimeo starting today. Continue Reading
Australia’s SBS Radio announced a campaign centered around the Eurovision music talent competition. SBS Eurovision Radio will be a round-the-clock station on digital radio, online, and mobile that features hits from the international competition. It will also have a live simulcast of the semifinal and grand final performances next week. Continue Reading
Russian social media platform VKontakte has successfully launched a built-in music service. The company has been working toward this goal for some time, and now it has secured licensing deals with all three of the majors and with indie label network Merlin. The service, which often draws comparisons to Facebook, had 410 million accounts as of January 2017. Continue Reading
Ezra Kucharz, previously the President of Local Digital Media at CBS, and more recently Special Advisor to CBS, announced today that he is leaving CBS Corporation entirely at the end of business today. He disclosed his departure in a LinkedIn post. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Lyrebird and voice synthesizing. FIX Radio lauches in London. The UK’s first podcasting awards. Much more. Continue Reading
Sony Music Entertainment’s latest financial results showed an overall decline this fiscal year despite streaming growth. Annual revenue for the recorded music division totaled 388.95 billion yen ($3.5 billion), down 5.8% from the year-ago period. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia is partnering with Insomniac for the launch of a dance music station tied to the Electric Daisy Carnival event, happening June 16-18 in Las Vegas. The EDC Radio station, debuting April 28, will be exclusive to iHeartRadio. It will feature 24/7 programming focused on the dance genre alongside original content. Continue Reading
Apple has partnered with mobile social/video platform Musical.ly in a new marketing deal. Under this arrangement, Apple Music will be a supplier of the song snippets that Musical.ly users can pick to soundtrack their video clips. Continue Reading
Amazon has reported its financial results for Q1 2017. The company’s net income for the quarter totaled $724 million. The tech giant doesn’t break out the specifics for its streaming music platforms, but those are part of the Retail Subscription Services division. Continue Reading
DGital announced the addition of Jay Green as its new senior vice president of digital strategy and analytics. In this capacity, Green will lead efforts in analytics and audience development for the on-demand audio company. Continue Reading
YouTube talent show draws on television talent; can podcast search engines help discovery; ASCAP conducts voter survey on music licensing. Continue Reading