Sprint has purchased a stake in music streaming service Tidal. The telecom now owns a 33% share of the company, although in the announcement of the buy, Sprint said that Jay-Z and the other artist-owners of Tidal would continue to run the service. Continue Reading
Powered by a belief that digital audio advertising is the most most powerful and effective marketing medium, San Francisco-based ad-tech company Instreamatic today launched a platform for digital audio publishers to expose their inventory to national media buyers. Continue Reading
This morning Triton Digital is announcing a significant growth of its relationship with SoundCloud. SoundCloud, the giant global listening platform based in Berlin, has chosen Triton’s a2x programmatic audio platform for its U.S. inventory. The deal expands the tie-up of these two companies from earlier agreements in Australia and Canada. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has secured another partnership, this time from a radio company in South America. Cadena 3 Argentina, the country’s largest radio network, has signed on to use Triton tools for managing, measuring, and monetizing its digital audio content. Continue Reading
Tidal is facing allegations that it has inflated subscriber numbers. Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv claimed that it has obtained internal reports that show discrepancies in what Tidal has publicly stated about its audience. Continue Reading
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki penned a blog post wrapping up 2016 for the video platform. She summarized the many business developments YouTube embarked on last year and some plans for the current year. Continue Reading
Mobile analytics specialist App Annie has published its 2016 Retrospective. The report tracked another year of growth for the app industry, growth in worldwide downloads and time spent in app. Many other reports last year pointed to mobile as a key source of listeners for streaming music services, but this retrospective revealed that it can also be a big revenue driver. Continue Reading
MusicWatch sent RAIN News a pre-release note with results of its 2016 ‘Music Streaming Wars’ study, and found that Pandora was had the largest share of weekly music listening at 28%. YouTube took second place with a 27% share. Both of those figures include the audio companies’ free and paid tiers. Continue Reading
AdLarge has inked an exclusive ad sales agreement to represent the podcast Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine. The weekly show offers interviews with celebrities such as Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, and Kristin Chenoweth. Continue Reading
German music association BVMI released its year-end report on the domestic industry. Germany’s music business grew 2.4% in 2016, a fourth year of upward progress. The key takeaway for last year was that streaming is holding a steady share in this country that has long favored physical formats. Continue Reading
UK music licensing groups PRS for Music and PPL have launched a joint license for the UK’s non-profit radio stations. The joint effort took effect on Jan. 1, 2017. Continue Reading
As power is transferred in Washington this week, the leading coalition of artists and labels lobbying against terrestrial radio’s exemption from music royalties is bringing its argument to the fore. In an open letter to the new 115th Congress, musicFIRST lays out its argument against the Local Radio Freedom Act, a non-binding resolution supported by hundreds of House and Senate members. The letter contains factual flaws. Open-market solutions establish a precedent that doesn’t involve lawmakers. Continue Reading