iHeartRadio is sending an email survey which describes a prospective on-demand music service and asks recipients how likely they would be to subscribe. It could be the the first hint of an important dent in the competitive forces which rule the online music industry. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Spotify gets animated with first original video; interview with the hip-hop curator; new gaming playlists. Continue Reading
Red Bull Music Academy Radio is now available via TuneIn thanks to a deal that has taken a year to coalesce. The partnership will include live broadcasts from Red Bull Music Academy events in Atlanta and Montreal this fall. Continue Reading
Pandora has occasionally dabbled in video to complement its core audio feature. The latest project is a live-stream of a performance by Metallica. The band will be performing in Minneapolis on Aug. 20. The show is the inaugural rock performance for the city’s new U.S. Bank Stadium. Continue Reading
AudioBoom has entered a distribution and monetization partnership with Saavn. Following this deal, Saavn users will receive access to podcasts from AudioBoom’s roster. The move is just the latest as Saavn expands beyond music to add more multimedia entertainment to its programming. Continue Reading
If you have Olympics fever, then now’s a good time to check out TuneIn. The audio company is streaming Westwood One’s coverage of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. “This marks the first time TuneIn has streamed live Olympic content to fans in the U.S.,” TuneIn Chief Content Officer Kevin Straley said. Continue Reading
Carpool Karaoke, the music segment from The Late Show with James Corden, is leveraging its cultural cache into boosting sales. The most striking example happened when First Lady Michelle Obama joined Corden in the car and sang along for four songs. “This Song Is For My Girls” had the biggest spike following its appearance on the clip, with digital sales up 1,562% over the previous week. Continue Reading
Sony Music UK has acquired Ministry of Sound Recordings. The artist division is an arm of the dance music entertainment business that began with the London nightclub of the same name. Continue Reading
Pandora has a new partnership with Woolworths in Australia. The retailer will use a curated Pandora radio station for music in its 970 retail stores. The supermarket chain is also encouraging its patrons to download the Pandora app and listen to the Woolworths radio station at home. Continue Reading
RAIN Summit Nashville takes place in the music capital of the world, and one of the world’s most influential music executives, Scott Borchetta, will be the keynote speaker. Borchetta is the Founder and CEO of Big Machine Label Group (BMLG), the #1 independent record label in the world. Continue Reading
SoundCloud announced that its subscription streaming service is now available on Sonos speaker systems. Subscribers with Sonos gear should have their accounts automatically reflect their Go status. Continue Reading
Spotify occasionally releases widgets that put data analysis tools into the hands of its users. The latest one is dubbed Organize Your Music. It surveys your saved music collection and proposes reorganization by genre, mood, decade, style, popularity, and other categories. The RAIN editorial office gave it a spin. Continue Reading