Deezer has made its long-awaited full launch in the U.S. The on-demand streaming service’s Premium+ subscription – complete with its Flow personalized soundtrack feature, Channels for discovery, and lyrics display – is now directly available to all U.S. listeners. Continue Reading
Nielsen has released its comparable metrics report for the first quarter of 2016. The data revealed growth for most forms of both radio and streaming, although the rates of increase varied by platform and age. Weekly reach for radio remains unchanged from the previous quarter, with 93% of adults listening each week. Smartphone audio and video posted notable spikes in audience size and time listening. Continue Reading
Advertising technology company WideOrbit is partnering with RAIN News to produce a webinar discussion of simulcasting. The free webinar is set for Tuesday, July 19, at 2:00PM EDT (11:00AM PDT). Featured speakers: Tim Murphy (VP of Digital Strategy & Enterprise Platforms, Entercom), Jim Kott (Sr. Director of Product Management, WideOrbit), and Rob Kass (VP of Product Leadership – Digital Audio, Nielsen) Continue Reading
New MusicWatch data explores the surging interest in vinyl among modern music buyers. “Although vinyl is not growing as rapidly as on-demand streaming the format continues to grow, thanks to continued interest from younger consumers who keep it hip,” the analysis finds. Continue Reading
In an important agreement that replaces music piracy with music industry revenue, Universal has inked a deal that will legally add its music to the Russian streaming music platform vKontakte. The agreement means that all of the major labels are working with the platform. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Radio’s Apollo 11 cameo; engineering shortages loom worldwide; notes from Chicago’s Podcast Movement conference; much, much more. Continue Reading
Pandora published some numbers in an article that is both a response to recent comScore audience measurement data, and part of a continuing competition with Spotify for marketing dollars spent by advertisers to reach online radio listeners. We spoke with Pandora executive Heidi Browning. Continue Reading
Apple has proposed a new royalty structure for streaming music, one that would be simpler but could create a financial pinch for freemium services. In a proposal to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board, Apple recommended a system where all on-demand streaming services would pay songwriters a statutory rate of 9.1 cents per 100 plays. Continue Reading
On the Move tracks hires, promotions, and other notable personnel changes within the online audio industry. Today’s moves are both high-level personnel changes in Sony businesses. Continue Reading
One of the common critiques of streaming is that those platforms favor the pop and rock charts to the detriment of niche genres. A new playlisting brand aims to improve the access to classical music on the top streaming services. It’s called unCLASSIFIED, at its goal is to create dynamic playlists based on mood or activity. Continue Reading
Spotify For Brands, the company’s outreach division which promotes the free-listening service to advertisers, has released a new trove of data focused on brand awareness and listener profiling in the U.K. It is part of an ongoing The New Audio series, with survey work commissioned from TNS. Continue Reading
Chinese conglomerate Tencent announced a merger between its QQ Music unit and China Music Corp. This joint entity will run three of China’s streaming music services: QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo. Continue Reading