Livestreaming is a hot topic for tech and entertainment, and now Broadway is getting in on the act. For the first time ever, a major Broadway show will be streamed live. She Loves Me will air on June 30 at 8:00 pm ET. Continue Reading
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gave a speech about business competition with some pointed remarks about three of the top tech companies in the U.S. She criticized Google, Apple, and Amazon for using their size and clout to limit inroads from other companies, particularly smaller upstarts. Continue Reading
Does Pandora or Radio Pay Better Royalty Rates to Songwriters and Music Publishers? Glenn Peoples, Music Insights and Analytics at Pandora, crunches the numbers and makes an important distinction between the one-to-one nature of Pandora “spins” and the one-to-many broadcast model. Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Justice has completed its much anticipated two-year review of consent decrees — decades-old laws which govern how ASCAP and BMI are permitted to license music on behalf of songwriters, composers, and publishers. The bottom line: No change, and a blow to the two major performing rights organizations (PROs) which have lobbied for more flexible control of rights management, especially in the streaming era. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Norm Pattiz preaches podcasting in Cannes; Content is key in Apple Music strategy; “I hate the person my music algorithm thinks I am;” public radio leader lays out radio’s creative disruption. Continue Reading
Another app has elbowed its way into the space for live video. The new entrant is live.ly, a new program from the team behind musical.ly, a social music video platform powered by 7digital. Live.ly is currently at No. 1 on the App Store’s photo and video chart. Continue Reading
Westwood One announced a partnership with cloud intelligence company Veritone to offer radio stations near-instant archiving of content. The system, which stores and analyzes station programming online, is marketed as enabling a host of benefits extending from advertiser reporting to podcasting. Continue Reading
Radiotopia has selected the finalists for its Podquest competition. The contest collected ideas for new podcasts from 1,537 producers, and a group of Radiotopia and PRX staff narrowed that field to ten semifinalists. From there, four finalists have been chosen. Continue Reading
Jacobs Media-owned jacapps, a mobile app developer with a concentration in radio, announced in a webinar yesterday that its apps have been made compatible with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and Ford’s SmartDeviceLink system. The upgrade will be available to radio stations next month. Continue Reading
Entertainment Intelligence is a music data company that’s putting playlist analysis tools into the hands of rights-holders. The business is creating a set of apps for other music and entertainment companies, including one to track playlist performance. Continue Reading
Audio quality has been a hotly contested subject for the music industry. Some swear that high compression and low bitrate make for a mediocre listening experience. Others say the distinctions between file type are indistinguishable, at least for the average listener. A new study found data that, impressively enough, supports both sides. Continue Reading
Much research into consumer spending on music shows live concerts as the top recipient of dollars. For instance, Nielsen’s 2015 year-in-review showed that more than half of the money spent on music by an average U.S. adult went toward some form of live performance. A new infographic from Moneytips breaks down more detail about concert spending habits. Continue Reading