The Songwriter Equity Act, proposed legislation originally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, is picking up new steam in the Senate, as three co-sponsors announced they would introduce their re-write of the bill. The senators gained publicity for their legislative action by holding a press event in Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe. Continue Reading
Microsoft is apparently preparing a music storage system to be combined with its subscription streaming service, Xbox Music. Combining owned files with a cloud-based streaming service covers all the bases for users who likes streaming music, but still value their purchased music collections. Continue Reading
MistyRadio (www.mistyradio.com) is slow and sentimental jazz (mostly) for relaxed listening. We thought it might be excessively soupy at first, but it depends on when you hit the stream. The MistyRadio is really about memory-infused songs, mostly traditional jazz, or jazzy in feel. Continue Reading
A new study of January data by comScore and Millennial Media reveals that among 15 Internet content categories, streaming radio is (by far) the most mobile. A full 95% of time spent with streaming radio transpired in tablets (16%) and smartphones (79%). Continue Reading
Geo-fencing technology has entered the online audio discussion and potentially affects legal and business issues. Most recently, according to an Inside Radio report, the ability to identify where users are listening to web-delivered audio is unlocking some previously-blocked sports. Continue Reading
The rumor hasn’t been refuted yet, and the entire music-tech world is treating it a fact, soon to be manifested. Apple will (reportedly) acquire Beats Electronics, including Beats Music. RAIN solicited comments from thought leaders, and harvested some of the most provocative perspectives in other media outlets, to create a landscape of opinion and speculation. Continue Reading
Welcome to Internet Radio REWIND, an audio recap of the week. This weekly program is a quick and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories. Click the Play button to get ready for the coming week.This week: Two huge rumors … two important music service launches … Pandora’s latest fall from grace … another swipe at radio royalties. Continue Reading
Streaming solutions provider Abacast announced today that it has been named a finalist in the Red Herring Top 100 North America awards list for 2014. Red Herring runs this annual awards list to promote and honor privately-held technology start-ups and scale-ups. Continue Reading
Nielsen posted a fascinating infographic called Music Mapped Out that carves the U.S. into regions, and analyzes how their populations listen to, and pay for, music. It’s an interesting view of music consumption. Which U.S. region streams the most? (Hint: think coastal.) Continue Reading
In what would be a blockbuster $3.2-billion deal that re-shapes the ownership structure of streaming music, Apple is reportedly set to acquire Beats Electronics, which includes Beats Music. If it plays out as rumored, the acquisition would vault Apple into the music-subscription industry, adding a third pillar to its music business. Continue Reading
SNL Kagan released the 2014 edition of Economics of Internet Music and Radio, a map of the online audio landscape and financial projections. The study considers pureplay Internet music services in detail, and also makes separate financial revenue projections for digital streams of broadcast radio. Continue Reading
The latest of many legislative proposals which would require broadcast radio to pay performance royalties to labels and artists was introduced yesterday in the House of Representatives. The bill spins a cagey framework by putting radio stations on the same place in the delivery chain as cable companies. Continue Reading