Jan 29
In a match that seems made in heaven, Internet radio and recommendation service Last.fm has gone into a partnership with music streaming service Spotify. Together the two companies aim to … Continue reading
Jan 16
Early this morning, Spotify threw the doors wide open for desktop users, stripping away restrictions and allowing unlimited free streaming, no caps or limitations to be seen. Rdio has followed … Continue reading
Jan 05
Joining the Jongo T4 wireless speaker and other offerings that Pure has introduced here at CES, the company has debuted the Evoke F4, a digital and Internet radio with multi-room … Continue reading
Dec 11
While most songs on Spotify enjoy a degree of success, some more than others, there’s a solid percentage that finds the online service a quiet, lonely place. About 20-percent of the tracks offered through the music streaming service have never been played a single time, and Spotify wants to change this with a new #undiscovered […]
Sep 16
Today, Rdio and Cumulus Media are slated to announce a partnership between the two companies, one slated to help boost the Internet radio service into more popular waters via, among other things, an advertisement-based free version in the U.S. Cumulus Media owns 525 radio stations, and will provide Rdio with access to its programming content. […]
Sep 15
NYT: Rdio to offer free streaming by year’s end, strikes deal with traditional radio company
Posted in: Today's Chili
Having a hard time making it in the internet radio space? Maybe you should take a feather from the cap of a firm that still rides the airwaves. That seems to be Rdio’s approach — according to the New York Times, the company is partnering with Cumulus Media (a company that owns for-real radio stations) to create a free version of its audio streaming service. Rdio will also trade a stake in its parent company, Pulser Media, for chunks of Cumulus programming and promotion on the traditional airwaves. Cumulus will sell ads for Rdio’s impending free service, as well as compile playlists from its catalog of syndicated programming. This could buffer Rdio’s music library with news and talk shows, which will hopefully give the service a competitive advantage over services like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes Radio. Although the deal doesn’t involve a cash exchange, the Times reports the value of Cumulus’ services at over $100 million. As for that free Rdio overhaul? It’s predicted to be out sometime before the end of the year. The deal will be officially announced on Monday, until then, check out the NYT report at the source link below.
Filed under: Misc, Portable Audio/Video
Source: NYT
Sep 11
In March of this year, Pandora‘s Joe Kennedy announced that he would be leaving the Internet radio company this year. Such kicked off the search for his replacement, which has been unveiled today as former Microsoft executive and senior vice president Brian McAndrews, who left Microsoft in 2008 and will be serving as Pandora’s President, […]
Aug 08
Rdio has been rolling out fairly regular updates to its system over the summer, having expanded to seven more countries and boosted its family plan offering back in June, for example. Now the Internet radio company has made another update as promised, improving its Stations with “smarter” functionality and more customization options. The change is […]
Aug 05
Are you tired of constantly going through your music and creating a new playlist for every situation? Spotify wants to fix that. They’ve introduced a new feature called Browse that lets you search for specific playlists based on what kind of mood you’re in. These playlists are created by other users and picked out by […]
Jul 29
Pandora acquisition of radio station KXMZ challenged with FCC block request
Posted in: Today's ChiliLast month, we reported that – as part of an ongoing battle between Pandora and the music industry – the Internet radio company would acquire terrestrial radio station KXMZ in order to get an RMLC license. The ultimate goal in the business move would be scoring the lower royalty rates that its competitors enjoy. The ASCAP has long bucked against Pandora’s efforts, and this acquisition is no different: a request has been made for the FCC to block the purchase.
Says ASCAP in the filing: “Pandora is buying KXMZ for one reason – to argue that it is entitled to pay lower music performance royalties to composers, songwriters and lyricists for its billions of online-only internet music streams … Moreover, Pandora’s acquisition of KXMZ would not serve the public interest … The application should be denied.”
According to various statements made by Pandora, the purpose of purchasing a terrestrial radio station is to get the same lower rates that ASCAP provides for competitors, such as iHeartRadio, due to their ownership of terrestrial stations, which have different rates than Internet stations. As we stated last month, Pandora considers this a violation of the Department of Justice decree it is supposed to follow.
Later in June, Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren posted a lengthy statement on the company’s blog regarding the issue, including what he considers to be lies created by the music industry’s “hired guns.” Statements such as Pandora’s desire to decrease royalties by 85-percent, said Westergren, were complete lies created for the purpose of causing the company problems.
Following this, Westergren went on to discuss the issue between spins and plays, whereas a play on a radio station is listened to by many, while a spin is a song listened to by one user. As such, says Westergren, it could take many spins to equal a single play, and such is the nature of contention between what Internet radio stations should have to pay in royalties.
The Petition to Deny was filed by ASCAP on July 25.
SOURCE: TechDirt
Pandora acquisition of radio station KXMZ challenged with FCC block request is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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