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Paid streaming services provide a big boost to the music industry
Streaming continues to play a bigger role in music industry revenue and now it's starting to provide some real help offsetting declining album sales in the US. In its mid-year report, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that the industry saw its biggest growth in the first half of 2016 since the 1990s, up 8.1 percent year-over-year to $3.4 billion. In terms of music streaming as a whole, revenue from those services was up 57 percent during the first half of the year and it now makes up 47 percent of the music industry's total revenue. That's up from 32 percent of the total revenue this time last year.
Pandora relaunches its mid-level $5 monthly subscription tier [Updated]
After nabbing the remnants of Rdio out of bankruptcy last year, rumors have swirled for months about Pandora Radio's upcoming streaming subscription services. Last month, it seemed that all standing in the way was getting the appropriate licensing — which they got on Tuesday from over 30 major and independent labels . Today, they're relaunching their mid-level $5-per-month subscription radio service as Pandora Plus with a few new features. Unfortunately, this won't be their much-anticipated $10 monthly on-demand music streaming service, which will supposedly come later this year.
Recommended Reading: The political media machine on Facebook
Inside Facebook's (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine John Herrman, The New York Times Magazine A barrage of political links, ads and other content has filled up your News Feed over the last few months. With each new election, the amount of noise seems to get worse and now that we have two candidates who both have quite a list of shortcomings, the chatter is at an all-time high. The New York Times Magazine takes a deep dive into how Facebook is serving as a massive political media machine and its influence on democracy in the US.
Pandora's new internet radio station is curated by Questlove
Pandora may be prepping a Spotify-like subscription for launch, but that's not keeping the internet radio service from ramping up its original content. Today, the company announced that it's partnering with The Roots drummer and DJ Questlove on a new station. What's more, the station will feature a 3-hour weekly show curated and produced by the musician called "Questlove Supreme." Pandora describes the show as "a weekly ride through the global musical landscape featuring adventurous music selections, compelling conversations and revealing interviews." The company also says the show will have a similar feel to Questlove's NYU music course.
Pandora's new streaming service could launch as soon as September
We've know about Pandora's plan to turn the remaining pieces of Rdio into its own subscription service for some time now, but thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we know that the launch could be imminent. WSJ reports that the company is close to securing the necessary licensing deals for the new paid service in both the US and abroad. The media outlet's sources indicate that in addition to a free tier, there will also be two paid options -- a detail we've heard the company's CEO discuss in the past. We surmise that listening for free means that you'll have to suffer through some ads, but that's something Pandora will likely confirm at launch.
Pandora and Ticketfly joining forces for personalized events
If you rely on Pandora to discover new music, you may soon be looking to the service to also offer tickets for the same artists you unearthed there. Pandora and Ticketfly are joining together to offer personalized events based on the artists you listen to.
Apple's idea for music royalties could stick it to Spotify
The Copyright Royalty Board, a three judge panel that sets licensing rates, is trying to figure out what the statutory rate music download and streaming services will pay publishers between 2018 and 2022. Now, the New York Times and Billboard report that Apple has a suggestion on how to figure out those rates that oh-so-coincidentally would negatively impact services with free streaming options like Spotify (heating up their back-and-forth battle) and YouTube. The statutory rate is what services pay unless they make a direct deal with a publisher, and can shape negotiations between them.
Amazon finally lets Echo play Spotify or Pandora by default
Amazon's Echo speakers have a ton of smart capabilities, but until recently, playing music from any service other than Prime Music required telling the device which service to use each time. Now, users may have noticed an option to set Pandora or Spotify as its default music player. If you have one of the Alexa-connected devices, then you can go into its control app on the web or a mobile device and look under settings to switch the default away from Amazon. Once it's set, just talk normally to the speaker, "Amazon/Alexa play (artists/song/etc.)" and it will play from the proper service.
Uber and Pandora to bring (more) music to rides
Since 2014, Uber and Spotify have allowed passengers to dictate the music that plays while the ride, much to the feigned delight of drivers. Now, the ride-sharing firm has also shaken hands with Pandora, but this time it's to offer drivers ad-free internet radio from now until December 28th. The music service has been baked-in to Uber Partner, bringing jams to modern-day chauffeurs in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Right now, it's just a bonus for the folks who get to sit behind the wheel, but the pair are promising that riders who are "registered with" Pandora will get the Spotify-esque ability to control the stereo in the near future.
Pandora isn't selling, plans to offer cheaper subscriptions
Reports of Pandora's possible sale or merger with another company were swirling when its founder Tim Westergren returned as CEO in March. In an interview at the Midem music industry conference in France over the weekend, Westergren addressed those rumors and provided some info on the upcoming subscription service. Spoiler alert: the company isn't for sale and doesn't plan on merging.
Pandora creator takes over as CEO
Pandora isn't just shaking things up with hints of on-demand listening. The internet radio pioneer's board of directors has abruptly appointed founder Tim Westergren as CEO, with outgoing leader Brian McAndrews leaving the company immediately. It's part of a broader management shakeup that also includes new chief financial, operating and product officers. Just what prompted the changes isn't clear from the official statements -- Pandora only says that these moves are meant to "accelerate the company's growth," and notes how Westergren has been deeply involved since the beginning.
Streaming is now the US music industry's biggest money maker
It may have just been a matter of time, but it finally happened: streaming music is now the biggest cash cow for the American music industry. The RIAA's latest year-end sales report reveals that streaming accounted for 34.3 percent of US music revenue in 2015, barely edging past the 34 percent of downloads. Physical sales, meanwhile, were down to 28.8 percent. And despite concerns about free listening hurting the bottom line, paid subscriptions were the star of the show. While ad-based streaming pulled in 30.6 percent more cash versus 2014, paid subscriptions jumped 52.3 percent -- suddenly, forking over $10 a month for unlimited music wasn't such a far-fetched idea.
Pandora will let bands insert voice messages into your music stream
Social media has increasingly broken down the walls between musicians and their fans, allowing bands to have more direct conversations with the people listening to their music. The "artist marketing platform" (AMP) that Pandora launched a few years ago was meant to be part of that move, helping to enable that connection between musicians and fans. In an effort to foster that connection, Pandora is launching AMPcast, a new feature in Pandora's existing artist management app that lets musicians record messages to fans on-the-go and insert them right into a user's audio stream.
Pandora brings its music discovery feature to Android
Pandora is quite useful when you don't know exactly what you want to listen to. However, the internet radio service's Android app has never looked that great. With an update to the software for Google's OS, Pandora cut out some of the clutter that made using the app a chore. Up top, there's now a slider button to bounce back and forth between the My Stations and Browse lists. That Browse feature already debuted on the iOS version. If you'll recall, it takes into account all of the songs you like (or thumbs up) and serves up suggestions based on your preferences.
Pandora's iOS app now has better recommendations and a redesign
Pandora's iOS app is getting a much-needed facelift as well as a pretty major new feature today. The music streaming service has a new way to find tunes called Browse, which basically takes all of your listening history and songs you give a thumbs-up to and presents you with more radio station suggestions the company thinks you'll enjoy. It's pretty much a table stakes feature for a music streaming service at this point -- basically every Pandora competitor looks at your listening habits and offers up playlists, stations, albums and more to keep the music playing when you are feeling indecisive.
Streaming music was twice as big in 2015
Nielsen just removed any doubt that streaming music is here to stay. The research group's end-of-year music report reveals that the number of on-demand US streams nearly doubled year-over-year in 2015, to 317.2 billion streams. Downloads unsurprisingly took a hit, with individual song sales diving 12.5 percent and whole albums dropping 2.9 percent. However, the sheer volume of streams appears to at least partly make up for the shortfall -- Billboard notes that the revenue is equivalent to 211.5 million purchased albums. While artists aren't necessarily getting all that extra money, it's a positive sign.
Pandora ends its war with two major music publishers
If there's one thing that Pandora likes, it's a fight, but even the firm that bought an FM radio station to stick it to the man has limits. The outfit has decided to make peace with two of its most formidable adversaries: music licensing agencies ASCAP and BMI. Pandora has revealed that it's signed a new, multi-year deal with both entities that'll see it pay what'll probably be a higher fee every time one of their songs is played. Naturally, the terms of the agreements are being kept secret, but USA Today thinks that it'll be above the 2.5 / 1.75 percent that BMI and ASCAP, respectively, currently earn.
Pandora has to pay higher royalties starting in 2016
Pandora and similar services like iHeartRadio and SiriusXM will have to give a bigger part of their earnings to music labels starting January 1st next year. The Copyright Royalty Board has ruled that online radio stations have to pay labels 17 cents per 100 song plays by non-subscribers and 22 cents per 100 plays by subscribers. Pandora's rate used to begin at 14 cents per 100 plays, and even then it was never profitable -- in fact, it had to pay over $400 million in royalties in 2014, which was already 44 percent of its revenue.
Rdio will shut down for good in one week
It's been a couple of weeks since Rdio announced its bankruptcy and plans to become a part of Pandora, and now we know exactly when it will shut down. The music service emailed subscribers tonight informing them it will shut down worldwide on December 22nd, at approximately 5PM PT (8PM ET). Until then subscribers can continue listening to the free ad-supported version of Rdio and using the "Farewell" feature to look back at their activity and export data like playlists, favorites and comments -- but a week from tonight it will be all over.Update (12/22): Right on schedule, Rdio.com turned out the lights and is now only displaying an error message.
Rdio bids farewell with a look at your favorite songs (updated)
Rdio has one last treat for you before it rides into the sunset following Pandora's acquisition. Visit a special farewell site and you not only have a handy place to export your data, but a retrospective look at your listening habits. You'll know what you first played, what your favorites were, and who you shared tracks with. It's hard not to get a little misty -- in some ways, this is like digging up a mix CD you made in high school. Still, it's good to see Rdio acknowledging that you're losing a part of your history, not just some playlists.
