The Twitter Approach To Streaming Songs
While rumors of a streaming music service from Apple and Google have been prevalent lately, few expected the announcement last week that Twitter is developing a mobile music application that will let its users play and share songs. Last year, Twitter acquired the music recommendation website We Are Hunted, a site that charts the 99 most popular songs on a daily basis by tracking what the web has to say. It was a perfect match for Twitter, since it was a music discovery site already built to keep track of what music listeners were talking about and sharing on Twitter and other sources.
The new app, called Twitter Music, could launch by the end of this month. Various reports say that Twitter Music will suggest artists and songs, based at least in part on what a person follows on Twitter. Songs will be streamed via SoundCloud, which seems to be a perfect streaming partner. It’s easy to imagine the success that an application like this can have, given the popularity that lots of recording artists have on Twitter. Artists can offer their music on SoundCloud and spread the word on Twitter directly to followers.
Probably not coincidentally, SoundCloud has revamped its fee structure, making it easier for artists to open accounts and offer their music easily to fans. An enhanced Pro subscription also offers the ability to run ads, which they call “Moving Sounds.” Based in Berlin, SoundCloud has over 180 million users per month. It’s one very interesting streaming platform that is more focused on delivering quick hits – like songs and soundbites, than longer, radio station like experiences. Which is of course, entirely compatible with the way online consumers like it, on Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr…
By the way, SoundCloud execs participate often in RAIN Summits, and we’ll be hosting one in Vegas on April 7th, and Brussels on May 23rd.
In A Flatbed Ford
Connected audio in cars may be last year’s news, but the level of interactivity is challenging auto manufacturers to work with developers to create some pretty inventive applications. Enter Gracenote, an independent division of Sony, that collects data points on millions of songs and provides backend services that enable song recommendations to streaming services (for example).
Now Gracenote has found a way to tap into the Control Area Network of a Ford Focus and use the data to create song recommendations based on the way you are driving. For example, when the windshield wipers are on, you might hear a bluesy tune to match the rainy road, but when you’re driving fast down the highway, your playlist may serve up a song like the Beach Boys, and high beams might trigger Ray of Light by Madonna.
More than anything, this puts a whole new meaning on the “connected car” concept. Your car is not just connected to the Internet, it’s connected to the weather, and traffic conditions and the way that you are driving. Really, you have to marvel at the concept (while you kind of wonder about it’s usefulness).
The demo took place at Music Tech Hack Day in SF recently, and I read about it in GigaOm. Here’s a video that demonstrates it:
Taylor Swift’s Break Up With Spotify
An article in the New York Post last week notes that Taylor Swift’s new album Red is not available for on-demand listening on streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody. This is a strategy that other artists have used as well – Adele and Coldplay both held off making their new albums available on similar services. While it’s a leap to say that the strategy was the reason that the album had the best sales in its first weeks of any non-discounted album in the last decade, it’s reasonable to conclude that it didn’t hurt.
Streaming is growing in popularity and record sales are dropping. Some artists and their companies are seeing a relationship between the two and concluding that making their new releases available on these services is bad for song sales. Unfortunately, the amounts that they get paid by the services when listeners listen to their music doesn’t compare.
Ironically, Swift didn’t see fit to hold her album back from airplay on broadcast radio. A deal earlier this year means that she’s actually getting compensated to some degree by some big broadcast companies including Clear Channel when her songs play on the radio. While that probably doesn’t amount to much, it’s forging a new relationship between recording artists and radio.
It’s important to note that it’s the on-demand services that are getting shunned by Swift and others – Pandora has the album, as does iHeartRadio and other services that don’t enable listener to build playlists and request music by song, artist, album, etc.. There’s a growing perception that those services are being used as music collections and replacing song sales.
It may well be that artists, especially the big names, will continue to hold back their albums from services like Spotify for a while as part of their launch strategies. Or the services may find a way to be more relevant to those artists in their early song sales days, by providing data, promotion, sales support, in an effort to get back together again…
WTOP Will Simulcast On-Air and Online
This morning’s Inside Radio reports that Hubbard owned WTOP will no longer insert ads in its streams, opting instead to simulcast 100% of its broadcast programming online. This is a decision made earlier this year by small market broadcasting group Saga Communications, who at the time blamed imperfect ad insertion technology for its decision.
The biggest reason that a broadcast company would opt to simulcast 100% of its programming rather than inserting different ads into its stream would be that Arbitron will only measure the online audience and the on-air audience as one if the station simulcasts the exact same thing on the stream as it broadcasts. There’s nothing wrong with Arbitron’s thinking in this regard – it would be flawed for them to represent the two audiences (streamed and broadcast) as one if the programming were not completely identical. That would be misleading to advertisers who might look at the combined audience number and conclude that their commercials achieved that reach when they had not.
WTOP is up front about the reason for its move. Inside Radio quotes SVP/GM Joel Oxley : “Since WTOP is now a simulcast, those listeners can now be added to our Arbitron ratings,” he says. “For WTOP even a slight move up in ratings can mean a significant rise in revenue.” For the top billing radio station in the country, that can make a big difference.
This move by WTOP signals a growing interest by broadcasters in blending their audiences into one to create ratings uniformity. It’s a clear decision to sell the audience as one, rather than two separate audiences. It makes sense in some ways, but there are problems as well. Ads created for over the air listeners often have a call to action like “Call this number” while ads that are streamed should have an online call to action. As well, streaming ads have more targeting and tracking capabilities than broadcast ads do. But times are tough and revenues are down. Broadcasters, like everyone else, are forced to take a hard look at their options and in a case like this prefer the one that promises a more immediate uptick for revenue.
Soundcloud Has 180 Million Users
Are you using Soundcloud? Lots of people are – 180 million users per month in fact. Soundcloud likes to think of itself as the Youtube of audio, it’s a platform that enables users to share, listen, and upload tracks. They recently announced an upgrade that offers social enhancements and an improved user experience.
Users upload ten hours of audio every minute to Soundcloud, according to new stats recently revealed by Eric Wahlforss, Founder and CTO of the Berlin based company. Audio content creators connect directly with their audience and offers social tools that enable sharing and discovery. Users do not need to register to listen, but registered listeners can build playlists, share playlists, and more. It’s an easy way for musicians to share music, radio stations and/or personalities to share programming, and of course, families to share recital performances.
Soundcloud is also making specfic efforts to cultivate content partnerships that would expand their audience. Last summer they hired a producer from WNYC, an NPR affiliate, to pursue partnerships with audio providers. There’s not much info on the revenue model at this point.
The Berlin based company has taken some $63 million in investments, and counts Union Square Ventures, Fred Wilson’s firm, and Kleiner Perkins, Mary Meeker‘s firm, as investors.
Changing the Streaming Audio Ad Sales Game
Recent moves by Katz360 and Triton Digital indicate that the streaming audio marketplace may be heating up, with new players signing up to have those firms sell their inventory.
E3 Expo 2012 – Microsoft Press Event – Xbox Music
Triton Digital recently announced a big deal with Microsoft to sell audio ads on their Xbox Music streaming platform. Microsoft intends Xbox Music to be the platform that their customers use to listen to music, calling it a 30 million-song global catalog powered by the one service that integrates your music experiences across your tablet, PC, phone and tv. Triton Digital will sell ads and provide analytics for the service.
Now, this is a big deal for Triton, one that could easily change the focus of their entire sales organization, not to mention the streaming audio marketplace, creating a lot more highly targetable inventory.
At the same time, Katz360 is changing things up as well. First came the announcement that Brian Benedik was leaving, followed by an announcement that Mort Greenberg would be the new President. Greenberg, who was formerly head of sales at Nokia, apparently brought a deal to sell Nokia ad elements, and at least some of his sales team from Nokia, with him to Katz360. According to his Linkedin profile, the plan is to rebuild and rebrand this digital unit (Katz360) as a leading global local & location interactive ad Network and representation firm.
So, a couple of big deals that could have a huge impact on the streaming audio ad marketplace, increasing the inventory, level of targetability, and opportunities for advertisers, not to mention the level of sophistication of the sellers. I’m thinking this is all a very good thing indeed…
A Good Day For Internet Radio
Last week’s debut of RAIN Summit Europe in Berlin was . The event, which was held at the nhow Hotel Berlin, featured a really strong list of speakers, including keynote presenter Jonathan Forster of Spotify. Forster started his talk by saying that Spotify isn’t radio, and I think he was half afraid he might get pelted with rotten tomatoes for saying so. Not so — despite the fact that Spotify isn’t “radio” in the sense that it offers songs and artists on-demand to listeners, it is streaming audio. There’s a joint mission for all forms of streaming audio to attract advertisers, and Spotify is working hard on that and making some really nice progress. Forster spent a lot of time illustrating ad campaigns that they have created for advertisers, and it was very inspiring stuff. 
The quality of the discussions at RAIN Summit Berlin were excellent and featured lots of experts outside of the Internet radio industry who contributed their expertise. There was a great agency roundtable discussion featuring advertising executives from Starcom MediaVest (UK), Pilot (Germany) and Havas (France). A discussion on Connected Dashboards featured an expert from BMW. The founder of Mixcloud joined a panel discussion on personalized streaming.
Whether you are streaming in Europe or not, there was a lot to learn about the marketplace among the folks at RAIN Summit Europe. We had a strong showing from US companies who are either already there or thinking about expanding to Europe with their services. We had far less interest from US based content providers, who declined our invitations to speak, and decided not to come. Which is fine, although I would say they missed out on an opportunity for some fantastic inspiration.
The hotel was beautiful, a hip and trendy setting along the River Spree in Berlin. The room was crowded – we exceeded our expectations, registering over 150 people for the event. And everyone that I spoke with said they learned a lot and were happy to be there. All in all, a good day for Internet radio (and streaming audio)…
Apple Sets Its Sights On Radio With New Patent
This week Apple was awarded a patent that appears to be a shot across the bow to streaming broadcasters. The patent enables switching from broadcastor streamed content to media stored on a device. By using information available from RDS data, broadcast listings or published programming schedules, the device would determine in advance what programming might not be of interest to the user and then switch to songs or podcasts stored on the device or streamed from a cloud based library. The system reportedly uses the device owner’s content consumption habits, as well as “like” and”dislike” interactive features to determine preferences.
Apple Insider presents this description from published patent information:
“For example, a user may not like a particular song broadcast by a radio station, or may not like a particular segment of a talk radio station (e.g., the user does not like the topic or guest of the segment). As another example, a user may not be interested in content originally generated by sources other than the media source (e.g., advertisement content). Because the user has no control over the media broadcast, the user can typically only tune to a different media broadcast, or listen to or consume the broadcast content that is not of interest.”
There are a couple of remarkable things about this, not the least of which is that Apple is certainly a formidable competitor. The fact that they have developed this new technology which focuses extensively on replacing radio content is noteworthy. Implications could be significant for broadcasters and others that offer single stream programming, not to mention ad-insertion companies and advertisers. In fact, there could be, would be significant impact for on-demand services as well, since it would make an individual’s music library more useful and relevant.
And the devil is in the details, which might be comforting if the patent holder were any other than Apple…
Not Quite As Good As Being There
The last weekend in July, which marks the middle of summer in my mind, is Newport Folk Festival weekend. This year the festival was sold out and the lineup was amazing. Jackson Browne, Wilco, Iron and Wine, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Patty Griffin, and so many more. If the music suits you, there’s no better place on the planet to hear it than Fort Adams State Park, overlooking Newport, its bridges and ocean.
Wilco Live at Newport Folk Festival/NPR
The last time I went it was too hot, and a little uncomfortable, but the listening was awesome. This weekend was mostly cloudy which was probably just about perfect, except for the brief downpours here and there.
Anyway, one of the great things about streaming is that all the concerts are already online courtesy of NPR Music. So you can enjoy a little piece of midsummer music today…
