Spotify has added thumbs
to its desktop radio, allowing listeners to fine tune an artist
station by giving a song a "thumb up" or "thumb down."
This is the latest in what's sure to be a lot of tweaking to its radio product. Spotify has long offered a radio service on its desktop application, but the company got more serious about radio when it launched a free radio service on its iOS app - with thumbs - in June. But Internet radio is difficult to do well, and Spotify's song selection will occasionally leave a bit to be desired.
This is the latest in what's sure to be a lot of tweaking to its radio product. Spotify has long offered a radio service on its desktop application, but the company got more serious about radio when it launched a free radio service on its iOS app - with thumbs - in June. But Internet radio is difficult to do well, and Spotify's song selection will occasionally leave a bit to be desired.
Every
thumb will help. Internet radio is a competitive space with more
well funded companies and greater innovation than meets the eye.
TuneIn, for example, which l ast week announced
$16 million in fresh funding, got some attention over the weekend
for live streaming the Outside Lands music festival from San
Francisco. While TuneIn lacks the personalized features of Spotify
and Pandora - it lacks thumbs, in other words -it does have an
easy-to-use mobile app and a ton of content.
A couple recent cases in point show how Internet radio is making an impact. One is last week's Warner Music Group earnings report. The company's recorded music division now gets 25% of its digital revenue (not total revenue, just digital revenue) from subscription, on-demand and webcasting services such as Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora (all of which allow users to "thumb" songs). Warner didn't break out the lump of revenue by company type, but the message was clear: fractions of pennies from streaming services add up with enough volume.
A couple recent cases in point show how Internet radio is making an impact. One is last week's Warner Music Group earnings report. The company's recorded music division now gets 25% of its digital revenue (not total revenue, just digital revenue) from subscription, on-demand and webcasting services such as Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora (all of which allow users to "thumb" songs). Warner didn't break out the lump of revenue by company type, but the message was clear: fractions of pennies from streaming services add up with enough volume.
The other example
was a breakdown of musician Zoe Keating's revenue over a five-month
period. Now, Keating gets almost all of her recorded music revenue
from purchased music - not a surprise for an independent artist. But
she does make a small amount from digital performance royalties,
too. As a spreadsheet she posted online shows Keating made $1,278.19 as a performer and rights owner over two quarters (almost all from Pandora).
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