iRadio: tracking Apple’s attempt to build the iTunes of streaming music – The Verge

Apple launches iTunes Radio on September 18th

2013-09-10T13:19:56-04:00

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As expected, Apple unveiled iTunes Radio today: the company is now in the web radio business, and thanks to size of the iTunes membership, it instantly becomes one of Pandora's top competitors. When the radio service rolls out September 18th as part of the iOS 7 update, users will be able to can create their own stations, and, as with Pandora, tweak the direction of their listening by tapping "Play More Like This" or "Never Play This Song."

The service is free, and iTunes Match subscribers don't have to see any ads. The radio feature will also simplify the buying process: listeners can click a nearby "buy" button as a song plays or purchase i …

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Has Spotify killed the iTunes star? Download sales slow as streaming picks up

2013-07-19T11:47:53-04:00

Spotify for iOS

For the past two years, record labels, music retailers, and artists carefully tracked music sales. After a decade of massive sales declines, the downward spiral appeared to bottom out in 2011 and 2012 and the hope was that the darkest period in the sector's history was over.

But figures released by Nielsen and Billboard today show a 4.6 percent decline in overall album and track sales for the first half of 2013. Sales of digital downloads, the distribution mode that enables buyers to store song files on PCs or mobile-phone hard drives and were once thought to be the successor to the CD, were down 2.3 percent. Nielsen also reported that sales …

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Sony signs on with Apple’s iRadio, bringing last of the major labels on board, says AllThingsD

2013-06-07T09:44:16-04:00

iPHone 5 stock

Sony has reportedly signed a deal with Apple for the iRadio service, bringing the last of the three major record labels on board days before WWDC. AllThingsD reported the news this morning, saying that Apple was now set to announce the news of iRadio on Monday; previous reports have said it will launch in the months after WWDC. Apple reached an agreement with Universal Music Group in May, and it brought Warner Music on board just a few days ago, but Sony has remained a holdout until now, allegedly because it wanted Apple to pay more than iRadio competitor Pandora.

Apple has had a long road to its subscription-based streaming music service, …

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Apple hopes to reinvent iAd platform for free, ad-supported iRadio, says Bloomberg

2013-06-03T18:27:32-04:00

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At this year's WWDC, Apple is potentially poised to unveil a streaming music platform to compete with Pandora or Google's Play Music All Access. But according to Bloomberg, reinventing how it sells music will also require revamping its iAd platform, which was initially created as a way for developers to place ads within apps. Apple is reportedly shifting iAd's focus towards the streaming radio service, hoping to catch the eye of major brands that will impress music publishers. Those ads will support streaming music for users, similar to the free tiers on Spotify or other services, sources say.

iAd was announced in 2010 for app developers, b …

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Apple and Warner Music reportedly sign streaming deal, bringing iRadio one step closer

2013-06-02T15:44:51-04:00

Apple iPad mini event 2012 locations

Two down, one to go: Apple has reportedly signed a deal with Warner Music for its long-rumored streaming radio music service, commonly referred to as iRadio. CNET reports that both sides reached an agreement earlier today, suggesting Apple is working overtime to have the product ready for a potential unveiling at WWDC. In its own report, The New York Times echoes that timeframe.

The company has already signed another massive label in Universal Music but Sony remains a significant holdout at this time. Still, Apple is making progress, with CNET also reporting today's pact factors in Warner's publishing arm Warner Chappell. Getting publishers …

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Pandora still hasn’t named CEO as losses widen

2013-05-23T18:09:39-04:00

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Pandora, the web's top radio service, reported that the company's losses widened in its fiscal first quarter amid increasing competition and as the company prepares for another bruising fight on Capitol Hill. In addition, Pandora still hasn't named a new leader two months after CEO Joe Kennedy announced he planned to step down as soon as a replacement could be found.

Whoever Pandora may be considering as Kennedy's successor, it's clear leadership thinks it can find someone better than Barry McCarthy, one of the company's board members who was instrumental in helping to turn Netflix into one of the web's top entertainment sites. Tucked into d …

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With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple’s iRadio plans

2013-05-22T11:50:03-04:00

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For years, when it came to driving negotiations with internet music services over licensing, the top record labels were the locomotive and the publishers were the caboose. If the labels licensed songs, then usually the publishers dutifully followed. But now these publishers are in revolt, refusing to simply follow along, and holding up negotiations on Apple's iRadio. At the heart of the dispute are shifting economics. The industry is moving from CD sales and digital downloads to streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. In that new model the publishers have been making far less money.

Sony / ATV, the publishing company operated jointly by …

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How Google beat Apple to a streaming music service

2013-05-17T11:33:59-04:00

Google Music All Access

Google's long-rumored Play Music All Access service is already out the door, while Apple's iRadio is still bogged down in licensing talks. According to music industry sources, all the haggling could prevent Apple from debuting the service at the Worldwide Developers Conference next month.

Sony/ATV, the largest music publisher, has rejected Apple's terms according to published reports. What's more, The Verge has learned this week that BMG Rights Management, the fourth largest music publisher, is also holding out. Insiders say that there's still plenty of "market momentum" behind iRadio and some of the industry's largest players - including U …

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Apple’s iRadio talks stall as Google rushes to license new music service

2013-05-09T18:35:44-04:00

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Apple's effort to license a proposed online radio service, which the press has dubbed iRadio, is being stymied by at least one of the major music companies, multiple industry sources have told The Verge.

The Financial Times reported today that Apple's negotiations with Sony continue to drag on and that the electronics maker could hold up the launch of what sources say will be a radio service similar to Pandora, the internet's top webcaster, but offer more on-demand listening features, such as fast-forwarding and rewinding.

Any delay of iRadio could hand one of Apple's chief rivals an opportunity to beat it to market. In recent months, Google …

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iTunes still dominates digital music sales, but the growth is slow as iRadio approaches

2013-04-16T14:36:03-04:00

Apple iTunes Gift Card (STOCK)

The NPD Group has just released its quarterly report on the state of music sales, and unsurprisingly it says that Apple's iTunes store is dominating with 63 percent of digital music sales. Amazon came in second with 22 percent of all downloads by total volume, but even that number belies iTunes' reach, as eight of ten digital music buyers use iTunes for their purchases. However, NPD's numbers also contain some surprising, and perhaps sobering, results: only 44 million Americans purchased digital music at all in 2012. Digital music sales are also relatively flat over the past three years, increasing only six percent per buyer year-over-year.

…

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