Pandora Could Become Acquisition Target For Media Conglomerates
In Jim Cramer's "Lightning Round" on September 5th, 2012, the animated investment analyst proclaimed he was not interested in a long position in Pandora, primarily because of the "lack of earnings momentum." But if the proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act is signed into law, Pandora's primary cost to do business - its performance royalty fees - could be reduced from 50% to 10%, giving the company just the sort of momentum that could give it a significant bump in value. If this occurs, Seeking Alpha's Michael Slattery says, Pandora could become an attractive takeover target for one of several media conglomerates, including Clear Channel, Amazon, and Google. In fact, Clear Channel, which owns hundreds of radio stations, an advertising rep firm, and iHeartRadio, could well be the most sensible suitor because of the demographic shift to mobile usage. Pandora's latest audience metrics support this possibility, with listener hours in July 2012 topping 1.15 billion, an increase of 67% from 687 million during the same period last year. The company's share of total U.S. radio listening in September 2012 was 6.53%, an increase from 4.03% at the same time last year. Active listeners were 58.3 million at the end of last month, an increase of 49% from 39 million during the same time period last year. [Full story: Seeking Alpha]
| Pandora's Westergren Breaks Down Payments To Various Artists Ever wonder exactly how much artists are being paid by Pandora? In a recent blog post, Tim Westergren (left), the company's founder, said that even lesser-known artists can make six-figure incomes from the digital music service, including Donnie McClurkin, French Montana, and Grupo Bryndis. "Who?" you might ask. "They are artists whose sales ranks on Amazon are 4,752, 17,000 and 183,187, respectively," Westergren replies. "These are all working artists who live well outside the mainstream - no steady rotation on broadcast radio, no high-profile opening slots on major tours, no front page placement in online retail. What they have in common is a steady income from Pandora: In the next 12 months Pandora is on track to pay performance fees of $100,228, $138,567 and $114,192 to them, respectively." That's just the tip of the iceberg, Westergren continues, noting that "for over 2,000 artists, Pandora will pay over $10,000 each over the next 12 months, and for more than 800 we'll pay over $50,000 each. [And] for top earners like Coldplay, Adele, and Wiz Khalifa [we're] already over $1 million each, while Drake and Lil Wayne are fast approaching a $3 million annual rate each." Of course, those earnings could drop considerably if the proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act is signed into law. [Full story: All Access Music Group] |
| It's Ba-ack! New MySpace Is "Doubling Down" On Music Discovery After being untethered from News Corp. in June of last year, MySpace is working diligently to become the social media source for music discovery, a void that has yet to be filled by Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even Spotify. The new owners - Specific Media, with minority investor Jason Timberlake - recently unveiled a two-minute video previewing its new design, and subsequently opened its new private beta version to select artists and label executives to give the music industry a chance to help shape its new look. "Hopefully the reality lives up to the demo, but the new owners at Specific are very smart guys and really know the ad world, which is super important for their future success," an undisclosed label executive told Billboard. "They've created a site for creators and fans that's a more immersive music experience than what we get out of the big social networks, which are more about sharing. This is definitely geared toward music and discovery." Indeed, developing direct relationships with artists was one of the priorities that Specific Media's co-CEOs Tim and Chris Vanderhook shared with Billboard in an interview. As previewed in the redesign video, the new MySpace is focused on "empowering fans and helping artists identify who their most influential followers are" through data that will be aggregated from other sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify. "Social networks collect tons of data, and what we're trying to do is put that data in the hands of our community rather than a black-box fashion," they said. "Artists want more transparency into who their most important fans are, so we're calculating who those people are and serving it not just for the artists but for the fans to have that recognition." [Full story: Billboard.biz] |
| Microsoft Rumored To Be In Talks To Acquire Rdio Several news organizations recently have floated the rumor (if not outright report) that Microsoft is seriously mulling an entry into the streaming music business. This week those rumors became more focused as reports surfaced that the software giant currently is in talks to buy San Francisco-based digital music startup Rdio. As Next Web pointed out, such an acquisition makes sense and could benefit both companies, since Microsoft reportedly is planning an expansive Xbox streaming music feature with download, streaming, and online storage functions similar to iTunes and Spotify. Launched in August 2010, Rdio competes with such services as Spotify and Pandora to provide on-demand access to more than 18 million songs. The company offers a limited free service and unlimited subscriptions starting at $4.99 per month. Rdio also has license deals with all the major record labels as well as apps for Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and more. Interestingly, Rdio was founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype, which Microsoft acquired in 2011. [Full story: PC Magazine] |
Spotify Signs Deal To Stream Music On Samsung TVs South Korea's Samsung Electronics this week signed a deal with Spotify that will allow direct streaming of music through Samsung's television sets. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the pact will give Samsung a new way to promote its televisions; meanwhile, Spotify hopes the arrangement offers a new incentive for consumers to pay for its subscription service rather than use its advertising-backed, free-of-charge platform. The partnership comes as a number of technology companies are positioning themselves in the growing music-streaming market. Digital-music sales, including both streaming and downloads, are expected to soon overtake sales of physical CDs as the main source of revenue for music labels and publishers. To enable music to stream from Spotify, Samsung E-series television sets will be equipped with a software application adapted for television screens. The service initially will be available to owners of Samsung TVs in such European countries as the U.K., France, Germany, and Scandinavia, and will expand to Samsung's Blu-ray players and home-theater systems later this year. The deal, which is not exclusive to Samsung, allows Spotify to pursue similar deals with other manufacturers. [Full story: Wall Street Journal] |
| Can An iPad Match A Recording Studio In Quality? Yes...And No Many artists, recording engineers, and songwriters are in love with their iPads because of the myriad functions the devices provide in the music production process. Whether it's digital music instrument technology, deejay apps, mixing platforms, or scoring software, the Apple tablets make it easy (after mastering a bit of a learning curve) to compose, mix, and layer music while on the go. But as the website Pad Gadget observed this week, anyone who thinks an iPad can replace a guitar, drums, or keyboard, they'd better think again. "There are fun apps out there for MIDI compatible instruments and fabulous effects for guitar and bass, but the iPad will never replace real musical instruments," the website said. "That is why you don't see Megadeth playing iPad drums. Even Slash uses real guitar pedals when playing live and in the studio. He may have lent his name to an effects pedal app, but you won't see him tapping his iPad on stage." And when it comes to professional music recording, or digital audio workstation (DAW) apps, there is no real consensus for whether it is legitimately useful in the studio or not. "Lots of recording engineers use GarageBand in the studio and the iPad version is just as powerful," Pad Gadget commented. "However, most studios also have thousands of dollars worth of mixing tools that their computers are plugged into." [Full story: Pad Gadget] |
Al Bell Presents American Soul Music ... And American Soul TV
If you're into classic and contemporary Soul, R&B, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Hip-Hop Soul, Rap Soul, and Neo-Soul, we invite you to listen to Al Bell Presents American Soul Music. Former Stax Records owner and Motown Records Group President Al Bell personally has programmed this awesome radio station online, presenting your favorites from the 1960s and '70s [and some '80s], a lot of the best new music that's being released today, and some real gems you haven't heard in a long, long time. Come to www.AlBellPresents.Com and hear it for yourself!
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