Radio 2.0 (Fr & En)

The largest gathering of Internet radio professionals in Europe! RAIN Summits are the premiere educational and networking events for the Internet radio and digital audio industry.

TuneIn Radio is a popular app internet radio streaming. It features over 70,000 different stations that stream anything from pop music to talk shows, as well as tons of podcasts.

London-based music streaming service rara.com has inked an international partnership with BMW to integrate its platform directly into the manufacturer’s cars across Europe.

Launching this week across the UK, Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands for BMW’s new 5 Series, the rara service - powered by Omnifone - will be delivered by the car’s ConnectedDrive Online Entertainment system.

The system will provide 12 months of unlimited music streaming via Rara.com with Vodafone providing the mobile network.

An international deal with Vodafone will mean that drivers can stream music from anywhere in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands without incurring any roaming costs - paying with a one-off annual fee instead.

DAR.fm is a free “DVR for radio” website. Listeners can select and record their favorite radio shows on DAR.fm’s server. They can then listen to those shows on any Web-connected computer or smartphone, at their convenience. At present, DAR.fm listeners download 30 million minutes of content a month.DAR.fm CEO Michael Robertson compiles accurate statistics on each show’s popularity, based on the number of plays it has received in the past 30 days. This data is displayed on each show’s selection page, in the same way that YouTube displays “number of views” for each of its video.

Here’s where it gets interesting: “The listening trends we’ve been seeing, as a result of our data collection, contradict three of the most widely held beliefs about talk radio,” said Robertson. “Our conclusions are based on hard numbers, where many of these beliefs are based on ‘fuzzy’ metrics, like quarter hours and market share.”

Pandora has revealed a new e-Business advertising technology solution that it claims will allow for frictionless planning and buying for media buyers.

Inspired by their 1st album, ultranoir produces for Radio France and Le Mouv’ an experiential website for the publication of an exclusive interview with Joy Division, Peter Hook.

Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman talks about why he got back into radio and responds to criticism of the largest radio company in the United States.

Dozens of top radio and online audio executives from across Europe will meet in Brussels this week for the second annual RAIN Summit Europe, at the stylish Hotel BLOOM!

 

And we're happy to announce a last-minute addition to the day's agenda: Mediatic Conseil’s executive director Michel Colin will make one of the day's "featured presentations." Based in Switzerland, Mediatic Conseils offers training courses on local advertising techniques and on the effective use of local media. 

Other confirmed speakers already include an impressive mix of Internet radio and online audio executives, including:

Ali Abhary, CEO, Spectrum Medya, TurkeyJan-Willem Bruggenwirth, Managing Director, 538.nl, The NetherlandsMatthew Carver, Radio Coordinator, EGTA, BelgiumBen Drury, Founder/CEO, 7Digital, U.K.Hakan Kostepen, Executive Director, Product Strategy & Innovation, Panasonic, U.S.Jan Poelmann, RMS, GermanyRobert Proctor, CEO, Audioboo, U.K.Alain Reyes, Head Manager, NRJ, FrancePatrick Roger, VP/Global Sales & Marketing, Adswizz, FranceJöel Ronez, Director of New Media, RadioFrance, FranceChristian Schalt, General Manager, rs2 and KISS FM (Berlin), GermanyKjarten Slette, Head of Music, WiMPmusic, NorwayHolger Weiss, CEO, Aupeo, GermanySteve Whilton, Director of Product, Last.fm, U.K

The day's entire agenda is now available on the RAIN Summits Europe web page here :http://summits.kurthanson.com/rainsummiteurope/

We hope to see you in Brussels!

CNBC covers the growing popularity of a service called ZenoRadio, which assigns U.S. phone numbers to streams of popular radio stations from around the world, giving listeners in this country access via a simple phone call -- no smartphone needed....

 

So, the more customers listen, the more money ZenoRadio makes -- a striking difference from webcasters whose costs rise with additional listening. The article makes no mention of licensing content.

Read more from CNBC here (h/t to Tom Taylor Now).

On first inspection, Google All Access, the new streaming music service that Google announced on Wednesday, is merely a late arrival to an already crowded party. It's yet another entry alongside big players that include Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm, Rdio and Rhapsody.

But unlike any of those other companies, Google's music service could fail to capture market share from the big players and still be a success. That's because delivering music and new accounts is yet another way for Google to amass personal, intimate details about its hundreds of millions of users -- information that enables it to better target ads.

NPD Group SVP/Industry Analysis Russ Crupnick sees the music industry headed towards another cliff -- and thinks streaming audio and capturing the favor of the 100 million "casual music fans" may be the keys to averting it. Crupnick presented recent research findings at RAIN Summit West last month in Las Vegas. 

"We desperately need streaming radio to succeed," Crupnick told attendees. "We need to get the lawyers, guns, and money out of the way, and start having a better understanding of how to get consumers on to the next model."...

 

Here's the bright spot: online radio usage is up 6% among young people (see the chart) -- and up 23% among baby boomers -- in the past year. Online radio is even the "way number-one" reason people are quitting P2P downloading: "It's just so much easier to use a streaming service," Crupnick paraphrased....

 

But the real opportunity for streaming radio to succeed, and the music industry to avoid another cliff, Crupnick argues, is not going after the "core" music fans (the 30% of the population that accounts for 80% of the money spent on music). Radio and streaming services are already "serving them really well." The opportunity lies with attracting the other 70% of people -- the "casual" music fan.

 

Complete post : http://kurthanson.com/news/rain-summit-west-recap-npd-group-research

 

Rain Summit Europe, 23 May, Brussels: http://summits.kurthanson.com/rainsummiteurope/

 

NRJ Global, régie du groupe NRJ, renforce son savoir-faire sur les nouveaux médias en créant "NRJ Digital Solutions".

 

Cette nouvelle structure s’appuiera sur des compétences internes fortes : un studio graphique composé de DA et de webdesigners, un pôle technique entièrement intégré, un pôle marketing expert en acquisition, eCRM et community management et sur des ressources éditoriales pour la création de contenus textes et vidéos s’appuyant sur les ressources de son pôle Télévision.
Avec cette création, NRJ Global allie ainsi la puissance du média radio (plus de 12 millions d’auditeurs quotidiens pour les 4 radios du groupe NRJ) et celle de ses 4 chaînes de télévision (NRJ12, Chérie 25, NRJ Hits, NRJ Paris) avec l’horizon du développement digital pour une offre de communication globale : radio, TV et digitale.