Category: media blog

I went to Home Depot on Friday and was there about half ab hour.  While there I heard a lot of contemporary country music.

I got back in the car, and being bored with my 6 CDs, my 12,000 iPod songs and most things on the dial I decided to dial over to 94.7 NASH-FM.

The song on the radio was catchy, something about tequila making a woman lose her clothes.  I caught the last twenty seconds or so and then…

COMMERCIALS.

So I punched CD and listened to “Beach Boys 2007 Mix”

Did NASH do anything wrong?  Nope.  Commercials are what employ us all (well except me these days, ha).

I share just to show you how hard this age is.  Here is a relatively new radio station that got me to sample…I even gave it preset 6 since I am so disinterested in the local FMs…they got me to sample, and within 15 seconds I was gone.

They got their preset so I am sure I will eventually swing by again…but when.

Sorry NASH, it’s not you, it’s me….and my lots of options.

First NPR…now this….not to mention the Beats thing.  Slowly but surely iTunes Radio is going to jump in this game in a big way.

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Apple had acquired the Beats Music streaming service for $3 billion to help bolster its own struggling competitor, 9to5Mac has learned that Apple is introducing a new ESPN station for iTunes Radio.

via Apple brings ESPN and 42 local NPR stations to iTunes Radio | 9to5Mac.

There are so many interesting things going in on this space, its seems like someone has a cool idea every day.

Soundtrack Your Brand is hoping for an edge not just with the Spotify association — which is a significant edge on its own — but also added services. They include unlimited streamed music, scheduled playlists that can be customised at different venues, social features to share the music across Facebook, Twitter and stream it on your website; business support; and offline mode.Pricing is at two tiers, 349 Swedish Kronor per month $53 for “Spotify Business” for small and independent venues, and 799 SEK $121 for “Spotify Enterprise,” which has yet to launch and will be aimed at larger deployments.

via Ex-Beats, Spotify Execs Debut Soundtrack Your Brand To Stream Spotify In Public Venues | TechCrunch.

Great article from last week about some of the advantages Apple would have once they go all-in on streaming audio.

They’d make a useful slab of exclusivity for a streaming iTunes, while Apple’s relationships with artists including Coldplay, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Adele, Justin Timberlake and others might serve it well in trying to secure big albums at the expense of rivals.

Note another recent Billboard report about Apple lobbying for more exclusives on iTunes – albeit the download store – after helping Beyoncé to sell nearly 829,000 copies in three days last December, through an exclusive digital deal.

via 7 ways a streaming iTunes could compete with Spotify and its rivals | Technology | theguardian.com.

I saw this one over the weekend, and it’s really fascinating/scary.  The author uses specific companies, and the paragraph I isolated uses Comcast as the hypothetical provider. I am not here to pick on them (again this is just the author’s future, it isn’t like Comcast has gone and done this) but it’s a fascinating look at how things could go in a world of Internet fast lanes.

The entire article is worth the read, but here is a taste.

Everything in Comcast Country is fast. Yahoo is fast. Facebook is fast. You don’t know how much Rupert Murdoch paid for his fast lane, but it must be a lot: nothing loads as quickly as Fox News. Microsoft made a deal for its new console, so the Xbox lives in Comcast Country. You’d honestly rather play Killzone 7 than Titanfall: Black Ops, but PlayStation multiplayer costs extra. Everything outside of Comcast Country is slow, and you have to look at Comcast’s ads before you leave the border. But at least the ads don’t suck. Comcast knows everywhere you go on the internet, and it knows what you like. Yes, I do need a new bicycle, you think to yourself. But only from Amazon, not eBay. eBay is slow. Amazon is in Comcast Country.

 

via Your corporate internet nightmare starts now | The Verge.

I saw this tweet the other day.

This morning heard "Piano Man" & "Hotel California" within minutes of each other on the radio! Only on @Mix938FM can you hear that! Great!

— Ken Borland (@KenBorland) May 15, 2014

Hotel California and Piano Man.  Two of the classic rockiest classic rock songs.  And the nice fellow was excited enough to tweet about it!

It’s one of those fascinating things about radio.  People will tell you they want more variety, except their behavior suggests they don’t.  “Play the hits’ will never steer you wrong.  Back to my comedy days, Jeff Foxworthy made a lot of money telling “You might be a redneck…” punchlines.  Sure there are edgier comedians and there are “cooler” songs than Hotel California in 2014….but sometimes you have to just give them what they want.