Santa Barbara, California’s eight decades old classical radio signal KDB 93.7 FM is up for auction. The Santa Barbara Foundation, which owns the license, has voted to sell it off. The Foundation’s principals say that the operation has run up big deficits that the non-profit cannot afford. “Unfortunately, despite the on-air pleas we made during […]
In her Tuesday keynote address to the Future of Music Summit, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel emphasized the still relevant role of radio in her remarks about the relationship between the music industry and the work of the Commission. First, she revealed that her brother is a professional bongo player, as a percussionist for the alt […]
Fighting off as-yet-undiagnosed intermittent internet issues I still managed to watch a good portion of several Monday sessions from the Future of Music Summit in Washington, DC. While I cannot report substantially on any one session, I can give my overall impressions of the day. It seems like there were three major recurring themes: 1. […]
Velvet Underground legend Lou Reed has died. I cannot do his remarkable life justice in this brief post, but note that Reed wrote one of my favorite songs about radio: “Rock ‘n Roll.” “Jenny said, when she was just five years old you know there’s nothin’ happening at all Every time she put on the […]
This piece originally appeared in our free weekly email newsletter, the Radio Survivor Bulletin. Sign up now to get a digest of important and insightful links and commentary about the future of radio. I’ve been giving some thought to the relationship between musicians and radio. In particular, I’m interested in independent artists and labels and […]
The final schedule has been released for the Future of Music Summit, happening next Monday and Tuesday, October 28 – 29. The agenda for the 12th annual summit features 20 sessions and events with more than 50 speakers, advocates, musicians and experts on the music industry. When I spoke to Future of Music Coalition interim […]
A lengthy article on The Deal Pipeline outlines some of the recent public radio transactions involving classical music radio stations in particular. For those of us who have monitored the deals mentioned in the piece, it’s a fascinating overview of what seems like increasing consolidation in public radio. Of interest to me, since I have […]
North Carolina Representative Mel Watt introduced a new bill to tackle music performance royalties for terrestrial radio this week. His timing isn’t the greatest however, as the government shutdown certainly threatens to overshadow his Free Market Royalty Act. As its name implies the Free Market Royalty Act would create a market wherein broadcasters and copyright […]
iTunes Radio is not innovative, nor is it a great app. However, I think it stands a chance of doing what Apple set out to do. As I explained yesterday, I think Apple intends to bring streaming radio to millions of iOS users who don’t already use a service like Pandora. Then, Apple wants to […]
Apple’s first foray into online radio shipped last Wednesday as part of the latest version 7 of its iOS mobile operating system. The big question is: What’s the big deal? Or, rather, Is it a big deal? After using the service for four days I have to conclude that iTunes Radio is a big deal, […]
