Tag: SoundCloud

SoundCloud To Roll Out Mobile Video Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Audio streaming platform SoundCloud is set to introduce video ads on its mobile apps in a bid for higher ad revenue. U.S. users will be the first to encounter those video ads, which will pop up between tracks when the app is actively running in the foreground. Earlier this month, the Berlin-based company received a $70-million investment from Twitter, which is also in the midst of making a strong push for video ads. Launched in 2008, SoundCloud now amasses around 175 million unique monthly users.

What Brands Need To Do
While it is debatable whether it is a good idea to serve video ads on a purely audio-based platform, this move clearly shows that SoundCloud is taking a cue from Spotify, which introduced video ads to its service in 2014. If your brand is targeting music lovers or has a strong music connection, the new ad offering from SoundCloud may be worth looking into.
To read more on video ads and how their lengths may affect their effectiveness, please check out this report on our joint research study with YuMe.

 

Source: CNET

On Trend: Music Streaming Growing Strong Despite Swift Boycott

Posted on by Richard Yao

One of the biggest stories in media this week has been Taylor Swift abruptly removing all her back catalogue from Spotify, sparking debate on the monetization strategy and shifting audience behavior of today’s music industry. Some artists have voiced their support for Swift’s decision and criticized the unfair compensation granted by streaming services.

Although Swift’s current popularity may let her defy media consumption trends, the move from ownership to subscribed access seems all but inevitable, as Spotify royalties have reportedly overtaken iTunes earnings by 13% in Europe.

Impressive as that sounds, Spotify still got beaten by Pandora in App Annie’s new Music App Index report released today, which ranked the latter as No. 1 among music apps for most downloads and monthly revenue with a reported $100 million in mobile ad revenue for the recent quarter.

Both services, however, might need to watch out for SoundCloud, an up-and-coming challenger who just signed a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. In an effort to alleviate the tension between musicians and digital music services, the deal mandates that Warner artists will get paid when all versions of their music, including the D.J. remixes and fanmade mash-ups, are played on SoundCloud.

All in all, one could say that music streaming services are taking the “breakup” with Taylor Swift pretty well.

Twitter Is Bringing Audio To Your Feed

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: ReadWrite

Instead of reading, you can now listen to your Twitter feed. Well, not all of it—just the tweets that include Twitter Audio Card, a new feature that lets users discover and listen to audio directly in feeds on both iOS and Android devices. Soundcloud and iTunes are the first to come on board, but Twitter says more partners are signing up. As Twitter continues to integrate multi-media experience to its service, brands will no doubt benefit from a diversified toolbox.

Is SoundCloud Turning Into Spotify-lite?

Posted on by Lab Team

Following yesterday’s news that Snapchat is planning to add ads to its offering, SoundCloud, the popular audio-sharing platform, is now launching an ad-supported On SoundCloud program to let music and podcast creators monetize the audio they post. The program will have users “see and hear” commercials alongside sponsored tracks. In addition, it announced plans to launch a subscription service to allow listeners to opt out those ads. Essentially, it’s slowly turning into Spotify-lite, just with fewer music licenses. And as long as it doesn’t annoy the users, its popularity will pay off.

SoundCloud Reaches 180 Million Users, Revamps Site

Posted on by Lab Team

As SoundCloud becomes an increasingly dominant platform for music sharing, it may soon be able to claim the title “YouTube of audio.” The service, which launched in October 2008, rolled out its latest version, called “Next” on Tuesday along with the news that it is now used by 180 million users a month. New features include improved search, social media integration, and sharing functionality.