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Who said that radio is dead? AOL launches new AOL radio experience

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AOL unveiled a new AOL Radio experience that features a redesigned online player and new radio stations, including 150 local CBS RADIO stations and custom channels plus more than 200 AOL Radio channels. The new player, powered by CBS RADIO, lets users skip songs, add unlimited channel presets and share streams with AIM users. AOL Radio is part of AOL’s comprehensive music offering which includes AOL Music, the web’s most trafficked music site.

In addition, enhancements to AOL Radio’s online player lets users:

  • Skip and pause tracks
  • Select an unlimited number of channel pre-sets
  • Access a playlist of the previous 30 songs listened to
  • Easily share a station with friends via AIM integration within the player
  • Listen to AOL Radio through the built-in mini AOL Radio player in the Buddy List for those using AIM versions 6.0 and above.

    • Thankfully, the new AOL Radio experience will run on any Windows or Mac based browser that supports Adobe Flash v.9.

    My favorite station category? The 80’s Dance. It brings back tons of memories.

    Originally posted on June 10, 2008 @ 11:17 am

    Last.FM launches free global music service across partner sites

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    Last.fmannounced a new initiative called “Last.fm in a Box” with its key partners.

    “Last.fm in a Box” allows partners to offer their users free access to Last.fm’s industry-defining and world-leading personalized streaming radio services direct from the partners web site.

    The service is dubbed “Last.fm in a Box” because it’s a complete “soundtrack for the Web” experience for users—featuring millions of tracks from Last.fm’s unparalleled music catalogue. Based on the open platform of Last.fm, partner sites can adopt “Last.fm in a Box” simply, easily and quickly. The service will be ad-supported allowing brands and sponsors the opportunity to reach millions of highly engaged music fans across the Web beyond the Last.fm site.

    “Last.fm In a Box” will be made available to multiple online platforms, including Bebo, Billboard.com, Break Media, CBS Television Stations, CBS Affiliates, eMusic, Frengo, Gigya, iGoogle, Live Nation, Meebo, MP3.com, Netvibes, Ning, Pageflakes, Photobucket, Piczo, Six Apart, Stardoll, WAYN.com and WordPress.com.

    Originally posted on June 4, 2008 @ 11:18 pm

    Qbox launches free, streaming social network music service from social media sites

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    Qbox Corporation announced the launch og its streaming social network music service at Qbox.com. Qbox makes it easy for users to search, organize, and listen to entire catalog of free and legally available online music by indexing inventories of top social media sites– that’s about 21 million songs.

    Qbox is an integrated hybrid desktop/web application, designed for user freedom and access to content from multiple social networks. It serves like a remote control to all the available music being served by all social networks like MySpace, YouTube, and Bebo.

    The key words here are: free and legal. Where do I download the application?

    Originally posted on June 5, 2008 @ 12:16 am

    AOL Music launches country and urban music sites

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    AOL Music launched two new sites, The Boot and The Boom Box, dedicated exclusively to country and urban (hip hop and R&B) music genres.

    Both sites will provide music fans access to their favorite artists, including video and song premieres, news, photos, exclusive interviews, and original editorial features. The sites will be monetized through varying advertising packages that will be sold exclusively through AOL’s Platform-A services.

    These follow the successful launches last year of Spinner and PopEater. AOL Music is the Web’s most trafficked music site according to Comscore.

    Originally posted on May 23, 2008 @ 10:36 am

    JamBase adds imeem and Fuzz.com to syndication partners

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    The music industry is changing its tune. Traditionally driven by album sales, it is now seeing live music surpass recorded music as its fastest-growing source of revenue. Recent industry figures show that concert-ticket sales in North America rose from $1.7 billion in 2000 to $3.9 billion in 20071. Fans, musicians and promoters alike require a new set of tools to accommodate this shifting business and entertainment model.

    In response to the increased demand for live shows and the need of music fans to find information about shows and musicians, JamBase, the largest database for live music show listings and ticket information, announced that imeem and Fuzz.com are joining the roster of content syndication partners who will carry live show information provided by JamBase.

    To meet the needs of its growing base of fans and the syndication partners providing music information to them, JamBase is constantly fueling its database of music listings with up-to-the-minute announcements and touring news. The JamBase database combines member-contributed information along with data received from thousands of music industry partners such as booking agencies, venues and record labels, and includes the following features:

    • 40,000 artists ranging from independent musicians to mainstream performers
    • 50,000 listings for music venues worldwide
    • 50 genres including rock, funk, country, jazz, hip-hop and more
    • 30 percent of content is fan-contributed
    • Live person data controls – no content crawlers or bots for discovering information

    Originally posted on May 20, 2008 @ 3:12 pm