Spotify has increased its war chest of cash, taking one-billion dollars in a debt offering to institutional investors that points explicitly to a future Initial Public Offering (IPO). The deal rewards investors with discounted pricing in the event of a Spotify IPO, and Spotify is punished if the public offering is delayed.
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Tuned Global and Triton Digital have reached a partnership in which Triton's ad-exchange technology will monetize Tuned Global's mobile apps. Specifically, Triton's a2x programmatic platform will transact sales across the white-label service Tuned Global offers.
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AdLarge has announced its latest podcast ad-repping deal, partnering with ex-SNL comedian Jim Beuer to exclusively bring to market his two existing podcasts, plus others currently in development.
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Today brings an announcement from ad-tech purveyor XAPPmedia, describing a partnership with Slacker Radio that brings XAPP's voice-interactive technology to Slacker listeners for navigating the music library. Slacker users are served promotions for playlists, artists, or songs, and can switch to the promoted music by saying a word or phrase without touching the screen.
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BandPage has been acquired by YouTube. The artist support and engagement platform announced the purchase today, and he company reaffirmed its commitment to helping artists access digital tools and services."
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Triton Digital announced this morning that NPR has selected Triton's Tap Podcast platform for monetization of NPR podcasts. The deal offers advertisers flexible ways to plan campaigns targeted to NPR's on-demand podcast listeners. We spoke with Dominick Milano of Triton Digital about how it all works.
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8tracks, the popular crowdsourced listening platform is testing a regulated crowdfunding idea that could result in a widely distributed venture capital round and an influx of millions of dollars for business development. We spoke to David Porter, 8tracks Founder and CEO, to get details.
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7digital is partnering with eMusic to power the digital music platform following its re-launch. Under this arrangement, eMusic will access its licensed content for customers through the 7digital catalog. 7digital will also assume responsibility for rights holder reporting and will provide other enhancements to eMusic’s service in user experience and content.
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Spotify has acquired two companies, adding their talent to its product development and engineering teams. One purchase is Cord Project, the other is Soundwave. No financial details of the purchases were disclosed.
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Univision has acquired a controlling 40% stake in satirical publication The Onion, causing cognitive dissonance among observers. While the Spanish-language media giant's investment in satire might not make the most intuitive sense, it does work demographically.
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iHeartMedia is partnering with Canada's largest media company, Bell Media, to take iHeartRadio to Canada this year. The exclusive deal pairs iHeart's listening platform, one of the three leading streaming audio services in the U.S., with Bell Media's 106 licensed radio stations across Canada.
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