Spotify Now With 60 million Subscribers Worldwide

Apple is outpaced. Broadcasters should beware of a changing music consumer pattern.
The Swedish company Spotify has added 20 million paid subscribers in less than a year, while it’s taken Apple Music more than a year and a half to make that progress. Spotify now has 60 million subscribers, compared to Apple Music’s 27 million. Together with the ad-supporter free service the total listening base for Spotify worldwide now is 140 million.

Kids are still listening to the radio.

But radio’s future is multiplatform. Smartphones and tablets on top.
The latest British study published by RAJAR in addition to the quarterly radio figures, is the Junior Audio Measurement Joint Audience Research(JAMJAR).  74% of British kids 9-14 yrs listen to radio every week. But 60% listen to the “radio through radio” (AM and FM), as the research quaintly puts it, for a average of 10.7 hours a week.

DAB Transition in Norway Heading For a Flop

"We will switch-off DAB"

Radio Norway loses half of its listeners. But all three nationwide losers. Continued DAB resistance. Many switch to local radio on FM.
The major radio channels is losing thousands of listeners when the FM network is step by step switched off. Nevertheless, the FM switch-off still remains in popular Oslo and Akershus County. For the country's major channel public service NRK P1, daily coverage fell by eight percent - from 1,517,000 in week 24 last year to 1,394,000 in the same week this year. The listeners leaving the NRK main channel have probably switched to FM local radio and on-line.

FM Band Boost in Sweden. 170 Additional Frequencies for Commercial Radio

Successful frequency planning prior to licensing period 2018-2026.
The Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) has presented a new frequency plan for the FM band for commercial radio in Sweden. This will provide more frequency radio resources and creates new opportunities for national, regional and local commercial broadcast areas. Current FM radio broadcast licenses will expire on July 31, 2018 and new eight-year licenses will be announced. Prior to this, PTS has been commissioned by the government to develop a new analogue commercial radio frequency plan which now will include 380 frequencies on the FM band besides frequencies assigned for public and community radio.

368 New FM Broadcast Licenses Issued in Denmark

Radio Vesterbro. Copenhagen

FM retained in a new local radio landscape for another 10 years.
The radio and television committee has now allocated 368 new broadcasting licenses on the FM band for commercial and non-commercial local radio (community radio). The licenses will be running from 1 January 2018 until 31 December 2027. This indicates that an FM switch-off will probably not be on the agenda in Denmark for a long time, if ever.

Serious Setback for DAB Radio

Multiplex to close as FM prospers in Ireland
A multi-city DAB digital radio multiplex is closing after lack of interest from the independent radio sector. The multiplex by dB currently carries services by public broadcaster RTÉ and a number of niche stations – namely Maria, Sunshine, Ri-Ra and RTÉ lyric. Previously, the mux has offered All 80s, All 90s, Zenith, Pure Classic, Love Radio, Amazing Radio and UCB.