Two award programs for Spanish podcasts
It’s not called the Spanish Podcast Awards, but the podcasts are in Spanish. Spotify is the producer. Fans vote to determine winners. Continue Reading
Jonas Brothers enter podcasting with iHeart
American pop band Jonas Brothers are entering into podcasting with a weekly video show called “Hey Jonas!.” It’s personal and biographical, covering their brotherhood and personal lives during their touring career. Exec producers are Amy Sugarman and Danielle Romo. Sugerman… Continue Reading
Amazon’s Alexa+ Now produces AI podcasts en masse.
Amazon’s Alexa+ virtual assistant has been conversationally answering user questions since 2014. Now, in a dramatic and consequential upgrade, Alexa+ has been upgraded to allow users to generate a conversational answer staged by AI-generated co-hosts. Continue Reading
A Google Win
Google has supplanted Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, ending Apple’s four-year hold on the top ranking — according to market research company KANTAR. Continue Reading
Urban One Q1: Net loss, but narrowing
Media conglomerate Urban One has released earnings for Q1, showing a reduction in the loss column compared to the year-ago Q1. Detail upon detail within. Continue Reading
Steve Goldstein: AI can make podcasts. But can it make anyone care?
In this edition of Steve Goldstein’s column, he assesses the goods and bads of AI. It can now generate podcasts at industrial scale, he observes. But after hearing what Gen Z thought of AI-generated shows, one thing is clear: making content is easy — making people care is much harder. “AI lowers the cost of making content, but it does nothing by itself to increase the value of that content to a listener or viewer; if anything, it increases the noise.” Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: May 12
— Meanings (Arielle Nissenblatt)
— Spotify unsurprisingly #1 (Edison Research)
Continue Reading
Spotify ‘wraps’ with a new review of its history
Spotify has launched a “wrapped”-style feature called Party of the Year(s), inviting subscribers to flash back to their earliest platform listens. It’s part of Spotify’s 20th birthday celebration. Continue Reading
In wake of Spotify “Verified,” artist stream counts plummet … sometimes
Spotify launched Verified, an authenticity badge which identifies human-created music and distinguishes it from AI generated (and AI influenced) music. Started this month, the intelligence feature works by evaluating different characteristics. Click for details. Continue Reading
Fading digital Boom leads to battle for market share (Borrell Research)
“Local digital advertising continues to grow, but at a significantly slower pace.” That is the opening declaration of the Executive Summary in Borrell Associates 24th annual report on local digital advertising. Titled “The Digital Boom Ends, The Battle for Market Share… Continue Reading
MiDIA Research resegments the music industry with “mid cap labels”
Mark Mulligan, Founder and Managing Director of global music-biz authority MIDiA Research, points to an interesting fact in the music industry hierarchy — and announces that his company will add a new size category to define the record industry. Continue Reading
Warner/Paramount take cue from “Michael,” join to create musician biopics
Warner Music and Paramount Pictures have agreed to a partnership arrangement for making theatrical movies about legendary musicians, past and present. The projects will be undertaken in collaboration with those musicians or their estates. Continue Reading