First-person sponsor endorsements under FTC scrutiny; one case resolved

A prevailing type of sponsor message in podcast advertising is the host-read personal endorsement of a product or service. If you listen to a lot of podcasts, you develop an impression that companies give away a high volume of samples as the basis of this marketing strategy. An FTC investigation — started last year and completed last week — potentially pokes a hole in that assumption. Continue Reading

Sirius earnings: Bullish on podcasting despite cyclical softness

“The economics of podcasting got a little out of hand, to say the least.” So said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SiriusXM. Sirius noted that headwinds with economic and business uncertainties causing many major advertisers to be cautious in their marketing spend. Still podcasting grew 24% in full-year 2022, and represented 38% of total advertising business in the year. Continue Reading

Podcast downloads show gains (Podtrac) and RAIN Remix of January Top Publishers ranker

Podtrac’s Top Podcast Publishers monthly ranker for January tells a growth story. We learn that the U.S. monthly audience increased for 15 of the top 20 publishers. Also, average monthly audience was up month-over-month and 16% over January 2022.  Click through for the results and the RAIN remix, which re-sorts the top publishers by average listeners and downloads per show. Continue Reading

Mark Mulligan: Everyone hurts – the problem with ‘fixing’ streaming

by Mark Mulligan

This guest column from Mark Mulligan breaks down what mid-level success looks like from a musician’s viewpoint. “Streaming was built for yesterday’s music business,” Mark Mulligan asserts in this guest column. He breaks down what success looks like to midlevel artists, then doubles it … and it’s still not enough. Mulligan suggests two possible innovations in the existing royalty system.
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American Music Fairness Act reenters Congress, probably bound for stalemate

It has been in circulation since 2021, when the American Music Fairness Act was introduced to Congress.The proposed bill intends to rectify what musicians and their chief lobbying organization, SoundExchange, call a “decades-long injustice.” The argument is over a historical anamoly which has always exempted broadcast radio stations from paying creator royalties — songwriters for the most part. Continue Reading