audioBoom announced new hires at two of its international offices. The audio and podcasting company has hired Mike Newman as head of content partnerships in the UK, and Umesh Barve as head of partnerships in India. Continue Reading
Canalys, a British research firm, has released its latest projections for smart speakers. The company anticipates that the smart speaker installed base will reach 100 million by the end of 2018. By 2020, it estimates the installed base will reach 225 million units. Continue Reading
Podtrac has released its podcast ranker for June 2018. Overall, the chart showed few changes from its May iteration. This American Life from NPR led the ranking for yet another month, while the New York Times’ The Daily took the second spot once again. Continue Reading
Spotify Ad Studio has rolled out in Australia. The self-serve advertising platform launched after at least six months of testing in the market. The tool can create an audio ad to air on the streaming service, from the production to the audience targeting to analytics. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Stories include another view on Nielsen mid-year data and a Pandora exec talking about the audio advertising landscape. Continue Reading
YouTube has announced a new tool designed to help copyright holders protect their work. It has rolled out a new Copyright Match tool designed to help identify re-uploads of their protected content. Continue Reading
ASCAP shared the results from two court proceedings against broadcast radio stations from Royce International Broadcasting Corporation in California. The stations, KFRH-FM, KREV-FM, and KRCK-FM, will pay the performing rights organization more than $1.5 million in license fees, costs, attorneys’ fees, and statutory damages. Continue Reading
Nielsen has released its mid-year music report for Canada. The market showed overall growth, with streaming playing a major role in the positive performance. Total album equivalent consumption rose 19.8% to 31.3 million units. Continue Reading
Podtrac shared its podcast publisher rankings for June 2018. The entries on the chart are the same as they were in May 2018, with only shifts in placement. Total global downloads for those publishers grew 1% from the previous month and rose 65% on-year from June 2017. Continue Reading
WQXR, the all-classical music radio station operating under the New York Public Radio umbrella, has hired Lukas Krohn-Grimberghe as director of musical products on its digital team. He will begin the position on August 13. Continue Reading
Sprint has unveiled two new pricing plans, and one of them leverages the wireless carrier’s stake in music streaming platform Tidal. The new Unlimited Plus plan will come bundled with a Tidal subscription in addition to Hulu access and other perks. Continue Reading
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded grants focused on increasing diversity in podcasts. New York Public Radio and PRX both received money for their events centered on diversity and education in the audio shows. Continue Reading