The Podcast Consumer, an annual research report from Edison Research and Triton Digital and released today, represents the 12th year of podcast research conducted by Edison. This year’s report reveals a jump from incremental podcast adoption seen for several years. “This year, we saw a spike we haven’t seen before,” said Tom Webster of Edison Research, who presented a webinar. Continue Reading
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The paid subscription model presents an opportunity for podcasting, and an experimentation phase seems to be underway now, and accelerating. Different networks are taking different slants in setting up paywalls. There are parallels with the streaming music business.
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Podtrac, a podcast audience measurement company since 2005, today released the first monthly ranking of podcast shows and networks. Called the Podcast Industry Audience Rankings, the report is not just the first in a series for Podtrac, but the first ranker of its type for podcasting that we are aware of. It’s fascinating, even as questions abound. Continue Reading
Bottom-line profit in the streaming music business is elusive, and progress is measured less by reduced losses as by audience and revenue growth. That’s why Spotify is so happy about its 2015 financials. Continue Reading
Last week we covered the launch of RadioPublic, a for-profit, public benefit corporation spawned by PRX, the open marketplace which brings together audio producers and public station program directors. To dig deeper, we spoke to Jake Shapiro, former CEO of PRX and founder/CEO of RadioPublic, and Kerri Hoffman, the new PRX CEO. Continue Reading
Continued heat is being applied to Google, YouTube, and — on a deeper level — to the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Jonathan Taplin is a music and film producer, inventor, entrepreneur, media executive, and scholar. He put an OpEd in the New York Times in which he said that Google’s YouTube resembles a protection racket. He also wants AM/FM to start paying artist/label royalties, and exemption he terms “the original sin.” Continue Reading
Rhapsody notified us about a new app called Rhapsody VR. Not an update to the venerable music service app, but a supplementary one that uses 360 video technology to view concert clips. Rhapsody calls it “Music’s first virtual reality experience.” Continue Reading
Webcaster host StreamLicensing runs a business model that pays label royalties on behalf of its member stations, funding the business with advertising target to combined audiences. But when that royalty cost dramatically escalated for U.S. webcasting in January, owner Marvin Glass sold to Stardome Media Group and warned the new owners that success would be an uphill climb. We spoke with a Stardome exec about the way forward. Continue Reading
In a move that seems to cross a perceptual boundary between music artists and music services, Casey Rae, CEO of the Future of Music Coalition, is resigning that post and taking the role at Sirius XM as Director of Music Licensing. He will remain in Washington D.C. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in March grew by 2% compared to February, and notched a 15% rise year-over-year, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, released this morning. Click through for historical charts. Continue Reading
At RAIN Summit West, April 17 in Las Vegas, RAIN founder Kurt Hanson delivered his annual State of the Industry address. As usual, 1960s-era Star Trek images tested the Trekker credentials of the audience. He also brought an Amazon Echo to the stage, making it (her?) a co-presenter. Continue Reading
PodcastOne announced that Amy Lewis Schacter has joined the company in the role of Vice President, East Coast Sales. Schachter will be stationed in New York. Schachter is making the leap from radio to podcasting after 20 years with CBS where, in 2013, she was named Digital Sales Person of the Year in 2013. Continue Reading