Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: This is the dawning of the age of the artist. A history of digital radio in Italy. The 2020 Ultimate Podcast Bracket. Continue Reading
On Monday the U.S. stock market underwent its biggest percentage drop since 2008, involving the biggest point decline ever. We looked at eight important audio stocks to see how they fared. They all dropped, but the range of damage might be surprising. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board’s 2018 ruling for mechanical royalties to be paid by streaming services has been on the books for awhile, but it will be returning to court this week. Four streaming services filed appeals against the ruling in March, and the U.S. Court of Appeals will begin hearing arguments from the legal counsel for Amazon and Spotify today. Continue Reading
Podcast analytics and attribution company Chartable has plunged into the expanding pool of lists, announcing today the Chartable Top 200. The company is headlining the new product as “The podcast industry’s first global, weekly rankings.” We get details from CEO Dave Zohrob. Continue Reading
Spotify introduced a new platform aimed at promoting up-and-coming artists. The RADAR program will feature 36 performers from around the world. The artists will be featured in an On Our RADAR playlist. Continue Reading
Amazon Music has hired Kirdis Postelle for the new role of global head of artist marketing. She was most recently EVP/general manager at Hitco Entertainment, and has also worked at Warner Bros Records and Capital Music Group. Continue Reading
Lydia Polgreen who has been Editor in Chief of HuffPost since 2017, is moving to Gimlet Media as head of content, the Daily Beast and other sources report. It’s an interesting choice, and an interesting move for someone with sterling career in traditional journalism. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Kevin Weatherly as its head of North American programming. Weatherly was previously a senior vice president of programming at Entercom. Continue Reading
Audible is running a new promotional campaign in Australia/New Zealand aimed at encouraging more people to pick up audiobooks. The campaign has tapped some popular local celebrities to tout audiobooks as a way to keep up with their ‘to-read’ lists even when they lead busy lives. Continue Reading
Pex, an analytics and digital rights management company, has acquired Dubset Media Holdings. Dubset offers tools for DJs and other creators to identify the audio used in mixes and remixes, and to secure the rights for their use. Continue Reading
Entercom Communications announced a big change in its C-suite leadership. The media and entertainment company’s Chief Operating Officer Weezie Kramer will retire later this year. She will be succeeded by Susan Larkin, who will assume the COO post effective May 5. Continue Reading
ABC Audio and ESPN Audio have entered a partnership for podcast ads. Under their agreement, the ESPN Audio ad sales team will represent the ABC Audio podcast network. ABC Audio joins FiveThirtyEight, National Geographic, and ESPN’s own network as ad sales clients. Continue Reading