Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Video helped the podcast star. Case study of podcasts driving subscriptions. The clickbait mindset in music creation. Continue Reading
YouTube is still updating its on-demand streaming platform to have the same feature sets as its more established competitors. The latest new feature at YouTube Music is a playlist called Discover Mix. Continue Reading
Samantha Henig has joined BuzzFeed as its new executive editor of strategy. She joins the media company after several years with The New York Times, where she was editorial director of audio and helped launch The Daily. Continue Reading
Lee Brown is joining Spotify as the streaming service’s vice president of global sales strategy beginning next month. Brown’s previous post was as chief revenue officer for BuzzFeed. Continue Reading
Descript is a startup offering audio technology and tools to creators. The company is helmed by Groupon founder Andrew Mason, and is a spinoff of his Detour audio guide business that Bose acquired last year. Today, Descript announced both two business developments and a new tool. Continue Reading
Amazon announced that it is introducing a high-definition streaming music option. More than 50 million songs will be available in high-definition, with lossless, CD-quality audio. The service will also offer millions of tracks in Ultra HD, which is even better quality than CD audio. Continue Reading
Triton Digital announced that it has hired Daryl Battaglia for the post of senior vice president of market development and strategy, audience research. Battaglia joins the company from Nielsen, where he held jobs such as heading strategy and product development for the Media Analytics unit. Continue Reading
Spotify has been making tweaks and adjustments to its family plan, and the most recent continues the company’s efforts to restrict how people approach the group subscription option. The new terms and conditions published in August state that everyone on a family plan must reside at the same address. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia announced the launch of a new website that collects all of its sports programming. iHeartRadio Sports will contain more than 195 live broadcast and digital stations and more than 25,000 podcasts. Continue Reading
Pandora has followed up its Mac desktop app launch in the spring with a new Windows version of the software. Listeners for any of Pandora’s plans can download a dedicated app for its audio service. Continue Reading
We got word today of a new podcast called Fark and Schnitt, part of a nascent podcast network run by ex-radio station owner Steve Lapa. The show brings together longtime radio talent Todd Schnitt with FARK.COM founder Drew Curtis to explore weird and bizarre news stories, and is part of a nascent new podcast network. Continue Reading
Voxnest has released its latest data tracking the international usage of Spotify and Apple as a podcast platform. In August, the Voxnest Audience Network found that Spotify was the more popular service in Portugal, Algeria, and Bulgaria. Continue Reading