iHeartMedia joins with Collab Inc. to launch Curativity and new kids podcasts
iHeartMedia is partnering with digital talent network/studio to form a new network called Curativity. The alliance kicks off with three kid shows. Continue Reading
Podcast downloads +45% year-over-year (Podtrac)
In our latest intermittent check-ins to Podtrac’s weekly podcast download report, we see a 45% increase between March 22, 2021 and March 27, 2022. The Society & Culture category showed the strongest week-over-week growth at +5%. Science showed the weakest week-over-week growth at -7%. Click for graphics.
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Podcast Movement Hall of Fame returns with eight inductees
The Podcast Movement Hall of Fame, which was inaugurated in 2015, was resumed at last week’s Podcast Movement Evolutions gathering after a hiatus of a few years. “We are honoring the pioneers,” was the theme for this returning ceremony. Continue Reading
Spotify’s “Loud&Clear” portal evangelizes value to musicians
Spotify has dropped an interactive graphic website which presents statistics promoting Spotify’s value (and the value of streaming music generally) to musicians at many levels. Up top, Spotify notes that it has paid over $30-billion in royalties to the music industry as a whole, including $7-billion last year. Following that is an interactive card deck, called Top 10 Takeaways,” which highlights selected payout metrics. And there is much more. Click for illustrations and a link. Continue Reading
Crooked Media signs with SiriusXM / SXM Media
Podcast network Crooked Media has signed with SXM Media (ad-sales arm of Sirius XM), giving SXM exclusive global ad sales rights across Crooked Media’s catalog. Crooked is best known for Pod Save America but has 27 titles. The sales rights in this deal are extensive. Click for details. Continue Reading
Opinion flood: Podcasters and listeners rate services in Podnews survey
At this week’s Podcast Movement Evolutions, Podnews editor James Cridland released some results of the recent Podnews Report Card 2022, which asks podcasters and listeners to rate and comment on platforms, apps, podcasting services, and directories according to several criteria. Today, the Podnews website spills out an enormous repository of survey results. Click for details and the link. Continue Reading
Folger’s wins top grade in Veritonic 2022 US Audio Logo Index
Veritonic has released its US Audio Logo Index, ranking the sonic brand identifiers of dozens of companies. Click through to hear the winner, see the top-10 list, and link to the larger listening station, and read the criteria for scoring and judging the effectiveness of audio logos. Continue Reading
“Indies should not be discouraged” — Wondery CEO Jen Sargent
“Indies should not be discouraged” was the encouragement offered by Wondery CEO Jen Sargent to a hall full of podcasters at Podcast Movement Evolutions 2022 in Los Angeles Wednesday morning. Brought onstage by The Infinite Dial presenter Tom Webster, Sargent talked about podcasting’s growth, and how podcaster’s could view the future. Click for a bunch of quotes. Continue Reading
Global streaming nears $17B in 2021, leading the worldwide recorded music market to $26B
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) released its full-year 2021 report of worldwide recorded music revenue. As with the recent U.S. report supplied by the RIAA, streaming music was the leading revenue category around the world in 2021. Click for details, graphic, and report download. Continue Reading
Weekly and monthly podcast listening dip, showing return to work and school (The Infinite Dial)
In The Infinite Dial 2022, released today in a live-theater webinar at Podcast Movement Evolutions, podcast listening was shown to pull back from high levels during Covid lifestyle changes. The shift indicated a return to pre-Covid lifestyles of work and school, at least to some extent, among monthly and weekly podcast listeners. Click for details and graphics. Continue Reading
Rumor Fact(ory): Spotify hints at moving toward web3, possibly NFTs
Some buzz has developed around the idea of Spotify taking interest in NFTs. The evidence for this seems to come mainly from job listings that mention web3, the buzzword for cutting-edge online trends that include meta environment, blockchain decentralized ownership of digital things, and NFTs. Click for details and speculation. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Tuesday, March 22
Jottings of Note
— New Phase (Kelli Hurley)
— Acquisitional (The Verge)
— Smartest (Tom Truitt)