ASCAP and BMI jointly comment on DOJ review of consent decrees in a middle-road acceptance of no change

Posted on by Brad Hill

ASCAP sent us an open letter written jointly with BMI to Makan Delrahim, the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. The subject is a recently concluded DoJ review of consent decrees, the government regulated law which compels ASCAP and BMI to license creative musical works at a set royalty structure. ASCAP and BMI don’t like being compelled. Congress doesn’t like choking a pipeline of content availability to distributors. The latest result is that the 80-year-old law will continue without change for now … and there was an unexpected twist in the proceedings. Continue Reading →

24% of Cumulus radio streams are on smart speakers; and interesting ad campaign results

Posted on by Brad Hill

“Smart speaker ownership soars and brings AM/FM back into the home,” writes Pierre Bouvard in a new Westwood One blog post. A key statistic from the parent company backs this up: 24% of stream listening to Cumulus radio stations happens on smart speakers. Cumulus booked an interesting smart speaker preroll campaign with a consortium of Ford dealerships. Click through for more context, a chart, and link to more. Continue Reading →

On MLK Day, a dramatic and exhaustive manifesto to solve institutional racism in public media

Posted on by Brad Hill

A loose organization of 200 public media professionals, including some of NPR’s most illumined leaders, has been organized by public radio veteran Celeste Headlee. A months-long collaborative effort to remedy institutional racism is brought into public view today. It is a 6,500-word roadmap for structural corrections in public media related to diversity, equality, and the very conception of journalism. Continue Reading →

Descript raises $30M Series B, plans to expand enterprise tools

Posted on by Brad Hill

Descript gets a cash pile of $30-million to further its audio/video production business. The plan is to expand from a consumer service targeting amateur creators, adding a new focus on enterprise tools for the internal communication needs of companies. Currently, Descript markets to independent creators, amateur, semi-pro, and professional, with smart tools that record, transcribe and edit audio and video combined. Click through for details. Continue Reading →

Podchaser raises $4M; plans new features

Posted on by Brad Hill

Podchaser, a podcast database company and social network of sorts for podcast listeners, announces today that it has raised $4-million from lead investor Greycroft, plus a slewe of additional investors and participating angels. The service plans to build gamification and discussion features into an environment that self-describes as “The IMDb of Pdcasting.” Continue Reading →

AdLarge Media goes with TPX for exclusive ad-rep in Canada

Posted on by Brad Hill

AdLarge Media is announcing its agreement with TPX (Toronto-based The Podcast Exchange) for exclusive representation of AdLarge’s digital audio inventory. The cabana division of AdLarge is where that inventory resides, and is mostly podcasts. This initiative represents AdLarge’s first entry into a non-U.S. market.  Continue Reading →

Jeff Vidler: Just Because ‘Podcast’ Rhymes with ‘Broadcast’ Doesn’t Mean…

Posted on by Jeff Vidler

by Jeff Vidler
Signal Hill Insights President Jeff Vidler says podcasting has key differences from broadcasting. “Podcasts and broadcast radio are vastly different. Yes, they’re both based on audio, so certain audio skills are transferable. But that’s about it.” He breaks out three important podcast characteristics that radio professionals could be aware of. Continue Reading →

iHeartRadio and NPR demonstrate key network strategies (Podtrac Top Publishers)

Posted on by Brad Hill

In the December 2020 Top Podcast Publishers report from Podtrac, iHeartRadio held the #1 slot and NPR maintained its #2 ranking — those two networks remaining invulnerable to competitive infringement in the entire history of Podtrac’s ranking. As we have noted before, iHR and NPR pursue opposite audience concentration strategies. A glance backward shows that each of these two juggernauts has doubled down on its strategy. Click through for numbers and an illustrative chart. Continue Reading →