RAIN Notes: Monday, September 18
Project Gutenburg, MIT, and Microsoft collaborate on free audiobook project
Project Gutenberg, whose mission is to make copyright-free books available online, has partnered with Microsoft and MIT in an AI project to narrate thousands of open-access audiobooks with synthetic voices. Continue Reading
PodcastOne hosts get the new PodcastOne stock; employees too
In what it calls an industry first, PodcastOne (a subsidiary of LiveOne) announced that the company will distribute recently minted PODC stock to its show hosts, and to employees. Nearly 100 individuals will be recipients. Continue Reading
Magellan intros “similar shows” dashboard for intelligently expanding ad campaigns
Magellan AI has unleashed a dashboard feature which is not distinctly named, but functions to reveal podcasts with similar audiences. This is mainly for advertisers who wish to extend a successful campaign. It is self-serve, both for exploration by advertisers, and for connecting directly with podcast owners. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Friday, September 15
— Latino Learnings (Edison Research)
— Exposition (Laura Beil)
— Fixer-Upper (Acast)
RAIN Notes: Thursday, September 14
— Economical (The Economist)
— Holistic (E.B. Moss)
— P.S. from PM (Podcast Movement)
Digital distribution companies criticize the UMG/Deezer royalty breakthrough
The new royalty attribution method recently deployed by Universal Music Group and streaming music platform Deezer seeks to make royalty calculation more fair. But the change is not universally applauded. Two digital distribution companies Believe and TuneCore, whose customers are mainly indie musicians, calls the system “reverse Robin Hood.” Continue Reading
Nielsen shake-up now involves top leadership as Karthik Rao takes over
We learn from Inside Radio and The Wall Street Journal that Nielsen has changed leadership. David Kenny steps down from the CEO chair, and veteran Nielsen exec Karthik Tao takes over. Kenny remains involved as executive chairman. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Wednesday, September 13
Top ten popular podcasts consumed in affluent households (Edison Research)
In an interesting data slice, Edison Research has published a top-10 list of podcasts that index highest in households whose incomes exceed $100k. Among the audio data gathering ecosystem Edison is uniquely able to create such a list, via its thorough survey work in which 40,000 podcast listeners are interviewed in detail. Click for the graphic result. Continue Reading
Nine new shows enter Triton’s Australian Podcast Ranker
In an encouraging sign of variety, nine podcasts debuted on Triton Digital’s Australian Podcast Ranker in August. The most impressive jump into the list is Australian True Crime, a Bravecasting show on the Acast platform that enjoys 265,000 listeners and 1.1-million… Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: Tuesday, September 12
— Small-biz Victory (Acast)
— World’s Best Tailgate? (ESPN)
— Synthetic Personalities (Jacobs Media)