RAIN Podcast Business Summit infographic: Agenda, speakers, panels, pics
The RAIN Podcast Business Summit is next Wednesday, 9am – 1pm. Click through for the infographic: Sessions, Speakers, Pics. Tickets are still available.
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Research finds TV shows can cause up to 19 accidental smart speaker activations a day
The major tech companies making voice assistants all faced consumer backlash in the past several months over privacy issues. While many took steps to give users more control over participating in human review programs, the exposés also revealed that many smart speakers record their users at times when the individual hadn’t uttered a wake word. New research from a group of universities explored the extent to which popular TV shows can accidentally turn on a smart speaker’s microphone. Continue Reading
Edison Research releases its first quarterly Top Ten Podcast ranker
Edison Research has broken out a Top Ten Podcast ranker, which measures podcast popularity among weekly podcast listeners. The ranker will be released quarterly, and will represent a rolling four-quarter average. This method smooths out irregularities such as quick-rise, quick-fall podcast flashes in the pan. Continue Reading
Survey: Half of U.S. adults have tried a voice assistant behind the wheel
Voicebot.ai and Cerence released a report about the use of voice assistants in cars. According to the survey of 1,090 U.S. adults, more people are using voice assistants in cars than on smart speakers. Just over half (50.9%) of U.S. adults, or about 129.7 million people, have used any kind of voice assistant in their vehicles. Continue Reading
Radioplayer Germany gets standalone Apple Watch app
Radioplayer Germany is rolling out a standalong app for the Apple Watch. The software, compatible with the Series 4 and Series 5 version of the wearable, will let listeners tune in to Radioplayer without their phones. Continue Reading
Podcast Music Licensing: 4 Things You Need to Know
by Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Global music rights expert Deborah Mannis-Gardner shared her insights about the key facts of podcast licensing with RAIN. This post breaks down the basics of licensing music for your show. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: Terms and Conditions, Times Radio, and always order two
by James Cridland
A weekly column from the preeminent Radio Futurologist. THIS WEEK: Radiocentre’s fight against pointless terms and conditions, discussions about Times Radio, and savvy burger marketing. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Some Spotify stuff
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Over the past several days, Spotify was at the center of some announcements, updates, and rumors. Here’s the roundup. Continue Reading
New Pandora app lets Apple Watch owners listen without a smartphone
Pandora has been launching new versions of its audio service for mobile and Mac, and now it has a development in wearables. This week, the company unveiled a standalone app for the Apple Watch. The app means that users can listen to Pandora content on-the-go without their phones. Continue Reading
Sonos can now be the default player for Google Assistant
Google Assistant can now use a Sonos speaker as its default hardware. Sonos hardware received updates this week that will allow those devices to be the primary player for requests of the voice assistant. Continue Reading
News dominates Podtrac show ranker for January 2020
Podtrac released its chart of the top 20 podcasts for January. The month displayed a shift toward news and politics programming. It also included shows that publish multiple times a day. Continue Reading
Audio and Voice Control in the Vehicle
Audio is entering a new golden age, ushered in by smart speakers, new content choices, and voice control interfaces. Guest columnist Bob Maccini offers statistics and perspectives. Continue Reading