A proposed bill nicknamed the No Fakes Act (Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe) seeks to recording artists and performers in all fields of entertainment from unauthorized use of their voices and likenesses. The bill states the problem… Continue Reading
Spotify’s announced discontinuation of its Car Thing interface, a dedicated device for streaming Spotify in-car, has been met by owners with disappointment, bafflement, requests, and anger. We sample the disappointment and outrage. Continue Reading
— Q&A (Sounds Profitable)
— Blatant (Billboard)
— Up North Ranking (Triton Digital)
— Starbucks P1 (Jacobs Media)
Magellan AI’s accounting of podcast advertiser spending for April, for the top 15 spenders, shows a total spend down six percent from March. Ten of the top 15 are repeats from the previous months. Three companies are members of RAIN’s unofficial 12-of-12 club. Click for graphics. Continue Reading
Top-tier podcast ad company AdsWizz is announcing that hosting platform Simplecast is now “officially part of the AdsWizz family.” That’s acquisition language, but both companies are acquired subsidiaries of audio giant SiriusXM, so this appears to be an internal tie-up of the two technologies. Click for more. Continue Reading
It’s an “an affirmative, public declaration.” That’s how Sony Music characterizes its statement, released yesterday, declaring the giant music company’s entire catalog off-limits to all AI training systems. It is fierce, comprehensive, and bears a certain resemblance to the 1990s. Continue Reading
The weekly reach of radio listening in the UK is traditionally strong, and the Q1 RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) report shows a surge for the first quarter. Fifty million adults — 89% of the 15+ population, tuned in each week, for a total time-spent metric of 1.023 billion hours. Click for much more. Continue Reading
Edison Research has released its latest Top 50 Podcasts in the US, representing survey results for Q1 listening. The survey method is important in the ranker business; unlike many others, Edison’s survey method opens the door to any podcast in the world. Continue Reading
Audio giant Audacy released Q1 earnings, characterized by CEO David Field as “a solid start to 2024.” Audacy’s financial positioning is complicated by a recent bankruptcy, but the company is moving smoothly through that financial reorganization process with uplifting net… Continue Reading
Comedian and political satirist Jon Stewart will extend his relationship at Comedy Central with a new weekly podcast: The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart. The program compliments his iconic The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. The announcement comes from MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Audio. Continue Reading
New podcast production continued a three-month slide in April, after a strong January. 12,864 new shows were released in April, compared to 16,256 in March. January hit a one-year high of slightly more than 20,000 new podcasts. Continue Reading