Renee Wang, founder and CEO of podcast app Castbox, recently gave a brief interview to Bloomberg about the current state of her company. She said Castbox has 30 million listeners, including 3 million daily active users. Continue Reading
Merlin has entered an agreement with Jaxsta, an Australia-based business specializing in technology and music credits. Under the terms of the commercial data access agreement, the global indie label and rights management network will provide Jaxsta with official data about the music creations of its members. Continue Reading
Veritonic, a preeminent audio value technology platform, today announced its Audio Score — a measure of audio effectiveness that can be applied to audio ads, sonic brand elements like audio logos, voices, music, and scripts. The idea is to apply a grading standard of effectiveness to any audio which is created to influence audiences and create deeper relationships with customers. Continue Reading
LyricFind announced a new deal with the Canadian government. The Toronto-based lyrics licensing and database company received funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage Creative Export Canada program for a two-year effort focused on licensing, transcribing, and translating works by artists and songwriters in the country. Continue Reading
Spotify introduced a new version of its app specifically designed for regions with limited or weak mobile coverage. Spotify Lite is available as a free download for Android devices in 36 markets around the world. Continue Reading
Two months ago RadioPublic announced Podfund, a venture-backed podcast incubator funded by $2.3-million in venture investments. It is an open-door plan that any audio producer can enter for a shot at gaining a $25,000-$50,000 bankroll, with a revenue-share plan of 7-15% over three years. Today RadioPublic is announcing three audio projects which have gained Podfund support. Continue Reading
The TED Radio Hour podcast will be sounding a little different next year. NPR announced that Guy Raz will step down from his dual roles as host and editorial director of the show at the end of 2019. Continue Reading
Edison Research has been going international with The Infinite Dial this year. Shortly after announcing plans to bring its audio survey to South Africa, the company shared that The Infinite Dial Germany will debut later this year. Continue Reading
The U.S. Copyright Office has made an important step forward in enacting the provisions passed by the Music Modernization Act last fall. The office selected the group led by the National Music Publishers Association to manage the creation and operation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Continue Reading
DAX, the digital audio exchange owned by Global, has published its annual report tracking interest in digital audio among advertisers and media agencies in the UK. The resulting whitepaper, titled The Rise of Digital Audio Advertising, describes survey research performed by MTM in the UK. The survey population included 147 manager-level and above employees at media agencies, and 68 people working for brand advertisers. Continue Reading
Podtrac released the Top 10 Podcast Publishers ranking for June. In it, the tightly competitive reign of NPR (#1) and iHeartRadio (#2) continued as in previous months. RAIN has remixed the ranker to list publishers according to the size of audience, and number of plays, per show produced by each publisher. The result shines light on the power of hit shows vs. the power of a network ecosystem. Continue Reading
New podcast projects continue to come fast and furious, catering to new audiences or subjects. This week marked the debut of Earios, a podcast network focused on shows created by women. The network began with a Kickstarter campaign and is now powered by Acast. Continue Reading