High 5 Media announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Spoke Media, a Dallas-based podcast company focused on branded audio. Spoke Media was founded by award-winning audiobook director Keith Reynolds. The company has created podcasts for Wondery, Midroll Media, Cinestate, The Dallas Morning News, and Busch. Continue Reading
London-based podcast creation/hosting company audioBoom has raised 500,00 GBP in its continuing efforts to secure operational capital, according to a May 25 filing on the London Stock Exchange website. The money comes from existing investor Candy Ventures (Nick Candy, 90% shareholder), and appears to fund audioBoom operations to June 30 at least. Continue Reading
Pandora announced a promotion for Lauren Nagel, a long-time exec with the audio company. Her new title is VP, Executive Creative Director, and in this role, she’ll be responsible for more broadly overseeing creative advertising work. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia is joining the bandwagon of original podcast production. The media conglomerate has inked a deal with Einhorn’s Epic Productions to create an original scripted podcast, the first for iHeartMedia. Continue Reading
A recent entry to the morning news niche of daily podcasting, START HERE from ABC Radio launched on March 28. The 20-minute daily news feature is a highly produced, crisply hosted competitor to Up First (NPR), The Daily (New York Times) and others. We engaged show anchor Brad Mielke in a Q&A over email. Continue Reading
Podtrac has updated its rankings with the top 10 podcast publishers and the top 20 podcasts for April 2018. The publisher ranking found that the U.S. unique monthly audience grew from the previous month for seven of the 10 publishers. The names on both monthly lists showed little change from the March rosters. Continue Reading
Corus Entertainment, one of Canada’s major radio/TV networks, has hired Dila Velazquez as Manager of Content/Audience Development. She will report to the recently appointed Chris “Dunner” Duncombe, who became Director, Streaming & Podcasting in March. Continue Reading
Apple Music has reportedly launched a new division for music publication. According to Music Business Worldwide, the division will work in operations, commercial, publisher relations, and A&R. The unit will be led by Elena Segal, who has been promoted from legal director of iTunes International to Global Director of Music Publishing for Apple Music. Continue Reading
Spotify has secured a partnership with Amy Schumer for the comedian to host and produce a podcast for the streaming audio platform. Her show, which doesn’t have a planned release date yet, will cover “pop culture, politics and the world of standup comedy.” Continue Reading
James Cridland, the radio futurologist, is a conference speaker, writer and consultant. He runs the media information website media.info and helps organise the yearly Next Radio conference. He also publishes podnews.net, a daily briefing on podcasting and on-demand, and writes a weekly international radio… Continue Reading
When we heard that Neil Cowling, Creative Development Director of the UK’s Maple Street Creative, was putting more resources into Fresh Air Production, which specializes in branded podcasts, we sent a few queries about what seems to be changing in the UK podcast scene. Continue Reading
Mixcloud has secured a multi-territory licensing deal with ICE, a group offering music royalties administration across several European regions. The license for Mixcloud covers the repertoire from PRS for Music (UK), STIM (Sweden), and GEMA (Germany). Continue Reading