Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Japan and the vinyl trend: Japan’s music market has been one of the most resistant to streaming, continuing to favor physical formats over digital ones. That makes it an interesting market when it comes to the current vinyl revival. Kyodo News profiled the trend among Japanese listeners and music fans.
More on Spotify playlists: The cache of Spotify’s playlists and the value of their visibility continues to be a topic of interest for the music industry. Rolling Stone is the latest to examine how artists can see a boost from playlist placement.
How much do podcasting pros make? Podcaster Alex Laughlin is running a project to collect information and provide transparency around salaries in audio production. She’s still collecting data, but has shared the results from the 447 respondents who have participated thus far. Despite the small sample size, the fascinating breakdown covers the wage spread by gender, experience, and job title.