Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Streaming and writing pop songs: TuneCore’s blog ran a guest post from mixer, producer, and engineer Jason Moss about the shift streaming has had on pop songwriting. Moss claims that an increase in consumption by streaming has led to a move away from aiming to make one-time hits, but songs that will spark many repeat listens. “While tracks will still need to be hook-laden enough to inspire an immediate connection, they must also be worth listening to hundreds, if not thousands of times,” he wrote.
Exploring podcasts for children: Two designers from NPR have been exploring children as a potential new podcast audience. Libby Bawcombe and Kaytee Newsmith developed a show called Raydiddy that targets kids aged 4 to 8. They workshopped the show through NPR’s Story Lab and have produced two episodes. Although they have no set plans to continue the project, it’s a sign of the growing interest in audio for young audiences.