Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
A rallying cry for indie podcast support: Writer and podcaster Brian Heater penned an article in TechCrunch about the value of independent podcasts. He reflected on the growth of the medium and the ever-growing amount of money that big corporations have started investing into it. “I do worry that many of its most unique independent voices will get bulldozed as big companies rush to construct skyscrapers,” Heater wrote.
Spotify Awards releases finalists: Spotify announced that it is getting into the awards game, and the streaming service released the finalists for its upcoming inaugural show. The nominees are reflections of the streaming data for Spotify listeners in Mexico, where the event will occur on March 5.
Beware the bootleg podcast: Pitchfork explored the proliferation of bootleg podcasts in a recent feature. It found episodes containing rips from YouTube or TikTok and other legally questionable music content. The article centers on Spotify, but it’s an odd phenomenon that occurs across podcast platforms.