Mechanical Licensing Collective hires three execs

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), the government-appointed and regulated agency for collecting and distributing blanket compulsory mechanical license for digital music services, has hired three new executives. The MLC was formed from the Music Modernaization Act of 2018. Last month the unit received a first stash of $424-million in royalty payments from Apple, Spotify, Google, Pandora, and 15 other streaming entites for distribution.  Continue Reading

NPR releases finalists in Student Podcast Challenge for college students during Covid

NPR announces the finalists in the netwrok’s most recent Student Podcast Challenge, targeted to college students for the first time. Fascinatingly, the contest intersected the Covid pandemic, a collision might have given students more time to focus on audio projects, and definitely influenced the content. Click through for links to each submission for listening. Continue Reading

First podcast bias chart emerges from Ad Fontes Media & Media Roundtable

Yesterday we reported on the creation of the Media Roundtable, a new podcast industry watchdog group started by Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger. Part of its mission is to collaborate with Ad Fontes Media on a podcast bias chart that graphically positions shows in a matrix of left/right bias, and factual/fabricated content. Today we received a first version of the chart. Click through. Continue Reading