A group of streaming services is facing a new patent challenge, the latest in a long line of legal attacks related to vague claims for intellectual property around audio technology. Post Media Systems has filed separate lawsuits against Apple Music, Pandora/Sirius XM, and Google in Illinois. Continue Reading
Spotify shared two new updates. First, it has joined the bandwagon of daily news podcasts, but with a unique perspective. Second, the company is developing a playlist feature for fan interaction with artists. Continue Reading
Apple Music is taking fresh advantage of its connection to audio identification platform Shazam. The streaming service has launched the Shazam Discovery Top 50 to its curated programming. Continue Reading
If True Crime is the poster child category of podcasting, its fans now have a daily touch point. Today in True Crime is a new show from Spotify-owned Parcast, the premise being a “this day in history” historical podcast. Continue Reading
Sonos had teased that a new product was coming for a fall launch, but many of the details around its upcoming project have leaked. The new device is a portable speaker known as the Sonos Move. It appears to be designed for easy relocating, with a recessed grip handle and a docking station to recharge its battery. Continue Reading
Podtrac’s July 2019 podcast ranker revealed another month of familiar titles. The Daily continued its reign atop the chart, and with NPR’s Up First in the fourth spot, it was another month of big performances for weekday news podcasts. Continue Reading
eMarketer found that the audience for voice assistants in the United States is reaching a critical mass. The company projected that 111.8 million people in the country would use a voice assistant at least monthly in 2019, representing 33.8% of the population. Continue Reading
Spotify has announced some feature updates for its family plan. The biggest new introduction is that parents can set the explicit content filter on all of the connected accounts. Continue Reading
Bloomberg reported that Spotify is planning to test increasing the price of its family plan by 13% in Scandinavia. The company has declined to comment on the leak. Continue Reading
Marvel is launching another fictional podcast show in partnership with Stitcher. The new project is titled Marvels and is due to debut this fall on Stitcher Premium. Continue Reading
YouTube is making a change to its Content ID system that may lead to a spike in the number of blocked videos. In a blog post, the video platform announced that it would no longer let rightsholders use its manual claiming tool for monetizing “creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music.” Continue Reading
Wondery secured a strong fanbase for its Dr. Death true crime show, and the audience is only going to get bigger. The company announced that it is releasing translations of the program to reach international listeners. The first two translated episodes were released yesterday, and the rest of the season will be published weekly. Continue Reading