Back in April, Spotify blogged about musicians setting up virtual concerts as Covid-19 forced them offstage. If the company wasn’t putting two + two together at that time, it might be now. That is an easy conclusion to draw from hacker and reverse engineer Jane Manchung Wong, who uncovered non-public screens within the Spotify app indicating live virtual concert streaming in development. Continue Reading
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro provides news and commentary about Lemonada’s ad rep move, Joe Budden’s apparent separation from Spotify, Audible’s new plan, Joe Rogan and Apple … and an interview with Jessica Cordova Kramer. Continue Reading
by Jeff Umbro
In this week’s column, Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro provides news and commentary about the PRX controversy, Libsyn’s financials, Spotify strategy, and an illuminasting infographic of the media corporate landscape. Continue Reading
Google has raised its game in programmatic audio. Google’s broad digital advertising platform, Ad Manager, is getting audio programmatic for the first time. Additionally, Google’s DV360 is enhancing its existing tools. DV360 is the abbreviated brand name of Display & Video 360, formerly called DoubleClick. The systems stumbles over RSS feeds, perhaps slowing adoption ion podcasting, though independent distribution platforms like Spotify and Pandora work fine. Continue Reading
Spotify’s newly launched playlist feature, track IDs, is based on this question: “Do you ever dance to your favorite DJ and wonder what track they’re mixing?” The answer is supplied by an array of 23 playlists curated by DJs and the Spotify editorial team. The volume of music is impressive. Continue Reading
In a consumer-friendly infographic, Spotify highlighted some key (non-finance) results related to its Q2 earnings report last week. Juuust under 300-million users now, and 138-million subscribers. And the service is available in 92 countries. Click through to see the whole thing. Continue Reading
We learned from Engadget that Mark and Jay Duplass have signed with Spotify to create Spotify-exclusive podcasts. This is not presented as an acquisition of the Duplass Brothers Productions firm, but that detail is unclear. What does seem clear is that the two men will jointly create new shows for Spotify, exclusively for Spotify distribution. Continue Reading
On Spotify’s announcement blog, the company announced yesterday that video blogging is now native to the platform. The feature is not Spotify’s first foray in video presentation, but it is a new global feature for the company’s podcast service. This feature seems like a stage-setting for Joe Rogan’s video format, which moves exclusively to Spotify by end-of-year. Continue Reading
Spotify knows a magnetic star when it sees one. Last month, Joe Rogan. today, Michelle Obama. The audio platform has signed the former First Lady and memoir author for a conversational podcast that promises real-life inspiration. In the trailer (listen below) Obama plans to speak with members of her inner circle to start, then expand outward. Click through to hear the trailer. Continue Reading
Spotify has offered podcast recommendation lists for a long time. today comes the announcement that the mobile apps (Android and iOS) now feature numbered lists — podcast rankings. The two flagship charts are Top Podcasts and Trending Podcasts — nothing innovative there, as other charting apps do the same. Click through for our experience prowling through the charts. Continue Reading
by Michael Robertson
This guest contribution by iconic digital audio entrepreneur Michael Robertson digs into the U.S. copyright code and finds a statute which might relate to, and potentially invalidate, Spotify’s exclusive distribution deal with Joe Rogan. Continue Reading
“Spotify Keeps Apple Music at Arm’s Length” is the title of a new graph sent to us by Statista. The upshot is that Spotify appears to be reaching for a 2-to-1 subscriber advantage over Apple Music. Continue Reading