Tencent Music Entertainment may have came stateside for its IPO, but the company is still keeping plenty of ties to its home country of China. The company recently made a strategic investment in Chinese streaming service Douban FM. Continue Reading
A new group aims to offer support to Asian Americans in podcasting. The Asian-American Podcasters organization was founded by Lee Uehara as a place for anyone in the field to connect with their peers. Membership is open to creatives, producers, hosts, and editors at any stage of podcasting. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia has released its news from the Winter Podcast Upfront. The big development is a partnership with Jake Brennan, who is the host and creator of Disgraceland, to bring two additional seasons of the show to the iHeartPodcast Network. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has expanded its relationship with family-owned media company Midwest Communications. Midwest will take advantage of Triton’s integration with Omny Studio and will use the platform to capture, edit, and distribute podcasts to listeners. Continue Reading
Vox Media is partnering with Stitcher to create a stand-alone technology news podcast from Vox brand Recode. It is described as “a multi-million dollar deal.” Stitcher will sell the sponsorships, and the agreement is based on revenue share. Vox will hire a dedicated production team in New York. Continue Reading
Rhapsody and Napster have settled a long-standing class-action lawsuit over mechanical licensing. The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, will see the streaming services make payouts to self-published songwriters whose compositions were played on the music platform. Continue Reading
Traug Keller of ESPN talks to Steve about the sports specialist’s approach to podcasting. He shares insights on the network’s popular shows and how it developed a strategy. Continue Reading
Webcast listening in September was 8% higher than the year-ago period, as Spotify widened its upward trend advantage compared to Pandora. This according to Triton Digital’s Top-20 Ranker, a monthly report based on Triton’s Webcast Metrics streaming measurement technology. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Triton Digital’s webcast metrics, hurdles to radio on smart speakers, a station for Polish-speaking truck drivers, and much more appear in this week’s edition. Continue Reading
A German startup received a funding round to support its development of a voice assistant focused on use in cars. German Autolabs secured €7 million for its work on the AI dubbed Chris, which launched in Europe late in 2018. Drivers can use Chris to operate Android phones behind the wheel, with support for messaging, navigation, calls, and music commands. Continue Reading
After previous hints that it would be reframing its approach, Apple has reportedly hired Sam Jadallah to lead its smart home business. CNBC reported that Apple has picked up the former Microsoft executive, who most recently was CEO of a smart lock company called Otto. Continue Reading
Jason Hoch has departed Stuff Media, and its new parent company iHeartMedia. He was the head of new initiatives and EP at the HowStuffWorks podcast network. Hoch is leaving to join Imperative Entertainment and head up the studio’s newly created podcast division. Continue Reading