NPR and Edison Research have released the second part of their study on smart speakers and voice control. The first part was released during RAIN’s Podcast Business Summit in New York this June. The latest presentation of The Smart Audio Report focused on the specific activities and details of how and why people are using this new product segment. Continue Reading
Amazon’s Alexa voice control system can now be used to control the Amazon Music app on both Android and iOS mobile devices. This mobile integration is being rolled out in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria. Alexa can respond to the same range of queries as on the smart speaker of an Amazon Echo: asking for music from a certain artist, album, genre, time period, or activity will bring up songs that meet the criteria. Continue Reading
The Fair Play Fair Pay Act has two new co-sponsors. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) have joined as co-sponsors of the current bill, which has been spearheaded by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). musicFIRST issued a statement supporting the new backers of the legislation centered on radio and performance royalties. Continue Reading
Vox Media is making more moves to shore up its leadership as the company moves into new directions for journalism and reporting. The media operation is working with Midroll Media on a daily news podcast, a large undertaking, slated to begin in 2018. In light of these plans, Vox has announced that Lauren Williams will be its new editor-in-chief. Continue Reading
YouTube has adjusted its approach for how content creators can get paid by their fans. Last week, the video platform announced that it is ending its paid channels initiative, a program that allowed channel owners to directly sell access to their videos to individual subscribers. In its place, YouTube is broadening its sponsorship model. Continue Reading
Taking advantage of U.S. investing regulations started in 2012, electronic music streaming specialist Digitally Imported (DI.FM) has launched a crowdfunding campaign for non-institutional investing. With a current valuation of $12 million, the company is looking to raise as much as $1.07 million on the Wefunder platform. Continue Reading
In a month of shifts in its show rankings, Podtrac’s publisher rankings followed suit, with a new face joining the August 2017 lineup. WBUR dropped out of the top 10 for the month, making room for newcomer Barstool Sports at No. 9. This publisher made its debut on the show rankings for August with its Pardon My Take podcast. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: TuneIn experiments with early-release podcast listening program. More Next Radio follow-up. Continue Reading
Pandora and Sirius XM have closed the strategic investment announced in June. Sirius XM has purchased 307-million Series A shares of P stock for a $480-million investment in the internet radio firm. At the same time, Sirius execs James E. Meyer (CEO), David J. Frear (CFO) and Gregory B. Maffei (Chairman) joined the Pandora board. Maffei is now chairman of both companies. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: PRX CEO talks Podcast Garage plans. Sony Nashville wants to lead in streaming. Pay the performers. Continue Reading
Tidal is hosting its third annual Tidal X: Brooklyn concert. Ticket sales will benefit relief efforts for natural disasters, a fitting cause after multiple earthquakes and hurricanes wreaked havoc in across North America and the Caribbean in recent weeks. Continue Reading
Voice is a platform, not a device, and will eventually exist everywhere. That perspective enlarges the stakes, and deepens the urgency, for all audio publishers to get up to speed with skills and content. Continue Reading