Month: April 2021

Osiris Media Announced a Diverse Slate of Podcasts

~ jen

Osiris Media has announced a new slate of podcasts for 2021, along with two key hires. The company is expanding its podcast formats and entering new musical genres with several shows to be released this year.

Beautiful Garbage is a limited series that traces the development of punk rock from American garages and bars to England and back in the mid-to-late 1970s. Written and hosted by Kevin Hogan, Beautiful Garbage shares stories about punk’s innovation in sound and style, and the sociopolitical factors that produced the punk aesthetic and its indelible mark on popular culture.

Osiris will also debut a trivia podcast called Master Mixtape. The show gives listeners a unique opportunity to listen, interact, and win various prizes, all while enjoying weekly playlists. Each episode gives listeners a five-song playlist, with each song containing a clue that will direct them toward the answer to the puzzle. Once listeners have connected the dots, they can submit their answers for a chance to win prizes. The show is hosted by musician, entertainer and guy you’d love to have a cocktail with, Ethan Eubanks. Premieres May 3.

Alive Again, launching this Summer, is a history of Trey Anastasio’s solo career, from the formation of the Trey Anastasio Band in 1999, up to the Beacon Jams of 2020 and the launching of the Divided Sky Fund. This limited series will include interviews with Trey and his bandmates and collaborators from the past 25 years.

Osiris will also release the second season of Festival Circuit, the popular podcast about music festivals. In June, they will release Festival Circuit: Newport, about the iconic Newport Folk Festival. Episodes will include interviews with musicians, promoters, and fans along with archival audio and music from some of the most notable performances.

In October, Osiris will debut Sugar Maple, the company’s first fiction podcast. Over the course of this eight-episode season, listeners will meet musicians from different genres, different backgrounds—and different eras—to hear about the unique journey of the Sugar Maple. Each owner discovers the guitar, and writes a single song with it before parting with it in ways that are sometimes unexpected, unwelcome or unexplained.

Osiris has also hired Greg Stangel as Managing Director, Sales. Greg has held senior sales roles at iconic organizations across the sports, entertainment and media business, including the National Hockey League, New York Mets, Creative Artists Agency, Fox Networks Group and Misfits Gaming Group. This hire is part of a joint sales venture with Talkhouse, helping to expand the two organizations’ relationships with leading brands.
Osiris will also add rock music critic and podcaster Steven Hyden as Consulting Producer. Steven’s background hosting successful music podcasts and writing about music for decades will help push the company’s writing and strategic direction forward.

“Osiris continues to partner with artists and brands to create engaging, original audio content, “ says Kirsten Cluthe, COO of Osiris Media. “I’m really excited to get this lineup out to listeners.”

“We came into 2021 with the goal of making this the year that we established Osiris as the leading music storyteller,” said RJ Bee, CEO of Osiris Media. “Our 2021 slate offers listeners our most diverse, innovative and forward-thinking podcasts that we’ve created. And with the addition of Greg and Steven, we’re continuing to push our business forward, setting us up to create amazing content for music fans well into the future.”

Other Osiris shows include Undermine, Salute the Songbird with Maggie Rose, Wheels Off with Rhett Miller, Comes A Time with Oteil Burbridge and Mike Finoia, Eric Krasno Plus One, and many more.

ARN’s iHeartPodcast Australia Signs with Audioboom for Two More Years

~ jen

ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia announced it has extended its commercial partnership with leading podcast creator Audioboom for a further two years.

Of the partnership, Audiobook’s CEO, Stuart Last said, “ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network has delivered exceptional commercial opportunities for our podcasts and we are pleased to extend our partnership. We are looking forward to continuing to work together to create opportunities for brands in Australia to reach our diverse audiences.”

ARN’s Head of Audio Corey Layton said, “This is a great day for the iHeartPodcast Network as we continue to strengthen our offering as Australia’s #1 podcast publisher. Our partnership with Audioboom gives brands access to some of the world’s most compelling and popular content, from the true crime thrills of Casefile to the entertaining No Such Thing As A Fish as part of our diverse podcast slate.”

The partnership announcement comes as March data released today from the Australian Podcast Ranker shows iHeartPodcast Network Australia remains Australia’s #1 podcast publisher – holding the #1, #2, #4, #6 and #8 most popular podcasts in the country. Audioboom’s Casefile, which is part of the iHeartPodcast Network, remains in the #1 position ahead of Stuff You Should Know at #2 and The Kyle & Jackie O Show at #4 on the Australian Podcast Ranker.

The iHeartPodcast Network holds nine of the top 20 most popular podcasts in Australia: Life Uncut with Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne, She’s on The Money, No Such Thing As A Fish, Jase & PJ, Morbid and The Mindset Mentor.

Warner Music Group and Spotify Strike Innovative Podcast Development Deal

~ jen

Warner Music Group (WMG) and Spotify announced they have entered into a new partnership which will see the two companies develop a series of original podcasts built around WMG’s vast and diverse artists’ and songwriters’ catalogs featuring some of the biggest names in music. Fans will get to experience the stories behind some of the biggest hit songs and get an inside look at the work of their favorite artists and songwriters.

“The most impactful podcasts share with music the key component of storytelling and personal experience. In partnership with Warner Music Group, we look to develop stories leveraging their unique artists and catalog,” said Courtney Holt, VP Global Studios & Business, Spotify. “We look forward to helping them leverage the power of podcasting to forge a deeper connection with fans.”

“We’re excited to take this step forward with Spotify as we strengthen and deepen our existing partnership. Podcasts provide an opportunity to unlock value for artists and songwriters by delivering fresh and unique stories to music to fans across the globe,” said Oana Ruxandra, EVP, Business Development and Chief Digital Officer, Warner Music Group. “We look forward to working with Spotify to experiment and drive growth in podcasting.”

The news follows Warner Music Group’s recent launch of the BLK In America podcast by Topsify, which sees influential Black artists – like Rico Nasty, Chaka Khan, and Keedron Bryant – discussing what it means to be Black in America. Today, WMG produces various podcasts from across its network including Duran Duran’s WHOOOSH! curated and hosted by Simon Le Bon; the Prince official podcast in collaboration with his estate; Robert Plant’s Digging Deep; the Good Ol Grateful Deadcast hosted by musician Rich Mahan and Relix contributing editor Jesse Jarnow; The Rhino Podcasts, telling stories of legends like Aretha Franklin, Todd Rundgren, and John Densmore of The Doors; Warner Chappell Music’s Final Sessions, a series chronicling the long and fascinating narrative behind the release of Losst and Founnd – the album of final recordings from the late singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson; Grandson’s XXWhy show interviewing other artists and activists; as well as cultural hit show Uproxx’s People’s Party hosted by Talib Kweli.

Spotify is now home to more than two million podcasts including The Michelle Obama Podcast, The Journal, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Bakari Sellers Podcast, Stolen: The Search for Jermain, and the recently launched Renegades: Born in the USA.  It is also the exclusive home of a wide range of Music + Talk shows, the personalized music and podcast mix Daily Drive and innovative programming like The Get Up, which combines music curated for each individual listener with the latest in pop culture, news, entertainment and music from hosts Kat Lazo, Speedy Morman and Xavier “X” Jernigan.

Apple Unveiled Apple Podcast Subscriptions

~ jen

Apple unveiled Apple Podcast Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside millions of free shows on Apple Podcasts.

Starting in May, listeners in more than 170 countries and regions can sign up for premium subscriptions that include a variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad-free listening, access to additional content, and early or exclusive access to new series. Listeners will be able to enjoy premium subscriptions from independent voices and premier studios, including Tenderfoot TV, Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, and QCODE, to leading media and entertainment brands, including NPR, the Los Angeles Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment, and many more.

Also next month, listeners will be able to discover channels, which are groups of shows curated by creators with unique titles, descriptions, and artwork. Just as they can with shows, listeners will be able to browse free channels, which make it easy to find more shows from their favorite creators, as well as paid channels and channels that provide additional benefits for subscribers.

With iOS 14.5, listeners can access a redesigned Apple Podcasts app featuring an enhanced Search tab that provides quick access to Top Charts and categories. Apple Podcasts also features beautiful new pages for every show and episode to make it easier to follow, listen, and share. The new Smart Play button helps listeners automatically start episodic shows from the latest episode and serialized shows from the beginning of each series. Listeners can also now save individual episodes, which are downloaded for offline playback, making it easy to bookmark podcasts to listen to later from Library.

The new Apple Podcasts for Creators website helps creators learn more about podcasting, stay informed about the latest news and features, and explore in-depth guides with best practices. Starting today, all creators can access an updated Apple Podcasts Connect dashboard, which has new features that make it easier to manage shows on Apple Podcasts, including the ability to edit metadata, schedule and manage show availability, organizing shows into channels, manage multiple users and roles, and learn how listeners are engaging with their shows through new performance and metrics and visualization tools.

From Apple Podcasts Connect, creators can enroll in the new Apple Podcasters Program, which provides access to all the tools needed to build and distribute premium subscriptions on Apple Podcasts.

SiriusXM Acquires Mars’ 99% Invisible Podcast

~ jen

Sirius XM announced that is has acquired 99% Invisible Inc., the Company owned by Roman Mars, the creator, host, and executive producer of the groundbreaking 99% Invisible podcast. The acquisition brings the acclaimed podcast host and his team to SiriusXM, where they will continue to operate 99% Invisible, the podcast What Trump Can Teach About Teach Us About Con Law, and develop new podcast projects.

99% Invisible will become part of Stitcher, the pioneering podcast company SiriusXM acquired last year as part of its goal to build the best home for podcast creators. With the addition of leading podcast platforms Stitcher and Simplecast, along with industry-leading ad tech company AdsWizz. SiriusXM has developed an ecosystem that podcasters can rely on to create, distribute and monetize their work, as well as gain access to SiriusXM’s broad talent relationships and make up use of the promotional power of its SiriusXM, Pandora and Stitcher listening platforms.

“I have made a career by telling stories about what’s right in front of us, and in this case, it is the opportunity to grow and create with SiriusXM,” Mars said. “This journey, which started more than 10 years ago on public radio, is a testament to the power of storytelling, the incredibly talented 99pi team, and the dedicated army of ‘Beautiful Nerds’ who we are fortunate to call our listeners. I’m incredibly proud of what we helped build at the Radiotopia network, the non-profit collective I co-founded with PRX, and look forward to the work we can do at SiriusXM.”

Based in Oakland, Mars launched 99% Invisible in 2010, an independently produced – and Kickstarter supported – radio show and podcast that exposes the unseen and overlooked aspects of design, architecture and activity that shapes the world. 99% Invisible has been downloaded more than 500 million times, and Mars has been named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People.” Over the years Mars and his team have branched out beyond the flagship 99% Invisible, launching the successful Articles of Interest, According to Need, What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law and Judas and the Black Messiah podcasts, while also releasing a New York Times bestselling book, The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design. 

“In our tenth year of being an independent production, I began looking to evolve the show in new and exciting ways. While we explored a number of potential homes for 99% Invisible, I want to be with the company that launches new projects, and Stitcher provided us a unique opportunity to focus on the art of creating, developing and producing content we know our listeners will love, while freeing me of constantly thinking about the business of podcasting,” Mars said. “Moving forward, the entire 99% Invisible team will have the resources and support to pursue the stories we want to tell to an even larger universe of listeners. We could not be more excited to be joining the Stitcher family at SiriusXM.”

The 99% Invisible podcast will be available broadly and across SiriusXM’s multiple audio streaming services, including the Stitcher, Pandora, and SiriusXM apps. 99% Invisible joins other iconic, acclaimed and original podcasts whose home is SiriusXM, Stitcher and Pandora, including such popular shows and series as Office Ladies, Comedy Gold Minds with Kevin Hart, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, WTF with Marc Maron, LeVar Burton Reads and podcasts from Marvel Entertainment, and prestigious documentary and narrative projects such as Heaven’s Gate, Unfinished, The Dream, Sporkful and Hidden Brain. 

“We want to be home to the most creative producers working in podcasting today, so we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Roman and his team to Stitcher and SiriusXM,” said Megan Liberman, head of talk and podcast programming for SiriusXM and Stitcher. “SiriusXM built itself into North America’s leader in audio entertainment by attracting world-class talent. Bringing Roman and his team here is a natural extension of these efforts, and they will serve as a pillar as we continue building the most attractive home for podcast and audio creators.”

The Podcast Academy to Honor WTF With Marc Maron with Inaugural Governor’s Award

~ jen

The Podcast Academy announced that its Board of Governors will bestow WTF with Marc Maron with the Governors Award which recognizes a podcast or individual for the compelling impact they’ve had on the industry. Marc Maron and Brendan McDonald will accept the top accolade at inaugural Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies) on May 16. The ceremony will be streamed LIVE on YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms from Los Angeles, CA at 5PM PT/8PM ET, with a pre-show starting at 4:30PM PT/7:30PM ET.

“‘WTF with Marc Maron’ has been a trailblazer for the medium since its inception and represents what’s unique about the industry,” said Chairman of the Podcast Academy, Donald Albright. “As co-creators, producers and owners of WTF, Marc and Brendan have served as global pioneers for podcasters big and small, both in front of and behind the mic. The Podcast Academy is humbled to honor WTF with the first-ever Governors Award.”

Maron and McDonald added: “It’s a genuine honor to be recognized by our peers as a major influence on the podcast medium. The show has evolved into what it is now through our persistence, creativity, discipline, and curiosity. We’re grateful for this recognition and the freedom that podcasting affords us.”

WTF with Marc Maron, which is an independently-produced podcast, changed the landscape when it premiered in September 2009. With more than 600 million downloads since then, the podcast helped define the medium and continues to reach millions of listeners twice-a-week. The show’s landmark episode with President Barack Obama broke podcast records and garnered worldwide acclaim when it was released in 2015.

Marc has welcomed comedians, actors, directors, writers, authors, musicians and folks from all walks of life to WTF. His probing, comprehensive interview style allows guests to express themselves in ways listeners have never heard. WTF has featured amazingly revealing interviews with some of the world’s biggest personalities including Stacey Abrams, Mel Brooks, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawerence, John Legend, David Letterman, Sir Paul McCartney, Eddie Murphy, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Bruce Springsteen, Dick Van Dyke and Kate Winslet, to name just a few of the more than 1,200 guests who have appeared on the show.

The Ambies celebrate excellence in podcasting and elevate awareness and status of podcasts as a unique and personal medium for entertainment, information, storytelling and expression. This year, the ceremony will highlight 164 nominees across 23 categories and is sponsored by Amazon Music (Gold sponsor), PRX (Silver sponsor), Tenderfoot TV (Silver sponsor), and Wondery (Silver sponsor). The official pre-show is sponsored by Adobe. The full list of 2021 nominees may be found here.

Outlier Podcast Festival 2021 Takes Place in May

~ jen

Outlier Podcast Festival will take place on May 27-28, 2020. The Festival is powered by Focusrite and is a two-day virtual podcast festival led by OutlierHQ. The festival will focus on podcasters and creative storytellers and will provide outliers in the podcasting community an intimate opportunity to collaborate with both indie talent and industry giants.

The Outlier Podcast Festival will bring the same unique and engaging experience you have come to expect from Outlier events to the comfort and safety of your own home. You’ll have the opportunity to question the experts during panel discussions, listen in during live podcasts, and join the conversation with other media storytellers.

You can register for the Outlier Podcast Festival now for a General Admission ticket. It is free to attend. Sales will end on May 28, 2021.

Speakers include:

  • Laura Cathcart Robbins: Producer and host of The Only One In The Room.
  • Arielle Nissenblatt: Founder of Earbuds Podcast Collective.
  • Christian Barsi: Founder of Avant Haus Media.

Libsyn Acquires Podcast Monetization Platform Glow

~ jen

Liberated Syndication Inc. (Libsyn) announced the acquisition of Glow, a leading podcast monetization platform that enables podcasters to build membership programs and generate listener-supported revenue. Glow’s membership technology, which includes private feed distribution and subscription billing, will allow podcasters on Libsyn’s 75,000+ podcasts to benefit from new monetization features and tap into significant new revenue streams.

Libsyn will integrate Glow as part of its hosting and monetization platform, in the future making it simple for customers to begin generating membership revenue in addition to leveraging Libsyn’s existing hosting, analytics, and monetization product suite. Libsyn-hosted podcasters will be able to easily experiment with and charge for premium content, accept secure payments and distribute the content to listeners in their podcast player of choice. They will also have the option to accept donations from listeners, using the same seamless Glow payment system.

“Libsyn saw the potential of podcasting before almost anyone else, and once again, we are thrilled to be at the forefront of a wave of podcasters who will generate revenue largely from their listeners,” said Libsyn President Laurie Sims. “As shown by our recent acquisition of AdvertiseCast, monetization for podcasters is becoming increasingly important, and Glow will help expand Libsyn’s positioning with podcasters who seek to monetize their content and build direct relationships with listeners. We are thrilled to be working with the team at Glow to bring its tools to Libsyn’s customer base.”

“Our mission at Glow has always been to empower creators, and Libsyn has been at the forefront of that movement for over 16 years,” said Amira Vallani, Glow’s founder and CEO. “This acquisition represents a big step in listener-supported podcasts moving into the mainstream and unlocking new dollars to support the ecosystem. We’re excited for Libsyn to be the steward of Glow’s product going forward.”

Podcasters on Libsyn will be able to begin taking advantage of new membership offerings in the coming months as part of the Libsyn 5 platform. However, hosting on Libsyn will not be required to utilize Glow. Libsyn plans to support all podcasts with monetization efforts regardless of where they host, enabling current Glow customers to continue to generate membership revenue without interruption.

As part of the transaction, the Company did not acquire the growth platform Refer-O-Matic, which Vallani and her team will independently focus on under the Creator Machines entity.

FeedBurner Plans some Upcoming Changes

~ jen

FeedBurner announced that there will be some upcoming changes to FeedBurner in July of 2021. If you ever had a podcast on FeedBurner in the past, or have one there now, you may have gotten an email about these changes.

Starting in July, we are transitioning FeedBurner onto a more stable, modern infrastructure. This will keep the product up and running for all users, but it also means that we will be turning down most non-core feed management features, including email subscriptions, at that time.

What FeedBurner users can expect

For many users, no action is required. All existing feeds will continue to serve uninterrupted, and you can continue to create new accounts and burn new feeds. Core feed management functionality will continue to be supported, such as the ability to change the URL, source feed, title, and podcast metadata of your feed. Basic analytics on feed requests and the ability to create enclosure tags for MP3 files will also continue to be supported.

What is changing?

FeedBurner is turning down most non-core feed management features that help you optimize and publicize your feed, e.g., email subscriptions, Browser Friendly, and Password Protector.

Downloading your FeedBurner email subscriber data

If you want to continue using email subscriptions after the June transition, FeedBurner recommends downloading email subscriber data so that you can migrate your subscribers to a new email subscription service. This data will also be available for download after the transition.

Blogger email subscriptions

FeedBurner’s email subscriptions feature powers Blogger’s email subscription widget, also known as the FollowByEmail widget. When FeedBurner’s email subscriptions feature is turned down in July, Blogger’s email subscription widget will also stop working at that time.

Spotify Improved Podcast Charts

~ jen

Spotify unveiled some big improvements to Spotify’s podcast charts experience, which will benefit podcasters in a number of ways. More chances for all creators to chart – and a new way for listeners to discover new favorites on Spotify.

With more people than ever podcasting all over the world, we want to ensure that podcast charts are growing with you. We also want you to be able to celebrate your success – which is why we’re excited to unveil a revamped podcast – charts experience that’s better in every way: more chances for up-and-coming creators and established creators to make it onto a chart; more ways to view a chart than just heading to the Spotify app; and a higher likelihood of listeners discovering you and your context.

New: Top Episodes

For the first time, Spotify’s charts look beyond overall podcast show numbers on Spotify and dive into individual episodes. Updated daily, the Top Episodes chart will provide a better understanding of what’s really being listened to on Spotify – because a podcast isn’t always the sum of its episodes. Sometimes, for example, a single episode may strike a chord with listeners of become part of the audio-content zeitgeist.

There’s now something to show for episodes that are really popular or trending, even if their podcast as a whole isn’t being consumed at the same volume. It’s also another way for listeners to discover your show, and potentially explore past episodes or follow your show to hear what you come out with next.

New: Charts Website

Starting yesterday, Spotify is freeing charts from the confines of the app and giving them their standalone due, with their own website. (At launch, the charts website will only reflect U.S. charts). Not only will this provide everyone easier access to the daily podcast pulse on Spotify, but it’ll also serve as a larger destination for discoverability.

With a full charts website, creators everywhere will be able to share their success with listeners, family, and friends – or organically get discovered by a listener perusing the site and stumbling upon your show. Anyone will be able to preview a podcast and follow it directly from the charts site.

Improved: Top Podcasts

Spotify improved their Top Podcast chart by devising a new methodology that helps listeners find what they’re really looking for: the intersection of popular and emerging. Now, the amount of podcast followers on Spotify factors into the algorithm and definition of what comprises a ‘top’ podcast, coupled with recent unique Spotify listener numbers. These changes mean the chart is better able to react to new shows, fresh voices, and fast risers, while giving listeners more reason to check in frequently to discover new shows.