Author: Shawn Thorpe

Official Podcasts App Finally Comes to Apple TV

~ Shawn Thorpe

Apple logoIt seemed like a curious omission that when the new Apple TV launched to much fanfare during the final quarter of last year, it didn’t come preloaded with Apple’s ubiquitous Podcasts app. The Podcasts app had been standard issue on iOS devices as well as previous iterations of Apple’s set-top box for some time. But still, it was absent from the newly redesigned Apple TV.

And now, several months after the new Apple TV made its way into the hands of consumers, the device is finally getting an official Podcasts app from Apple. Earlier today, it was revealed that with the release of tvOS 9.1.1. (the special operating system for Apple TV’s), the Podcasts app will now be available to 4th-generation models of the media player.

If your Apple TV hasn’t already updated to the latest tvOS, you can force the update manually using the Settings app. Once the update is applied, the new Podcasts app will automatically show up on your home screen. Following suit with other Apple devices, the Podcasts app is a permanent fixture once it’s installed on the new Apple TV. It can’t be deleted.

Blubrry Goes Deep into Podcast Statistics

~ Shawn Thorpe

Blubrry LogoThere’s been a lot of discussion about podcast statistics lately. As the podcasting industry continues to expand and more players move into the space, differing opinions have arisen as to how podcast listenership should be measured. Of course, podcast statistics themselves are nothing new. Companies like Podtrac, LibSyn, and Blubrry have been recording and reporting statistics for years. And while it seems like this topic should be rather straightforward at this point, there are still a lot of misconceptions out there about how podcast statistics work.

Last week, Blubrry/Rawvoice CEO Todd Cochrane and Blubrry/Rawvoice CIO Angelo Mandato recorded an hour-long video presentation on the topic. The pair took a dive deep into the massive pool of statistics they’ve gathered thru the Blubrry podcasting network:

This is a in-depth behind-the-scenes look at how Blubrry Podcast Statistics measure and filter every podcast downloaded / live play delivering an accurate report to our podcasters, network customers and media buyers.

This deep dive video, while long, is perfect training for podcasters, reporters, media buyers and anyone else in the media space that want’s to understand how Podcast Statistics work.

Check out the video thru the link above or watch it right here:

Disclosure: I work part-time with the Blubrry support team and Podcaster News Executive Editor Todd Cochrane is the CEO of Rawvoice, parent company of Blubrry.

Epishow is a new Podcast Production and Distribution Service

~ Shawn Thorpe

Epishow logoAs podcasting has continued to grow, so have the number of services popping up to serve podcast producers. The latest entrant to this field is Epishow. And while many other services focus on one aspect of the podcasting process (voice recording, editing, distribution, etc.), Epishow is aiming to be a true all-in-one podcasting service that promises to let you record, edit, and distribute your audio on a single platform.

On its homepage, Epishow asks, “Want to record your own podcast, but have no idea where to start? That’s where we come in. We’ll teach you the basics, and get you up and going fast.” From there, Epishow suggests that there’s no longer any need to coordinate with guests over Skype, Google Hangouts or other VoIP platforms. Just log into Epishow, send the session URL to your guest, and hit the record button. When the recording is finished, Epishow will give your audio files. You can either edit them using your favorite digital audio software or you can use Epishow’s built-in editor to “trim, cut, paste and move your sound clips so you can get it just right.”

For distribution, Epishow says, “Create shows, guest pages, and show notes with 0 effort. Use WordPress or go it alone.” I’m not entirely sure what that means but it sounds like you can either use Epishow to host files you link to from your own website or you can possibly use Epishow to host your podcast site instead. Either way, the editing and distribution services are currently in alpha testing so it’ll probably be awhile before those features are ready for all users.

It’s free to create an account with Epishow and try out the company’s voice recording feature. No word yet on whether or not Epishow will be charging for its services in the future.

Live365 Officially Shutting Down

~ Shawn Thorpe ~ 1 Comment

Live365LogoWe noted earlier this month that things weren’t looking good for long-running online radio service Live365. The problems the company is facing have turned out to be more than it could handle and Live365 will be shutting down completely on January 31, 2016. Last week, Live365 issued this statement to all of its registered users:

Dear Live365 Broadcasters,

You should have already received our notification and link to the press release regarding two issues that have affected Live365 in the last few weeks.

  1. The CRB ruling handed down in December, 2015 did NOT renew or address the expiration of the small webcaster percentage of revenue plans. At this time there is no small webcaster options except for full CRB rates.
  1. Live365’s long time investors have stopped funding us.  As a result, we are no longer able to sustain our service.

We are sad that we are closing our doors at the end of this month. There are always possibilities that we can come back in one form or another, but at this point in time, January 31, 2016 is the last day that Live365’s streaming servers and website will be maintained and supported.

This is a surprise to us as it is to all of you.   We are proud that Live365 was a pioneer in the streaming music business and have provided a platform to hundreds of thousands of broadcasters to have a voice over the years.

Unfortunately, we have to say good bye.

Along with this announcement, Live365 has recommended StreamLicensing.com and StreamGuys to users who’d like to continue running their online stations. Live365 is suggesting that users who migrate to either of these service let the new services know that they’re coming from Live365.

Midroll Drops Latest Listener Survey Stats

~ Shawn Thorpe

PMidroll Logoodcasting production and advertising company Midroll has published the findings from its latest listener survey. “Podcasts By The Numbers,” as the survey data is called is described by Midroll as “the industry’s largest ongoing survey of podcast listeners.” The objective of the survey is to gather information on the audience consuming Midroll’s shows so the network can help its advertisers make informed choices about shows they choose to run ads on. The survey was conducted between June and October of 2015 and includes results from over 168,000 surveyed listeners.

Here are some highlights from the survey:

  • 22% of listeners have an annual household income of $100,000 or more.
  • Half of the listeners have a bachelor’s degree or higher education degree, 53% spend at least $132 a year on printed books and e-books.
  • 61% report buying a product or service they heard about on a podcast ad.
  • As the audience grows, it diversifies, looking more like the demographics of the United States as a whole.
  • 88% listen to most or all episodes of the podcasts they subscribe to.

Midroll typically only works with shows that have significantly large audiences. So, even tho the company was able to gather its survey results based on a large sampling, it’s still not necessarily representative of all podcast listeners. The two biggest takeaways that small or independent producers may want to focus on are the “61% report buying a product or service they heard about on a podcast ad” and “88% listen to most or all episodes of the podcasts they subscribe to” stats. The first one could be useful to anyone seeking sponsorships for their own shows and the second one shows that there really is value in a show’s back catalog, and that it’s important to make that easily available to subscribers.

The full survey report can be found here.

Ustream acquired by IBM

~ Shawn Thorpe

Ustream LogoIf there’s one big tech company that’s been conspicuously absent in the world of new media over the last decade, it’s IBM. But that’s all changed now as IBM has acquired long-running video streaming service Ustream. Big Blue, as the heritage technology monolith is sometimes called, picked up Ustream as part of a larger plan for cloud-based video services the company is developing.

IBM’s new cloud-based video services unit is being designed specifically to serve business users. The service will provide improved analytics to its expanding user base. Braxton Jarratt, former CEO of Clearleap, which IBM acquired in December, will be leading up the new video services division. This group will include Ustream, Clearleap, IBM’s existing R&D assets in the streaming-video space, and two other recent acquisitions: storage company Cleversafe, and cloud data transfer company Aspera.

Ustream is based in San Francisco and has been around since 2007. The company, along with Livestream, is one of the Internet’s oldest services focused on live video. It’s hard to say for sure yet what this acquisition will mean for the future of Ustream. There’s a link on the Ustream homepage to a press release about the announcement, but no further details have been provided.

Live365 May be Shutting Down

~ Shawn Thorpe ~ 15 Comments

Live365LogoLong-running Internet radio service Live365 may be in its last days. The news came without warning over the weekend as the company was forced into a massive layoff of employees. Live365’s troubles were set off by new regulations that take affect this month. Those regulations, enforced by the Copyright Royalty Board, change how music royalties are calculated for Internet radio broadcasters. From a Live365 press release:

Recently, the Copyright Royalty Board, the governing entity for establishing the sound recording royalty rates that are paid to copyright holders, has published the new rates for 2016-20. The previous provisions for small webcasters to opt for a percentage of revenue model were not renewed. The current provisions end at the end of 2015. The absence of this license will make legally streaming copyrighted musical content prohibitively expensive for many small to mid-sized Internet broadcasters. Live365 relies on this license for many of their broadcast partners and, as such, has hard decisions to make regarding their future in the streaming industry.

Before these changes came into place, Live365 could make its royalty payments based on a percentage of the company’s revenue. It looks like Internet radio stations that play copyrighted music will now have to pay some sort of flat rate or per-song fee, regardless of revenue. Considering Live365 hosts thousands of small stations, a change like this would be devastating.

To make matters worse, Live365 also lost all of its financial backers:

Two weeks ago, Live365 faced an additional blow, losing the support of its investors who have helped the company with its mission for over a decade. The company was forced to significantly reduce staff and is now actively looking for partners to help continue the service into 2016.

It’s unclear if those investors backed out due to the upcoming royalty rate changes or if something else scared them off. For now, Live365 is still in operation. The company is being run by a small team and its CEO is actively looking for new investors.

Podomatic’s Year-End Deal Targets SoundCloud Users

~ Shawn Thorpe

Podomatic logoMedia hosting and podcasting services company Podomatic announced a year-end promotional deal as well as some new features in its November newsletter. And while the newsletter doesn’t specifically state that the company is trying to court SoundCloud users, it kinda looks that way.

First off, Podomatic has developed an inline Facebook player for its users. This allows clickable players to automatically spawn inside of users’ Facebook feeds. From the newsletter:

…we’ve released a brand new Facebook timeline player with a slick new design and improved sharing capabilities. While other companies are removing Facebook players entirely, we realize how important it is for our podcasters to have their content shared with the world, from anywhere in the world.

Earlier this year, SoundCloud disabled its own Facebook player, which caused a lot of consternation among users. This is probably what Podomatic’s referring to with that “other companies” line.

Second up, Podomatic has created a tool to import media directly from SoundCloud accounts:

Providing our podcasters with a centralized and secure location for their audio files is a commitment we take very seriously. We know how important it is to have your content readily available for your listeners 24/7 without the worry of your work being removed. With our new import tool, you can now transfer all of your episodes and mixes from any hosting site to Podomatic effortlessly, all with just a click of a button.

While the newsletter says Podomatic will import media from any service, its import page sarcastically asks, “Had enough of SoundCloud?”

Finally, Podomatic is having a Fall Sale, with an offer of three months free media hosting with the promo code FALL2015. The Fall Sale offer is good thru December 7, 2015.

Anyone who’s followed podcasting trends in 2015 has seen plenty of negative news when it comes to SoundCloud. So, it’s no surprise that Podomatic is trying to target SoundCloud users. If things continue on as they have for SoundCloud, this tactic might just pay off for Podomatic.

TWiT is Hiring

~ Shawn Thorpe

TWiT logoThis Week In Tech (TWiT), the podcasting network founded by Leo Laporte, is advertising a job opening in New York. Until now, nearly all of TWiT’s shows have been produced at the company’s Petaluma, CA studios. The position has been posted on the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism website:

The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is planning to launch a live, weekly webcast about New York’s technology industry as part of the TWiT — This Week in Technology — network.
The show will feature discussion of New York’s technology scene with a regular host, Jeff Jarvis (CUNY J-School professor and a cohost of the network’s This Week in Google), a rotating cast of co-hosts, and guests from New York startups, venture-capital firms, incubators, media companies, universities, government, and elsewhere.

The listing goes on to say that the job will officially start in January of 2016. It will be full-time for the first six months, with a planned launch of the New York-based shows in May of 2016. After the footwork has been completed to get the show off the ground, the job will become a part-time 20 hours-per-week commitment. Initial training will begin in Petaluma. Then, it’s back to New York to help design and set up a New York studio. From there, the new show’s producer will receive help from, “students and alumni from the Journalism School (that) will assist the producer by researching topics for each show and identifying and booking guests.”

To learn more about this job opening and apply, click here.

Clammr Support Added to PowerPress Plugin

~ Shawn Thorpe

CLammr logoSometimes billed as the “Twitter for audio,” Clammr is a social-sharing app that focuses on short audio clips. These clips can be either new recordings or they can be taken from existing audio files. Many podcasters have embraced Clammr as a way to share clips from their own shows, as well as other shows they follow. Clammr users have been able to access the service thru either a web or mobile app, where they could create or curate their audio clips to be shared on the social web. Now the Clammr service is also supported by the popular PowerPress podcasting plugin for WordPress:

Clammr Audio Sharing is embedded within the Blubrry player and allows podcasters and listeners to share a segment of their audio on social networks. Web-based users now have the same features as those that are using the Clammr mobile application. The share button posts an audio highlight that is playable natively in Facebook and/or Twitter with a link back to the full podcast.

In order to use the Clammr feature with PowerPress, users will need to be running both the current versions of PowerPress (6.2) as well as the Audio Player by Clammr (1.1.0) WordPress plugins.

Disclosure: I work part-time with the Blubrry support team. Podcaster News Executive Editor Todd Cochrane is CEO of Rawvoice, Blubrry’s parent company.