Music licensing for podcasts - more complex than you think

• Ask anyone, including us, about playing commercial music on your podcast, and we’ll say no, no you can’t. At least, without a license. But how easy is music licensing? Winslow Bright is a music supervisor for film, audiobooks and podcasts, who worked with Premier Music Group, clearing the music for the audiobook Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon. In an exclusive interview, we asked what’s involved with music supervision and licensing for podcasts.

• What is YouTube’s plan for podcasting? YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, says she’s “excited” about podcasts, and said in an interview that YouTube will be “a good opportunity for people who are producing podcasting to generate revenue, (and) have more distribution”.

• A Sky News investigation in the UK has discovered antisemitism, racism and white supremacist material in podcasts on Spotify. Spotify has removed 150 hours of content after the news channel’s report. “In some cases, explicit slurs could be found in episode titles and descriptions while album artwork displayed imagery adopted by white supremacists,” the story says. The podcasts are still available on Google Podcasts, it adds.

• After dismal audience figures, the all-podcast radio format has been dropped by iHeartRadio from its two AM stations KABQ Albuquerque (in favour of Christmas music), and WSAN in Bethlehem PA (in favour of oldies). A radio executive described these stations to Podnews as “poorly executed and confusing” when they launched; iHeart-owned Inside Radio reports that both stations only managed a 0.1% market share. “iHeartPodcast 95.9” WEBG, an FM station, is still airing non-stop podcasts: that station, licenced to serve Mina NY (population 1,016) is audible in parts of Erie PA (pop 94,831).

  
  Sep 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• iOS use is increasing, says Scientia Mobile’s MOVR report. Android devices are still the majority of mobile phones used across the world, with 60% of the North American market.

  • 88% of all iPhones can use Apple Podcasts Paid Subscriptions, according to the data showing phones running iOS 14.5 and over.

• NPR’s College Podcast Challenge is back for 2022. You’ve until the end of February to enter.

• JioSaavn has published its look back at 2021's listening data. Hindi podcasts saw a surge of listening throughout the year.

• Gaana is running a “contest” to promote your podcast as the most-followed podcast on the platform.

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Co-founders of the Wonder Media Network Shira Atkins and Jenny Kaplan have been named in the media category of the Forbes 30 under 30.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 9 2023

The Tech Stuff - with the podcast:soundbite tag

• People using the popular Umbrel Bitcoin node software will shortly be able to see boostagrams from listeners. The “Podcasting 2.0” app, code-named Helipad, has now been submitted to the Umbrel app store for approval.

  • If you don’t mind using SSH in a terminal window, here’s how you can install it now.

• Chartable’s tracking is pulling ahead of Podtrac, according to new data from John Spurlock. The company’s tracking prefix was found on 4.3% of all new podcast episodes published in November.

• PodLP is enabling transcripts shortly within its app, and has posted a demo. The podcast:transcript tag is supported by podcast hosts like Buzzsprout, Captivate, Castopod, Fireside FM and others.

Tips and tricks

• High quality audio makes you sound smarter. People rated a physicist’s talk as 19.3% better when they listened to it in high (vs low) audio quality. They also thought he was smarter and liked him more.

Podcast News - with Blue Wire

In Blue Wire's limited series WR1 presented by WynnBet, legendary NFL wide receiver Cris Carter interviews legends of the WR position as well as the next generation of superstars to understand what makes this position so unique, as so many personalities and stories come from outside of the hash marks. Guests include Julian Edelman, Adam Thielen, Mike Evans, Calvin Johnson, and many more. (thanks Matt!)

The Sound Off Podcast has our Editor as a guest this week, talking about podcasting and radio. The show includes listener questions, which is a nice idea! The podcast focuses on radio and audio in Canada, and is hosted by Matt Cundill.