Music: finally coming to podcasts?

• Commercial music is coming to podcasts, according to a pre-announcement. SoundExchange and PodcastMusic are set to announce a service “to provide a new solution for the rapidly growing podcast industry to secure music with fully integrated global licenses”. The service is set to launch next year; the press release says that “participation in this service by publishers, labels, and other rights owners is on a voluntary basis.” The announcement will be made on Thursday at Podcast Movement.

• Libsyn, Triton Digital and Podtrac are now IAB Certified.

  • “We believe we had a responsibility to the industry to be officially certified by the IAB Tech Lab”, said Laurie Sims, Libsyn’s President.
  • Podtrac is due to post a detailed article on its website this morning with more detail of their certification.

• The BBC have announced that they’ll remove their live radio streams from TuneIn for listeners within the UK, citing a lack of listener data. However, podcasts will remain on the platform. They’ve also announced further enhancements to their BBC Sounds app, adding more new categories and support for Chromecast. They removed their podcasts from Google Podcasts in March.

• UK radio broadcaster Bauer has decided to withdraw from DAX, preferring to sell its audio advertising itself through a relaunched service called Bauer InStream. The company claims it’s a brand safety issue; DAX is operated by its main UK competitor, Global.

• Is YouTube really the #1 destination for podcasts? Here’s a sneak preview from the Canadian Podcast Listener with more information from the hundreds of people they surveyed who said just that. “What we’re learning about podcast listening on YouTube could create some strategic opportunities for podcast networks and content creators.”

• ART19's targeted podcast marketplace now includes more than 200 shows, the company has announced.

• The New York Post is launching a celebrity news podcast, called Sources Say. It’ll be represented by sales house Cabana.

• EditPoint is a new iPhone app that may help podcasters give notes to their audio editors - allowing you to make timestamped notes to send to others. It has a 14-day free trial.

• AWS CloudFront doesn’t automatically compress RSS feeds (the documentation notes it will compress an incorrect application/xml+rss mimetype, but doesn’t compress the correct application/rss+xml mimetype. Your Editor clearly has too much time on his hands, but he’s reported it, and AWS say it’s on the roadmap to be fixed.

• We reported in May that US clothing retailer Betabrand hosts weekly live podcasts in-store. There’s more information in a retail website. “The podcasts and related social posts introduce Betabrand to an audience 100x the number of shoppers who’d visit the store on any given evening.”

Podcasts

Spreaker Prime: Spawn on me is the internet’s definitive video game podcast featuring and spotlighting gamers of color. The host, Kahlief Adams, is using Spreaker Prime to earn money and cut hosting costs.