Twitter podcasts rolling out to more users

• Twitter’s podcast player is now rolling out to Twitter Blue members - on iOS only for now, though. Twitter Blue, the company’s premium service, is only available in four countries: US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Fighting for survival, Gaana, a music and podcast app in India, has closed for free users. The move comes after a failed merger. The service has 185 million monthly users, but fewer than 1% of Indian audio users pay a subscription.

• Spotify’s Megaphone, a podcast hosting company, was down again for two hours yesterday. It was previously down on Sep 2, in early August, and in May it broke for nine hours.

• Gramrphone, a live music startup, has announced integration with TikTok. The tool allows “creators to stream high quality live performances and listening parties straight from their studio to their TikTok followers”.

• “Podcast criticism exists”, says Galen Beebe; she has launched a new Twitter account, @podcast_critics, posting “podcast criticism in any format”.

• Podcast Day 24, the planet’s podcasting conference, is less than a month away. We’ve got a new code, PODN1215, that will give you tickets at around half price. Events are in Sydney, London and New York on Tues Oct 4 - you also get to watch the other two venues for free online.

• A new podcast platform, Heard·fm, is looking for podcasts to promote in its inaugural creator program. You’ve until Sep 30.

• In Nigeria, The Guardian looks at podcasting, and the Banana Island Living Podcast.

• Justin Jackson, a co-founder of podcast hosting company Transistor, did an 'ask me anything’ on Reddit, a social media platform. (Fun fact: his username is “spankymustard”.)

• SALT and SomeFriends have partnered to unveil a new podcast slate to tackle what the companies describe as a lack of diversity in podcasting and entertainment.

• Public radio broadcaster and podcast publisher NPR has signed with Veritonic for attribution and brand-lift solutions.

• King Charles III apparently wants Meghan Markle to stop her Spotify podcast, according to OK! Magazine - though, you should also know that research in 2010 showed that only 14% of stories in OK! Magazine were actually true. Markle has, though, paused releases of the show as a mark of respect.

• What’s going on with Audioboom’s shareholders? Investor Nick Candy sold Aaquaverse £6.75m ($7.9m) of his Audioboom shares in 2021. Aaquaverse is owned by controversial entrepreneur Robert Bonnier, and is connected to All Active Asset Capital who made a £188.3m ($220m) offer to buy Audioboom in July this year. It later withdrew the offer, Aaquaverse sold a third of its shares, and Candy accused Bonnier of fraud, applying in court for his assets to be frozen. Bonnier is now claiming £150m ($175m) in damages.

• Happy Birthday to Buzzsprout, which turned 13 years old on Sep 1.

Moves and hires - with Sugar23 Audio

• iHeartMedia has named Uta Knablein as the new Chief Product Officer for iHeartRadio. She was promoted from Executive Vice President of iHeartRadio’s Flagship Products and User Experience; and will report to Conal Byrne. She replaces Chris Williams.

• In Canada, Julie Adam has left Rogers Sports & Media. She had worked for the company for almost twenty-four years. It means a new boss for the as-yet announced new head of Pacific Content: they’ll report to Janice Smith, the VP of Sales.

Tips and tricks

• Transistor offers how to conduct a podcast listener survey.

• If you regularly ask people to donate to your podcast project: scientific research says you’re wrong. Use the phrase “gift” and you could get 29% more.

• “Gift a monthly amount” to Podnews here (and show your peers that you value our work)

Podcast News - with Lemonada Media

With Lemonada Media: TikTok superstar V Spehar sometimes needs more than a minute to bring you the news! The Under the Desk News creator offers funny, insightful commentary every Tuesday and Friday on V Interesting.

All-female podcast company Adalyst Media has added Struggle Care to the company’s podcast roster. The podcast, hosted by KC Davis, shares a revolutionary approach to self and home care for those dealing with mental health, physical illness, and hard seasons of life.

Scaled: The Latino Business Story is the first business podcast from LWC Studios, produced for the Latino Business Action Network. The show tells the stories of Latino/a entrepreneurs and their journeys to scaling their businesses to millions in annual revenue.

Compelled, a show focused on abnormal stories from modern-day Christians has returned with its fifth season. Previous guests include a man sentenced to 500 years in prison, an assassination survivor, and the widow of the commander of US Space Shuttle Columbia.

Futurespectives has published its second season. The show, produced by BrandAudio, features exclusive conversations with an illustrious line up of Hollywood A listers, with host Gabby Sanderson introducing audiences to fresh perspectives on the future of film, culture and society. It was made with Locarno Film Festival and UBS.