Spotify breaks up with Meghan

• Archewell, the podcast company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will not have its contract renewed with Spotify. The decision was mutual, according to a statement. However, speaking on his podcast, Bill Simmons (who is a senior Spotify podcast executive) called them “fucking grifters”.

  • Meghan Markle’s podcast produced just twelve episodes in a $20mn contract. The Wall Street Journal suggests that she may not earn the full amount after not meeting productivity clauses. Podnews has heard from multiple sources that some interviews on the show were done by other staffers, with her questions edited-in afterwards.
  • Will Page, former chief economist at Spotify, suggests that Harry and Meghan earnt more from Spotify than the most streamed song ever, Blinding Lights by The Weeknd. “Not bad for 12 hours work,” he told Shaun Ley on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight (from 24min).

• Podium has launched a new tool that turns your podcast into a book. Called “Podbook”, the tool will turn any podcast into anything from a 20-page ebook to a 250 page paperback-like read. Podcasters can join the waitlist, and this sample is made from Huberman Lab.

• CoHost has released a white paper about podcast analytics - detailing key metrics, measurement techniques, and industry best practices. The free download also gives tips on how to take action with your data.

• Anchor “shut down my podcast and never paid me”, claims a redittor, who says they’re owed $700.

• Storyboard, a platform for internal and private podcasting, has added “Chat By Storyboard”, a new app letting teams communicate using voice messages with AI-powered transcripts.

• The Independent Podcast Awards have partnered with the Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund. The Fund covers submission fees for producers, editors and others from underrepresented backgrounds.

• In the UK, the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival is to return to London in Q4, with some of the country’s biggest comedy shows performing live.

• In Portugal, consultancy Widecom has launched a podcast unit. Zeeko - Podcast Creative Agency aims to be “a landmark in the production of podcasts for individuals, brands and institutions”.

• Earbuds focuses on episodes celebrating Juneteeth, chosen by Justin Richmond.

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• Podcast Marketing Magic shares how to make the most of your good, bad, and helpful ratings and reviews

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• Facebook’s owner Meta has announced an artificial speech generator, which can clone voices, edit and remove background noise.

• It’s a few months since Apple removed “AppleCoreMedia” as a useragent of its app. The results? Apple Podcasts download figures are up 4%, says OP3. We predicted 6%.

• Podcastdata.org is a new data website allowing anyone to query Podcast Index data and produce pretty graphs from it. Here, for example, is the average episode length of all podcasts by different languages - shows in Hindi and Chinese are the shortest, while shows in Serbian and Bulgarian are, on average, five times longer.

Podcast News

It’s the 25th anniversary of Sex and the City, and the And Just Like That…The Writers Room podcast has, for the first time ever, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis in conversation with writer, director, executive producer and host Michael Patrick King. The podcast unpacks the show’s casting process, evolution of characters, a scrapped storyline, iconic guest stars and more.

A new relationships podcast from Punkie Johnson, Love Thang, launches today on SiriusXM’s Laugh Out Loud Radio, and is released tomorrow. Punkie and her hilarious best friend and co-host, Dicey, give their highly unqualified advice on matters of the heart. The show will be weekly.

From Inc Magazine, Computer Freaks is new - a six-part limited series podcast about the dramatic, untold history of the Internet straight from the mouths of its pioneering inventors - and how it all led to the economy, and society, we inhabit today.

Patricia Bright’s podcast returns for a new season and a new name - The Break brings together high-profile guests and thought-provoking discussions on career, personal finance, and self-development. The show, formerly known as “Caught off guard”, is now brought under Patricia Bright’s successful online community. It’s published by Listen.