Spotify makes show without original hosts

• Exclusive: Launched in September 2020 by Spotify, Sex, Lies and DM Slides appears to have relaunched with new hosts - without the knowledge of the podcasters who say they created the show. Gizzi Erskine has posted on Instagram that the show, made by Spotify UK, “is being made again without us”. “If Spotify don’t want to make it with us - then that’s fine, but DO NOT STEAL our format and name. WE created it (the format and name) in MY kitchen over a series of months. Spotify just paid for it to be made. I am absolutely up to my […] eyeballs at being exploited by the big corporations and money people. We are SO angry and upset”, she continues in the post, noting that the original shows have been removed.

  • Spotify tell us: “At Spotify we take intellectual property extremely seriously. Sex, Lies & DM Slides is a wholly-owned Spotify Original podcast inclusive of name and format, and we look forward to watching the show continue to evolve.”

• Spotify is cancelling eleven of its original shows, says The Hollywood Reporter. Those cancelled represent less than 2% of Spotify’s more than 500 original podcasts; but it’s likely to result in “less than 5% of Spotify’s staff on original podcasts” being laid off. If you’re hiring, Connor Sampson has volunteered to connect you. Spotify didn’t respond to an invitation to comment.

• Kim Kardashian’s new podcast for Spotify is being criticised by two survivors of the multiple murder case she’s investigating.

• DDEX, the international standards-setting organization focused on the exchange of data and information across the music industry, has published a white paper about how to use music in podcasts. “Not having proper standards around music usage is a barrier for licensing, and of course, ultimately the proper compensation”, said Niels Rump, a spokesperson.

• A hospital has been flooded with tens of thousands of angry phone calls, after a Spreaker podcaster told his listeners to call the healthcare facility and doxxed some individual workers - the calls blocked other communication about patient care. It’s one of a number of podcasts that the Tech Transparency Project allege, incorrectly, that “Apple is hosting”. (The podcast is also listed, but blocked from recommendation, on Google Podcasts).

• Apple Podcasts have made it easier to launch an Apple Podcasts Paid Subscription for your show, removing the requirement to create a channel first.

• Hot on the heels of an agreement with Stitcher and SiriusXM, SCA’s LiSTNR has announced that it will also exclusively represent Wondery’s podcasts in Australia.

• An aardvark is launching a podcast. If the press pictures are anything to go by, it’ll sound rubbish, though - Arthur is way too far away from that microphone.

Moves and hires

• Amid the news of cancelled shows, two new hires at Spotify’s Parcast and Gimlet. Nicole Beemsterboer is to become Managing Director of Gimlet; she joined Gimlet in March and was previously at NPR. Liliana Kim will “lead Parcast”; she moves from APM.

Podcast News - with Lemonada Media

From Lemonada Media: On Funny Cuz It’s True Elyse Myers interviews well-known individuals about their most awkward moments. Relentlessly unfiltered and relatable, we’ll laugh at and learn from the moments that keep us up at night.

From the New York Times, Hard Fork releases its first episode today. It features veteran tech journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, and looks at the latest stories in the world of tech and business.

Locatora Radio has joined iHeart’s La Cultura Podcast Network. With six seasons of self-produced episodes, they are the first indie to join the Latinx-centered podcast network.

The Made by Google Podcast appears hot on the heels of announcements of the new Pixel 7 Android phone, and the Pixel Watch. The show is hosted by Podigee.

Looking Forward has Podnews’s Editor, James Cridland, as a guest this week. He looks at opportunities to work in podcasting, whether you are a looking to be in front of the microphone or participating in the myriad other opportunities he suggests are out there.

The Media Podcast this week has Podnews’s Editor, James Cridland, as a guest - talking about Spotify’s cancellation of podcasts, and the BBC’s reduction of audio drama on-air. Also guesting is Maggie Brown.