Spotify investigates podcast subscriptions

• Spotify might be planning to launch a subscription podcast service. It appears to be surveying customers to gauge interest in the idea. Others that have tried this include Luminary, Stitcher and Wondery.

• We reported that Wondery was up for sale on September 28. Bloomberg report that both Apple and Sony have held talks; Spotify isn’t apparently interested. The asking price is between $300m-$400m; significantly more than Spotify paid for Gimlet.

• The Audio Production Awards have just announced this year’s nominations. The UK awards got the highest number of entries in their history; the awards will be on November 26 in a virtual ceremony.

• Exclusive: Podfest China had its third annual conference. We’ve a full report from the day, including developments in podcasting within China.

• Spotify, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have all pulled an episode of the Podbean-hosted Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, after Bannon called for the beheading of Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI director Christopher Wray. Twitter have also permanently suspended Bannon’s account. The episode in question is still available via Apple Podcasts and the Podcast Index.

  • Can Apple Podcasts remove specific episodes? The app parses RSS feeds itself, so Apple is unable, we’d suggest, to “ban” any specific episodes of a podcast. Most other apps have a central RSS parser service, where individual episodes can be withheld.

• The California Privacy Rights Act passed last week. The CPRA has some tightening of rules, especially around retargeting of consumers based on their behaviour online (which some podcast companies use for attribution). The EFF felt it didn’t go far enough.

• Meanwhile, Apple have set a deadline of December 8 for app privacy data sheets. “You need to identify all of the data you or your third-party partners collect,” say Apple. For podcast apps, this could be interesting: “you must not tie the data to other datasets that enable it to be linked to a particular user’s identity”, Apple say, which could be at odds with some podcast attribution services.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Vokal lets you “create cool podcast video snippets for social media”.

• PodcastAddict has added a 'random pick’ button which returns a random list of podcasts.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Entercom’s podcasting business, including radio·com and Cadence13, claimed a 27% increase in downloads year-on-year in their latest earnings call.

• ESPN is to lay off 300 employees, and let 200 open positions go unfilled.

• Triton Digital’s MRC accreditation for its Webcast Metrics Local service was revoked in August, according to the MRC’s quarterly update. The update also notes that accreditation is “suspended” for the main Webcast Metrics service. No reason was given. These are both used to compare streaming radio, and not podcasting; Triton are seeking to regain accreditation for Webcast Metrics.

  • Triton’s revenue grew by 14% last quarter, according to EW Scripps’s quarterly earnings call. The company also owns Omny Studio.

• Steven Goldstein talks with Tom Webster as to whether the 60 million smart speakers out there could grow podcast listening.

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Pinecast has redesigned its customer dashboard.

The Tech Stuff

• The Podcast Index has unveiled the podcast:value tag. It allows micropayments using cryptocurrency, through the Lightning Network. Podcasters can opt-in to being rewarded every minute someone listens; and there is value for the podcast app and platform as well. There’s more detail in the Podcasting 2.0 podcast.

• Open source Android podcast app AntennaPod now has Podcast Index’s search built-in, as does PodcastAddict.

• Podbay is one of the apps supporting podcast:chapters.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 29 2023

• Here’s a CSharp wrapper for the PodcastIndex API.

• Blubrry has highlighted its “full support of Podcast Index”.

Tips and tricks

• How to design Podcast Cover Art people will actually click on (AJ Anovari)

  
  Aug 29 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• How to Grow Your Podcast Audience With Insightful Analytics (Sounder)

Podcast News - with Vurbl

On Vurbl Voices, Harry Duran of Podcast Junkies joins Paul for a discussion about the podcast industry and Harry’s goal of helping over 1 million people find their voice. Listen on Vurbl

Powerful Stories with Tory Archbold has joined NOVA Entertainment’s Podcast Network. The show “steps into the shoes of powerful women and discovers how they earnt their success”.

Christmas Podding is back for a third season - from Brisbane QLD, Australia, it tackles the fun, awkward and honest side of Christmas.

13 Hours: Inside the Nova Scotia massacre is launched today from Curiouscast and Global News. A 13-episode series, it looks to piece together exactly what happened and what could have been done to prevent it.