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Welcome to the Wednesday version of Scorching Pod. You possibly can blame Rosh Hashanah for my tardiness. We now have loads to get into in the present day, however first, some shameless self-promotion! I made an episode of The Vergecast about how the rise of streaming has modified music creation and what it means to be a star. Making podcasts is enjoyable, who knew?
In the present day, CNN is shedding a few of its audio employees, Spotify is attempting to stem the move of white supremacist music, and iHeart is shopping for illegitimate downloads by way of cell video games.
CNN lays off audio staffers
CNN is slicing a few of its podcast employees because it refocuses its audio enterprise, in line with a laid-off worker. Alexander McCall, who labored as a product supervisor at CNN Audio, tweeted yesterday that he and different podcasting staffers had been laid off and that CNN plans to provide fewer collection subsequent 12 months. “I’m joining the ‘My company invested heavily in podcasting, and then realized it’s expensive and then didn’t want to pay for that anymore.’ cohort,” he mentioned.
CNN wouldn’t touch upon what number of staffers had been laid off or which reveals will probably be reduce. In a press release, the corporate mentioned: “Audio is an important growth area for the company. Over the last several years we’ve learned a lot about the topics and productions that most resonate with our audiences. As a result, we’ve refined our strategy to focus our resources more specifically in those areas.”
Most of CNN’s podcasts are tied to its reveals and hosts, however the community introduced a number of new collection in February. Breaking Information Alerts, which points minute-long information updates, continues to be up and operating. A particular season of Tug of Battle concerning the struggle in Ukraine posted its final episode in June, saying there could be updates “from time to time” on the feed. (There haven’t been any.) Private finance podcast Diversifying ended its run in August. In the meantime, Anderson Cooper has a brand new podcast on grief, which is at quantity 5 on the Apple Podcasts chart and quantity 12 on the Spotify chart. Evidently standalone reveals could also be chucking up the sponge as these centered on CNN’s anchors will stay.
In some methods, CNN’s state of affairs is exclusive — its lately merged dad or mum firm, Warner Bros. Discovery, is looking for $3 billion value of cuts. However to McCall’s level, numerous media firms have expanded into audio up to now few years, maybe considering it might be extra worthwhile than it’s. As indicators of a recession loom, I’d not be shocked if we noticed extra media and leisure firms abandoning their audio enterprises (although I actually hope not).
Podcast firms are utilizing cell video games to generate downloads
Yesterday, Bloomberg launched a fairly damning report displaying how firms like iHeartMedia and the New York Submit are buying computerized performs inside freemium cell video games that find yourself of their total obtain tally. This issues as a result of these downloads drive these firms’ advert charges and assist them within the fixed rating of high publishers.
The story is predicated on a report from DeepSee, which supplies video demonstrations of how these computerized downloads work. When enjoying a freemium recreation, a participant is given the choice of shopping for their method into continued entry to the sport, or watching a video or listening to a sound clip. Gamers might imagine they’re simply sitting by way of an advert, however in some circumstances, they’re downloading podcasts. Podcast firms purchase these placements by way of an middleman firm known as Jun Group.
Bloomberg experiences that iHeart, particularly, which touts its place because the primary writer in line with Podtrac, has paid Jun Group $10 million and gotten 6 million downloads by way of cell recreation placements since 2018. iHeart didn’t reply to request for remark.
ADL finds white supremacist music on Spotify
A brand new report from the Anti-Defamation League discovered 40 white supremacist artists on Spotify and criticized the corporate for permitting the music to floor on algorithmically generated playlists. Spotify has responded to the report’s claims, saying it’s rooting out violent content material on the platform.
“Our team of in-house experts regularly reviews and takes action against violative content on our platform,” the corporate mentioned in a press release. “In fact, since January 1, 2022, we have removed more than 12,000 podcast episodes, 19,000 playlists, 160 music tracks, and nearly 20 albums for violating our hate content policy globally. Much of the content referenced by ADL was found to violate our Platform Rules and was removed from the platform. We recognize that even with our continued innovation and investments, when it comes to moderation, there is always more work to be done.”
As Spotify grows as an area for creators, it has launched extra particular content material insurance policies and launched a Security Advisory Council earlier this spring to information its insurance policies transferring ahead. Two of the acts ADL recognized, Wiking 1940 and Pugilato NSHC, have since been faraway from the platform.
Whereas the report is particular to Spotify and its playlisting instruments, this can be a drawback for different music companies as nicely. Wiking 1940 and Pugilato NSHC each have pages on Apple Music, although it appears like their tracks have been eliminated. Songs by Pugilato NSHC can be found on YouTube, although they had been posted solely a month in the past, probably after beforehand being eliminated.
Apple didn’t reply to request for remark. YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon mentioned, “Our hate speech policy strictly prohibits content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes like their immigration status, nationality or ethnicity. We’ll remove any content violating our policies upon review.”
Netflix releases trailer for its Spotify-inspired collection, The Playlist
And lo, it is extremely Swedish! Which is completely honest, we’re speaking a couple of Swedish firm in any case. The present, which was introduced final 12 months, will probably be a fictionalized six-part restricted collection based mostly on the ebook Spotify Untold by enterprise journalists Jonas Leijonhufvud and Sven Carlsson. The trailer options a number of laptops and aughts references. (Pirate Bay!)
The individuals merely need extra enterprise dramas. I don’t as a result of they remind me an excessive amount of of labor and I’d a lot slightly simply rewatch Bob’s Burgers, however I’ll in all probability be compelled to look at this one. The collection comes out October thirteenth.
That’s all I received, see you subsequent week.
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