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Podcast Business Journal

Who knew signing the most successful podcaster in the world would become such a headache? In addition to reporting quarterly earnings on Wednesday that includes a weaker Q1 2022 forecast and the revelation that it will no longer offer annual guidance, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek had to field questions about the growing discontent from content creators over the Rogan show.

Ek told investors he’s trying “trying to balance creative expression with the safety of our users. Of course, this is a very complicated issue. But I’m really proud of the steps that we took following the concerns raised by the medical and scientific communities.”

A handful of artists pulled their music from Spotify after objecting to guests Rogan has had on that are not lock-step in line with the COVID-19 vaccine. They believe Rogan is spreading misinformation about the vaccine.

Ek said the company does not “change our policies based on one creator nor do we change it based on any media cycle or calls from anyone else. While Joe has a massive audience… he also has to abide by those policies.

Rogan has apologized for causing this headache for Spotify and said he will strive for more balance.

Spotify’s stock dropped by nearly 17% to $159.70 on Thursday, but was up slightly in immediate after-hours trading.

As RBR+TVBR first reported Wednesday, Spotify in Q4 2021 had 406 million monthly active users, up 18% from a year earlier. Paying subscribers rose 16% to 180 million.
Revenue from subscriptions jumped 22% to $2.6 billion. Advertising revenue increased 40%. Advertising revenue has jumped from 10% of Spotify’s overall revenue to 15%.

Spotify now has 3.6 million podcasts available on its service, up from 3.2 million in the previous quarter.

For the first time, Urban One‘s audio divisions will have a Chief Revenue Officer.

Who’s earning the job? It is a 17-year veteran who has served as SVP of National and Network Sales for the company that owns Radio One and national radio entity Reach Media.

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Bauer Media Audio UK is migrating streaming audio listeners away from third-party listening services.

“Over the next few weeks you may experience some slight changes to your listening experience if you listen to us via a third party listening service such as Sonos or TuneIn, but have no fear! We don’t expect these changes to have any noticeable effect for the vast majority of our listeners,” according to a “Changes to online listening” notice the company posted to its stations’ websites.

With the move, Bauer is encouraging Kerrang!, Planet Rock, and Absolute Radio listeners to stream the station via the company’s website, its iOS or Android apps or via Radioplayer, an app backed by the BBC and British commercial broadcasters, including Bauer.

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“Digital audio has opened up an exciting new route for advertisers, alongside broadcast advertising, to access our valued audiences,” stated Shana Hills, digital chief operating officer for Bauer Media Audio. “Having invested in more personalized products to further this reach, we’re excited to take this step, which will unlock further potential for commercial collaboration and targeting, driving significant revenue opportunities.”

The move follows the integration of Bauer stations in the U.K. onto Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers, along with the Planet Radio music service for Sonos systems.

According to the company, the shift to owned-and-operating streaming delivery will allow Bauer to offer enhanced services to commercial partners as well as more personalized listener offerings.

According to the Q4 2021 RAJAR results, over three quarters of listening to Bauer stations happens via a digital device (web, mobile, smart speaker or DAB), compared to an industry average of 65 percent.

The company said that move away from third-party stream aggregators is being enacted for all of its U.K. brands, but “there are no plans for similar moves in other territories.” Bauer Media Audio operates more than 150 brands across eight European nations.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Bauer Migrates Streams to O&O Platforms appeared first on Radio World.

Ensuring a broadcast station’s license renewal application is filed in a timely manner with the FCC is a must. Yet, it doesn’t always happen.

That’s the case with a Meridian, Miss., licensee that’s just received a forfeiture notice for its tardiness, which also involves the unauthorized operation of its AM radio station in lieu of an active license.

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In recent quarters, iHeartMedia has taken the approach of releasing its fiscal report card after the Closing Bell on Wall Street on a Thursday. As such, results that may not seem as rosy as its peers would appear Friday morning in trade publications covering Radio — a soft news consumption day.

For Q4 2021, iHeartMedia is going with a pre-market release on a Wednesday. Is it a sign that the nation’s No. 1 audio content creation and distribution company is poised to report some of its best-ever numbers?

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Two-thirds of broadcast professionals believe the industry is adapting technologically to change, compared to 7 in 10 respondents one year ago.

That’s one of the key findings in a survey focused on the current media production landscape and state of broadcast workflows fielded by NewscastStudio.

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It’s a company mainly known for media security and anti-piracy services. Yet, a report it has just released concludes that broadcast TV “will continue to be viable for the foreseeable future, despite the growth of streaming.”

The report from Intertrust also suggests that the global the video industry will evolve to a hybrid approach, where linear broadcasting coexists alongside video-on-demand (VOD) content and live streaming.

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He’s widely known for his two decades of experience as an influential media sector financial analyst on Wall Street. Most recently, he filled the shoes of Marci Ryvicker, also known for her past experience as a media sector analyst, at Wolfe Research.

Now, John Janedis is taking a cue from Ryvicker by going corporate.

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BOCA RATON, FLA. — To ABC viewers, he’s recalled as a “Secret Millionaire” featured in a March 2011 episode of the now-concluded reality television series. A successful real estate figure, Marc Paskin sought out people and organizations in Detroit deserving of his financial help. Today, his philanthropic side is balanced with ownership stints of small radio stations, which dates to 2015.

Now, Paskin is re-entering radio ownership by agreeing to take Beasley Media Group‘s remaining properties in this upscale South Palm Beach County city.

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On September 22, 2021, the Media Bureau, Video Division (Bureau) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by Gray Television Licensee, LLC (Petitioner), the licensee of WYMT, channel 12, Hazard, Kentucky, requesting the substitution of channel 20 for channel 12 at Hazard in the Table of Allotments. For the reasons set forth in the Report and Order referenced below, the Bureau amends Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations to substitute channel 20 for channel 12 at Hazard.

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by Alabama Educational Television Commission (Petitioner), requesting the allotment of reserved noncommercial educational channel *4 at Vernon, Alabama, as the community's first local service.

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re: Actions on Pending Applications

Can anything stop Nexstar Media Group from achieving a fresh all-time high for its stock?

A new peak was reached on Wednesday. As a result, share value in the nation’s top broadcast television company by station count is up $114.88 since March 2020.

A 2% gain to $172.61 came on February 2 for NXST, on volume that was slightly above its average of 399,150 shares.

NXST boasts a 1-year target price of $189.89. And, it is a safe bet it will get there within days.

Year-to-date, Nexstar is up by nearly $20.

Joe Roggin‘s podcast controversy had, until the Closing Bell on Wednesday, generated enough negative press to agitate investors in Spotify. On January 27, shares dipped to $171.32, a dip from nearly $235 per share seen on January 11.

While Spotify rebounded to $203.62 on Tuesday, the comeback fizzled. Then came Spotify’s fourth quarter 2021 results, sending SPOT down by more than 21% in early after-market trading on the NYSE.

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Performance royalties are back in the spotlight on Capitol Hill.

The House Judiciary Committee held a virtual hearing about the proposed American Music Fairness Act.

NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said that four years ago, the same committee asked the broadcast and music industries to work together to develop a proposal on the terrestrial performance royalty issue. He said NAB “worked for more than 18 months and offered numerous proposals to our industry partners behind closed doors that aimed to achieve that goal. … When our concepts were rebuffed, we came back to the table with new ideas time and time again.”

LeGeyt said, “Unfortunately, the music industry was unwilling to do its part in these negotiations. … [A]s a result, we find ourselves in this hearing room today debating a performance fee proposal that is strikingly similar to its predecessors.”

[Related: Hybrid Radio and the Royalties Question]

He reiterated arguments that broadcasters have made before: that a new royalty on local radio is “financially untenable for broadcasters of all sizes and unjustified as a matter of policy,” that there is a lot of support among legislators for competing legislation called the Local Radio Freedom Act, and that artists themselves frequently acknowledge the importance of radio in their success.

Among those weighing in on the other side was singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.

She described herself as “a very big fan of radio and its place in music.” But she told the legislators, “Each of the songs that are precious and meaningful to you was a labor of love for the songwriters, the artists, the musicians and producers that brought it to life. … But when their music is played on the radio, artists don’t get paid, only the songwriters do. The radio stations benefit from the advertising dollars. But the artists that breathed life into a song, the featured artists, the singers, producers and studio musicians, are left out.”

Estefan said this can be particularly problematic for older artists whose songs still get airplay.

“It simply doesn’t make sense that artists are not being paid when their music is played on one specific platform: AM/FM radio. Why hasn’t this been rectified sooner? … Every industrialized country except the United States provides a performance right. … Artists respect broadcast companies; all we are asking is for them to respect us back.”

And in a filed statement, Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange, said the lack of performance rights to artists or labels “is one of the most egregious injustices that exists today in the U.S. music industry.”

He said the proposed legislation grants royalties to music creators “while protecting small broadcasters by limiting their annual payments for playing music to $500, less than $1.40 a day. And qualified public, college and noncommercial stations would pay only $100.”

Hopppe specifically criticized iHeartMedia for declining to appear. “If iHeart seeks to continue denying music creators fundamental respect, they should have the decency to do it to their faces and explain their justification.”

You can watch the full three-hour hearing online.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Radio and Performers Are Back, Arguing Over Royalties appeared first on Radio World.