Podchaser, a startup building what it calls “IMDB for podcasts,” recently announced that it has raised $4 million in a funding round led by Greycroft. In other words, it’s a site where — similar to the Amazon-owned Internet Movie Database — users can look up who’s appeared in which podcasts, rate and review those podcasts and add them to lists.
Source: Podchaser raises $4M to build a comprehensive podcast database
The time spent by the average global citizen rose 2.8% to 53 hours weekly, according to a new forecast. But given a corresponding erosion in ad spending, coupled with greater adoption of subscription streaming services and other media during 2020, the share of time spent with ad-supported media fell to 44.8% in the U.S. and to 65.8% worldwide.
Forget buzzy new shows like “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Normal People.” The three series that people spent the most time watching on the major streaming platforms in the United States in 2020 all premiered on network TV more than a decade and a half ago, the research firm Nielsen found.
In a statement issued to the news media today (January 7), the NPD Group has announced that print book sales in the US rose 8.2 percent in 2020. Growth occurred, the industry research specialists say, across all major super-categories including adult nonfiction, juvenile, and teen categories. That 8.2-percent figure is calculated year-over-year and represents 751 million units.
Source: NPD: 2020 Was the US’ Bestselling Year for Print in a Decade
In the case of on-demand video streams, the ‘R&B/hip-hop’ category actually claimed over a third of all plays, at 33.9%. In terms of audio streams, ‘R&B/hip-hop’ claimed 30.7% of all on-demand plays. And across audio and video streams combined, ‘R&B/hip-hop’ claimed 31.1%.
Virtual concerts show great promise, and will likely remain as a driving compliment to musical careers – but how will the vaccine, and a return to crowded fans, factor in social changes brought about by digital? The critical question, as streaming fragments fan bases, is of who will be attending events where.
U.K. Music, the umbrella body representing the collective interests of the country’s music industry, has published a report setting out the economic, social and cultural value of live music, along with a blueprint for reviving live music after COVID-19 forced the effective closure of the sector last March.
Source: U.K. Music Targets Summer Return for $1.7 Billion Live Music Industry – Global Bulletin
ASCAP and BMI have finally unveiled a new joint song data platform, reconciling songwriter and publisher information between the performance rights organizations in an easy-to-search way. With the new comprehensive SONGVIEW database, in songs where each PRO has a share, the listings on each organization’s website will now mirror the other’s.
Source: Who Owns That Song? ASCAP & BMI’s New Joint Database Will Tell You
BMG has issued the results of a study examining the historic royalty payments and rates of 33 labels and imprints acquired between 2008-2019, as part of the company’s initiative to ensure its artists are treated fairly and that Black artists are paid royalties on par with their label mates. BMG’s review found four of its acquisitions paid Black artists below the level of non-Black acts on those respective labels.
Source: BMG Review of Historic Catalog Finds Black Artists Paid Lower Royalty Rates at Four Labels
Music streaming services have continued to add U.S. subscribers this year, according to MIDiA Research, growing by 11 million paying users from January to September, to 117.9 million. But in a potentially troubling sign for the recorded music business, the number of total streams has remained the same.
Source: Streaming Is Stalling: Can Music Keep Up in the Attention Economy?