Pod-Alization: White Noise is Green; Spotify Goes Extreme; Firefox Has A Podcast; London Calling

 White Noise podcasts turn noise into currency notes

Some ‘white noise’ podcasts on Spotify are generating revenue of more than $18,000 per month, reports Ashley Carman of Bloomberg. Shows with names like Calming White Noise and Best Noise Labs have remarkably dedicated audiences. Carman, who is one of the most experienced and insightful podcast journalists, found many creators in the genre to be secretive or unresponsive.

 

One example is Todd Moore, who released a white noise app in 2009, and 10 years later put Tmsoft’s White Noise Sleep Sounds on Spotify. It now gets about 50,000 listens per day, and Moore has a team of five. 

 

 With the popularity of ASMR and white noise podcasts, we have to ask: what's next? Totally silent podcasts? If that's the case, I can have several episodes ready for launch in about 20 minutes. 

Or better yet, can we take the garbage that spews forth from Steve Bannon's mouth and turn it into white noise?

 

 Spotify sets rules to stem extremism

Spotify's course correction from streaming music to podcasting has provided the corporation with greater profitability, higher margins, and brighter prospects for growth. 

Yet, its foray into podcasting has not been error-free. The fumbles have been frequent and feckless. 

PodNews ran an exclusive last week that Spotify has altered its platform rules (If it ever had any) to add an entire section on prohibiting the promotion of violent extremism. The updated rules also ban content with “instructions or instruction materials to commit an act of violent extremism”, as well as content containing financial requests for funding such groups. A definition of violent extremism isn’t given, but given the company's initial lax oversight of content on its podcasting platform, almost anything would be an improvement. 

Firefox has a podcast ; And it's good!

The Firefox browser has 198 million monthly users, so it's popular with users. However, it has lost 50 million users in the last four years, due, in part, to Google being the default browser for Android devices and G suite users locked into Google Chrome.

 Firefox is made by Mozilla Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation, and is guided by the principles of the Mozilla Manifesto. Mozilla champions an open internet, civil discourse, shared knowledge, verifiable facts, and collaboration. It's a much more fleshed out mission statement than Google's "don't be evil," which the company has forsaken since 2018.

Anyway, Firefox has a podcast called IRL (In Real Life)Host Manoush Zomorodi shares real stories of life online and real talk about the future of the Web.

The podcast covers a wide range of online topics, such as privacy laws, 5G, tech worker rights, the internet's carbon footprint, and the surveillance economy. 

Check it out here. 

London calling; Kate London, that is

 Podcasting is an audio medium, so the sound of the words spoken is critical. As is the music in the beginning, during, and at the end of the podcast. Audio Up, which has a partnership with podcasting giant, Sirius XM, provides such music to podcasts, big and small.

With podcasting growing in revenue and audience, AudioUp has brought in a "heavy hitter" by naming Kate London its Head of Music Legal & Business Affairs.  

 “Joining Audio Up is a perfect fit, allowing me to bring extensive experience in the music industry to a spirited and compelling creative team,” said London in a statement.  “Together we will continue to push boundaries, creating novel and captivating content.”

London served as Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs at Interscope Records, where she worked with artists including Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish. 

“We are truly fortunate to have Kate join Audio Up as we embark on the next phase of our business,” said Audio Up founder and CEO Jared Gutstadt.