A very happy holiday to you all! The news is slow and the food is fried. I made the best latkes of my life (of anyone’s life?) this weekend and also ate four Peter Pan jelly donuts in the space of 24 hours. It really is the most beautiful time of the year.
In that regard, we have made a change hot pod schedule for the next two weeks. We have a Thursday issue for HP Insiders and are free on Fridays. Next week we will only publish on Wednesdays. And I’m not saying I hope you don’t read them, but I do hope you take some well deserved time with loved ones and away from the internet.
Today, Spotify flirts with an Anchor rebrand and Angela Merkel loves true crime. Who knows?
Anchor may be getting a rebrand
Spotify just loves a user survey, and this time it’s about Anchor’s future. According to a report TechCruncha survey was sent to participants in the Spotify for Podcasters program proposing to bring the features and Anchors under the same umbrella.
The survey included a sample announcement, which stated, “Anchor and Spotify for Podcasters are now Spotify Creator Studio, the all-in-one platform for creators of all shapes (and sizes) to express themselves and find success on Spotify.”
Spotify acquired podcast host Anchor in 2019, and it’s been instrumental in building the platform’s podcast library of 4.7 million performances. This is where many of Spotify’s amateur shows begin, with occasional chart success. But Anchor, which has long been the best podcast host on the market, starts slipping. In November, 21.6 percent of all podcasts were created on Anchor. That still gives it a big lead over second place (Buzzsprout, which captured 9 percent of all podcasts created), but that’s less than April’s market share of nearly 26 percent. Spotify for Podcasters, meanwhile, provides stats (including a Wrapped) for users who upload their podcasts to Spotify using another host, such as Buzzsprout or Libsyn.
The proposed new setup would split users into essentially the same two groups: “unhosted” (vka Spotify for Podcasters) and “hosted” (vka Anchor). It doesn’t look like much would change. Non-hosted users would get some stats and be able to post Q&As and polls, which are currently only available to Anchor users. Hosted users maintain Anchor’s core tools: podcast and video podcast creation, dynamic ads, and subscriptions.
So if little changes functionally, why a rebranding at all? It’s certainly cleaner to have Spotify’s main podcasting tool carry the company’s name. Perhaps it also creates a clearer path to lure podcasters using third-party podcast hosts. I also suspect that branding everyone under the Spotify Creator Studio will allow more room for creativity in providing stats on the podcast business.
Either way, it may not happen anytime soon – if at all (we’re still waiting for HiFi, y’all!). “At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of studies and tests to improve our user experience,” the company said in a statement hot pod. “Some of these ultimately pave the way for our wider user experience and others serve only as an important learning point. We have no news of future plans at this time.”
Music startup Duetti is building a catalog for the TikTok era
Blockbuster catalog deals may have slowed down in recent months, but the streaming era has revealed the long (and sometimes unexpected) life of songs. Janko Roettgers wrote for The edge about a startup founded by former Tidal executives picking up the rights to older songs that have the potential to blow up on TikTok and Spotify.
“The proposal: Duetti is buying the rights to songs it has determined are already doing well on streaming services,” Roettgers wrote. “The company then milks those songs further through playlists, influencer collaborations, and other forms of optimization, and over time buys rights to additional songs from artists it collaborates with.”
We’ve seen the process time and time again with old songs given new life, like with Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” But while many catalog deals have focused on tracks that have always been iconic, Duetti uses data to identify deep cuts that have the potential to blow up. Roettgers’ piece is a close look at how streaming is changing the music landscape and redefining what it means to be a hit.
Angela Merkel rarely appears in public on true crime podcast
Angela Merkel has kept a pretty low profile since stepping down as leader of the free world, but she has emerged as a guest on German podcast Are we talking murder? This is a chaotic choice, and I love that for her.
That’s it for now! See you next week.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.