PodMov Daily: Thursday, October 29

Episode 317: Your Thursday Podthoughts

Joe Rogan is Ramping Up Spotify's Misinformation Problem

Unfortunately for Spotify, Joe Rogan again brought far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones onto his podcast. (Jones’ own show, InfoWars, is banned from Spotify for producing “hate content.”) As put by Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch, “Now people are in an uproar of who, essentially, gets a platform on its platform.”

Spotify has never outlined content policies for podcasts. An internal email leaked by BuzzFeed suggests that it’s still not a priority. During the three-hour episode, Jones claimed that Bill Gates is trafficking vaccines that cause polio. He also said this: “You got a huge audience, we can really change the world right now.”

Lunden points out that compared to other mega platforms, Spotify has enjoyed little scrutiny. “It’s been optimising for exclusive names and speed to market in getting them (and paying big bucks for the bragging rights), over considering what those names are actually doing, and what impact that could have.”

Spoken Giants Offers Royalties for Spoken-Word Copyright

Launched yesterday, Spoken Giants claims to be the “first collective advocate for spoken word copyright holders.” The company aims to reimburse comedians, podcasters, speech authors, and the like for reproduced work. A royalty flowchart on the Spoken Giants website begins “at the source”: a joke.

To CEO and co-founder Jim King, vigilant technology is a creator’s only defense. “Our message is, ‘membership is a must,’ especially with the overwhelming rise of podcasting and streaming over the past decade.” The company names comedians Pete Holmes, Kathleen Madigan, and Lewis Black as clients.

Copyright holders can earn income three ways: performance royalties, synchronization, and mechanicals (downloads, streams, vinyl, and CDs.) The AI-driven platform Muserk will handle tracking, royalty collection and reporting. It currently scans content on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora.

Heads up, party people: Both of tonight’s PM Virtual events are open to the public, attendees and non attendees alike. Bring a friend and check out the PodcastMusic.com networking event (5:30 to 7:30 CT) before joining the Amazon Music Closing Party (8:00 to 10:00 CT). See you there!

Here's what else is going on:

• Deep dish: Four years in, Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald’s? has morphed into “a deadpan satire about podcasts, the business of podcasting and the quirks of investigative journalism.” The New York Times profiles the sleeper hit’s dedicated creator, comedian Brian Thompson.

• Come hither: Audible has added 100,000 free podcasts to its catalog, including Pod Save America and This American Life. All are available without a subscription, writes Ashley Carman of The Verge. “Still, Audible has a long way to go to reach the scale of Spotify and Apple Podcasts.”

• Group chat: Tomorrow at 5:00 pm CT, the team behind Pineapple Street Media’s Back Issue will give a virtual panel talk on everything podcasting. Plans include an exclusive tour of their quarantine studios, followed by a live audience Q&A. Presented by the New York Public Library.

• On paper: In a guest column for Hot Pod, literary agent Kate McKean lifts the curtain on podcast-to-book crossovers. A strong narrative arc is essential, she says. “When I’m looking to podcasts for new authors with potentially good ideas for books, that’s what I’m looking for.”