The Podcast Network Sign Two Major Podcasters

The battle of the Podcast Networks is hotting up, Australian-based The Podcast Network today announcing two major new signings.

Brian Ibbott, winner of the 2005 Peoples Choice Best Music Podcast, today joins The Podcast Network with his daily entertainment show, “Today in Music History.”

Acting as a perfect slice of Podcasting every weekday, Ibbott’s latest show is a short, sharp and sweet hit of music, trivia and information that is great to dip into at any time of the day – stuck in traffic jam, waiting for a bus, or enjoying your tea break.

“TPN was a natural fit for a daily show like ‘Today In Music History’,” Ibbott points out. “They were the first commercial podcast network, and their experience in promoting podcasts under their umbrella is unrivalled. I look forward to presenting my show to a whole new audience of music and podcast lovers alike.”

“Brian was one of the first podcasters to make a truly great music show with Coverville,” enthuses Ewan Spence, Executive Director and Head of Music at The Podcast Network. “He still is a genuine trail-blazer, and to bring this unique and exciting show, and its host, to the Network has long been a personal goal. I can’t wait for our listener’s reaction to the news.”

Iain Foulds, the man behind the Unsigned Rock Podcast, is the latest signing to The Podcast Network. Taking the chair to host the Monday and Thursday shows on the TPN Rock show, Foulds brings a strong following from his previous show of audience and bands

Having started in March 2005, TPN Rock has evolved from a single show to a well-respected brand name in the online rock world. As it moved from a single show to a powerful brand name, TPN Rock fans have continued to ask for more music for their MP3 players and computers.

“Till now I have been leaving the audience wanting more,” pointed out Ewan Spence, host of TPN Rock and Executive Director of The Podcast Network, “but Iain’s show was so close to the style of TPN Rock, and because we get on fantastically well, the obvious solution was the way forward.”

“Working with The Podcast Network will allow me to give bands and artists more exposure, and that can only be a good thing,” Foulds comments. “Everyone I get in touch with about the podcast immediately realises the potential, and can’t wait to get involved. I’m sure The Podcast Network, Ewan, and myself can provide even more opportunities and exposure for these unknown, unsigned and under-appreciated bands to be heard around the world.”

Libsyn Acquired In Puff Of Smoke

Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD) announced today that it has agreed to acquire Libsyn, the world’s largest podcasting network. Following the acquisition, Libsyn will maintain its independence and continue to grow its successful brand and loyal podcasting community, empowering podcasting everywhere.

The Libsyn network broadcasts over 42 million podcast downloads per month to at least 13 million people worldwide. In 2006 alone, Libsyn has had over 360 million audio and video podcast downloads. "Just this month, our network has broadcast over 7 million hours of content and that does not even include traffic from our newly launched LibsynPro business service," says Dave Chekan, CEO and co-founder of Libsyn. "We’ve had several investment offers in the past and we chose Wizzard due to its expertise in speech technology, its passion for podcasting and its desire to make money for our independent content creators."

"Libsyn is on a mission to empower the content creator in this new age of independent media by creating unique opportunities to share advertising revenues with its podcasters," says Chris Spencer, CEO of Wizzard Software. "By joining forces, we can provide Libsyn with the operating capital it needs to continue its impressive growth, increase capacity and maintain its dominant status in the industry while at the same time expand our revenues by helping podcasters monetize their shows through unique advertising and sponsorship engagements." - PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Roy Wood was unavailable for comment, but his spokesperson said, "Roy will be letting the bells ring out for Christmas this year as usual."

50% Of UK 'Not Interested' In Internet

Research conducted by Point Topic in the first two months of 2006 show that around half of UK households do not have internet access and are not intending to get it, despite the slew of free broadband offers available. Most new broadband connections are simply replacing existing dial up. According The Register, 44 per cent of UK households don't have net access and views are becoming more entrenched. 44.8 per cent of those households don't think the net is important at all (another 29.8 per cent think it's not very important). And 70 per cent of those households thought it unlikely, or not very likely, that they'd get online.

Two thirds of households surveyed don't have a PC, and alternatives aren't considered very attractive. Only 14 per cent of non-access households rated a TV or mobile phone as a good alternative to PC-based net access. Email-capable phones, games consoles, and PDAs rated even lower.

Apple's iTunes FairPlay "Cracked"

"The code that prevents music downloaded from Apple's iTunes store being played on any portable player other than an iPod has been "cracked". Apple has not commented on claims that Jon Lech Johansen has "reverse engineered" the FairPlay system. Prominent hacker Mr Johansen has made a name circumventing software used to restrict the use of digital media. His company, DoubleTwist, said that it planned to license the code to other digital music player manufacturers.

"There's a certain amount of trouble that Apple can give us, but not enough to stop this," Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist told Associated Press.

"We believe we're on good legal ground, and our attorneys have given us the green light on this."

At the moment iTunes controls 88% of the legal music download market, while 60% of those possessing a portable music player own an iPod. - BBC

Green Dragon Signs To BT Podshow

The UK's first podcaster, Martin "G.D." Devaughan, has signed to BT Podshow.

"I don't see any reason to defend my decision, in fact I'm celebrating it," he said. "I deal with contracts each and everyday due to my status as head of a record label and to be honest the BTPS is fair less demanding than I had envisaged. Hopefully others will now be able to announce their signing too."

Martin, 47, began podcasting October 2004 from Typhoid Towers, Anglesea, Wales, near to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Global Music Revenue Down As Digital Rises

Sales of digital music in the first half of 2006 rose 106% to US$945 million when compared with the first six months of last year. Globally, digital sales now account for 11 per cent of the total recorded music market worldwide, up from 5.5 per cent in December 2005.

The US is still leading the digital revolution, with 18 per cent of recorded music sales now being made through digital channels. Digital music sales in the US increased by 84 per cent to US$ 513 million in the first six months of 2006.

Digital music also accounts for a significant part of the overall market in South Korea (51%), Japan (11%), Italy (9%) and the UK (8%).

The explosion in digital music services, spurred by consumer demand and a widening array of delivery channels, has seen online and mobile music sales grow from $US134 million in the first half of 2004 to US$945 million in the first half of 2006.

In Japan, Italy and Spain mobile dominates the digital market, accounting for 85%, 76% and 78% of overall sales respectively. Online downloading is more prominent in markets such as the UK, Germany and the US, where online sales account for 70%, 69% and 64% of digital sales respectively.

Physical music sales declined in the first half period, down by ten per cent worldwide. This led to total music sales falling by four per cent in the period to $8.4 billion in trade values (US$13.7 billion in retail values). Piracy and competition for consumer spending contributed to the first half fall.

There was growth in some markets, such as Japan (12%), South Korea (5%) and Australia (6%), counter-balanced by declines in Germany (-4%), the US (-7%) and France (-9%).

Notes:

Physical sales include: singles, LPs, cassettes, CDs, DVD Audio, SACD, MiniDisc, DVD, VHS and VCDs.

Digital sales include:

Online: single track downloads, album downloads, music video downloads, streams

Mobile: master ringtones, full track audio downloads to mobile, ringback tunes, music videos

Subscription: online and mobile subscriptions

IFPI excludes midi files (monophonic and polyphonic), ringtones and non-artist related content sales from these figures.

IFPI figures are collected from IFPI members (physical sales) and major record companies (digital sales) and include an estimate for non-reported sales, effectively representing 100% of the market.

Source: IFPI

UK Podcasting Numbers

In his own Britcaster forum, Neil Dixon, who has been working for Podshow in the UK, gave an outline of the state of UK podcasting and indications of the UK audience size.

"What UK podcasters feel is a 'respectable' audience is significantly lower than what US podcasters are happy with. Top UK independent podcasts are pulling in 65-80k file requests a month, and there's very few of them (anyone know a UK indie pulling 100k+ ?). Then there's a big gap down to a handful between 10-20k per month and a whole bunch at well under 5k. Top US indie podcasts are, of course, into millions of requests per month. We have had to re-adjust the watershed of what is considered a successful show once a true clear picture of the average UK podcast audience space started to emerge.

Combine those numbers with so many UK podcasters stating that the majority of their audience numbers are from outside the UK and you have a bleak picture of the current UK-based audience pool for an independent UK podcast. These are real numbers as supplied by podcasters themselves, not speculations."

You Goog

Google Inc. said Monday it agreed to acquire privately held YouTube Inc., the No. 1 Internet video-sharing site on the Web, for $1.65 billion in stock. On Monday, the boards of both Google and YouTube approved the terms of the deal, which was announced after the market closed.

Google said YouTube will continue to operate as a separate entity. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

"Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers," Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a written statement. - MarketWatch

What's A Podcast, Mum?

What are the pretty things, Mummy?

40% of online Britons receive news feeds, but 67% did not know that the official term for this service was Really Simple Syndication, terms such as podcasting and wikis are still meaningless to many, said Alex Burmaster, internet analyst with Nielsen/NetRatings. 57% of online Brits said they did not know that the acronym for it was Instant Messaging means IM. 35% of online Brits had heard the term podcasting but didn't know what it meant, and a quarter had never heard of it. Similarly with blogging, 34% said they had heard of it but weren't sure what it meant. 68% of those interviewed possessed an MP3 player, only 20% owned iPods - the biggest selling digital music player.

WIPO Treaty Comes Up Roses

After months of coordinated effort, pressure brought to bear on WIPO has paid off for activists, and at the last minute, two important revisions have been made to the revised Broadcast Treaty. Importantly for podcasters,

"It has also been decided that the treaty will now take a signal-based approach instead of the messy, dangerous rights-based approach that is used in the current treaty text. This, too, is good news for the Internet community, and reflects the concerns raised by many WIPO member countries at last month's meeting." - Gwen Hinze, EFF

UKPA Chairman, Dean Whitbread, said:

"We've pushed the issue of podcasters' rights into the highest level of UK government in a positive way. Podcasting is not just about making money, it's an important social freedom, and UKPA has played a part in safeguarding that freedom."