Архив метки: RSS

YouTube Music officially rolls out podcasts for listeners in the US

YouTube Music is officially adding podcasts to its platform in the United States on Android, iOS and the web. The rollout comes a few months after YouTube podcasting head Kai Chuk revealed that podcasts would be added to YouTube Music soon.
The update allows users watching podcasts on the main app to continue listening to them on YouTube Music. The company notes that all users can listen to podcasts on-demand, offline, in the background, and while casting and can seamlessly switch between audio-video versions on YouTube Music.
“This podcast listening experience is different from our music listening experience where you need a Premium or Music Premium subscription to enjoy some of these features,” the company wrote in a blog post. “This new podcast listening experience complements the podcast video experience on YouTube.”
Podcasts in YouTube Music will be available regardless of whether you have a YouTube Premium subscription. YouTube even notes that paying customers may encounter host-read endorsements or sponsorship messages when listening to podcasts on YouTube Music.
Image Credits: YouTube
YouTube is rolling out the update to all of its listeners in the United States gradually, which means not everyone may see it yet. The company said it plans to bring podcasts to YouTube Music to users outside the United States soon but didn’t provide any specific launch details.
The YouTube Music Home tab now includes a new “Podcasts” tab that takes you to a dedicated feed, which will display your favorite podcasts and recommended episodes.
YouTube is advising creators that if their podcast is audio-only, they should consider uploading a video with a static image or use audiograms or other dynamic video formats. The company notes that it will soon offer creators the option to directly upload their audio podcasts via RSS feeds to both YouTube and YouTube Music.
According to previous reports, YouTube isn’t looking to sign exclusive deals with podcasters, which has been a key strategy at Spotify. YouTube instead seems to be focused on melding the experience of listening to podcasts on video and audio.

YouTube Music contractors win historic union vote

YouTube Music officially rolls out podcasts for listeners in the US by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch
YouTube Music officially rolls out podcasts for listeners in the US

Podcast app Majelan pivots to premium audio content around personal growth

Добавить комментарий

French startup Majelan is pivoting a year after launching a podcast player and service. The company, created by former Radio France CEO Mathieu Gallet and Arthur Perticoz, is ditching the podcast aggregation side of its business and focusing on premium audio content going forward.
Like many podcast startups, Majelan faced some criticism shortly after its launch. Aggregating free podcasts with premium content next to them à la Luminary is a controversial topic in the podcast community. Spotify has been going down the same path, but Spotify is also an order of magnitude bigger than any other podcast startup out there.
Some podcast creators have decided to remove their podcast feeds from Majelan to protest against that business model.
Podcasts remain an open format. Creators can create a feed, users can subscribe to that feed in their favorite podcast app. You don’t have to sign up to a particular service to access a particular podcast — everything is open.
“We have decided to stop aggregating free podcasts — free podcasts mean podcasts, period. For us, podcasts are RSS feeds, it’s an open world,” Perticoz said in a podcast episode. “We need an app that is more focused on payment. We can’t aggregate free podcasts given that our strategy is paid content.”
The result is a more focused service that is going to launch on July 7th in France. After a free trial, you have to subscribe for €5 to €7 per month, depending on the length of your subscription. You can then access a library of premium audio content — Majelan rightfully doesn’t call them podcasts.
“Going forward, we’re going to focus on original content, we’re going to focus 100% on paid content,” Gallet said in the same podcast episode.
And in order to be even more specific, Majelan will focus on personal growth, such as creativity, activism, mindfulness, innovation, entrepreneurship and health. According to the co-founders, some content will be produced in house, some content will be co-produced with other companies, and the startup will also acquire existing podcasts and repackage them for Majelan.
That move has been in the works for a while. The startup pitched it to its board of investors back in December. Premium subscriptions have worked well for movies, TV and music. Now let’s see if subscriptions will also take off with spoken-word audio.

Podcast app Majelan pivots to premium audio content around personal growth