The deal, valued at $300 million, is the latest in a string of acquisitions as streaming platforms expand beyond music and video.

Podcast-listening has skyrocketed over the past couple of years. In fact, it’s quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing mediums, with forecasts predicting the number of podcast users to exceed 160 million by 2023.

Do you have a niche?
Podcasts that focus on a specific niche or subject matter tend to perform better and garner more regular listeners than those covering broad topics.

Do you have the time?
Although the best podcasts come off as being off-the-cuff conversations, the truth is that a lot of time and commitment are involved in bringing them to life.

Do you want to raise your profile or make money?
Podcasts can be great tools for raising your thought leadership profile, but if monetization is your primary goal, you will probably want to invest your time and money somewhere else.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotify’s catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

1. Create An Ideal Listener Avatar
2. Know Why You Are Doing It
3. Be Authentically You
4. Interview Other Podcasters
5. Accept That Episode One Will Not Be Perfect
6. Get To Know Your Audience Intimately
7. Be Clear About The Value You Want To Bring
8. Never Quit
9. Know Your Audiences What Is In It For Me
10. Let Interesting Guests Talk You Up
11. Commit To A Disciplined Purpose For A Year
12. Find A Niche Aligned With Your Expertise
13. Take A Step-By-Step Approach
14. Figure Out What People Need To Hear
15. Be Relevant And Real

Podcasting is marketing. And companies have been using branded podcasts for a long time. But while many companies, big and small, have attempted using branded podcasts, not all of them have been equally successful.

Begin with a strategy
No matter what the nature of your business is, creating a branded podcast starts with a sound strategy. What are the objectives of your branded podcast? Who is it for, and what is the purpose behind creating it? These are the first questions we ask any brand before starting an engagement. Well-executed branded podcasts are not about just the podcast, but about everything from strategy to research to storytelling to distribution.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotifys catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

Anchor-hosted shows account for more consumption of third-party podcast content on Spotify than any other podcast hosting or distribution provider
Spotify says Anchor’s top five markets in 2020, by total number of shows, were the US, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Great Britain. In Indonesia, Spotify signed nine shows to become exclusives. Meanwhile, the fastest-growing markets, looking at the average monthly increase in new shows, are India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Indonesia. India accounts for nearly 40,000 Anchor-made shows and has been growing at an average of 22 percent month-over-month increase in 2020.

Music streaming companies have seen stellar growth in user numbers. We ask Morningstar equity analyst Neil Macker if the trend can continue.

Some of the key findings are, as you said, the music industry has rebounded because of simply the streaming industry itself. Music streaming has exploded over the last few years, and because of that, record labels have moved from a declining business in terms of revenue to a growth business over the last five years.

While most radio companies, outside the biggest in the industry, struggle to find a revenue generating podcast strategy, the number of consumers listening to podcasts continues to grow.

Monthly listening is up, weekly listening is up and the average podcast listener tunes into about 5 shows per week. The latest Infinite Dial stats show that about eighty million Americans – 28% of the U.S. 12+ population – are now weekly podcast listeners, a 17% increase over 2020. And, 57% of the country have now listened to some kind of podcast.

The overall monthly podcast listening audience is now more diverse than ever: 57% of monthly podcast listeners are white, 16% Latino, 13% African American, 4% Asian, and 10% of some other background.

With podcasting on the rise the big question that remains for most radio stations around the country is how to make money at it. Unless you have a large enough network of shows, like the bigger radio companies, to be able to sell millions of downloads to advertisers and ad agencies, it takes a minimum of 25,000 downloads per show for an advertiser to even look at a show.

The role of podcasts in the information ecosystem has gone largely unexamined. While alt-right figures have been increasingly chased off Facebook and Twitter, podcasting is shaping up as the next arena where the fight over questionable or dangerous content will play out. However, the problem of how to moderate audio content is proving thorny.

As podcasting grows in stature and revenue, its disinformation problem can’t be ignored.

Podcasting is a great way to reach and engage with your audience. Here's the lowdown on podcasting and the shows digital marketers should pay attention to.

Podcasting is the new normal in digital marketing.

Experts are calling podcasting modern-day blogging.

Doubling in attendance from the previous year, Podfest March 2020 marked the 6th edition of the annual international event produced by Chris Krimitsos.

It also skated by the pre-pandemic shutdown as one of the last live events of 2020.

Illustrating how podcasting have captured the interest of people all over the globe in recent years, research company Grand View Research suggested that the global podcasting market size valued at USD 9.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.5% from 2020 to 2027. During the pandemic, listeners worldwide are observed to be spending more time at home due to work-from-home and social distancing policies – changing the entire dynamics of the market for podcasts, which used to have a pre-pandemic target audience of people listening to broadcasts during their commute. The industry is now expected to grow with engaged listeners who are stuck indoors while working from home.

Podcasting Will Boost Your Network Like You Never Thought Possible

As you grow your audience, you’ll find that podcasting can become an incredible resource for expanding your network. I have had the opportunity to invite guests onto my own show, as well as appear as a guest speaker on several business-oriented podcasts.

These have given me the opportunity to meet and interact with several incredible entrepreneurs working in a wide range of business categories.

Having a podcast gives me a valid reason to reach out to other entrepreneurs who I admire. These are people I might not have been able to meet otherwise, and they have given me valuable insights that I have been able to apply to my own business endeavors.

Every year at this time, Edison Research and Triton Digital publish the results of a study called The Infinite Dial that tracks the use of digital audio and related media in the United States. It’s a study that dates back over 20 years—it got its name from the digital radio that was introduced at that time—and is well-respected for the rigor and consistency of its methodology. This year’s study shows how the pandemic has changed digital audio consumption habits. It also shows a few surprises in the streaming music sweepstakes.

The 2021 Infinite Dial results show that the use of online audio—including digital radio, AM/FM internet streams, podcasts, and music services—has plateaued at 68% of Americans ages 12 and up. But there are clear winners and losers, and they don’t merely reflect pandemic-related factors such as people staying at home.

One big winner is podcasting. Growth in podcast listenership shows no signs of tapering off, as monthly listenership continues its linear growth path to 41% penetration, up from 37% in 2020. Growth is particularly high in the 12-34 age bracket, more than half of whom now listen to podcasts regularly (while the 35-54 bracket levels off around 40%). Podcast listenership is also getting more racially diverse, with nonwhite listeners now at 43%, up from 37% last year.

Apple to switch its 'Subscribe' button to 'Follow' on Podcasts

Cuban shared his unique insights about the current and future state of  not just podcasting, but the entire media industry. We discussed both legacy media companies and independent creators.

Here are the main takeaways and my thoughts from our conversation:

1. Streaming is the future, and legacy companies need to get on  board in order to survive
2. These days, audio is just as competitive as video because the  barrier to entry is lower and there's no pressure to look nice
3. As new technology emerges, media will continue to evolve — and creators must keep up

Any summation of the past year begins and ends with COVID, even if we’re just talking about podcasts. Given everything that’s happened, how can it not?

We had just a little over two months of expected life in 2020 before counties across the United States started implementing initial lockdown measures, drastically altering the shape of everyday activity. Movement was scaled down, businesses were shuttered, and a great cloud of uncertainty descended upon the populace as this massive and utterly terrifying thing unfolded all around us.

Podcast coverage has a peculiar history. Whether fueled by wishful thinking or impatience, the media’s takes on the format often come in fits and starts. Many outlets have declared podcasts the next big thing over the years, and there’s been a lot of discourse surrounding podcastings perceived booms, busts, and even blips. Commonly pegged to the seemingly never-ending stream of new shows, discussions of the golden age” or peak of podcasts are regularly had. Articles compare the podcast boom to the Wild West and the American gold rush. It is all very amusing. And, when compiled, all of this breathless coverage reveals just how difficult it is to capture something with a community ethos through an industry lens. Here we celebrate podcasting’s sweet 16 with a look back at some of the more excited articles — including our own — from the early days.

MBA courses are full of all sorts of people at varying stages of their lives. There are those who start head strong right after completing their undergrad, while others wait a couple of years before re-immersing themselves in their studies. Then there are those who wait even longer—10-15 years sometimes—before heading back to school and hitting the books.

With the introduction of tablets like the iPad, working outside of the office has become streamlined. No longer are employees and entrepreneurs chained to their desks and laptops.

For several years, employers have tried to develop "relevant" and creative ways to successfully train new employees. After all, employees are more likely to pay attention to training videos and seminars if they can actually relate to the content. While there have been some pretty outrageous attempts over the years—just take a look at the 1989 Wendy's training (music) video designed to instruct new hires how to properly pour coffee—some of the methods do work.

When it comes to human organs, none is quite so mysterious as the brain. For centuries, humans have had numerous misconceptions and misunderstandings about how the organ works, grows, and shapes our ability to learn and develop. While we still have a long way to go before we truly unravel all the mysteries the brain has to offer, scientists have been making some major breakthroughs that have gone a long way in explaining both how the brain functions and how we use it to organize, recall, and acquire new information. Here, we list just a few of the biggest and most impactful of these breakthroughs that have contributed to our understanding of the science of learning.

1. More information doesn’t mean more learning.

   
   The brain is equipped to tackle a pretty hefty load of information and sensory input, but there is a point at which the brain becomes overwhelmed, an effect scientists call cognitive overload. While our brains do appreciate new and novel information, as we’ll discuss later, when there is too much of it we become overwhelmed as our minds simply can’t divide our attention between all the different elements vying for it. This term has become a major talking point in criticisms of multi-tasking and in the modern information-saturated online sphere, but the discovery of this cognitive phenomenon also has major implications for education. In order to reduce mental noise, teachers have had to take new approaches to presenting material, using techniques like chunking, focusing on past experiences, and eliminating non-essential elements to help students remember a large body of information.

2. The brain is a highly dynamic organ.

   
   Until the past few decades, people believed that the connections between the neurons in your brain were fixed by the time you were a teenager, and perhaps even earlier. One of the biggest breakthroughs in understanding the science of learning happened when scientists began to realize that this just wasn’t the case. In fact, the brain’s wiring can change at any age and it can grow new neurons and adapt to new situations, though the rate at which this happens does slow with age. This phenomenon is called neuroplasticity, and it has had major ramifications in our understanding of how the brain works and how we can use that understanding to improve learning outcomes.

3. Emotion influences the ability to learn.

   
   The ability to learn, retain, and use information isn’t just based on our raw IQs. Over the past few decades it has become increasingly clear that how we feel and our overall emotional state can have a major impact on how well we can learn new things. Educational situations where students feel stressed, shamed, or just uncomfortable can actually make it more difficult for them to learn, increasing negative emotions and sparking a vicious cycle that may leave some children reluctant to attend class. Research is revealing why, as the emotional part of the brain, the limbic system has the ability to open up or shut off access to learning and memory. When under stress or anxiety, the brain blocks access to higher processing and stops forming new connections, making it difficult or impossible to learn. It may seem like common sense that classrooms should be welcoming, non-stressful environments, but different students have different triggers for negative emotional states, making it key for educators to watch for signs that indicate this in students.

4. Mistakes are an essential part of learning.

   
   Failure is a dirty word in most aspects of modern American society, but when it comes to the science of learning, research shows that they’re essential. A recent study found that students performed better in school and felt more confident when they were told that failure was a normal part of learning, bolstering a growing body of research that suggests much of the same. Much like it takes multiple tries to get the hang of riding a bike or completing an acrobatic feat, it can also take multiple tries to master an academic task. Neuroscience research suggests that the best way to learn something new isn’t to focus on mistakes but instead to concentrate on how to do a task correctly. Focusing on the error only reinforces the existing incorrect neural pathway, and will increase the chance that the mistake will be made again. A new pathway has to be built, which means abandoning the old one and letting go of that mistake. This idea has formed the basis for a growing debate about education in American schools, which many believe doesn’t allow children to embrace creativity and problem solving as they are too focused on memorization and test scores.

5. The brain needs novelty.

   
   Turns out boredom really can kill you, or at least your will to pay attention and learn. Repetition may have its place in learning, but what the brain really craves is novelty. Researchers have found that novelty causes the dopamine system in the brain to become activated, sending the chemical throughout the brain. While we often regard dopamine as the “feel good” chemical, scientists have shown that it actually plays a much bigger role, encouraging feelings of motivation and prompting the brain to learn about these new and novel stimuli. This breakthrough has led to some major changes in how we think about learning, and has motivated many schools to embrace learning methods that cater to our brains’ need for new and different experiences.

6. There are no learning styles.

   
   What kind of learner are you? Chances are good that at some point during your educational career someone labeled you as a particular type of learner, either visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. This idea that there are distinct types of learners who learn best with certain assortment of stimuli has been showing up in education and brain science for decades, but recent studies have shown that this idea really doesn’t hold much water. Students may have preferences for how they learn, but when put to the test, students were found to have equivalent levels of learning regardless of how information is presented. Attention to the individual talents, preferences, and abilities of students, which helps to cater to the emotional and social needs of students and improves their ability to learn, is more important than styles (of which there have been 71 different models over the past few decades).

7. Brains operate on the “use it or lose it” principle.

   
   There’s a reason that you forget how to speak a language or work out a trigonometry problem if you don’t use those skills on a regular basis. Information in the brain that isn’t used is often lost, as neural pathways are weakened over time. Research has found that the brain generates more cells than it needs, with those that receive both chemical and electrical stimuli surviving and the rest dying off. The brain has to receive regular stimulation through a given pathway in the brain to sustain those cells, which is why lifelong learning is so important to brain health. These findings also have implications for vacations in K-12 education as well, as students who don’t get intellectual stimulation over the summer are much more likely to forget important skills in reading and math when they return to class.

8. Learning is social.

   
   While some select individuals may learn well cloistered in a library with a stack of books, the majority of people need a social environment to maximize their learning. Research has found that from infancy on, people learn better through social cues, much more easily recalling and emulating the actions or words of another human. Aside from social cues, socialization has been shown to have other learning benefits. Peer collaboration offers students access to a diverse array of experiences and requires the use of nearly all the body’s senses, which in turn creates greater activation throughout the brain and enhances long-term memory. Group work, especially when it capitalizes on the strengths of its members, may be more beneficial than many realize, both for teachers and their students.

9. Learning is best when innate abilities are capitalized on.

   
   All of us, from the time we are born, possess innate abilities to see and hear patterns, something that psychologists doubted was true for decades but that we now know to be the case. Research suggests that reinforcing those innate capabilities by teaching patterns early on may actually help kids learn more and sharpen their brains. Aside from being able to see and hear patterns, the human mind has a number of innate abilities (the ability to learn a language, for instance) that when capitalized on in the right way, can help make learning any concept, even one that is abstract, much easier. Combining these innate abilities with structured practice, repetition, and training can help make new ideas and concepts “stick” and make more sense.

10. Learning can change brain structure.

    
    Brain structure and function are intertwined, and you can’t improve one without taking the other into consideration. Yet, in years past, most ideas about learning ignored ways that the brain’s structure itself could be modified, instead focusing on brain function or the brain’s output. The reality is that brain function can only be changed through changing brain structure, which is actually less complicated than it sounds. For example, brain cells fired up during both perception and action overlap in people, and lessons that engage both allow students to more easily identify with their teachers and to learn concepts more quickly, as their brain cells are getting twice the attention and workout. In fact, any new information, if used enough, can modify the structure of the brain, something educators and neuroscientists are just starting to fully explore. 

Business training programs constantly need to be updated in order to keep employees up-to-date on the latest techniques and research in their field. The right training program can quickly teach current employees and new hires the skills they need to know in a short period of time. Additionally, they should be easily accessible and offer detailed explanations that can allow employees to retain the information they learn. Currently, e-learning programs are becoming one of the most frequently used training programs in businesses as they offer a convenient way to teach a wide variety of information to employees in a way that is innovative and fun. Therefore, the following techniques should be used by any company that wants to offer the most effective e-learning programs to their employees.

When someone studies to become a teacher, they learn a number of different teaching strategies that help them effectively impart knowledge to students. Corporate trainers with advanced degrees in adult education are also often exposed to similar strategies as a part of their academic preparation. In contrast, many internal employees who take on training duties at their companies aren't familiar with effective teaching strategies. Many of them are selected to train new and current employees because they are good at their jobs and not necessarily because they're skilled educators. Unfortunately, this can mean that their training efforts don't quite achieve the desired results.

You may already provide your new hires with some sort of technical training to help them perform their specific jobs according to your standards. You may not, however, provide them with any sort of training that will enhance their general performance as staff members. There are numerous e-learning courses and online training options available to employers that help employees gain the essential professional skills they sometimes lack. If you're deciding or re-evaluating which e-learning courses you invest in for your new hires, you may want to consider these useful types of courses:

The online versus traditional classroom debate has been going on for some time now. You can't get through one blog on eLearning or modern education without finding a discussion of the pros and cons of the digital classroom and online degree programs. The debate has been going for some time now and has seen many different facets and opinions. While online schools were shunned from the start, today they have grown and flourished into highly regarded institutions for higher learning. Today, rather than simply disregarding online learning as a lesser option to brick-and-mortar schools, people are beginning to see the two entities as options for different learning styles and lifestyles. There are many people who can benefit and really grow from their experience in the online classroom. Online learning facilitates many of the same skills traditional learning does, but has a few added elements. As our society becomes more and more married to the online and digital world, a comfort and ease in these areas becomes very important in the professional world.  The following three skills, essential in the corporate world today, are established and perfected in the online classroom.

Times are tight. Though you may have found an online training program that will teach you the skills you need to get to the next level in your career or at your company, your boss may not want to pay for the training. With so many companies cutting their budgets and freezing spending, not many managers are open to what they see as "unnecessary" spending for employee training.

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Andrew Goodman's 21 Ways to Maximize ROI on Google AdWords, first released in March 2002, is still the definitive how-to on optimizing your pay-per-click campaign.

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Yellow Button launches Mac programs and opens folders and documents with a single click. Drag your favorite files and folders to the Yellow Button window.

Complete version history for Yellow Button program launcher for Mac OS X. Current version is 2.1.9

A few tips for making a connection with your Mac modem and the modem at the office.

MacWise allows a host computer to control the functionality of special keys on the keyboard. The keys can be re-programmed by the host. Information for host programmers.

iPod Halo effect Brightnens Mac sales according to an article in the Australian IT News

Apple has made a much larger comeback in Yale student and faculty computing than its 10 to 12 percent national market share would indicate.

What if you could synchronize the contacts in your Apple Powerbook’s Address Book to your cell phone? What if your car could use the same contacts in your phone to make calls with Bluetooth? That would be cool!

What if you could use your Mac Powerbook to check your email and get on the internet wirelessly. Yea sure, you can drive around looking for wireless hotspots, or pay to use the wireless service at Starbucks. But what if it did not matter where you were.

By now you have, no doubt, heard that Macs will be running with Intel processors next year. The phase-in will start in 2006 and by 2007, all Macs will be running on Intel chips.

MacWise terminal emulation for Macs with Intel and Power PC processors.

Dial into your office computer using your Bluetooth phone and MacWise terminal emulation.

Use Your Mac Powerbook to Connect to the Internet using your Motorola Razr V3xx Bluetooth Phone and a 3G High Speed Internet Connection .
(Browse the Internet and check your email)

You may get an error message when you run MacWise that says, "The following toolbox items are not available on this computer."
This is caused by a problem with the StdCLib file located at
/System/Library/CFMSupport/StdCLib

My personal experience with technology from the early years of computers in the 1970’s to today in 2008

MacWise supports standard Wyse and Viewpoint fkey programming from the host. You can program the fkey title and command for each fkey..

Leo Laporte is a Radio and TV Personality.
He hosted Tech TV for many years and now is host and producer of the TWiT Netcasts at http://twit.tv

You can take a look at Apple's web page to see their featured business apps for iPhone and the current top 10 selling apps.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-everything/work.html