Mediagazer: As 8tracks prepares to shut down on December 31, its co-founder shares a post-mortem of what went wrong with the once-promising music streaming startup (David Porter/8tracks blog)

5:40 PM ET, December 28, 2019

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David K. Li / NBC News:

Radio shock jock Don Imus, an early pioneer of the genre known for his controversial and often offensive statements, dies at 79 — He had announced on Jan. 22 that he was retiring, telling fans: “Turn out the lights...the party's over. — Radio shock jock Don Imus, one of the early pioneers of his genre …

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George P. Slefo / Ad Age:

Spotify will suspend political ads in early 2020, citing the lack of tools to review them; source: political ads are not a significant source of its revenue — Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and the RNC are among Spotify advertisers — Spotify is suspending the sale of political advertising …

David Porter / 8tracks blog:

As 8tracks prepares to shut down on December 31, its co-founder shares a post-mortem of what went wrong with the once-promising music streaming startup — 8tracks has had a long run and its day in the sun. We're sad to announce, however, that the company and its streaming service will wind …

Discussion: @chr1sa, @jherskowitz, @davidporter, @joshconstine, @robinsloan, @agaresia, @rrhoover, @ow, @hasief, @mathewi and @caseynewton, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Comcast is in advanced talks to acquire Xumo, which offers an ad-supported video streaming service, as Comcast prepares to launch NBC's Peacock — Deal would help cable giant's digital-video ambitions as it prepares to launch its own video-streaming service

Discussion: Marketplace, Variety, The Streamable, New York Post, MediaPost, Broadband TV News, @digitalshields, @tomventimiglia, @aagave, Broadcasting & Cable, @benmullin, Engadget, Hollywood Reporter and MarketWatch

Mark Ledwich / Medium:

A new study finds that YouTube's late 2019 algorithm actively discourages users from watching radicalizing content, directing them to more mainstream videos — In 2018, Kevin Roose published a piece in the New York Times in which Caleb Cain, a liberal college dropout, described his experience …

Discussion: @kevinroose, @mattgrossmann, @andre_spicer, @austen, @mark_ledwich, @antumbral, @eladgil, @wordsandsuch, @mark_ledwich, @mark_ledwich, @mark_ledwich and arXiv.org, more at Techmeme »

Jay Rosen / PressThink:

What Chuck Todd blamed on naiveté to lessen his error of ignoring the GOP's spread of disinfo was in fact willful blindness and malpractice — That disinformation was going to overtake Republican politics was discoverable years before he says he discovered it.

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Heather Bryant / Nieman Lab:

In 2020, the question of how to save newsrooms will start to shift to how to save journalism as a process, emphasizing more collaboration and inclusiveness — Heather Bryant is founder and director of Project Facet. — There are always two conversations happening in any given field.

Discussion: @kainazamaria, @thischrishorne, @matt_kiefer, @ihearttheroad, @nikkiusher, @antonioattolini, @thensim0nsaid, @dskok, @mandyvandeven and @antonioattolini

Alexander Lim / Storybench:

Q&A with NYT designers Antonio De Luca and Sasha Portis about creating an interactive story on New York City's subway map for the map's 40th anniversary — For the 40th anniversary of the New York City subway map, The New York Times created an interactive story that all but places you directly inside the map.

Discussion: @journalims

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

William Greider, a reporter, editor, and author who wrote about the economy and politics for WaPo, Rolling Stone, The Nation, and other outlets, dies at 83 — In interviews with Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, he exposed doubts about the supply-side economics that the administration had embraced.

Sara K. Baranowski / Nieman Lab:

2020 will be the start of an exciting era for community news with local outlets producing high-impact reporting that experiments with new formats and engagement — Sara Konrad Baranowski is editor of the Iowa Falls Times Citizen. — The attention of the news industry …

Emma Grey Ellis / Wired:

How The Dodo has achieved viral success by posting heartwarming videos about animals, racking up 2.3B views each month — The media empire's heartwarming (and highly shareable) animal videos rack up 2.3 billion views each month. It might be our favorite website of the decade. — Frog is a rooster.

Discussion: @wired, @groupninemedia and @wiredculture

Shareen Pathak / Digiday:

Survey of 135 publishers: 50%+ say direct-sold ads are big source of revenue, 40% had no subscription rev, affiliate ads at most a small revenue source for 82% — For publishers, the biggest priorities heading into 2020 are how to grow revenue they can control: Both through direct-sold ads and subscriptions.

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Discussion: @markcoker, Business Wire, teleread.org, The eBook Reader Blog and MarketWatch

Allyson McCabe / Wired:
As labels increasingly rely on streaming data to scout talent, they could become less willing to sign artists whose music isn't engineered to maximize profit

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