Mediagazer: Q&A with Spotify Co-President and CTO Gustav Söderström on AI-generated music, NotebookLM podcasts, AI recommendations, improving discoverability, and more (Alex Kantrowitz/Big Technology)

2:30 AM ET, November 14, 2024

Top News:

CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC — Flush with political ad dollars and anticipating a deal-friendly environment, moguls are eyeing big moves to roll up lucrative local broadcasters.

Discussion: @mediaevan and @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Spotify plans to pay incentives to video creators who hit certain viewing thresholds and, in January, to let Premium subscribers view podcast videos without ads — Audio-streaming giant plans to pay hosts to make podcast videos and allow premium subscribers to watch them without ads

Discussion: TechCrunch, Spotify, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Spotify, @johnbuckley.bsky.social, Engadget, @spotifycreator, Business Insider, @spotifynews, Spotify, @kantrowitz, @alexeheath and @paulroetzer, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Spotify projects its first full year of profitability ever in 2024; CEO Daniel Ek says profitability is the new normal for Spotify — - “We believe we are in a new reality where we are a profitable company. … - CFO Christian Luiga said, “We see positive cash flow going forward and growing.”

Discussion: Digiday, The Hollywood Reporter, @sarafischer, Investor's Business Daily, CMU, Digital Music News, MEDIANAMA, Fortune and Music Ally

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Don Lemon, who sued Elon Musk and X after a deal fell apart, says he's leaving X on November 15, citing X's new ToS that moves legal disputes to Texas courts — Don Lemon, a one-time business partner of Elon Musk who's now suing the tech mogul, is done with X.

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:

German royalty licensing group GEMA sues OpenAI and subsidiary OpenAI Ireland in Munich Regional Court, claiming ChatGPT violates copyrights of lyrics — OpenAI, the $157 billion-valued US-based AI giant behind ChatGPT, has been sued by German collection society and licensing body GEMA.

Discussion: gema.de, Digital Music News, Jeff Rabhan on LinkedIn, The Decoder, CMU, @konkrit@mastodon.social, Billboard and Music Ally

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:

Amazon Prime Video will offer Diamond Sports Group's 16 regional sports networks, newly branded as FanDuel Sports Network, as add-on subscriptions — Diamond Sports reached a deal with Amazon's Prime Video that will allow its 16 regional sports networks to be made available on the streaming platform.

Discussion: Sports Business Journal, Awful Announcing, The Desk, Associated Press, Business Wire, ESPN, Plain Dealer, Streaming Better, Cord Cutters News, Sportico and Barrett Media

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:

The Guardian says it will no longer post on “any official Guardian editorial accounts” on “toxic media platform” X; reporters will still use X to gather news — Platform's coverage of US election crystallised longstanding concerns about its content, says Guardian

Discussion: The Guardian, The Guardian, The Irish Times, Engadget, @maxwelltani, Donald Kau on LinkedIn, Bruce McCoy on LinkedIn, Townhall, Milica Pesic on LinkedIn, Forbes, Alex Smith on LinkedIn, @lindayax, @eloquence@social.coop, @nocontextbrits, @elonmusk, @RHW@mastodon.au, @rafat, @eurabist, @rmcgreevy1301, @scottaawilson, @nitashakaul, @sarafischer, @iandunt, @willguyatt, Wainer Lusoli on LinkedIn, Dan Papworth-Smyth on LinkedIn, GB News, CBS News, @cdarwin@c.im, James Harvey on LinkedIn, @jsamwrites@mastodon.social, George Niles Mekeel RN on LinkedIn, Nieman Lab, @fergusryan@aus.social, @michael@newsmast.social, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, Carlos Diaz Ruiz on LinkedIn, HotAir, Breitbart, Shannon Dunn on LinkedIn, Alix Bryan-Campos on LinkedIn, @dvsk@mastodon.nz, ZeroHedge News, Press Gazette, @ronaldtootall@tech.lgbt, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Thomas Johnson on LinkedIn, Reuters, Twitchy, London Evening Standard, David Ward on LinkedIn, Al Jazeera, The Wrap, Mediaite, Rob O'Hanrahan on LinkedIn, @ianRobinson@mastodon.social, Lucas Amaral Lauriano on LinkedIn, BBC, Variety, Telegraph, @worldguru.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Gordon MacMillan on LinkedIn, The National Pulse, @earleyedition@aus.social, @viridis@achrilock.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @renatolond@masto.donte.com.br, @brett@bne.social, Deadline, Just Jared, @jimwaterson.bsky.social, Politico, Daily Sabah, Balloon Juice and Semafor

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Q&A with Spotify Co-President and CTO Gustav Söderström on AI-generated music, NotebookLM podcasts, AI recommendations, improving discoverability, and more — Spotify's Gustav Söderström talks about AI music, Notebook LM podcasts, and the nuance of building better discovery using LLMs.

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted to end the state's $150M film and TV production tax incentive; the bill still needs the Senate and governor's OK — The Louisiana House of Representatives voted Tuesday to eliminate the state's $150 million tax incentive for film and TV production …

Discussion: Variety, @realmaryagnes.bsky.social, @iwtv_updates, IndieWire, The Wrap, Louisiana Illuminator, Associated Press and Deadline

The Information:

Sources: Instagram's ad unit plans to launch ads on Threads in early 2025; Meta's public statements imply any ad rollout for Threads next year will be slow — Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its text app, Threads, early next year, hoping to cash in on the app's rapid growth …

Discussion: The Verge, AdExchanger, The Wrap, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Reuters and @itsdgc.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Paul Beckett / Columbia Journalism Review:

The WSJ's Washington bureau chief during Evan Gershkovich's arrest in Russia discusses the newspaper's “be loud” strategy that helped free the reporter — What newsrooms need to know, from an insider who helped lead the effort. — Midway through dinner on March 29, 2023 …

Discussion: @mccarrennews, @thrasherxy, @paulwsj, @bryfitz, Jason Rezaian on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News

CNN:

Patrick Soon-Shiong says Harris' Gaza stance contributed to non-endorsement, and plans to “balance” LA Times' opinion page with conservative and centrist voices — New York CNN — — In the month since Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong announced the newspaper …

Discussion: Twitchy, @hadas_gold, One America News Network, The Crimson White, @hollywoodspin, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, @jstatepost@mstdn.social, The Wrap, Matt Pearce and Fox News

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More News:

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Patreon says creators and their fans can now give away gift memberships and creators will be able to send discounts and sales to fans

Discussion: TechCrunch

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
BAFTA changes its rules to let it revoke awards for those convicted of crimes, starting in 2025, following the conviction of ex-BBC News host Huw Edwards

Discussion: Variety, The Sun, GoldDerby, AV Club and Deadline

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google says it will test removing news articles from EU-based publishers from Search for 1% of users in France, Poland, Italy, Spain, and other EU countries

Discussion: Digiday, Engadget, The Keyword, @samfromtheus@tech.lgbt and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Yahoo Finance hires Anthony Galloway as head of content; he was previously the WSJ's chief content officer of editorial video, audio, and voice programming

Axios:
Sources: Trump's confidants are considering changes to daily press briefings in the White House that would give access to newer, MAGA-aligned voices

Discussion: @sophiacai99, New Jersey Online, The Hill and @kimdedam.bsky.social

CNBC:
Liberty Media plans to spin off most assets, besides F1 racing, into publicly traded company Liberty Live, and says CEO Greg Maffei will step down by 2024's end

Earlier Picks:

Callie Holtermann / New York Times:
Bluesky says it gained 1M+ users in the week since the US election, mostly in the US, the UK, and Canada, and crossed 15M users; Bluesky had 6M users in August

Diana Falzone / Mediaite:
Sources: Alina Habba, the lawyer who represented Trump in high-profile cases, is the front-runner to serve as press secretary in the incoming White House

Discussion: Raw Story, Vanity Fair, WPMT, @atrupar, @aidnmclaughlin, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, CNN, Politico, New Republic, So What, Mediaite, Poynter, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, The Independent, @GottaLaff@mastodon.social, IJR and The Hill

John Koblin / New York Times:
Antenna: in Q2, 51.4M people bought at least one niche streaming service subscription, up from 24.5M in Q2 2022, as users flock to Hallmark+, BritBox, and more

Discussion: Robert Schildhouse on LinkedIn and TVNewsCheck

K.J. Yossman / Variety:
The UK's Barb: Netflix grew its ad tier from 2.78M homes in Q2 to 3.8M homes in Q3 and Disney+ from 820K homes to 1.2M homes over the same period

Discussion: Cord Cutters News, The Media Leader and Advanced Television

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon is shutting down Freevee, its free, ad-supported streaming service launched in 2019 under the IMDb brand, and plans to move the content to Prime Video

From Techmeme:

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google releases a new free Gemini app for iOS, letting users ask questions and chat via text, voice, or camera, as well as use conversational Gemini Live

Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Sources: the CFPB moves to place Google under formal federal supervision, an extraordinary move that may lead to regular inspections; Google fiercely resisted

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users

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