What the heck is going on in this industry right now?
Vol. 34 - A breakdown on Spotify, CBC, burst bubbles and more.
Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday (with 8 minutes to spare)!
In this issue:
What the heck is going on in this industry right now: Spotify, CBC, burst bubbles.
Canadian Indie: Do We Know Things?
True North Podcast Feature: All My Relations
One Minute Podcast Tips turns 1, and my dog turns 8!
There are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 26 First Nations communities across Canada.
A breakdown of what the heck is going on in this industry right now.
Amongst the chaos that just is the end of the year for everyone, these days the podcast industry itself has been an absolute loose cannon.
News about layoffs and podcast cancellations have been hurling at us from all directions.
As I’ve been wrapping up projects before the holiday break – and also, for some reason, starting new ones – I’ve also been trying to keep up with all the podcast and media industry news coming out, and I feel like I can’t be the only one who's kinda like, whoa.
I finally got a chance to sit down and comb through all of the industry updates and commentary floating around right now and make sense of them, and I've compiled it all into a somewhat comprehensive breakdown, so you don’t have to.
That being said, please feel free to drop your comments or email me to add any more colour here!
It all started with Spotify…
In 2021 Spotify tried to take over the podcast industry.
At the time, Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, went so far as to say that podcasting “should be a multi-hundred-billion-dollar industry… Audio is ours to win.”
The headlines coming out this year have confirmed that Spotify has not in fact “won audio” (IMO), but they’ve certainly been acting like they are the podcasting industry.
Everyone’s eyes popped out Animaniacs-style as Spotify spent the last couple years dumping money into podcasting, locking in Spotify Exclusives and celebrity deals. But now our eyes are bulging for a different reason.
Spotify is wrapping up the year rubbing every lover-of-the-craft the wrong way; by canceling their top-tier podcasts Heavyweight and the Pulitzer Prize winning podcast, Stolen, and undergoing their third round of layoffs of the year laying off 17% of the company – around 1500 people. In January, Spotify laid off 600 people, then again in June with 200 podcast-specific roles,
In the midst of all of this, this year Spotify turned a profit for the first time ever, and its stock seems to keep rising. In fact, Spotify stock went up 7% the day after the recent layoffs were announced.
Finally, Spotify CFO Paul Vogel “decided to part ways” with the company soon after these recent layoffs. He cashed in more than $9.3 million of Spotify shares the same day the job cuts were announced, according to PodNews.
“These sales may have been automated; but the timing has been described as insensitive at best,” said PodNews’ James Cridland in a recent newsletter.
All of this news from Spotify is a lot to digest. It leaves podcasting feeling a bit tainted, at everyone's expense but Spotify’s.
“Spotify took a billion-dollar swing and whiffed, and now podcasters have to navigate the fallout,” said Amanda Silberling in her awesome piece on TechCrunch, Everything you know about the podcast industry is a lie.
Make of this what you will, but I feel weird about it all.
Meanwhile in Canada…
CBC announced this month that they are cutting 600 jobs.
They announced that cuts would mostly come from the technology and infrastructure department, but also included jobs in programming.
CEO Catherine Tait said that audiences may notice some changes to prime time television and “fewer programs on Gem, for example, perhaps not all the renewals of your favourite series, and perhaps fewer episodes of some of your favourite series.”
The cuts are effective immediately, sadly, right in the middle of the holiday season.
There’s nothing here that directly points to podcast programming, or radio for that matter, regardless this is pretty upsetting news. Especially if you’re a life-long public broadcaster lover like me. Also, you just never really know with these things!!
On the tails of the Spotify news, I can’t help but be a little nervous for the folks at CBC Podcasts because, as I mentioned off the top, this industry has cannon balls flying all over the dang place right now.
This blow to Canadian media also comes after Bell Canada laid off 1,300 people and closed 6 radio stations in June of this year.
As someone in the middle class of podcasting, it’s hard not to look at media execs with a bit of side-eye. That’s why the video of Tait talking about this year’s Christmas bonuses has been circulating online a ton…
More podcast casualties south of the border.
The blows just keep coming, as long beloved podcast, Anna Sale’s Death, Sex & Money also announced that the show is coming to an end after 8 years due to steep budget cuts at WNYC.
The podcast recently hosted an event in New York to celebrate and mourn the show called “Four Interviews and a Funeral”, where Anna Sale gave a pretty heartbreaking eulogy that feels apt to the current state of the podcast ecosystem:
“When you don’t know what’s coming, there’s a tendency to rush past the ending and just try to get shit locked down.”
Also this month, veteran podcast network TWiT made a number of layoffs. Read the full announcement on PodNews.
So has the podcasting bubble burst?
I don’t know if this is too bold to say, but the podcast industry feels like it’s in the hands of Elon Musk right now.
Contributing writer at Slate, Scott Nover, said it perfectly, it’s “been burned by rampant M&A, unbridled hype, dwindling margins, and the once-eager fingers of the biggest names in tech.
As Nover pointed out in his piece on Slate (which I also highly recommend reading), it was Vulture who predicted that the industry would see a “dramatic bubble-burst” or a “more gradual deflation”.
It’s hard to say whether or not a bubble has truly popped, but it's also hard to deny that the podcast industry feels like it's headed for some sort of notable change soon — whether that’s because it’s eventual maturity means people can thrive in this space, or because tech companies screw around with it so much that it turns into an all-knowing, AI-podcast-entity that destroys the human race.
Katie Jensen at Vocal Fry Studios, put out a poll with some more reasonable suggestions:
“If you can’t make a go of it with these incredible shows you are simply bad at podcasting,”
Lydia Polgreen, former Gilmet Managing Director
Must Reads:
Spotify to lay off 17 percent of its workforce in latest round of job cuts
Spotify to cut 1,500 jobs in third layoff round this year, shares jump
Statement from CMG as CBC/Radio Canada cuts 10% of its workforce
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Check out this Canadian Indie: Do We Know Things?
A sex researcher and psychology professor who teaches about sex.
Explore the things we think we know about sex by delving into the research surrounding common beliefs about sex and relationships.
True North Podcast Feature: All My Relations
Explore our relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.
Each episode invites guests to delve into a different topic facing Native American peoples today. We keep it real, play some games, laugh a lot, and even cry sometimes.
What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:
New Releases:
West coast production company, Kelly&Kelly launched Instagram’s new podcast, Close Friends Only, in partnership with Unwell. The first episode features Doja Cat and Ice Spice.
Harbinger Media Network has added THREE MORE shows to the network, with Trial By Shelter, Indaba, and City and Nuuchimii. The network is headed into 2024 with 63 podcasts, “with more to come” in the new year according to a recent newsletter. They really said “can’t stop, won’t stop.”
One Minute Podcast Tips, celebrated its first birthday with a special episode on December 8th! The episode features
’s favourite podcasters to share their own podcast tips on everything from marketing, to monetization, to community, why you should embrace video, trailer swaps, and more. Happy Anniversary Danny!You should know…
Jimmy Thomson’s piece, Cop-out: A police podcast is the latest sign of eroding responsiveness to journalists is well worth a read. He looks at the ethics around Victoria Police Union’s podcast, which recently released an episode with “a moment-by-moment account” of an incident in which two brothers were killed by police, “told by police, to police, with no involvement from anyone resembling a neutral party.”
released a playlist of Blk Canadian Pods to explore this week! The list features Uncolonized Podcast, Unapologetically Her, Extra Gravy, and plenty more! Check it out.
has released it’s Top 23 Shows of 2023!
top three include: #3 Constellation Prize: Nightwalking, #2 Stolen Season 2: Surviving St. Michael’s, and in first place, The 13th Step. Catch the rest here.Amazon Music released it’s list of the best Canadian Podcasts of 2023. The list includes plenty of shows from CBC Podcasts, four french-language podcasts, and indie podcast, Expectant from Pippa Johnstone.
Tink Media’s Audio Delicacies is back! Contributers from all over the world have come together to recommend the delicious podcasts that had them wanting more this year, including recommendations fellow Canucks, Cesil Fernandes (Executive Producer, CBC Podcasts), Fatima Zaidi (Founder and CEO of Quill Inc. and CoHost), Katie Jensen (Principal, Vocal Fry Studios) and a bunch more!
Entries for the 2024 Digital Publishing Awards are open! Canadian digital publishers are eligible to participate, including those that publish in English, French, or a combination of both languages and there are two “Best Podcast” categories; one for Current Events podcasts and the other for Arts, Culture and Society podcasts. Early bird deadline is January 19, 2024.
CBC Podcasts is playing around with genre channels on Apple Podcasts, recently launching eight hand-curated genre channels including: CBC True Crime, CBC Stories, CBC News & Politics, CBC Indigenous, CBC Arts & Entertainment, CBC Learn & Discover, CBC Comedy, CBC Health & Sport. Genre lists can be found by keyword searching channel names in Apple Podcasts.
Events:
Support Aborsh, a podcast about abortion in Canada, with the upcoming play in Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, Hypothetical Baby. Aborsh creator, Rachel Cairns, called the play a companion project to the podcast when she reach out to me and it sounds really cool! The show is currently on until Dec 17th, don’t miss it!
PodCamp Toronto is now accepting submissions for their upcoming unconference in February. Submissions for sessions, panels, and workshops should be submitted by January 8th.
For your pod:
The
Year-End list is here with plenty of tips for marketingDon’t miss the December issue of , the everything list for Audio opportunities around the world!
Buzzsprout talked to 100 podcasters about how they grew their show. Maybe there are some helpful insights for you there!
If your podcast’s language needs a little refresh, WOC Podcasters has launched a free Podcast Show Notes Revamp Challenge.
Just Joe (celebrating his 8th birthday last week)…
If you have thoughts or Canadian podcasting news, please share them with me! Leave a comment or reply to the newsletter email.
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Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!
Kattie
@Podkatt (Twitter, Spotify, and Goodpods) | @ PodtheNorth (Bluesky)
Great newsletter Kattie and happy birthday Joe! ❤️