I follow the podcast, to the funny park
May 13, 2020

Was 'Wind of Change' really written by the CIA!?!

Conspiracy theories have become, in the last 20-ish years, the exact opposite of what they started as - a tool to blur the truth. 'Wind of Change' podcast by the Pineapple Street Studios, is great if you take it less as a serious theory, and more as an entertaining listen. So, the theory is this - the famous metal ballad 'Wind of Change' wasn't actually written by the Scorpions, the real authors are - the CIA! The man behind the podcast is best-selling author and New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, who explores a rumor he heard from a source within the CIA itself. Over the course of the miniseries, Keefe delves into a secret history of propaganda hidden in pop music, talking to former CIA officers and music industry legends, as well as doing on-the-ground reporting in four countries to find out if this really was another example of a U.S. government attempt at soft power through pop culture. Listen to the miniseries here. Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine is seemingly amused by the idea: “After all these year, to hear a story like this is really something. I’ve heard stories connected with 'Wind Of Change', but the CIA? It's an interesting story, definitely. It's a good idea for a movie. That would be cool". Vulture says the podcast is a "thrilling ride".

The latest episode of Talkhouse Podcast with Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker is dedicated to “mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits”. The two songwriters talk about reunions with their showbiz fathers who had abandoned them; the bad omen that nearly caused Jarvis to quit music in the year 2000; why Stephin’s new sexual fetish might be a “one time only” experience...

An amusing podcast at the Afropop Worldwide about the influence of American performers on African music (beyond Michael JacksonJimi Hendrix or James Brown). Listen to how Dire Straits became massively popular in the Sahel, influencing Tuareg rockers like Tinariwen and Tamikrest. American country superstar Jim Reeves' had an African career. Death-metal was big in Angola.

Time so spare, 'casts to share
March 27, 2020

The best music podcasts

Complex did a great job listing the very best music podcast, featuring various 'casts: Dissect explores albums that have been heralded as “genius”; Rick Rubin's Broken Record; Disgraceland - one of the most unique and entertaining shows on this list; The Roots' Questlove has a podcast Questlove Supreme with entertaining behind-the-scenes stories you've never heard from the guests, plus gems of wisdom from Questlove himself; A Waste Of Time produce some of the most interesting, unheard stories in hip-hop; And The Writer Is... explores the relationship between songwriters and singers.

Over the past several months, Sony Music has been investing aggressively in podcasts business, with those investments including at least five different partnerships and joint ventures with third-party podcast production companies - Somethin’ Else (U.K.), Broccoli Content (U.K.), The Onion (U.S.), Three Uncanny Four (U.S.) and Neon Hum (U.S.) - spanning topics including daily news commentary, investigative features, comedy/satire, politics and even family and parenting issues. Patreon sees a simple and obvious explanation for it: Sony Music’s foray into podcasting is a direct - and in many ways competitive - response to Spotify.

Sounds of violence
February 28, 2020

The value of creative conflict

Simon & Garfunkel made one of, or the best album of their career 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', and - broke up (for the third time). The latest edition of Acast podcast discussed that very issue - energy coming out from not a conflict, but a crucible of honest creative confrontation. Host Andy Bothwell speaks to musicians Nick Thorburn (Islands/Unicorns) and Mattiel on the importance of creative conflict. Listen to it - here.

Hot Pod notices a shift in music marketing - releasing a podcast about an album seems almost antithetical to other hot marketing tactics in the music world today, like TikTok and Triller campaigns, that are meant to maximize virality and rack up surface-level metrics with ever-increasing velocity. Producing a podcast that tells a compelling story in its own right, and that extends an artist’s world and brand in a cohesive way, takes a lot of time that not everyone may be willing to commit. Yet, artists from all genres and at all career stages are now creating podcasts to promote their albums, the demand and the resources - at least from bigger companies fighting for market share - are certainly there.

Spotify is paying close to $200 million upfront for the Ringer, the growing online sports and pop-culture outlet, as part of its push into podcasting, according to Bloomberg. This amount will be followed by more than $50 million later. Spotify has now spent more than $600 million to acquire four companies that can accelerate its podcasting business -- the Ringer, Gimlet Media, Anchor, and Parcast. In other music business news, Music Business Worldwide reports that SoundCloud has secured $75 million investment from SiriusXM – which acquired another leading music streaming platform, Pandora, last year in a $3.5bn all-stock transaction.

Publicist Meghan Daum wrote an interesting article for the GEN about how she switched from listening to music to listening to podcasts when she turned 40. Not that she doesn't like music anymore, it's just that - “music is alive with associations. I can’t listen to some of it if it’s too connected to a painful situation. Podcasts don’t seem to hold those same associations for me”. That's mostly music she listened to before, where there are associations. There's a solution - "to get a new car, one with Bluetooth so I can listen to my old music in a new way. Or force myself to listen to — and enjoy, god dammit — some new music". Plenty of that...

Spotify has acquired The Ringer, a media company that includes culture website and massive podcast operation. This is the fourth podcast company acquisition Spotify has made in the last 12 months - last year it spent about $400 million to buy Gimlet Media, Anchor FM, and Parcast, announcing a year ago they intend to spend $500 million on its podcasting effort. Spotify hopes that adding a podcast business to its core music service will help them bring in new users, and keep existing users around longer. Music industry analysts say there are the first signs of the new company that Spotify is building – and they point to a very different and much bolder future.

“Geezer’s [Butler] a great, great lyricist. [And as a bassist], nobody can touch him. Bill [Ward], in his day, was a great drummer. Tony [Iommi], he’s always gonna be the greatest, no one can touch him" - Ozzy Osbourne spoke about his career on Rick Rubin’s Broken Record podcast. “People will say to me, ‘Why did you always sing on the side of the stage?’ I don’t fucking know. I don’t know", Osbourne said. "It’s just fear, I suppose. ‘Cause Tony, he’s one of the few people who could walk into this room right now and I would fucking feel intimidated. He intimidates the fuck out of me — and he knows it”.

"There's enough stuff to go on forever with my music, to do compilation albums, to do, actually, new and original stuff, and I am purposely trying to put songs down for that very purpose" - Dolly Parton said in her podcast. She explained she plans - "to have a click track and my vocals, to […]

It’s the shows that go deep on specific albums, individual songs, or particular artists that can be so valuable for music fans - Stereogum says about their choice of the best podcasts of 2019. 'People's Party' is about Talib Kweli, but it’s also a show about culture, politics, writing, comedy, self-actualization, sports; 'This Particular Album […]

The Flaming Lips have launched a new podcast that offers fans the chance to listen to a “song by song” history of the band. Episode one of the new series, titled ‘Socerer’s Orphan’, is available now. The podcast is presented by multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd and the first episode sees the musician talk about ‘Enthusiasm for […]