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Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week Natasha was on vacation, so Danny and your humble servant had to endeavor alone. She’s back next week, so we’ll be back to full strength as a collective soon enough. But even with a depleted hosting crew, we had a mountain of news to get through. And to joke about, as Danny was in the mood for a laugh. Here’s the rundown: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s New Venture Fund Invests in Disposable Camera App: Danny and I are arbiters of what is cool, so we were the perfect pair to discuss influencers and new social applications. This one is actually neat, and Ohanian’s inclusion in the investment viz his new fund was noteworthy. Zira raises $3.1M for its shift-scheduling service that helps manage hourly workers: This is a round that I covered, looking into Zira.ai and its product. Our take? It’s neat, but operates in a competitive market. Shogun raises $35M to help brands take on Amazon with faster and better sites of their own: This is a similar story. A neat company with a neat product in a space where there is proven demand (TAM, in other words), and competition. Unqork’s $207M Series C underscores growing enterprise demand for no-code apps: Another round worth mentioning is the Unqork deal. Unqork is a no-code service that helps other businesses create apps for their companies. It’s growing like a weed, and is thus something worth knowing a bit about. Mmhmm, Five-Month-Old Video Startup Making Virtual Meetings More Fun, Raises $31 Million Pre-Launch: Yes, mmhmm has raised more money, and, we’re excited to learn, could be launching this very month. Remotion raises $13M to create a workplace video platform for short, spontaneous conversations: Following the Slack news, this round stood out to us. Who will build the remote work comms platform of the future that people like to use? And then there was a host of other stuff to get through, like the FirstMark SPAC news, Root’s impending IPO and more on Airbnb’s impending public offering. That was a lot. We did our best. Hugs and chat with you next week! Equity drops every Monday at 7:00 a.m. PT and Thursday afternoon as fast as we can get it out, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. View the full article

René LaVice is back with another heater on his own label, Device. “Through The Fire” featuring The Melody Men, a name born of irony given they are a team of two women. More similar to his recent song “Bad Luck” than “Boomshaka,” “Through The Fire” is a sultry and smooth drum & bass tune that is propelled by The Melody Men’s delectable vocals. With a synergy that would make a multi-billion dollar corporation blush, René and The Melody Men present a double edged attack on your senses and emotions with this brilliant single. “Through The Fire” is officially out tomorrow! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Your EDM Premiere: René LaVice – Through The Fire ft. The Melody Men [Device] View the full article

Everyone is familiar with carrier pigeons, but what about carrier moths? This research project uses the nocturnal insects as a delivery service for tiny electronic packages that weigh less than a hundredth of an ounce. The system was created by graduate students at the University of Washington and its prolific tiny gadget creator Shyam Gollakota. “This is the first time anyone has shown that sensors can be released from tiny drones or insects such as moths, which can traverse through narrow spaces better than any drone and sustain much longer flights,” said Gollakota in a UW news release. He’s made a specialty of demonstrating new capabilities at extremely small scales, such as bee backpacks and super low-power video transmission. The sensor platform, which you can see below on top of a penny, could be anything from environmental monitoring to a microphone or light-sensing device. The battery could last for years on a power-sipping board like this, so it’s potentially a great match for long-term monitoring of hard-to-reach places. Image Credits: Mark Stone/University of Washington A key aspect of the setup is the release system. To keep things lightweight and simple, the little sensor is held on with a tiny magnetic pin. A wireless signal can be sent that creates a current in a coil surrounding the pin, affecting its magnetic field and dropping the gadget. It’s small enough to be carried quiet easily by a moth — though it must be noted that the hawk moth isn’t exactly the smallest moth of all time; they get up to hummingbird size, as I’ve experienced myself. But it looks as if the tiny device would fit easily on a smaller species as well. Maybe that’s the next experiment. Cheap, long-lasting sensors carried to every corner of an ecosystem by moths (or other insects) could produce very interesting data for those who study those ecosystems. Sure, you could also use it to sneak a mic into a top secret area, but I’m sure no one would try that. The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, was presented at Mobicom 2020. View the full article

To date, Vision and DIVISION label darling Posij has put out some of the deepest and most interesting halftime, techno and even D&B releases these labels and others have seen. Former has also had some heavy hitters on Vision, Division and beyond. The pair have releases a number of bonkers bass collabs as well and so fans know when they see both names on a release like the nine-track EP Sun Tracker, it’s time yet again for more mind-blowing beats. Stylistically, Sun Tracker is all over the board in the best possible way. There’s a lot of lo-fi influence throughout, with muted tones and a focus on balance between beats and synths but beyond that, pretty much every track differs a little in terms of beat pattern, tempo and tone. The style pendulum swings from the melodic, ameny progressive breaks of “Blue Flesh” to the jazzy, hip hop-tinged deep bass of “Shadowmoon” to the classic, heavy halftime of album closer “Half Monk.” There’s jazz, deep bass and funk throughout but each track has its own personality. And then there’s the title track. “Sun Tracker” is probably the highest energy track on its namesake EP save for the equally intense “XBells” and sister track “Ultra.” It’s also one of the few that follows a semi-trackable EDM composition route with obvious buildups, drops and breaking. It’s a bit faster than most of the other tracks but the intensity comes mainly from the old school tech synths which introduce each drop, the cyclone-fast and oft-syncopated snares and the exquisitely beautiful vocal sample. It’s uncertain where they got that vox but it has the intense and pitch perfect yet eerie and haunted feel of Alice Glass’s (fomerly of Crystal Castles) vocal work. It’s pretty, punk and creepy all at once and really sets the track apart. It’s always great when you expect a lot from an artist and they still over-deliver as is pretty much always the case with Posij and Former. Their partnership has produced some of the best bass music of the last decade and with Sun Tracker it’s pretty clear they have no intention of stopping. Just a few more hours until the full madness drops but in the meantime, revel in the beautiful rays of the Sun Tracker. VISION · Posij, Former – Sun Tracker Sun Tracker drops tomorrow, October 9 on Vision. No pre-order or pre-save links for the moment but check out “Xbells” here. This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Your EDM Premiere: Posij and Former Are About to Drop a Massive EP and We’ve Got the Title Track! [Vision] View the full article

Joe Biden's campaign has mastered the art of making memorable merch. As with any candidate's site, the vice president's online shop is full of apparel, accessories, and other unique ways for supporters to publicly show their Biden/Harris pride. But over the past two weeks — since the New York Times reported that Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency and another $750 his first year in office — the Biden campaign has seriously stepped up its merch game. After seeing people express outrage over Trump's shockingly low income tax payments, Biden's campaign released buttons, stickers, and shirts that said "I Paid More In Taxes Than Donald Trump." Then following the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, the team created "Will you shut up, man?" shirts to commemorate Biden's blunt reaction to Trump. Read more... More about Joe Biden, Merchandise, Kamala Harris, 2020 Election, and CultureView the full article

It has been a hellish year for healthcare workers. The COVID-19 crisis has put them on the frontlines of a deadly crisis. So it makes sense a nurse would be angered by President Donald Trump downplaying the seriousness of the virus. Cristina, a TikTok user with the handle @foleyfriends, relayed her anger in regards to specific Trump tweet that read: "Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life." I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020 Read more... More about Trump, Nurses, Covid 19, Culture, and PoliticsView the full article

Violent militia groups have long had a thing for Facebook, and a newly foiled violent plot makes clear that hasn't changed. In a 15-page criminal complaint released Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused six men of a months-long effort — discussed over Facebook and unnamed encrypted messaging apps — to kidnap and possibly murder Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. According to the complaint, the men used Facebook Live to call for possible ideas, and Facebook more broadly to share photos and videos of their bomb and weapons tests. The entire plot appears to have kicked off in response to coronavirus-related shutdowns, with the complaint noting that one alleged participant, Adam Fox, was particularly incensed about the state-mandated closure of gyms. Read more... More about Facebook, Coronavirus, Tech, and Social Media CompaniesView the full article

In March, the live music business shut down. Much like the rest of the country, musicians, gig workers, lighting and audio engineers, stage managers, venues, and more were suddenly out of a job. The first to go and likely the last to come back, concerts and live events have almost entirely transitioned to the live stream experience, save for the occasional drive-in show, massively reduced capacity show, or full-on renegade events thrown in secret. Thankfully, out of strife comes fruit. In a new Music 360 Report by MRC Data, a division of Billboard‘s parent company, “47% of music listeners feel it is important for the industry to offer livestream performances or virtual concerts.” Though only 25% or so of music listeners have so far tuned into a live stream, that number is growing, and so is the valuation of the medium. According to Billboard, top artists (and by that, they mean tippy top) are commanding approximately $1 million per live stream show. Former senior Sony Music executive Thomas Hesse believes the concert live streaming industry could be worth $6 billion in the next three years; Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren, has loftier expectations, saying it could be worth “tens of billions” in the same time frame. Artists are building their own platforms for pay-per-view performances, charging anywhere from $20 to $50 or more a “ticket.” Though because of its inherent digital nature, the live stream platform allows as many people as you’re comfortable with in your home during a pandemic to enjoy the show for the cost of a single ticket. And though Billboard mentions Oliver Heldens as an example artist and Tomorrowland as an example festival, these numbers are largely not reflected in the EDM world. The vast majority of live streams in dance music are free, hosted on Facebook, Twitch, or YouTube. Most in the beginning opted for donations to charity rather than paying the artists playing, and that has likely set a dangerous precedent for the future. Without knowing when live shows are coming back, artists are still hurting the same, if not more, than at the beginning of quarantine. With fans expecting free programming, fewer are likely to actually pay for a live stream show and are more likely to seek out free alternatives. So while rock, indie, hop hop, and pop artists might be raking it in, EDM is still struggling. Ultimately, it will be a negotiation between the artists and the fans, balancing content that is worth paying for on the artists side and pricing it accurately enough that it is affordable and appealing to fans. But the issue also has to do with supply. While someone like an Ariana Grande or an Ed Sheeran might do a live stream maybe once a month, every other month, or less frequently, creating demand, EDM artists are streaming every day or every weekend, making it harder to actually create demand when there is such an overabundance of supply. Unfortunately, there’s no quick or easy fix. It’s unlikely artists will band together to create artificial demand by, say, creating a pact to only stream every so often. Smaller artists need this constant exposure to keep up with the rising and big artists who will already command top spots on headlines when shows do return. And when singular artists who have been streaming for a long time stop for whatever reason, a fan can just go to another artist’s stream and get the same fix. And maybe that fan will like that artist more. “Nobody is doing this for free,” says Jared Losow, marketing director for New York venue Le Poisson Rouge. He’s wrong. via Billboard This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: STUDY: Live Stream Industry Could Be Worth “Tens of Billions” In 3 Years, But Not For EDM View the full article

Diddy, Chris Martin, Gwen Stefani, Iggy Pop, Jennifer Hudson, and many more artists also make appearances View the full article

TuSimple and Waymo are in the lead in the emerging sector of autonomous trucking; TuSimple founder Xiaodi Hou and Waymo trucking head Boris Sofman had an in-depth discussion of their industry and the tech they’re building at TC Mobility 2020. Interestingly, while they’re solving for the same problems, they have very different backgrounds and approaches. Hou and Sofman started out by talking about why they were pursuing the trucking market in the first place. (Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.) “The market is massive; I think in the United States, $700-$800 billion a year is spent on the trucking industry. It’s continuing to grow every single year,” said Sofman, who joined Waymo from Anki last year to lead the effort in freight. “And there’s a huge shortage of drivers today, which is only going to increase over the next period of time. It’s just such a clear need. But it’s not going to be overnight — there’s still a really long tail of challenges that you can’t avoid. So the way we talk about it is the things that are hardest are just different.” “It’s really the cost and reward analysis, thinking about building the operating system,” said Hou. “The cost is the number of features that you develop, and the reward is basically how many miles are you driving — you charge on a per mile basis. From that cost-reward analysis, trucking is simply the natural way to go for us. The total number of issues that you need to solve is probably 10 times less, but maybe, you know, five times harder.” “It’s really hard to quantify those numbers, though,” he concluded, “but you get my point.” The two also discussed the complexity of creating a perceptual framework good enough to drive with. “Even if you have perfect knowledge of the world, you have to predict what other objects and agents are going to do in that environment, and then make a decision yourself and the combination knows is very challenging,” said Sofman. “What’s really helped us is a realization from the car side of the of the company many, many years ago that in order to help us solve this problem in the easiest way possible, and facilitate the challenges downstream, we had to create our own sensors,” he continued. “And so we have our own lidar, our own radar, our own cameras, and they have incredibly unique properties that were custom designed through five generations of hardware that try to really lean into the kind of most challenging situations that you just can’t avoid on the road.” Hou explained that while many autonomous systems are descended from the approaches used in the famous DARPA Grand Challenge 15 years ago, TuSimple’s is a little more anthropomorphic. “I think I’m heavily influenced by my background, which has a tinge of neuroscience. So I’m always thinking about building a machine that can see and think, as humans do,” he said. “In the DARPA challenge, people’s idea would be: Okay, write a dynamic system equation and solve this equation. For me, I’m trying to answer the question of, how do we reconstruct the world? Which is more about understanding the objects, understanding their attributes, even though some of the attributes may not directly contribute to the entire self-driving system.” “We’re combining all the different, seemingly useless features together, so that we can reconstruct the so-called ‘qualia’ of the perception of the world,” continued Hou. “By doing that we find we have all the ingredients that we need to do whatever missions that we have.” The two found themselves in disagreement over the idea that due to the major differences between highway driving and street-level driving, there are essentially two distinct problems to be solved. Hou was of the opinion that “the overlap is rather small. Human society has declared certain types of rules for driving on the highway … this is a much more regulated system. But for local driving there’s actually no rules for interaction … in fact very different implicit social constructs to drive in different areas of the world. These are things that are very hard to model.” Sofman, on the other hand, felt that while the problems are different, solving one contributes substantially to solving the other: “If you break up the problem into the many, many building blocks of an AV system, there’s a pretty huge leverage where even if you don’t solve the problem 100% it takes away 85%-90% of the complexity. We use the exact same sensors, exact same compute infrastructures, simulation framework, the perception system carries over, very largely, even if we have to retrain some of the models. The core of all of our algorithms are, we’re working to keep them the same.” You can see the rest of that last exchange in the video above. This panel and many more from TC Sessions: Mobility 2020 are available to watch here for Extra Crunch subscribers. View the full article

The pandemic has affected just about every business in the world, but tech has also geared up to fight back in its own way, as we found out from speakers at Disrupt 2020. But technology has opted to take a back seat to frontline workers and find ways to support them rather than attempt to “solve” the issues at hand. The founders of tech-forward healthcare startups Color and Carbon Health explained their approach in one panel, emphasizing that the startup mindset is a resilient and adaptable one. “You’re seeing, I think, the distributed nature of the U.S., where at some point it’s clear that you can’t wait for someone to solve your problem, so people just start jumping in and building the solution themselves,” said Othman Laraki, Color’s CEO. His company took on the issue of bottlenecks in the COVID-19 testing ecosystem, finding that with a few tweaks Color could contribute a considerable amount. “We realized that there were several assets that we could bring to bear,” he said. “We decided to build a platform to get around some of the logistical constraints and the supply chain constraints around COVID testing. We did that, got large-scale COVID testing lab online, but also repurposed a lot of our digital platforms for COVID testing … I think we’re doing approximately 75% of all the testing in SF right now.” Carbon Health CEO Eren Bali noted that companies like theirs are important props at a time when the medical infrastructure of the country buckles under pressure. “At this point the U.S. doesn’t have the best public health system, but at the same time we have best-in-class private companies who can sometimes operate a lot more efficiently than governments can,” he said. “We also just recently launched a program to help COVID-positive patients get back to health quickly, a rehabilitation program. Because as you know even if you survive it doesn’t mean your body was not affected, there are permanent effects.” This type of at-home care has become increasingly important, both to take pressure off hospitals and frontline workers and to improve accessibility to resources. “Sometimes the cost of care is a lesser problem compared to the access,” said Laraki. “Like if you need to drive for an hour and take time out of your day, etc., if you’re an hourly worker. That’s what makes healthcare inaccessible.” View the full article

This afternoon Affirm, a startup focused on providing point-of-sale credit to consumers making online purchases, announced that it has filed to go public. The filing is confidential, so there’s little to be gleaned about the company’s performance from the news. That Affirm was exploring a public offering was reported by the Wall Street Journal back in July. In the aftermath of that news, TechCrunch tried to understand the valuation that Affirm was said to be targeting in its debut, which we placed at as much as $10 billion. Affirm has been richly funded throughout its private life. The fintech unicorn has raised private funds in excess of $1 billion, including a $500 million Series G in September of 2020, a $300 million Series F in April of 2019, and a $200 million Series E in December of 2017. Affirm also raised more than $400 million in earlier equity rounds, and a $100 million debt line in late 2016. Many venture bets are therefore riding on the success of Affirm and its future liquidity. The company was valued at $2.9 billion at the time of its $300 million Series F last year according to PitchBook data. The company’s most recent valuation is not known. How much of a step-up a $10 billion public valuation would be, therefore, from its final private valuation is not clear. Affirm will enter warm public markets if it chooses to list in short-order. The third quarter of 2020 was a bonanza of public-market liquidity, as the United States saw its most active quarter of public offerings since at least 2016, partially driven by the craze around SPACs. With retail investors and larger checkbooks alike active in their interest for growth-focused shares, unprofitable tech startups have done well in their recent debuts. Those that make money have done even better, certain outliers like Snowflake aside. After a confidential filing, Affirm will wait to hear back from the SEC on its application, and then will have the choice to file a nonconfidential S-1 when it is ready. There is no set timeline here, but once the company’s numbers are public, we’ll be diving into them. Affirm joins other recent companies like Palantir who filed their public offerings confidentially first, before later making them public. View the full article

Krystina Rubino Contributor Share on Twitter Krystina Rubino is a marketing executive who leads the offline growth marketing practice at Right Side Up. More posts by this contributor Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap Grant Durando Contributor Grant Durando is a growth marketing leader, currently consulting on podcast and offline advertising at Right Side Up. More posts by this contributor Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap Podcast advertising growth is inhibited by three major factors: Lack of macro distribution, consumption and audience data. Current methods of conversion tracking. Idea of a “playbook” for podcast performance marketing. Because of these limiting factors, it’s currently more of an art than a science to piece disparate data from multiple sources, firms, agencies and advertisers, into a somewhat conclusive argument to brands as to why they should invest in podcast advertising. 1. Lack of macro distribution, consumption and audience data There were several resources that released updates based on what they saw in terms of consumption when COVID-19 hit. Hosting platforms, publishers and third-party tracking platforms all put out their best guesses as to what was happening. Advertisers’ own podcast listening habits had been upended due to lockdowns; they wanted to know how broader changes in listening habits were affecting their campaigns. Were downloads going up, down or staying the same? What was happening with sports podcasts, without sports? Read part 1 of this article, Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap, on TechCrunch. At Right Side Up, we receive and analyze all of the available research from major publishers (Stitcher, aCast), to major platforms (Megaphone) and third-party research firms (Podtrac, IAB, Edison Research). However, no single entity encompasses the entire space or provides the kind of interactive, off-the-shelf customizable SaaS product we’d prefer, and that digitally native marketers expect. Plus, there isn’t anything published in real-time; most sources publish once or twice annually. So what did we do? We reached out to trusted publishers and partners to gather data around shifting consumption due to COVID-19 ourselves, and determined that, though there was a drop in downloads in the short term, it was neither as precipitous nor as enduring as some had feared. This was confirmed by some early reports available, but how were we to evidence our own piecewise sample with another? Moreover, how could you invest 6-7 figures of marketing dollars if you didn’t have the firsthand intelligence we gathered and our subject matter experts on deck to make constant adjustments to your approach? We were able to piece together trends we’re seeing that point to increased download activity in recent months that surpass February/March heights. We’ve determined that the industry is back on track for growth with a less steep, but still growing, listenership trajectory. But even though more recent reports have been published, a longitudinal, objective resource has not yet emerged to show a majority of the industry’s journey through one of the most disruptive media environments in recent history. There is a need for a new or existing entity to create cohesive data points; a third party that collects and reports listening across all major hosts and distribution points, or “podcatchers,” as they’re colloquially called. As a small example: Wouldn’t it be nice to objectively track seasonal listening of news/talk programming and schedule media planning and flighting around that? Or to know what the demographics of that audience look like compared to other verticals? What percentage increase in efficiency and/or volume would you gain from your marketing efforts in the channel? Would that delta be profitable against paying a nominal or ongoing licensing or research fee for most brands? These challenges aren’t just affecting advertisers. David Cohn, VP of Sales at Megaphone, agrees that “full transparency from the listening platforms would make our jobs easier, along with everyone else’s in the industry. We’d love to know how much of an episode is listened to, whether an ad is skipped, etc. Along the same lines, having a central source for [audience] measurement would be ideal — similar to what Nielsen has been for TV.” This would also enable us to understand cross-show ad frequency, another black box for advertisers and the industry at large. View the full article

Krystina Rubino Contributor Share on Twitter Krystina Rubino is a marketing executive who leads the offline growth marketing practice at Right Side Up. More posts by this contributor Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap Grant Durando Contributor Grant Durando is a growth marketing leader, currently consulting on podcast and offline advertising at Right Side Up. More posts by this contributor Podcast advertising has a business intelligence gap There are sizable, meaningful gaps in the knowledge collection and publication of podcast listening and engagement statistics. Coupled with still-developing advertising technology because of the distributed nature of the medium, this causes uncertainty in user consumption and ad exposure and impact. There is also a lot of misinformation and misconception about the challenges marketers face in these channels. All of this compounds to delay ad revenue growth for creators, publishers and networks by inhibiting new and scaling advertising investment, resulting in lost opportunity among all parties invested in the channel. There’s a viable opportunity for a collective of industry professionals to collaborate on a solution for unified, free reporting, or a new business venture that collects and publishes more comprehensive data that ultimately promotes growth for podcast advertising. Podcasts have always had challenges when it comes to the analytics behind distribution, consumption and conversion. For an industry projected to exceed $1 billion in ad spend in 2021, it’s impressive that it’s built on RSS: A stable, but decades-old technology that literally means really simple syndication. Native to the technology is a one-way data flow, which democratizes the medium from a publishing perspective and makes it easy for creators to share content, but difficult for advertisers trying to measure performance and figure out where to invest ad dollars. This is compounded by a fractured creator, server and distribution/endpoint environment unique to the medium. Because podcasts lag other media channels in business intelligence, it’s still an underinvested channel relative to its ability to reach consumers and impact purchasing behavior. For creators, podcasting has begun to normalize distribution analytics through a rising consolidation of hosts like Art19, Megaphone, Simplecast and influence from the IAB. For advertisers, though, consumption and conversion analytics still lag far behind. For the high-growth tech companies we work with, and as performance marketers ourselves, measuring the return on investment of our ad spend is paramount. Because podcasts lag other media channels in business intelligence, it’s still an underinvested channel relative to its ability to reach consumers and impact purchasing behavior. This was evidenced when COVID-19 hit this year, as advertisers that were highly invested or highly interested in investing in podcast advertising asked a very basic question: “Is COVID-19, and its associated lifestyle shifts, affecting podcast listening? If so, how?” The challenges of decentralized podcast ad data We reached out to trusted partners to ask them for insights specific to their shows. Nick Southwell-Keely, U.S. director of Sales & Brand Partnerships at Acast, said: “We’re seeing our highest listens ever even amid the pandemic. Across our portfolio, which includes more than 10,000 podcasts, our highest listening days in Acast history have occurred in [July].” Most partners provided similar anecdotes, but without centralized data, there was no one, singular firm to go to for an answer, nor one report to read that would cover 100% of the space. Almost more importantly, there is no third-party perspective to validate any of the anecdotal information shared with us. Publishers, agencies and firms all scrambled to answer the question. Even still, months later, we don’t have a substantial and unifying update on exactly what, if anything, happened, or if it’s still happening, channel-wide. Rather, we’re still checking in across a wide swath of partners to identify and capitalize on microtrends. Contrast this to native digital channels like paid search and paid social, and connected, yet formerly “traditional” media (e.g., TV, CTV/OTT) that provide consolidated reports that marketers use to make decisions about their media investments. The lasting murkiness surrounding podcast media behavior during COVID-19 is just one recent case study on the challenges of a decentralized (or nonexistent) universal research vendor/firm, and how it can affect advertisers’ bottom lines. A more common illustration of this would be an advertiser pulling out of ads, for fear of underdelivery on a flat rate unit, missing out on incremental growth because they were worried about not being able to get download reporting and getting what they paid for. It’s these kinds of basic shortcomings that the ad industry needs to account for before we can hit and exceed the ad revenue heights projected for podcasting. Advertisers may pull out of campaigns for fear of under-delivery, missing out on incremental growth because they were worried about not getting what they paid for. If there’s a silver lining to the uncertainty in podcast advertising metrics and intelligence, it’s that supersavvy growth marketers have embraced the nascent medium and allowed it to do what it does best: personalized endorsements that drive conversions. While increased data will increase demand and corresponding ad premiums, for now, podcast advertising “veterans” are enjoying the relatively low profile of the space. As Ariana Martin, senior manager, Offline Growth Marketing at Babbel notes, “On the other hand, podcast marketing, through host read ads, has something personal to it, which might change over time and across different podcasts. Because of this personal element, I am not sure if podcast marketing can ever be transformed into a pure data game. Once you get past the understanding that there is limited data in podcasting, it is actually very freeing as long as you’re seeing a certain baseline of good results, [such as] sales attributed to podcast [advertising] via [survey based methodology], for example.” So how do we grow from the industry feeling like a secret game-changing channel for a select few brands, to widespread adoption across categories and industries? Below, we’ve laid out the challenges of nonuniversal data within the podcast space, and how that hurts advertisers, publishers, third-party research/tracking organizations, and broadly speaking, the podcast ecosystem. We’ve also outlined the steps we’re taking to make incremental solutions, and our vision for the industry moving forward. Lingering misconceptions about podcast measurement 1. Download standardization In search of a rationale to how such a buzzworthy growth channel lags behind more established media types’ advertising revenue, many articles will point to “listener” or “download” numbers not being normalized. As far as we can tell at Right Side Up, where we power most of the scaled programs run by direct advertisers, making us a top three DR buying force in the industry, the majority of publishers have adopted the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines Version 2.0. This widespread adoption solved the “apples to apples” problem as it pertained to different networks/shows valuing a variable, nonstandard “download” as an underlying component to their CPM calculations. Previous to this widespread adoption, it simply wasn’t known whether a “download” from publisher X was equal to a “download” from publisher Y, making it difficult to aim for a particular CPM as a forecasting tool for performance marketing success. However, the IAB 2.0 guidelines don’t completely solve the unique-user identification problem, as Dave Zohrob, CEO of Chartable points out. “Having some sort of anonymized user identifier to better calculate audience size would be fantastic — the IAB guidelines offer a good approximation given the data we have but [it] would be great to actually know how many listeners are behind each IP/user-agent combo.” 2. Proof of ad delivery A second area of business intelligence gaps that many articles point to as a cause of inhibited growth is a lack of “proof of delivery.” Ad impressions are unverifiable, and the channel doesn’t have post logs, so for podcast advertisers the analogous evidence of spots running is access to “airchecks,” or audio clippings of the podcast ads themselves. Legacy podcast advertisers remember when a full-time team of entry-level staffers would hassle networks via phone or email for airchecks, sometimes not receiving verification that the spot had run until a week or more after the fact. This delay in the ability to accurately report spend hampered fast-moving performance marketers and gave the illusion of podcasts being a slow, stiff, immovable media type. Systematic aircheck collection has been a huge advent and allowed for an increase in confidence in the space — not only for spend verification, but also for creative compliance and optimization. Interestingly, this feature has come up almost as a byproduct of other development, as the companies who offer these services actually have different core business focuses: Magellan AI, our preferred partner, is primarily a competitive intelligence platform, but pivoted to also offer airchecking services after realizing what a pain point it was for advertisers; Veritone, an AI company that’s tied this service to its ad agency, Veritone One; and Podsights, a pixel-based attribution modeling solution. 3. Competitive intelligence Last, competitive intelligence and media research continue to be a challenge. Magellan AI and Podsights offer a variety of fee and free tiers and methods of reporting to show a subset of the industry’s activity. You can search a show, advertiser or category, and get a less-than-whole, but still directionally useful, picture of relevant podcast advertising activity. While not perfect, there are sufficient resources to at least see the tip of the industry iceberg as a consideration point to your business decision to enter podcasts or not. As Sean Creeley, founder of Podsights, aptly points out: “We give all Podsights research data, analysis, posts, etc. away for free because we want to help grow the space. If [a brand], as a DIY advertiser, desired to enter podcasting, it’s a downright daunting task. Research at least lets them understand what similar companies in their space are doing.” There is also a nontech tool that publishers would find valuable. When we asked Shira Atkins, co-founder of Wonder Media Network, how she approaches research in the space, she had a not-at-all-surprising, but very refreshing response: “To be totally honest, the ‘research’ I do is texting and calling the 3-5 really smart sales people I know and love in the space. The folks who were doing radio sales when I was still in high school, and the podcast people who recognize the messiness of it all, but have been successful at scaling campaigns that work for both the publisher and the advertiser. I wish there was a true tracker of cross-industry inventory — how much is sold versus unsold. The way I track the space writ large is by listening to a sample set of shows from top publishers to get a sense for how they’re selling and what their ads are like.” Even though podcast advertising is no longer limited by download standardization, spend verification and competitive research, there are still hurdles that the channel has not yet overcome. The conclusion to this article, These 3 factors are holding back podcast monetization, is available exclusively to Extra Crunch subscribers. View the full article

A month before the pandemic was officially declared, What So Not announced he was taking a hiatus. Speaking about the wildfires and devastation in Australia, he said, “It has me thinking about what really matters in this world & this life.” “There will be a few scattered shows announced around the world (focused on being special & fun) but for the most part I’m going to be offline this year. “I have one record planned shortly, but this will be it from me for a while.” Little did he know what the rest of the year would have in store for the world. But, now he’s back and looking refreshed, sporting new bangs and a mullet, in his own words. He shared some new material he’s working on, including a remix of Run The Jewels “JU$T” featuring Pharrell and Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, and it’s sounding absolutely awesome. He asks if he should finish it or not, but obviously we do, and he knows that. Expect some new What So Not in the future! Photo via Luke Eblen This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: What So Not Emerges From Hiatus After 8 Months Teasing New Material View the full article

The Houston rapper is awarding two $10,000 scholarships to female students of color View the full article

Most days, I get sent a lot of pitches for tracks. I like some, I don’t like some. Then, there are the days when I get sent something that puts my jaw on the floor, puts the fear of God in me, forces me to ponder what I’m doing in this world, gives me goosebumps on top of goosebumps, puts me on pause to wonder what in the fuck I just listened to in the best way possible. That is Trinergy’s new song, “Acid Love,” out tomorrow on Never Say Die. Probably fitting in the new future riddim genre — but it doesn’t really matter — “Acid Love” is peak evolution. This is the apex predator of dubstep. This song is so good that it would have dominated festivals for months if they were still going on right now. Let’s break it down. The intro is slow and deceptively unassuming. It comes in with a bit of a breakbeat rhythm. Then, the arpeggios. Oh my god, the arpeggios. It’s such a beautiful melody and as the rhythm picks up, your first goosebumps come in. As you think the drop is coming, it breaks again and switches rhythms. THEN the drop comes with the force of a thermonuclear bomb, with an embellished melody and those perfect unrelenting stabs. You want it to be longer, but oh wait… there’s so much more. As Trinergy prepares to head into the second drop, that first melodic build up returns with slightly different notes. And you hear it… “Switch!” The rhythm here is so much chunkier and more discordant, but with that melody at its core, still so damn beautiful. Finally, a moment to breathe and you’re left thinking, “Oh, what was that…?” But not for long! The melodic build returns once again and you just know it’s going to be something different. New synths and grittier bass come in with a new rhythm and arrangement, pulling everything together for a climax that leaves you breathless and wondering how you’re going to go on without this in your life. Thankfully, “Acid Love” officially releases on all streaming platforms tomorrow, but hear it first below exclusively on Your EDM! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: [PREMIERE] Trinergy Returns To Never Say Die With One Of The Best Bass Tracks Of 2020 View the full article

Above & Beyond present their brand new production, “Diving Out Of Love.” With every release, Above & Beyond deliver true experiences, spiritual awakenings, and unique journeys through sound. Think about those life-changing tracks you heard at your first show or festival — and they manage to capture that same indescribable feeling every time. Their latest single “Diving Out of Love” checks all the boxes with driving trance framework and gritty undertones. Vocals from Jono Grant add a layer of serenity and sit perfectly in the mix. The result is grand and melodic and everything we could hope for in an Above & Beyond production. Naturally, “Diving Out of Love” is released on Above & Beyond’s own Anjunabeats, with original and extended mixes to behold. Listen here and let us know if you’re loving it! Above & Beyond – Diving Out of Love  This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Above & Beyond Release Gritty Trance Anthem “Diving Out Of Love” [LISTEN] View the full article

With Jake Passmore of South East London band SCORS View the full article

New takes on color theory’s “circle the drain” and “crawling in my skin” View the full article

During the summer of 2016, Polish law enforcement officers arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents. The then 30-year-old Ukrainian was apprehended at a local airport. He was later taken into custody and around the same time the infamous torrent site went dark. Criminal Prosecution of KickassTorrents The arrest was part of a U.S. criminal case which also listed two other men as key players. At the time, KickassTorrents (KAT) was the most-used torrent site around, so the authorities couldn’t have hit a more prominent target. The criminal case meant the end of the torrent site, but also the start of a slowly progressing legal battle for the defendants. After being held in a Polish prison cell for nearly ten months, Vaulin was released on bail in 2017. He soon moved to a rented apartment in Warsaw where he enjoyed relative freedom and, most importantly, the company of his wife and son. Meanwhile, the extradition proceedings continued. Four years on, the case remains pending without any significant progress. There was an early court decision which held that the alleged KAT operator can be extradited, but that decision had yet to be confirmed. Based on new developments, it’s unclear whether that final decision will ever come. Alleged KAT Founder Skips Bail According to new information received by TorrentFreak, Vaulin is no longer in Poland. This was confirmed by United States Attorney John R. Lausch Jr., who just informed the federal court in Illinois that their suspect is ‘missing.’ “According to information recently received from the Polish Ministry of Justice, defendant Artem Vaulin has left Poland in violation of his release conditions, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” Lausch writes in a brief status update. The release was not without conditions. Vaulin was not allowed to leave the country, for example, and was under police supervision. However, according to the authorities, these conditions were violated recently and the $108,000 bail was forfeited. “According to the Polish Ministry of Justice, however, Vaulin has left the country and his bail was forfeited by the District Court in Warsaw on August 26, 2020. As such, extradition proceedings in Poland are no longer continuing,” the US Attorney adds. Vaulin’s Legal Team Withdraws We reached out to Val Gurvits of Boston Law Group, one of the attorneys who represented Vaulin in the US case. Gurvits said that he was just informed of these new developments by the US Government. His team hasn’t heard from Vaulin. “We are not in touch with Mr. Vaulin and we will be withdrawing from the case,” Gurvits tells us. It’s not clear why Vaulin left Poland or where he is now. However, based on this new information, it is not unlikely that the criminal prosecution in the US may never start. Without defendants, it can’t continue. In addition to Vaulin, the US Government also indicted two other Ukrainian men in the KickassTorrents conspiracy. These defendants, Oleksandr Radostin and Ievgen Kutsenko, remain at large after four years. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Next week’s #SOSFest will feature Brittany Howard, Foo Fighters, Phoebe Bridgers, FINNEAS, more View the full article

A new album from the London punks is on the way View the full article

Celebrating a classic with previously unreleased remixes View the full article

The G.O.O.D. Music artist also sang on “Guilty Conscience” for The Tonight Show View the full article