Crypto News: Only murders in the studio

Hey, everyone, welcome back to Soundbite. I hope all of you readers in the US had a nice Thanksgiving last week. Today, the holiday spirit continues to be in the air as we look at trends in this year's top charts from Apple Inc. and Spotify Technology SA. Plus, we've got a tidbit out of Warner Music Group's 10-K filing. Reach me through email, and as always, if you haven't yet subscribed to this newsletter, please do so here. Tell a friend to sign up too!

But first, here's a story you should read:

Jung Kook, a member of BTS, dropped his first solo album, Golden, this month, which has not only succeeded commercially but also cemented his position as an international idol beyond the world of K-pop. I wrote about how aspects of the release — singing in English, featuring established names and performing in the US — set him up for global fame. His song Seven quickly became the fourth most popular song on Spotify this year.

Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Spotify released their year-end charts this week to give us a sense of what people have been consuming in music and podcasts in this glorious year of 2023. On the music front, Miley Cyrus' song Flowers was big on both platforms, as was SZA's Kill Bill. Apple Music saw more hip-hop tracks chart in its top 10 song list than Spotify, as well as J-pop artists. Interestingly, Morgan Wallen's Last Night was the No.1 song. It didn't even make it onto Spotify's top 10.

Peso Pluma became a top-five artist on Spotify, as did multiple other Latin acts, including Bad Bunny and Feid. Not too surprising, though it represents a major, global moment for Mexican music.

Today, I want to drill down on the podcast charts, particularly Apple Podcasts' "Top New Shows." The company determines these rankings through a mix of how many followers a show receives, the number of listens it has and the completion rate of episodes.

Here's that list:

Scamanda
The Retrievals
The Deck Investigates
Murder & Magnolias
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
The Girl in the Blue Mustang
The Coldest Case in Laramie
Murder in Apartment 12
The Girlfriends
Undetermined

Nine out of 10 shows fall under the true-crime category, and 30% come from NBC's Dateline. (On Spotify, Dateline NBC came in as the 20th most popular show in the US based on the number of unique listeners that consumed at least two minutes or 50% of an episode.)

The people have spoken: they can't get enough of murders and scams.

With this in mind, I chatted with Liz Cole, who oversees the audio unit of NBC News Studios and is the executive producer of Dateline, to get a sense of how she and the team think about competition in the cutthroat space and what makes for a worthwhile story.

"I think that what we look for in the original podcasts is not dissimilar from what we look for in original television," she said.

For one, a podcast story must have "some degree of suspense or something unexpected happening" and "people or situations that listeners or viewers can relate to about human relationships."

Critically, for audio, a story has to hold up over a handful of hours, rather than 60 or so minutes of TV programming. This, in the true-crime space, might translate to multiple suspects or "different investigative avenues to pursue," she said.

As for the success of the individual spin-off podcasts — something I've previously pointed out can be difficult to pull off for even well-established networks — Cole said her team promotes the programming across all NBC properties, including on the Today show, on NBC News and on the social feeds for Dateline.

Of course, this isn't something every network has access to. That said, we're seeing executives at different outlets take advantage of whatever unique set of resources are at their disposal.

iHeartMedia promotes its podcasts on the radio. Wondery recently launched three Freevee channels dedicated to podcasts channels and Max bookends its TV programming with ads for companion podcasts.

With years of true-crime hype behind us, I've wondered if listeners will ever feel satiated with the amount of gruesome stories they've heard and tap out. According to the Apple Podcasts' data, that day has not yet come. As for Cole, she said the team is undeterred by the competition and will continue to produce programming grounded in journalism.

So while podcast-industry watchers might roll their eyes at the prospect of yet another true-crime series, people simply can't get enough.

Last week, Warner Music Group filed papers with the SEC that divulged the base purchase price for 10K Projects, the record label started by Elliot Grainge, the son of Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge. WMG bought a 51% stake in the company, which works with artists like Ice Spice, Trippie Redd and Surfaces, for $102 million, according to the filing.

Following the deal, Elliot Grainge became a WMG executive, and 10K started operating as a standalone label within the larger corporate entity.

Senate forum hosts Spotify, Sony execs for AI conversation

On Wednesday, the US Senate hosted its latest forum on AI with a focus on intellectual property and copyright. Among those who testified were Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business and US sales for Sony Music Entertainment, and Ziad Sultan, VP of personalization at Spotify.

Though the session wasn't broadcast publicly, the testimony posted online offers a glimpse at what these companies advocate for at the highest levels of government.

Sony dropped a couple newsy nuggets. It's in talks with around 200 AI companies to develop tools and products, and it has issued nearly 10,000 takedown requests over the use of deep fakes, or synthetic voices, that mimic artists. Overall, Kooker's demands line up with what we've been hearing from label executives more generally.

Among Kooker's desires are federal protections for name, image and likeness; a determination that if AI trains on copied music it violates fair use; and transparency around whether songs are AI-generated.

Congress has a "critical role to play," he said, adding that if "copyright continues to have strong protection and enforcement," then the "free market will operate effectively and efficiently."

Meanwhile, in his testimony, Spotify's Sultan didn't argue for much of anything. Instead, he pointed to the streaming service's established AI products, like AI DJ, and said the company welcomes conversation about the topic.

"We believe that technology like generative AI can help further our mission and has the potential to offer real benefits to both the music industry and the audio industry more broadly," he said. "It is very early days for an incredibly fast-moving and developing technology. Handled in a responsible and thoughtful manner, Spotify expects that generative AI can meaningfully augment the creative journey and open up music creation to a whole new set of artists."

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