Tech

Audio content production studio Audio Up has signed a publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) that will identify and sign songwriters to create original music for the company’s stable of podcasts. In addition, Audio Up CEO Jared Gutstadt will be represented by UMPG as a songwriter and producer. Original music for podcasting, particularly

UPDATED: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is defending its enlistment of a political lobbying firm to plant negative opinion pieces about rival TikTok in U.S. news outlets — as the social giant tried to deflect attention away from its own PR headaches. The Washington Post on Wednesday reported on Meta’s deal with

In a move that will transform Italy’s relationship with Netflix, the Italian government has set a firm three-month time window between a movie’s theatrical release and when it can drop on a streaming platform. The announcement was made by Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini during a Rome confab on the state of the country’s film

French-American podcast network Paradiso Media has unveiled a trio of prestige podcast shows, “Wild Whispers,” “STYX” and “Conference Call” with high-profile talent, including Jeff Ward (“Hacks”), Gregory Stees (“Funny or Die”) and Elizabeth Henstridge (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).” All three shows were presented at Series Mania’s”IP Pitch: Podcast to Screen” session where Paradiso Media was out

Holy cash grab, Batman! DC next month will release the Bat Cowl Collection — a total of 200,000 unique NFTs, which are 3D-rendered images that draw on the Caped Crusader’s 83-year history. The nonfungible tokens (NFTs) will be priced at $300 apiece, meaning DC and Warner Bros. are looking at landing $60 million from the

Non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) have exploded in popularity, with everything from digital artwork to basketball highlights being minted to the blockchain. It’s exciting and full of promise and opportunity — but unfortunately also a fast-moving vector for new forms of fraud and misuse. An NFT is a unit of data recorded on an infinite digital

Ordinarily on an Oscars Sunday, the peak interest in Hollywood’s big awards show is around the top winners. But this year was… different. According to data from Google, in the 11 p.m. ET hour on March 27, Will Smith was the subject of 25 times more internet searches than “CODA,” Apple’s groundbreaking film that became

TikTok, which has become the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival, has assembled the prestigious jury of its inaugural #TikTokShortFilm, a global in-app competition of vertical shorts. Rithy Panh, the BAFTA-nominated Cambodian filmmaker of “The Missing Picture,” will preside over the international jury, which comprises Basma Khalifa, the Sudanese multi-disciplinary creative, Camille Ducellier, the

Disney Plus confirmed launch dates — and pricing — for 42 new countries and 11 territories across Europe, West Asia and Africa, continuing its phased rollout to span the globe. Disney’s flagship streaming service will bow in South Africa on May 18, followed by all other countries listed in June (see below for dates and

Longtime Viacom exec Steve Raizes, head of podcasting and audio at Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS), is now overseeing all audio initiatives for CBS News in addition to his previous duties. Raizes gets a new title — executive VP, podcasting and audio at Paramount — after serving as SVP of podcasts at the media conglomerate. In the

Apple made history by nabbing Hollywood’s most coveted honor, as “CODA” won the Oscar for best picture at Sunday’s Academy Awards. Apple Original Films’ “CODA,” which has a predominantly Deaf cast, marks the first time a streaming service has won the best picture Oscar — with Apple TV Plus beating rival Netflix to the punch.

If you’re on TikTok, chances are you’ve heard a remix by London-based duo Altégo — in just one year, they’ve racked up 1.4 million followers, 4 billion plays of their sounds on the app and scored a Top 40 hit.  In their videos, 23-year-old twin brothers Michael and Lucas Fernandes-Pense energetically mash up two popular songs, providing

Spotify, which suspended its paid subscription service in Russia earlier this month due to that country’s unprovoked and bloody invasion of Ukraine, has announced it will “fully suspend our service in Russia,” apparently indefinitely. It joins dozens of other music companies that have ceased operations in the country. “Spotify has continued to believe that it’s

TV streaming provider FuboTV announced Henry Ahn, a longtime television executive most recently at TelevisaUnivision, has been hired to the newly created position of chief business officer. Ahn will start in early April at the company’s New York City headquarters and report directly to David Gandler, co-founder and CEO. In conjunction with this appointment, Ahn

The powers of technology giants like Facebook owner Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple could be severely curbed as the European Union Council and European Parliament have reached a provisional political agreement on the landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA, the process for which began some 16 months ago, defines clear rules for large online

Netflix has snapped up another independent game studio: The streamer announced that is has acquired Boss Fight Entertainment, a Texas-based mobile game developer. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Boss Fight was formed by former Zynga Dallas and Ensemble Studios employees in 2013. It’s headed by CEO David Rippy alongside CCO Bill Jackson and

Top stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco surprised fans at his shows in the New York area by giving away free commemorative NFTs to all ticketholders — the first comedian to launch such an offering using the next-gen digital collectible technology. The observational comedian’s complimentary NFTs (nonfungible tokens), designed by his wife, Lana Gomez, are uniquely designed

Priya Dogra, president of WarnerMedia Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia (excluding China), took the stage on Thursday to deliver a keynote speech at the Series Mania TV fest in Lille, France, and the message was clear: the U.S. conglomerate is ramping up production in Europe. “Our industry is becoming more global,” said Dogra.

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and actor-turned-would-be-media-mogul, will have “uncensored conversations” about stereotypes that have historically applied to women on her forthcoming podcast for Spotify. The podcast series, “Archetypes,” is slated to debut this summer on Spotify. It’s the first production to land on Spotify under the streaming service’s exclusive deal inked in 2020

During ABC’s Academy Awards broadcast on March 27, Snap will air its first-ever Oscars TV spot, honoring the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. The ad shows people using Snapchat’s augmented-reality Lenses to learn American Sign Language. The ad (watch below) was inspired by the Oscar nominations for Apple Original Films’ “CODA” — the first motion picture

Spotify paid $7 billion in royalties to rights holders — primarily labels and publishers, but also distributors, performing rights organizations and others — in 2021, the company announced on Thursday in its annual “Loud and Clear” report. That total is more than any other service — with more than 180 million paying subscribers, Spotify is

Alicin Reidy Williamson is leaving Endeavor after more than two years to join Yahoo, which spun off from Verizon last year, as the media and tech company’s chief diversity and culture officer. Reidy Williamson will lead Yahoo’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts globally, reporting directly to CEO Jim Lanzone. Based in New York, she

Paramount Plus, which is the global streaming service of recently rebranded Paramount — formerly ViacomCBS — has forged a three-year partnership with Gaumont, the storied French studio behind Netflix’s “Lupin” and “Narcos,” to jointly produce a slate of high-end original shows for its growing subscribers around the world. Under the partnership Gaumont will produce these

The India expansion plans for short-form video platform Lomotif are well underway via a partnership with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18 media conglomerate. The partnership kicks off with 10-episode science-based reality series “The Inventor Challenge,” which is set for an April debut, with the option of a second season. The series is based on Emmy-winning PBS

In the mood to watch “South Park” or “Friends” — but you just want to see a random episode? HBO Max now has you covered. WarnerMedia’s HBO Max this week introduced a new “shuffle” button, a highly requested feature that gives users the option to play back a random episode of a curated selection of

For years, Spotify subscribers have been unable to pay through Apple’s App Store or Google Play, as the audio streamer has balked at the tech giants’ demands to fork over as much as 30% of the payments processed through their platforms. Both app stores also have disallowed third-party billing systems. Now, Spotify and Google have

They’ll come for the high-wattage HBO and Warner Bros. content. They’ll stick around for Discovery’s lifestyle comfort food. That’s the formula that Warner Bros. Discovery executives hope will work for the integrated HBO Max and Discovery Plus services. Gunnar Wiedenfels, CFO of Discovery, revealed March 14 at an investor conference that the company plans to

Netflix wants users who share passwords with people outside their households — in violation of its terms of use — to pay an additional fee to keep streaming. The plan, if successfully rolled out globally, could add a cool $1.6 billion to Netflix’s top line, according to a new Wall Street analysis. Last week, Netflix

TikTok… boom! Lin-Manuel Miranda, the multihyphenate who composed eight songs for Disney’s “Encanto” soundtrack, gave thanks to TikTok users who have made hits like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” go viral on the platform — and helped push the film’s album to the top of the charts worldwide. “I wanted to take a moment to

New York City-based esports giant Andbox has rebranded as NYXL and will be making a hefty investment into the city’s gaming community over the next year, including building its new Manhattan headquarters, practice facility and live-event space in pursuit of developing New York into a gaming epicenter. “Dedicated to creating experiences and developing content that