Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 210, published May 21, 2019.
Joint adventures. Last Thursday, Variety reported that Sony Music, the global music conglomerate ($7.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2018), has formed a joint venture with Adam Davidson, the New Yorker staff writer and co-founder of Planet Money, and Laura Mayer, the former executive producer at Stitcher.
The new entity, which has yet to be named, is structured as follows: Sony Music will own 50 percent while Mayer and Davidson each hold 25 percent, with the former taking responsibility of the various business aspects (marketing, sales, distribution, business development, and so on) and the latter two focusing solely on the creative side. According to the Variety writeup, Sony Music is also investing an undisclosed sum.
One significant thing to keep in mind: “This is not a music content company,” Davidson emphasized when I reached out for more information over email. “We are a…
