Mariachis, ASMR, "fair use", & more...

Welcome to the June 2017 newsletter from KCRW's Independent Producer Project! We return with another roundup of the month's best articles, opportunities, and items of note from throughout the radio and podcasting world ... as well as the very best stories from indie producers (like you!) that have been featured on KCRW. As always, if you want to submit your own, head on over to the IPP pitch page. (And how about this fancy new layout?) Onward!

#ProducerProblems #1: You’ve found the perfect song that makes your podcast or radio story take flight. You’re pretty sure it falls under “fair use” … and besides, your little piece is just a labor of love, right? Stop, drop, and check out Steven Goldstein’s article over at Amplifi Media, “Why Can’t Music Be Played in Podcasts?”

#ProducerProblems #2: You have a great story - poetic, illuminating, rich with meaning - but it’s kinda hard to summarize in an e-mail pitch. The editor’s need for “concreteness” can leave out a lot of great stories that are hard to pin down when you explain them, but are genius when you listen to them. Two radio stalwarts, Jay Allison and Rob Rosenthal, discuss and play “Stories That Are Impossible to Pitch” in the latest edition of HowSound at Transom.

The Association for Independents in Radio (AIR) is looking for bold new storytellers to shake up public media with their 2017 New Voices Scholarship! Year after year, these people bring diverse ideas, insights, and experiences from across America to challenge how public media is conceptualized, produced, and delivered. Want to be one of them? Apply by June 30, 5pm PT.

There's still time to submit your best stories for the 2017 Third Coast/Richard H. Dreihaus Foundation Competition. Since 2001, the TC/RHDF Competition has celebrated the best audio storytelling produced worldwide with over $250,000 in cash prizes to many of the most innovative producers in radio & podcasts. You could be next!

Overwhelmed by all the options for mobile podcast listening and organization?
Let Erik Jones be your guide in his “One-Sentence Reviews of the Entire Podcasting Landscape” for the Bello Collective. (Note: May not include hot new apps launched in the last 24 hours.)

Hey, podcast producers! The latest Podcasting Best Practices study is now available. Bridge Ratings continues their coverage of the podcasting space with this fresh update, which provides metrics and trends from January to April 2017 on podcast listening, distribution, advertising, and more.