Acast has partnered with royalty-free music platform Slip.Stream to allow podcasters within its creator network access to more than 70,000 songs for content creation, the company has announced.
Under the terms of the deal, all Acast podcasters will receive free access to Slip.Stream’s ‘Pro Level’ subscription for six months, which includes premium songs from labels like Insomniac Records, personalised AI-generated playlists, track stems, and more. Following the six-month trial, Acast podcasters will be offered a special discounted offer to upgrade to Slip.Stream’s annual Pro plan.
“Whether it’s used for intros or outros, or to set a tone or drive action in a plot, music is an important element that makes a podcast memorable and engaging for listeners,” said Acast Creator Network senior vice president Veronika Taylor. “Now, through this partnership with Slip.Stream, Acast is making it even easier for podcasters to discover the right song for every transition, story climax, and anything else in their creative process.”
Taylor also added that music can play a “key role” in improving the production quality of podcasts and providing more high-quality storytelling for listeners. According to research from Acast, more than 70% of podcast listeners like podcasts that use music to set a tone. Music can also help keep listeners engaged during advertisements, as 60% of respondents said they prefer ads with music.
“Music has the power to evoke the full spectrum of human emotion,” said Slip.Stream chief marketing officer Jesse Korwin. “Podcasters know how to tell a compelling audio story, but can often be challenged to find songs that fit their creative needs and are safe to use on their podcast.”
“Through this partnership, Acast and Slip.Stream are helping more podcasters enhance their storytelling and create more engaging content for their audiences by giving them access to more than 70,000 songs they can begin using in their podcast production.”
Music licensing and copyright continues to be a point of concern for podcasters, with many unclear on the specific rules around the use of music within their productions. The creators of Spotify’s music analysis podcast Decode previously spoke to PodPod host Rhianna Dhillon about the challenges of working with licensed music.
Acast’s partnership with Slip.Stream is the latest of many that the independent company has announced this past year as part of its growth strategy. Recent ones include ad sales and distribution partnerships with podcast subscription network Luminary and Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company Higher Ground Productions. Acast also announced a partnership with media company BuzzFeed in April this year to develop a new slate of podcast series.
As part of the partnership, Acast is launching a new weekly podcast series tomorrow with Buzzfeed titled Am I Doing it Wrong. As part of the partnership, Acast is responsible for distributing the shows, providing production services and creative direction, and managing the monetisation of the podcasts.
