Audio Ink

Hipgnosis Songs Fund reported a 9.2% decrease in net asset value per share as tension rises in the royalty fund company. The board and Hipgnosis Song Management, led by Merck Mercuriadis, have been recently sparring over catalog valuations. 

Brackets are ready to get busted and SiriusXM is ready for “The Big Dance.” Starting Tuesday afternoon with the First Four, SiriusXM teams with Westwood One to carry play-by-play of every game of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

NPR Digital Services will start using Triton Digital for streaming later this year. Stations were informed of the change last week, according to The Current. NPR uses Limelight to stream and began using Triton for podcast advertising earlier this year.

Bridge Ratings has just completed an update to its annual “State of Podcasting” study originally conducted during November 2015 and January 2016. CEO Dave Van Dyke says for most Americans who care enough about podcasts...it's too cumbersome of a process.

The United Football League has partnered with SiriusXM to broadcast its games nationwide, offering coverage of every game. The UFL, a merger of the XFL and USFL, is set to start its inaugural season on March 30 and will have games split between two SiriusXM channels.

iHeartMedia announced on Thursday that the 5-year-old iHeartRadio app now has more than 80 million registered users. iHeartRadio President Darren Davis said, "In just five years, we've seen continued powerful growth in our registered user base -- a testament to the power of radio and listening."

He’s an editor with the Weekly Standard and a contributor to ABC News. Now PodcastOne is giving Bill Kristol his shot at the podcast world. Kristol will bring his conservative views to the The Kristol Clear Podcast, wrapping up the week's news every Friday, and point out what will be the biggest stories and surprises of the days ahead.

Make-A-Wish – the global organization that grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses – has launched a new podcast miniseries, The Power of a Wish. The two-episode series highlights the impact of these wishes and the stories of the people who work to make a child’s wish a reality.

Matty Staudt is joining the iHeartRadio podcast team as Vice President of Podcast Programming. Staudt moves over to iHeartRadio from his role as Digital PD for iHeart in San Francisco, where he launched more than 30 original podcasts and developed a local branded podcast strategy. 

Country music legend Dolly Parton is launching a four-part radio series titled What Would Dolly Do? Radio on Apple Music 1, Apple's global live-streaming radio station. The series will debut on October 25 and air weekly on Wednesdays.