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Remember when I told you about Spotify acquiring the audiobook platform Findaway? Well, there’s more restructuring going on — Ashley Carman at The Verge has reported that Spotify has closed Studio 4 (often referred to as Spotify Studios) and laid off some of its staff. Of its four studios (Gimlet, Parcast, The Ringer, and Studio 4), Studio 4 was the only one Spotify built in-house.

You should read the article itself, but this detail struck me as particularly a bummer:

“They say it often operated more like a ‘junk drawer’ for projects that didn’t find a home within the other three networks.”

When workers aren’t given the proper resources or recognition and then summarily laid off anyway when the company goes in a different direction, it’s easy for people to feel like all their work was for nothing. I’m reminded of the pivot to video craze in the last decade, where resources were sucked away from other formats in service of video, and then just a short time later entire video teams were laid off. Nobody wins, and everyone is worse off.

Carman made an apt observation: “Studio 4’s shutdown shows that Spotify wasn’t able to build a wholly independent production team from scratch.” I do wonder why that is the case, and what this move signals about the company’s priorities.

Anyway, unions can offer protection to workers subject to the whims of capitalist impulses, and here in Canada, congratulations are in order for the Canadaland Union, who had their agreement ratified this week! And finally, the Hot Docs Podcast Festival is next week. It runs from January 26 to 28, and single tickets are now on sale.

Media Girlfriends is hiring an associate producer for a 3-month, full-time contract with an option to extend. Here’s what I love about this posting: it lists compensation ($1,300/week) and includes a deadline to apply (January 31). This is a great opportunity to work with a wonderful group of producers!

Antica Productions in Toronto is hiring a whole whack of roles that span all levels of experience: production assistant, researcher, associate producer, producer, and senior/executive producer.

The Toronto Star is still hiring a podcast producer for a 3-month contract.

The Globe and Mail is hiring a few editorial positions: audience growth editor, content editor, and a reporter in the Calgary bureau, which has a deadline of January 27.

Want to work with CBC Podcasts? They’re hiring a digital associate producer for a full-time contract. Apply by EOD January 31.

CBC London (Ontario, sorry anglophiles) is hiring a reporter/editor assigned to Afternoon Drive. This is a permanent, full-time position, and the application is due by EOD February 2.

For the morning crowd, CBC Alberta is hiring a permanent, full-time host/producer for Daybreak Alberta. Apply by EOD on February 9.

TV lovers, CBC Toronto is hiring a permanent, full-time weekend assignment producer. Apply by EOD on January 26.

Back in southwestern Ontario, apply to be the permanent, full-time host for CBC’s Windsor Morning by EOD January 24.

Taxes: possibly the *least* sexy thing a person can talk about; regardless, they take up a silly amount of my brain space. I know we’re three weeks into the new year at this point, but some of you might be evaluating your rates — and when you’re evaluating your rates, you’ve gotta account for your tax rate! Check out Weathsimple’s 2022 tax rate guide so you can make sure you’re putting away the right amount of income tax.

It shouldn’t have taken me this long to listen — but I finally started listening to Alpaca My Bags! It’s been almost exactly two years since I’ve been on an airplane, and while I do believe all that time on the ground has perhaps sparked a wee fear of flying where there wasn’t one before, I do miss traveling a lot. I have planned like four imaginary vacations for myself. I didn’t go on any of them, but I did spend one night at a hotel by myself back in November and watched Hallmark movies. Not quite the same as travel, but better than nothing?

Produced by Vocal Fry’s very own Kattie Laur (though, I should mention, this isn’t a Vocal Fry show!) and hosted by Erin Elizabeth Hynes, listening to Alpaca My Bags feels like listening to a good friend tell travel stories. In an episode about solo travel, Kattie and Erin discuss their plans for a trip to Portugal that made me nostalgic for my own Portugal visit back in 2017. I found myself almost shouting out loud — I went there! I went there! This is a sure sign the pandemic continues to rot my brain. It’s conversational and warm, but they also get into really important discussions — like the ethics of conservation tourism and whether there’s an ethical way to volunteer while traveling considering the colonial history of things like mission trips.

While Omicron will keep me stuck at home for at least a little while longer, I’m glad I have a whole back catalog of episodes with Kattie and Erin to make my walks feel a little less local.

Speaking of Alpaca My Bags, the show’s host, Erin Elizabeth Hynes, wrote a blog post about how they pivoted their show in a world without travel. Erin writes about how changing the way they engaged with their audience actually helped their show grow and evolve, and I think anyone who has an audience can learn from her insights.

We want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your podcast news? Let us know on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at info@vocalfrystudios.com.

Thanks to Emily Latimer for editing this newsletter, and to Katie Jensen for designing it.

We’ll see you again on January 28. Until then, here’s an update from producer Sabrina Brathwaite’s dog, Blue, in his graduation cap. Everyone say, “Congratulations, Blue!”

Yours in friends and fries,

Michal

What the $!%? is going on at Spotify?

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