U.S. Radio Sees Political Surge, Apple Music's AI Label, & More

This week in the business of podcasting: - Apple Music now mandates "Made With AI" labels on AI-generated tracks, a music-distribution move that signals how fast audio platforms are formalizing AI disclosure. - Political ad spending on radio jumped 22% in a month to $124 million, with AdImpact projecting a record $11.6 billion cycle and the biggest wave still expected after Labor Day. - Bloomberg reports YouTube is offering creators millions to stay exclusive and off Netflix, a video-first fight worth watching as podcasting leans deeper into YouTube. - Steven Goldstein argues Spotify's new Skip Ahead test simply shows that podcasting is not necessarily huge to Spotify's bottom line, urging publishers to diversify beyond any single platform. To find links to these, and every article covered in this week's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.