Spotify Podcast Reorg: Max Cutler to Exit, Julie McNamara to Assume Oversight of Licensed Exclusives

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Me want… nonfungible token? Sesame Workshop is introducing the first digital collectibles based on the iconic Sesame Street kids’ brand. The first NFTs from the initiative will feature Cookie Monster, the beloved blue cookie fiend from the show, with the initial drop scheduled for March 19 on the VeVe digital collectibles app. There will be one Cookie Monster NFT collectible with 5,555 editions for sale, priced at $60 each. According to Sesame Workshop, additional Sesame Street collectibles will be released later this year. NFTs are unique identifiers that verify ownership of digital content. The craze for NFT collectibles kicked off in earnest in early 2021 and has continued since. A number of studios, TV networks, sports leagues and athletes, actors, musicians, artists, gaming companies and more have launched NFT initiatives, looking to generate revenue and engage with fans.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After nearly 10 years on Netflix, comedy “New Girl” will be leaving the streaming service to get a new dual home on Hulu and Peacock. “New Girl” will be available on Hulu and Peacock beginning April 17, 2023. Under a shared agreement between Disney and NBCUniversal, Peacock and Hulu will share streaming rights to all seven season of the show, comprising 146 episodes in total. “New Girl,” starring Zooey Deschanel, first began streaming on Netflix in the U.S. in the summer of 2013. The show’s ensemble cast includes Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone. “New Girl” originally aired on Fox from 2011-2018.

EXCLUSIVE: Spotify is continuing its move to ramp up its video podcasts business.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Hasan Minhaj’s Riddler is coming back to your earbuds. The comedian-actor made a virtual appearance at Spotify’s Stream On event Wednesday, announcing “The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark,” the next podcast series from Spotify, DC and Warner Bros. under their exclusive multiyear partnership. Minhaj had voiced The Riddler in 2022 hit Spotify podcast “Batman Unburied,” which starred Winston Duke in the title role. “Audiences are going to travel back to Gotham City with me in a story that leaves clues, puzzles and shines a spotlight on my personal favorite character, The Riddler,” Minhaj said in the video (watch the clip below).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify is releasing what it calls its biggest app redesign to date — revealing a new “dynamic” mobile interface aimed at providing listeners a more active role in discovering new audio content and giving creators new ways to share their work. The newly redesigned Spotify app will roll out to users worldwide in waves, starting Wednesday (March 8), the company said. It unveiled the new user interface at Stream On, its second event showcasing new features, creator tools and programming. The update is most significant change to Spotify’s mobile app since it debuted more than a decade ago and is about “bringing Spotify to life,” CEO Daniel Ek said at the event.

Amber Dowling The Nordic region’s largest streamer, Viaplay, has debuted in Canada, continuing its expansion into North America after landing in the U.S. on Feb. 22. The direct-to-consumer platform touts itself as the premiere platform for Nordic Noir, the term used to describe the growing subgenre of Scandinavian crime dramas, thrillers, dark comedies and YA offerings. Available in every Nordic and Baltic country, Viaplay has been gaining ground over the past several months, expanding across Europe, U.K. and Australia. In February, it reported an 83% rise year-over-year in streaming subscribers, a number that is expected to swell with the North American launches.

David Byrne knows where he’s going and he knows where he’s been, and the former Talking Heads band leader and near EGOT winner is on his way to the Oscars again, 35 years after taking home the original score Academy Award for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (which he shared with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su) with a song nomination for “This Is a Life” from A24’s 11x Oscar nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once which he co-wrote with the pic’s composers Son Lux and Mitski. If Byrne wins a second Oscar next Sunday, it doesn’t bring him closer to an EGOT; he needs an Emmy win to do that after two Grammys and a special Tony award for his Broadway showstopper American Utopia.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Sony Pictures has won global distribution rights to the hot comedy package “My Ex-Friend’s Wedding,” a script co-written by buzzy author Taylor Jenkins Reid starring a murderers’ row of funny women. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, “Saturday Night Live” breakout Chloe Fineman, Amanda Seyfried and Megan Stalter are set as the core ensemble. The film follows four childhood best friends who receive a drunken voicemail from a former BFF on the eve of her wedding day — confessing that she thinks she’s making a mistake. The group sets out to stop her wedding and rekindle the friendship they once shared. Comedy vet Kay Cannon, whose 2019 feature directorial debut “Blockers” over-performed at the box office, is directing. The script is from Ashley Rodger and Jenkins Reid. The latter could not be hotter at the moment, as the series adaptation of her novel “Daisy Jones & The Six” is about to hit Amazon Prime Video. Additional Jenkins Reed books are headed to the screen at Hulu (“Malibu Rising”) and Netflix (“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”).

is the captivating limited series chronicling the meteoric rise and fall of the titular rock band as they release their first album and embark on a massive tour before internal conflicts drive them apart. The show stars Riley Keough as Daisy Jones, with Sam Caflin as Billy Dunne, Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko, Will Harrison as Graham Dunne, Josh Whitehouse as Eddie Roundtree and Sebastian Chacon as Warren Rojas. Based on Taylor Jenkins Reid's hit 2019 novel -- which was written as an oral history while the series is constructed as a music documentary -- the story set in the 1970s has drawn comparisons to the legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac, which has its own tumultuous history in addition to being one of the biggest bands for several decades around that time. While writing the book, the author «watched a lot of ,» Reid told about the hit VH1 docuseries, which featured an episode about Fleetwood Mac, whose mega-successful album,, was released in 1977, the same year as Daisy Jones & The Six's debut record, . «There are certainly parallels to draw,» said Harrison, who plays the band's guitarist and backup vocalist. Of course, most of the show's cast was born in the late-'80s, early-'90s, putting them at the tail end of the Millennial generation.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as the gyrating rock ‘n’ roll icon, has been streamed for a total of about 2.7 billion minutes by HBO Max viewers in the U.S. since it came to the platform Aug. 8, 2022, according to new data from Nielsen. That makes “Elvis” the most-streamed title on U.S. subscription services among the films nominated for in the Oscars best picture category this year — but only if you are looking at the platforms for which Nielsen reports metrics. What’s important here: Nielsen’s Streaming Content Ratings do not include Paramount+, which added “Top Gun: Maverick” on Dec. 22, whereupon it became the service’s most-streamed movie premiere to date. Nielsen also does not report streaming estimates for Showtime, which has the rights to best-picture frontrunner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor AMC Networks’ Sentai Filmworks unit reached an agreement with Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) that provides exclusive rights for AMC’s anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service to distribute part of MBS’s future programming lineup in all global markets outside of Asia. The pact is Sentai’s biggest-ever deal for anime content, according to the company. The output deal encompasses MBS’s programming slate based on a collection of popular manga and light novel titles. All of the shows will be available exclusively on HIDIVE outside of Asia. Among the shows covered in the Sentai-MBS output is “The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior” (pictured above). The new show, scheduled to premiere in July 2023, is a 12-episode series based on hit fantasy light novel by Tenichi and published by Ichijinsha. The series is being directed by Norio Nitta and written by Deko Akao with animation by OLM.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media is launching a podcast featuring one-on-one conversations between the production company’s execs and key creative partners — with Coogler sitting down with longtime partner Michael B. Jordan for the first episode. The “In Proximity” podcast promises listeners a deep dive into the creative process of making movies, TV, music and podcasts, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Proximity’s projects and future titles. The show premieres with Coogler and Jordan’s episode on Sunday, March 12, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms as well as proximitymedia.com, with new episodes to be released weekly.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer One of Austin’s hometown filmmakers is bringing his next movie to SXSW. Director Robert Rodriguez will screen a work-in-progress cut of his crime thriller “Hypnotic,” starring Ben Affleck, for fans at the SXSW Film Festival in the Texas capital on March 12. In the film, written by Rodriguez and Max Borenstein (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), Affleck plays a detective who is investigating a series of inexplicable crimes while searching for his missing daughter, whose disappearance is somehow involved with a secret government program.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Neal Mohan posted his first open letter to creators as YouTube’s new boss, coming after CEO Susan Wojcicki stepped down last month. Mohan, previously the video platform’s chief product officer, detailed new features and tools coming in 2023 and beyond. “Creators and artists are the heart of YouTube, and I’ll continue to put them first,” Mohan, whose new title is SVP, head of YouTube, wrote in the letter, continuing the tradition of Wojcicki’s regular updates to creators. “In today’s challenging macroeconomic climate, we’re offering opportunities to grow a business on our platform.” Wojcicki exited as CEO after nine years at the helm but will continue in a role as an adviser to Google and Alphabet. According to Mohan’s letter, he first visited YouTube’s offices 15 years ago when it was located above a pizza parlor: “In its earliest start-up days, I saw YouTube’s potential. Now, I’m incredibly excited to lead it into the future.”

EXCLUSIVE: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, John Berendt’s 1994 bestselling book and Pulitzer Prize finalist is being developed into a new musical by playwright Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O’Gleby and direction by Rob Ashford.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With Nancy Dubuc’s departure from Vice Media Group last week, the company named longtime execs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala as co-CEOs, effective immediately. Lokhandwala (above right) has been chief strategy officer at Brooklyn-based Vice Media since October 2018, and Dixon (above left) has been CFO at VMG since 2021 and was previously CFO of Vice Studios. The duo will lead the strategic and creative direction of Vice Media, working with the board of directors. Dubuc announced her exit from Vice Media after almost five years as CEO in a memo to staff on Friday, Feb. 24. The cash-strapped company has been seeking a buyer over the past year.

Jean Smart is on the mend — and her co-stars are sending her all their love!The 71-year-old actress revealed earlier this week that she recently underwent a «successful heart procedure» and was recovering well.Unfortunately, this meant the actress wasn't able to attend Sunday's SAG Awards with her fellow castmates and nominees — the HBO comedy earned its second consecutive nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series this year — though Johnny Sibilly, Meg Stalter, Mark Indelicato and Rose Abdoo were keeping her in mind as they celebrated the nomination.«She's doing better,» Sibilly shared with ET's Denny Directo on the SAG Awards red carpet. «She is stronger than probably everyone in this room, and I feel like we're all just sending her love.

Jean Smart is on the mend — and her co-stars are sending her all their love!The 71-year-old actress revealed earlier this week that she recently underwent a «successful heart procedure» and was recovering well.Unfortunately, this meant the actress wasn't able to attend Sunday's SAG Awards with her fellow castmates and nominees — the HBO comedy earned its second consecutive nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series this year — though Johnny Sibilly, Meg Stalter, Mark Indelicato and Rose Abdoo were keeping her in mind as they celebrated the nomination.«She's doing better,» Sibilly shared with ET's Denny Directo on the SAG Awards red carpet. «She is stronger than probably everyone in this room, and I feel like we're all just sending her love.

Emma Chamberlain may be taking her podcast to the next level with her partnership with Spotify — but she is still keeping things cozy.Last year, the internet personality and the streaming giant announced their collaboration on which will bring more episodes, some video and see Chamberlain leading production. It's no secret that the 21-year-old films from the comfort of her bed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify has put a robot DJ into its app — a computerized song-spinner with a “stunningly realistic” voice that queues up music based on your musical tastes and listening history. The beta version of DJ is rolling out in English starting Wednesday for Spotify Premium users in the U.S. and Canada. Spotify, of course, already has numerous personalized-listening features built into the service, including with its Daily Mix and Discovery Weekly auto-generated playlists. What’s different about DJ is that it combines Spotify’s personalization technology with generative AI through the use of technology from OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT chatbot). Spotify says it put the AI tech in the hands of its music editors “to provide you with insightful facts about the music, artists or genres you’re listening to,” according to the company.