Editorial by Steve Ahern.

Change is hard. Constant change is harder.

Yet change is inevitable in the modern world.

Our audio industry is facing the same kinds of changes as most other industries and our wider society. How we deal with those changes will bring either success or failure, both personally and professionally.

Since stepping back into the full time managing editor role of this industry publication, I have tried to add more stories about trends and technology to the rich mix of content we publish every day across radioinfo, podcastinfo and audioinfo.

You may have seen some of my trends conference stories or some of our recent reports about the latest audio technology.

I can’t help keeping up to date with technology, I’m a secret tech nerd. I like to view the latest tech from the big picture viewpoint of how this industry has evolved with every new invention and also how the consumption habits of our audience change as technology and content evolve. Once I work out the trends or find the best available technology, I try to share it here or in the training courses I deliver around the world.

With that in mind, I am particularly focusing on behind-the-scenes technology use at the moment.

I can see that every audio company is trying to figure out how to best use Ai and the upgraded production tools now available to bring greater efficiency and better audience connection. We are inventing the future as we live it, so we can’t know now which technologies, trends and consumption habits will stick and which will fall away, we just need to track them all.

At radioinfo, we are trying to cover everything and bring you insights that might help you. If you’re only interested in the technology, keep an eye on our www.audioinfo.world page, where all the tech stories are aggregated together, or just keep reading the main radioinfo site, because those stories will also be published there.

The current trends we are watching include Ai, of course, and also the changing balance in job workflow as people at every level try to achieve more efficiency in times of tight revenue.

We are also watching the employment trends as job roles are changing. Have you see the Wisdom of Women in Media series, there are some great tips there for surviving change.

We are also watching trust and truth in news and the seismic changes in media revenue, as international digital media platforms suck up so much of the advertising money that used to flow to broadcast businesses in this country. We are also watching how governments funding budgets for public broadcasters and community broadcasters are try to mobilise their grass roots community connection to maintain operational revenue.

In coming weeks we are tracking some more new initiatives.

There is a new way for musicians to distribute their music and for music directors to receive new music releases, we covered it yesterday here.

Today we take a quick look at how one network is using new technology to monitor audience music listening trends. I saw a private demo of this product on the sides of a conference about a year ago and was impressed with it. I have been tracking the company’s progress and we can now report that it is being trialled in Australia.

Next week we will hear about more revenue related activities in the commercial radio sector, continuing CRA’s message to agencies about the effectiveness of audio advertising and the best ways to create and buy radio and podcast advertising.

We have a few more tech stories to come this month, then I will cover the latest world trends for you from RadioDays Asia and IBC Amsterdam in September and the community broadcasting sector’s annual conference in October.

Some of the technologies we are reporting on have become advertisers. We are a commercial trade publishing business and we welcome advertisers. Please support them because they are playing a key part in the evolution of the audio industry.

Related reports:

Play MPE Invites Australian Radio & Music Pros to Join FREE Industry-Only ‘Player’

‘No longer the second cousin to other industries’ – New CRA campaign showcases the Power of Audio

A new method for music research: Ace Radio innovates with Musicdatak

Steve Ahern is managing editor of this publication and CEO of the training company AMT Pty Ltd.

Disclosure: We sometimes mention brands that advertise with us in our editorial content. We are  proud to have them as advertisers.