Channels with Peter Kafka

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Meet the woman who got De La Soul streaming Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

De La Soul was legendary for their trail-blazing approach to hip-hop. But in recent years the trio become notable for another reason: You couldn’t hear their music on any streaming platform. This means that generations of fans - including Recode’s Peter Kafka - couldn’t find them on the likes of Spotify, and potential new fans would never hear them at all.

Today that’s changed, thanks to Reservoir Media's CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi, who purchased the company that owned the trio’s music, and then spent 18 months clearing the legal path to get them online. Khosrowshahi talks about the work and money that went into getting De La Soul streaming again and explains how her independent music company operates in a world dominated by giant players.

Featuring: Golnar Khosrowshahi (@ReservoirMedia) CEO of Reservoir Media

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape.

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Real-life “Succession”: Jim Stewart on Sumner Redstone’s sordid saga Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

Veteran business journalist James B. Stewart specializes in getting behind the scenes to tell the stories of rich, powerful, and complicated subjects. He has a doozy with “Unscripted”, the new book he co-wrote about the last days of media mogul Sumner Redstone, who at one point was one of the most powerful men in the industry, and whose decline fueled years of fighting between his family, his employees, and his mistresses. If you like tawdry tales of sex, avarice, and greed — or wanted to know some of the real-life backstories behind HBO’s “Succession” — this is for you. Stewart also talks about other massive media stories he’s covered, including Bob Iger’s rise at Disney, and the AT&T/Time Warner shotgun marriage and divorce. Stewart also offers reporting tips and explains why his background as a lawyer helps him as a journalist.

Featuring: James B. Stewart (@jamesstewartnyt), Columnist for New York Times and Author

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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We quiz BuzzFeed’s CEO about AI Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

It used to be that a human would have to write a BuzzFeed quiz about “Which Fictional Artificial Intelligence Are You?” But now, BuzzFeed writers are using real artificial intelligence tools — from Open AI, the company behind ChatGPT — to help craft the site’s famous quizzes. Investors love the idea. Not all of BuzzFeed's employees are quite sure about it, though. Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti about the new technology, which one of this show’s producers used to go on a virtual Valentine’s Day date with Henry Cavill where they attended “a secret rave at his dad’s law firm.”

Featuring: Jonah Peretti (@peretti), CEO of BuzzFeed

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Why is tech in trouble if the economy is ok? Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

Tech and media companies (including the one that brings you this podcast) are laying off workers left and right. Meanwhile, the latest national jobs report is shockingly strong. So… why? Do the excuses make any sense?

First, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Vox’s Emily Stewart about the overall economy, the likelihood of a recession, and when we’d actually know if one is happening. Then, New York Times correspondent Mike Isaac is back to dive into the specifics of the tech sector.

Featuring: Emily Stewart (@EmilyStewartM), Business reporter for Vox.com

Mike Isaac (@mikeisaac), New York Times tech reporter

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Land of the Giants: The Hidden Hand Behind Your Swipes Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

This week, we bring you an episode of The Cut and The Verge’s latest season of Land of the Giants: Dating Games.

This episode is all about Match Group, the company that went on an acquisition spree and now controls two-thirds of the dating apps market. To hear more stories about how dating apps became a billion-dollar industry and the algorithms that control your love life, subscribe to Land of the Giants wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

Hosted by Sangeeta Singh Kurtz (@sangeetaskurtz) and Lakshmi Rengarajan (@Shmi_So_Far)

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Don't tell investor Li Jin that Web3 is dead Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

Investor Li Jin helped popularize the idea of the Creator Economy — the theory that many people who make stuff online could and should get paid for that work. Then she merged that pitch with an embrace of crypto/Web3 — and by 2021 the New York Times was calling her the “It Girl in venture capital.” Now many of the people who embraced both creator economy investments and crypto want nothing to do with that. But not Jin, who says she’s still all in. She talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about launching a fund in a pandemic, riding out a down cycle, and what it’s like to be the face of thesis.

Featuring: Li Jin (@ljin18), Co-Founder & General Partner at Variant Fund

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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How The Last of Us went from hit game to hit zombie tv Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

The critically-lauded video game The Last of Us is now a critically-lauded HBO series. It's about a global pandemic that turns much of the world’s population into zombie-like monsters. Executive producer (and former roommate of Ted Cruz) Craig Mazin talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about what makes the game special — and adaptable into prestige television. Mazin dives into how he went from writing The Hangover sequels to making Chernobyl, and the science and emotional math of storytelling.

Featuring: Craig Mazin (@clmazin), showrunner for The Last of Us

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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"Resist trying to make things better" - a conversation with internet security expert Alex Stamos Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

A new study in the journal Nature Communications finds "no evidence of a meaningful relationship" between Russian disinformation and voting behavior in the 2016 election. If disinformation maybe isn’t as effective as we assumed, does that change social networks’ responsibility to control it? Recode’s Peter Kafka discusses it with Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook and director of the Stanford Internet Observatory. They touch on the insurrection in Brazil, and Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Featuring: Alex Stamos (@alexstamos), Director of the Stanford Internet Observatory

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Was YouTube’s NFL deal a $2 billion mistake? Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

For the first time in 3 decades, NFL’s Sunday Ticket - a subscription service that lets viewers watch many but not all of the NFL’s games each week - has a new home: YouTube TV. The deal will cost YouTube/Google/Alphabet $2 billion a year. Was it it worth it?

There’s no one better to answer that question than Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand. He joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about the deal — and what it tells us about other moves by tech giants to get into big-time sports.

Featuring: John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ), Media Reporter for Sports Business Journal and Co-host of the Marchand & Ourand Podcast

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Apple’s new goggles; Hollywood’s new streaming pitch. Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

Before we face the reality of 2023, we discuss the state of virtual reality — specifically, the still-unannounced VR/AR headset Apple’s been developing for years. The Information’s Wayne Ma joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to share the details of his latest report on the device, which he predicts will cost $3,000 and debut this year.

Then, Jeremy Zimmer, the CEO of United Talent Agency, talks to Peter about Hollywood’s economics and the way he’d like them to change, particularly as streamers like Netflix start selling ads.

Featuring: Wayne Wa (@waynema), Tech Reporter for The Information

Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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