B7 Media launches new platform for indie audio drama
UK indie producer and publisher B7 Media has launched a new platform specifically for independently produced audio drama and related audio content.
Audioteria will be available as both an iOS and Android App and its own website Audioteria.com. The dedicated digital platform will market and distribute via a global download and streaming app, the best of independently produced audio drama, enhanced audiobooks and audio theatre.
It will also provide a home for previously broadcast content, now out of licence, that hasn’t yet found a home anywhere else.
Listeners will be able to register (with no monthly subscription) and buy titles via the Audioteria website. The purchase will immediately appear on the Audioteria app in the personal library to be played anywhere, at any time.
B7 Media’s Creative Director, Andrew Mark Sewell said: “As an independent audio drama producer ourselves, we have long been frustrated by the excessive sales commission levied against our content by the market dominant distribution platforms.
“Outside the main broadcast window, secondary income streams are increasingly important to ensure future investment, but for too long indie producers have essentially been held hostage by these platforms with no viable alternative.”
Production Director, Helen Quigley says: “Our mission is simple – invite the indie audio community to share space on a platform devised specifically with their content in mind, which markets and sells their shows direct to the listener.
“We share their love of audio, but we also recognise the need to make a commercial return so that we can all reinvest profits into making more great content.”
Sewell adds: “It’s our hope that over time, as we expand our production partners and the depth of audio content deepens, Audioteria will become the preferred destination for listeners looking to find the very best examples of indie audio drama – curated and available to download on their favourite listening device.”
The arrival of Audioteria has been welcomed by Chloe Straw, managing director of AudioUK, who says: “This is an exciting new initiative from B7 Media, one of AudioUK’s member companies. There is a long tradition in the UK of high quality independently produced audio drama and we welcome new methods of distributing such content to the listener and ensuring fair returns to the producer. We wish it every success.”
Among the indie producers who have already signed up to the platform are the multi award-winning Bafflegab Productions, AudioMarvels and Ladbroke Productions.
Neil Gardner of Ladbroke Audio says: “As the audience for audio productions grows and widens, it is imperative that there is a platform available that showcases the very highest quality audio drama, audio readings and audio documentaries.
“In an era of tough economic realities, producers and listeners alike need to know that there is a single place they can rely upon to offer a range of curated audio productions, rather than a scattergun approach, just offering everything and anything, with no regard for quality over quantity.”
If you’re an indie producer or production company who is interested in having their content on Audioteria, contact Andrew Mark Sewell or Helen Quigley at Audioteria.