Last year, the Podcast Taxonomy released a white paper defining roles and credits in podcast production. Today, they're inviting stakeholders to join the community and be a part of the conversation.

I chatted with the team recently. Some highlights: 

• Podcast Taxonomy was founded by professionals across different companies: Arielle Nissenblatt of Squadcast, Daniel Rosenberg of Staff Me Up, and Bradley Davis, Cole Raven, and Dave Keine of Podchaser. 
• The roles and credits were discussed and agreed upon by a community of podcasting professionals on a Slack channel. Receive an invite to this channel by contacting the team. 
• The community includes members from companies such as Apple, Spotify, Google, Sony, Acast, and Libsyn. 
• Their main goals are to professionalize the industry, help with job searches in podcasting, and ensure roles are inclusive. 

🎧 Members of the Podcast Taxonomy also appeared on this episode of "Podland News."

Yesterday, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the U.S, alongside Kamala Harris as vice president.

Some political podcasts to get you up to speed: 

• "Pod Save America" released their "final pod of the Trump Era," discussing his last days in office, his effect on the Republican Party, and President Biden's agenda to fight the recession and the pandemic. 
• "FiveThirtyEight" discussed the president's inauguration speech and the policy plans for his first week in office. 
• Hosts of "The Weeds" took a closer look at Biden's $1.9T COVID-19 relief plan. 
• "Majority 54" dove into "all the feelings" surrounding the day, Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," and answered listener questions.
• Hosts of comedic politics podcast "Politically Re-Active" discussed "Trump's post-Presidential legal liabilities" with CNN analyst, Asha Rangappa. 

PODS ON THE BLOCK

• "Shelter in Place" is a podcast about "coming together in a world that pulls us apart." Hosted by musician and writer Laura Joyce Davis, the show is back for season 2. Here's the first episode.
• "Keep Shooting" is a visual arts show by Urbanromantix, a street photography feature hub. The podcast showcases an in-depth look at the influencers and photographers featured on Urbanromantix's Instagram. The latest episode featured NYC-based photographer, Max Boncina.
• "Facing Forward" is a new show hosted by CBS journalist Margaret Brennan, launching tomorrow. The weekly podcast will feature conversations about "the tectonic shifts in our world and how they impact every American." Here's the trailer.

PODCAST EVENT UPDATES

• Join me in wishing podcasting a happy 20th birthday! Eric Nuzum shares "the story of the first podcast feed" on Podnews®.
• iHeart Radio Podcast Awards will stream live tonight at 9 p.m. ET. Hillary Clinton, Laverne Cox, and Will Ferrell are a few of the guests expected to appear. Watch for free here.
• Acast is back with Aclass: Asian Voices, a free workshop for Asian creators looking to "break into podcasting" on Jan. 27, 12:30-3:30 p.m. PT. 
• Hot Docs Podcast Festival is streaming on Jan. 27-29. The line-up includes creators from Radiolab, NYT, and Crooked Media. Buy tickets here. 

QUICK HITS

• How are companies deciding on privacy management solutions in 2021? This eGuide breaks it down.*
• Filmmaker Ava DuVernay's arts and social impact collective ARRAY announced a partnership with Spotify for exclusive scripted and unscripted shows. 
• SoundCloud picked advertising platform AdsWizz to sell audio advertising inventory in a number of European countries. In the U.S., SoundCloud's ad sales representative is SiriusXM's Pandora. 
  • Refresher: AdsWizz is a SiriusXM subsidiary plus SiriusXM also holds a minority stake of $75M in SoundCloud.
• Amplifi media CEO Steven Goldstein examined "the state of audio at CES 2021," curating podcast sessions, and other highlights.
• Eric Johnson's Bumblecast launched Listen To This Podcast, a website that suggests podcasts at random. 
• Podcast listeners share their favorite "hidden gem" podcasts, on this Reddit thread.
• Nexo manages $4B in assets and has over 1M users. See why fintech consumers are banking on crypto.*

*This is sponsored content.