B7 Media announces new platform for indie audio drama
UK indie producer and publisher B7 Media has announced a new platform specifically for independently produced audio drama and related audio content (e.g., enhanced audiobooks and audio theatre) and will be available as both an iOS and Android App and its own website www.Audioteria.com.
Audioteria is a dedicated digital platform whose aim is to promote, market and distribute via a global download and streaming (iOS or Android) app, the very best of independently produced audio drama, enhanced audiobooks and audio theatre. It will also provide a home for previously broadcast content, now out of license, that hasn’t yet found a home anywhere else.
Listeners will be able to register (with no monthly subscription) and purchase their chosen title via the Audioteria website. Their purchase will immediately appear on the Audioteria app in their personal library to be played anywhere, at any time.
“As an independent audio drama producer ourselves, we have long been frustrated by the excessive sales commission – often as much as 80 per cent – levied against our content by the market dominant distribution platforms,” explains B7 Media’s Creative Director, Andrew Mark Sewell. “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 adds; “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.”
B7 Media, the company behind this new platform, is well known for creating award-winning content across film (Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont; Exit Thread; The Colour of Spring), audiodrama (Greenborne; The Martian Chronicles; Mahabharata Now; The Effect), comic books(Pilgrim and Hancock: The Lad Himself) and more, working with much-loved IP (Blake’s 7; Dan Dare; I, Robot), and telling stories across different content forms.
Audioteria’s key selling point is built around delivering original scripted content, across all genres, with world class performances, writing and production talent. Sewell and Quigley see Audioteria as a mutually beneficial partnership and collaboration in the interests of the entire indie production community.
The arrival of Audioteria has been welcomed by Chloe Straw, managing director of AudioUK, the British trade group representing independent audio production companies, 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.”
Gardner adds; “Audioteria has joined that rare, bespoke list of audio platforms that aim for the highest ideals, of offering excitement, originality and superb creativity, and opening the door to audio adventures that can only benefit the audiences as much as the production teams. I am proud to put the Ladbroke Audio catalogue of audio productions into the safe care of the Audioteria team, and look forward to working with them on future projects that will stimulate the creative juices of our talented authors, actors, editors and production teams, as well as thrill the ears of listeners across the years to come.”
Whilst Audioteria will not commission content, exclusivity windows will be explored with indie producers who want to showcase their work solely on Audioteria with a view to generating a better return before making it more widely available on other third-party platforms.
One initiative that Audioteria is keen to develop further is strike creative partnerships with theatre producers to adapt/dramatise and bring select plays to the platform. It has already secured a production partnership with artist-led theatre producer PLATFORM 4 to premiere Triffids an immersive audio production inspired by John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids which offers an incredible preview to the live touring show in Autumn 2023, along with producers’ George Warren and Sofi Berenger of Metal Rabbit, co-producers of the 1920s horror thriller drama pilot, Theatre of the Damned.
Platform 4’s Artistic Director, Catherine Church says of the opportunities presented by Audioteria; “ “We are delighted to be collaborating with B7 Media for the first time on distributing TRIFFIDS! – inspired by the classic cold war novel: Day of the Triffids. None of us knew how weirdly prescient this piece would be – the novel essentially asks the question – what would you do if a deadly germ invaded the world? Would you stay in your immediate community? How would you feel about the many things we take for granted? How would it change your priorities in life? All of these questions are covered in the novel – finally, finally we get to launch this incredibly exciting project in podcast form! Recording it has been quite a challenge with the amount of sci fi instruments in the piece – from a MOOG to a Theramin to a Dulcimer to a Cactus… and loads and loads of wacky samples and 1950s B Movie inspired sounds.”
George Warren of Metal Rabbit says; “We’re delighted to be partnering with B7 Media to bring ‘Theatre of the Damned’ into people’s ears. This has been a truly horrifying experience, and we look forward to continuing to produce gory, grimy and grotesque work together in the future.”
The Audioteria app and website has been developed in collaboration with Studio 14, an award-winning socially driven digital agency. Since 2011, Studio 14 has worked with clients from various sectors and locations across the globe. From INGOs like UNICEF, Plan International to FTSE 500 brands like PZ Cussons. Managing Director, Tobi Oludayomi, says: “We are entrepreneurs at heart, we’ve built start-ups of our own, so we understand what to do in order build a successful start-up. We are open, honest and transparent. We are a team of Millennials and Gen Zs, born in the digital age, it’s in our DNA.”
If you’re an indie producer or production company who is interested in having their content on Audioteria please contact Andrew Mark Sewell or Helen Quigley at Audioteria.
