Music Ally wrote about Luminary earlier this year: it’s a US-based podcasting startup that emerged from stealth mode brandishing pre-launch funding of $100m, plus plans to launch more than 40 podcasts with hosts like Lena Dunham, Malcolm Gladwell, Trevor Noah and Conan O’Brien. But the company was more than just a podcast production-studio: it had plans to launch its own podcast-listening app, complete with an $8-a-month subscription for ad-free access. Now the company has confirmed its launch plans.
The Luminary app will launch on 23 April in the US, Canada, UK and Australia according to podcast-industry site Hot Pod News. “At launch, paying Luminary subscribers will have access to 24 out of the 40-plus exclusive podcasts currently planned for the service,” it reported. The app can also be used to listen to shows from the wider podcasting world, without a subscription.
“The fundamental question with Luminary is whether it can beat an entire universe of free alternatives by financing sufficiently buzzy projects and/or convincing users that they’ll have an easier time finding good podcast-style programming on its closed platform than on the sprawling, chaotic open ecosystem,” noted Hot Pod News.
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