Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

Union Square Ventures Values Crypto Publishing Tool Mirror at $100 Million — www.theinformation.com

Say what you like about cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the blockchain - they're providing publishers with some new and exciting ways to jump on the bandwagon. Venture firm Union Square Ventures - an early backer of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase - has invested in crypto publishing tool Mirror.xyz. Mirror is effectively Medium, but instead of Claps or direct subscriptions it allows the authors to mint their articles as NFTs, to be sold to the highest bidders.

You might want to criticise that idea for being, among other things, bad for the environment, or unsustainable in the long term, or anti-open internet. But remember that if you do criticise it you'll be going up against the new publishing arm of Coinbase, which is sure to be a totally unbiased and completely objective look at some of those issues.

As the next story shows, sections of the publishing industry are quick to sell out if it means an equally quick buck. But if they're selling articles as NFTs or investing into crypto technology then they at least need to be upfront about those drawbacks - unlike Coinbase.

Australian regulator claims victory in scrap with Big Tech over news — www.ft.com

Murdoch stooges out in full force to defend this interpretation of the change. The reality is that direct funding of news from the platforms is based on a lie, primarily benefits the incumbents and will do nothing for diversity, and is an opaque system that does the public a disservice. But hey, Duopoly Bad Newspapers Good, so don't look too hard at the details.

Outside launches membership model — www.axios.com

Here's one to take a look at if you have even a passing interest in subscription bundles. Outside, which owns a bunch of outdoor activity-oriented brands, is launching its membership model which includes access to over 30 brands and apps.

Amid post-cookie confusion, Amazon plans to launch an identifier of its own — digiday.com

As the transition between pre- and post-privacy worlds continues, Amazon is predictably seeking to use the chaos to establish its own solution. Digiday is reporting that the online retail giant is speaking to other companies to help develop an identifier that works within its own ad network. The rich get richer?

This week's episode:

The Membership Economy author Robbie Kellman Baxter on developing compelling direct-to-consumer offers — voices.media

In this week’s episode we hear from Robbie Kellman Baxter, an author and consultant with over twenty years of experience in subscription pricing, digital community, and freemium. Robbie started working with membership and subscription models like Netflix while they were still sending out DVDs!

Eurosport’s Aude Baron discusses turning evergreen content into success in podcasting with Podinstall’s Sarah Toporoff — voices.media

For publishers with a well established content workflow, adding podcasts can seem like a daunting task. But, as this Conversations episode demonstrates, those publishers already have what is needed to create and distribute podcasts that add value to your audience and business alike.