Congera Public Benefit Corp. and Spinitron LLC have announced an agreement that will see Congera acquire Spinitron to create a single “public benefit” corporation. The organizations describe this as a merger to help independent, public and non-profit media succeed in the digital age.
Based in Jersey City, N.J., Congera PBC developed Audience Engine, which is a suite of free, open source digital tools. It describes the package as combining audience engagement with fundraising strategies to create models of media sustainability. Congera is owned by Auricle Communications, a not-for-profit corporation that owns WFMU and Free Music Archive. Spinitron is a Boston-based company that provides online music logging, reporting and publishing services to public and community radio stations in North America.
Spinitron clients are now able to add Audience Engine’s audience engagement and fundraising strategies to their online presence without affecting on-going Spinitron service. In addition, as part of the acquisition, the entire Spinitron staff, including co-founders Eva Papp and Tom Worster will join the Audience Engine team. Congera is expecting to make additional hires as part of the acquisition to help cover an anticipated increased number of host stations and to accelerate the development of new tools.
Audience Engine previously reported it intended to add a partner back in January when it announced its Mynte open source engagement and fundraising platform.
“I enjoy how Spinitron can help stations relate to their listeners,” said Worster, chief software architect, quoted in the announcement. “That’s Audience Engine’s whole focus.”
Some of those new offers, according to a joint press release from the companies, are support for traffic services and interfacing with station’s automation systems from Spinitron, as well as Audience Engine extending its services to podcasts, independent not-for-profit journalists, and other content industries.
The acquisition is scheduled to close on May 11.
