Welcome to The epDate, where we bring you the latest in podcasting for podcast people! World Podcast News   Top Growing Podcasting Countries   A new data report by VoxNest has revealed the top growing podcasting countries, based on their month-to-month listenership growth, with four of the top five countries being Spanish-speaking. Chile topped the chart, with a month-to-month growth of 83.95%, while Argentina, Peru, Mexico, and China rounded out the top 5.       Luminary, A Subscription-Based Podcast Service Has Been Released   New podcast platform Luminary, which provides a subscription-based service for premium podcasts, has been released. While Luminary can be used as a regular podcast app, the company also uses a similar subscription model to popular streaming service Netflix, whereby listeners can pay a monthly fee to access exclusive and add-free programming. Luminary has faced some backlash within the podcast industry following its strong marketing pitch based around subscription - while facing the early issue of being without some popular podcasts including The New York Times’ ‘The Daily’ and Gimlet Media shows such as ‘Reply All’ and ‘Homecoming’ with competitor Spotify withholding their shows from the platform.   Another Social Media Podcasting Crossover Joins The Growing Industry   Following the popularity of social media podcasting hybrid, Breaker, another new addition to the budding platform has emerged. Swoot, co-founded by HipChat founders, Pete Curley and Garret Heaton, aims to solve the problem of podcast discovery. For non-listeners of the epDate, finding new shows can be a troubling task. With Swoot, listeners can not only use the podcast app much the same any other podcast player - but they can also see what shows their friends are listening to, what they recommending, and can follow their favourite podcast artists. It’s all about discovering new artists and finding your next new favourite podcast. Swoot is available now on all the app stores.   YouTube star PewdiPie To Live Stream On DLive   With the impending pod wars - the inevitable battle of top corporations to secure exclusive podcasting rights - a spanner has been thrown into the works of podcasts distant relative YouTube. PewdiePie, the 2nd most subscribed YouTuber in the world, with over 94 million subscribers, has joined forces with an alternative streaming platform, DLive - to stream live content. The move by such a high profile and controversial figure in the industry could foreshadow some of the future challenges facing the podcast industry and the impending battle to secure talent within platforms. That’s the podcast news from around the world this week. Now we’ll take a look at 5 podcasts you should be checking out this week. New Releases:   Drilled (Critical Frequency)   With Earth Day being recently being held on the 22nd of April, the first podcast to check out this week is ‘Drilled’. Hosted by Amy Westervelt, Drilled provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the secret history of climate-change denial. The latest episode looks at the crabbing industry in 2015 and Amy assesses the effect of climate change on crab fishermen. Check it out on your favourite podcast app.   Running From Cops (Topic / Pineapple Street Media)   A brand new podcast from Pineapple Street Media, Running From Cops, examines the hit reality TV show Cops, delving deep into its role in culture and specifically, how it has served up a distorted reality of law enforcement. In the first episode, host Dan Taberski asks the question: just how real is the longest running reality show in TV history? Two episodes are out now of the six-part series.   The Badcast (Auscast Network)   The Badcast on the Auscast Network, a podcast about crazy questions, tall stories and bad jokes, return after over a month ab