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How Podcasting and Satellite Changed Radio

Posted by Zonk on from the your-own-personal-stream dept.

prostoalex writes "Business Week magazine discusses how podcasting changes the radio industry: "Consider the basics: With no licenses, no frequencies, and no towers, ordinary people are busy creating audio programming for thousands of others. They're bypassing an entire industry." The article notes about some advertising deals that podcasters managed to procure, but it also notes that another industry, satellite radio, represented by Sirius and XM Satellite radio, is already changing the radio landscape."

2 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. The problem with that... by solios · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... is that these "specific formats" typically consist of a 200 song playlist. There were a hell of a lot more hit singles in the 80s- nevermind hit albums or hit artists.

    I listened to the local Clear Channel Alternapop Earcock a couple of days ago for the first time in months... in a thirty minute span, I didn't hear anything I haven't heard a few hundred times before, and years previously. Last I checked, Radiohead has written more songs than "Creep"- but you wouldn't know it to listen to these asshats.

    When I got to this town (Pittsburgh) in 1997, there was a Jazz station parked at 104.{5|7}. It was nice and I listened to it quite a bit... until one day it magically Changed Format to hiphop/r&b. Just like that. A few years later and that frequency is a black hole of Rod Stewart / Michael Bolton-esque soft rock. :-| And College Radio can't get the OMFG TECHNO OMFG GANSTA RAP OMFG HIPPY MUSIC out of their systems either.

    Radio's great when you're in the serviced demographic- if you're noti, it's a vast, staticy wasteland.

  2. Licensing issues will burn podcasters by DetroitSongBird · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If you add songs to your podcast you'll need a set of licenses: for the songwriter (bmi, ascap, etc) and for the "mechanical" owner (the owner of the sound recording) at the very least. Or, you'll need explicit permission from the songwriter and the music label/artist. Podcasting won't fall under the internet broadcasting licenses. It's much closer to file sharing and will end up with the same issues as file sharing.

    That's why you'll start hearing about "podcast safe" music - usually by independent artists or small labels that explicitly give permission for their songs to be included in a podcast.

    Hopefully podcasters will keep this under control so that the paid for leaches in congress don't start passing legislation that would hurt this.

    For public radio stations and alternative news/music organizations podcasting is awesome! I could see some podcast producers being picked up by radio show distributors. Coverville, for example, would be an excellent show even on terrestrial radio.