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Indie Podcasters vs. Big Radio
skepticality writes "The weekly news and business magazine BusinessWeek has an article coming out in this weeks edition that highlights Skepticality, Coverville, AMP, and other indipendant podcasts and podcast networks. The article explains how a small number of indie podcasts are holding their own against the corporate and big-radio shows in the iTunes top 20 rankings." From the article: "In one of the shortest trajectories yet for a new Internet technology, podcasting has gone from the hands of indie developers to media giants in less than a year. Credit Apple. With typical finesse, it has created a centralized, easy-to-use service on iTunes that makes it a snap to find and listen to podcasts, the audio recordings that can be downloaded from the Net and played on a computer or portable music player. Apple also put out a new version of the iTunes software, which makes it easy for people to create their own podcasts, and invited all to post their creations on the site. Indie podcasters such as Kempenaar and Hallgren rejoiced, ready for the mainstream to embrace the technology they had championed."
Seems like some "Big Radio" stations in Australia are embracing podcasting; ABC Radio National at least is offering some of its programs as podcasts here, and it appears to be going very well for RN...
The irony of podcasting is that it was created to circumvent big media companies. The itms top 20 suggests that as much as people love to tell themselves "I hate those clear channel motherfuckers" When it comes down to it, thats all people really want.
for iTunes. I'm sorry but the iTunes top 20 is hardly representative of the current health of indie podcasts. The most recent version of iTunes with podcast support has only been around a short while; I've been using it and it is functionally quite satisfying but I certainly wouldn't trust it's charts as a reasonable way to measure any kind of health in the indie movement.
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That is why big stations do market research so that they can target their broadcasts and podcasts to the consumer. A successfull podcaster will have to address the same group (compete) or a group which is now not addressed since it is commercially not attractive. To compete is tough, you have to fight big money, so yes, the big ones win again with this.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
So we have a /. article that highlights Skepticality. Probably the server hosting the article is being hammered as usual. But I also went to the iTunes Music Store and looked at the Top 20 Podcasts list. Sure enough, Skepticality is up to #2 for the day. The /. effect moves to new technology!
Of course there's an element of luck, too, as well as the '49er effect: that is, the ones that get there first stand a better chance of getting rich. But if you get there early and have a good product, you have a chance of attaining the critical mass that attracts not only listeners but collaborators. Slashdot as a tech website is an example. Among blogs, Daily Kos would be another. And I would put the Skepticality podcast in that category, potentially: it is well produced (decent recording, excellent editing and pacing, smart format), intelligent, has likable hosts, and has started attracting some well-known interviewees like James Randi. It's here to stay, I'd bet.
The distinction between corporate and indie is less important, I think, than the question of how an excellent late-comer can crack the barrier of the existing hierarchy. (The one heartening thing is that firstcomers tend to drop off the top of the pyramid when people realize they're just not that good or interesting, witness Adam Curry's drop in the rankings.)
success or failure for mass marketted stuff often comes down to its "hypability".
give it a name that evokes mental links with other hyped up buzz words and you can sell it more readily...
googles pods blogs.. they're all nice rounded names and they all allude to some culture/club (not culture club) that people feel they might want to be a part of.
ipods are the pogo sticks or yoyo's of today... (hell.. probably for the very kids who grew up with them only to buy an ipod at age 30)
We might as well just get used to all the baby talk (sure beats EEE.822b's or VNCs or whatever other names techies like to give really innovative technologies IMHO)
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As others have stated "podcasting" is nothing but people putting audio files online. What a revolution! Remember how the WWW was going to change the world when everybody with a computer could become their own publishers for pennies and a vast wealth of creativity and quality would reshape the world of publishing etc. blah blah? What happened was there sure was a glut of "publishing" but 99% of it was pure crap.
And so goes podcasting. Just because I can buy a $5 microphone and free-associate into an mp3 file and put it on my web page doesn't mean that I should, or that anyone should care.
If you're looking for good radio, look to your local community radio station. I volunteered at one for most of the '90s and it was an incredible experience. Granted, you will occasionally hear some gawd-awful stuff on community radio - but it's more than mad up for by the amazing radio you'll hear from folks who have some sort of niche specialty - like 500,000 vinyl jazz albums in their record library. Or a passion for reporting news that goes unreported elsewhere. Or a talent for reading their own bizarre fiction at 1 AM.
If you don't have a local community radio station, see if you can find streaming audio of one. Unfortunately the DMCA is especially toxic to community radio station - no more "New disc at nine" (can't play too many songs from one artist in an hour, etc.). So some stations will have to either have dead internet air during certain periods, or not stream at all, or just archive some shows.
Finally I wish the "pod" would go away from podcasting. It's a terrible word. Worse than weblog.
A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?
The Internet is even less strict than that. There are so many different podcasts out there that you don't have to listen to "14 year old boys." Its the whole principle of "if you don't like it, change the channel."
That being said, I agree with you that "program quality comes before audio quality," but just because a local broadcast radio station is what it is doesn't make it better [programming-wise] than a podcast (or group of podcasts). Don't forget what Strongbad thinks about college radio (I know, it's not the same as a "local station")
College radio can pretty much be summed up in 5 words:
Dead air. umm, dead air.
Actually the logic is far more false. The itunes rating shows *new* subscriptions, not ongoing ones. So any show that gains a following will peak and then drop down the ratings. It's like saying that 'Band X' is more popular than the Beatles because they have a song in the charts and the Beatles don't any more....
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While I would generally agree, I've found a single station that has redeemed FM in my eyes...90.5 WBER. It's a small rochester-native college run radio station that actually plays good music, and being private does not have to worry about commercials.
You can visit their website and listen to their stream if it sounds interesting enough. (They mostly play Alternative from both mainstream and indie but take requests for a good deal more)
But even with this station...FM makes me so terribly sad. I don't live in rochester for all of the year, and I can't get their signal from lower NY, so I have to make do with what is on. And what is played are commercials with music interspersed, annoying DJs, and rap/pop. Out of nearly 20mhz to choose from, I have a whole *one* station which I can tolerate, 94.3. In the past, 90.7 WFUV had a good set of programs, but they've shuffled their program playlist and no longer appeal to me. Because of this, I've ended up subscribing to XM, but only for my periods of break at home. Perhaps if it were less pricey, I'd consider it as a more regular deal with them.
Is there any hope anymore? I suspect not. *sigh*