Mainstream media is killing podcasting
Podcasting has been around long enough now for it to become established as a viable and respected industry. Many professional podcasters have honed their craft and developed large audiences. But, according to various industry insiders, podcasting as a professional industry is nothing but an unachievable fantasy.
I’m not convinced that things are that bad. I still have faith in podcasting as a promotional tool, particularly in conjunction with blogging. Indeed, my most recent project, Big Arena Records, has it’s very own podcast launching later this week.
Podcasting, as an independent industry, has a big and powerful enemy.
Mainstream media.
The old guard media companies hate independent media publishing. They hate it because they can never hope to match the the very thing that makes it what it is.
Independence.
Mainstream media is killing podcasting by flooding the market with their own podcasts which are, in reality, nothing of the sort. Usually the downloads are nothing more than carbon copies of their existing radio and other audio output. Podcasting isn’t time shifted radio and it was never meant to be limited in that way. It is capable of much more than that.
The problem is that, unlike blogging, mainstream media beat the independents to the punch with podcasting. With advertising strength and existing content waiting to be regurgitated it’s easy to see how Goliath is laying the smack down on David in this corner of the net.
One look at the podcast directory of iTunes, still by far the most prolific podcast directory, shows the mainstream dominance.
In order to succeed, the independent podcasters must play to their strengths and create more diverse and independent material that, by definition, the mainstream moguls will find impossible to compete with. The podcasting arena is one that needs a little redefinition for the eyes, and ears, of the public. And, just like blogging, independence and originality are the weapons that David needs to deliver the knockout blow.
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Ashley Morgan is a UK jazz trumpet player and owner of independent record label 447 Records.
Ashley Morgan is the trumpet player with Enormous.
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Ashley,
Thanks for reading my article and linking to it. I also agree that there is huge promotional potential still in podcasting. I’m just not as sold on the idea of the “pie in the sky” idea of making a living from it solely from advertising and sponsors. Everyone has been waiting for that holy grail to arrive, yet it has only for a very few.
Meanwhile, I know a lot of online content creators using podcasting to establish their brand and make money through other means such as premium content.
Podcasting isn’t time shifted radio and it was never meant to be limited in that way.
this is my issue with blogging. with professional blogger out there selling their independence to make money, bloggers no longer have any integrity. blogging – in my opinion – is about the raw editorialization of life (i think i just made up a word). it was never meant to be the pieces of news that hit the floor in the cutting room. but thats what blogging has become… a bunch of professional writers. reading blogs these days is like listening to Kenny G and remarking upon how awesome his jazz skills are. :-)
Curtis,
I have to respectfully disagree.
I don’t think anyone can say what blogging (or podcasting) was meant to be or not to be. They are organic channels for communications that can and will be used in a variety of ways.
I also don’t think it is fair to assert that because someone makes money from their content that they have lost integrity.
I don’t sell my independence, I reclaim it in using these channels to communicate and share what I would not be able to otherwise.
I’m must also respectfully disagree, Ashley.
Who’s to say what podcasting was or was not ‘meant to be’, or what a podcast episode should contain? Nobody can claim to own podcasting. Podcasting is, in truth, nothing more than a content delivery mechanism – the actual content being delivered is entirely up for grabs.
Sure, podcasting began with a few individuals finding a new way to make themselves heard. But what they pioneered wasn’t really a new form of media; it was merely a new broadcast platform – the RSS + audio file combo.
The truth is, most independent podcasters are simply making their own amateur radio shows. The best of these would probably merit airtime on a small public service radio station without sounding out of place, so why differentiate?
And conversely, why shouldn’t mainstream media use this new technology to make their radio content portable, making it listenable in places analogue or digital broadcasting has never been able to reach? (underground, for instance, on the tube)
To say that a piece of radio content delivered via RSS feeds cannot be deemed a ‘podcast’ is rather naive. After all, there’s no dictionary definition of what a podcast must be, and who on earth would want such a thing?
(these are my own personal views, not those of my employer)
Oh, and I forgot to say…
You could argue the involvement of mainstream media organisations has done more for podcasting than any independent producers could ever do, in terms of encouraging uptake and teaching newcomers about the technology. Thanks for the mainstream media, I’d argue that independent podcasters now have a larger potential audience than ever before.
Some interesting comments here, thanks.
Curtis, you’re correct, battery farm blogging, which is what I think you’re are talking about, is killing blogging. People who are purely in it for the money and have no passion. Your Kenny G analogy is spot on. No passion, no integrity, but plenty of income.
Jason, I agree that anyone should be able to make money from independent publishing. I think (and correct me if I’m wrong here Curtis) that Curtis was referring to the “I’m only in it for the money” mentality that is on the increase in the blogosphere.
Ricky, my point is that Podcasting isn’t just radio. I’m annoyed at the way the mainstream media have managed to convince the public that podcasting is nothing more than time shifted radio. Don’t confuse this frustration with naivety. I’m not trying to define podcasting, I’m trying to stop it being defined purely as time shifted radio, which is how the BBC currently portrays it.
When Joe Public opens up iTunes he is presented with a suggested list of podcasts. Your company dominates this list. Indeed, if you visit the BBC podcast page in your link the first option is “Browse Podcasts By Radio Station”. This immediately cements a link between radio and podcasting.
I have no problem with regurgitated radio being distributed via RSS, since, as you correctly state, anyone can use the medium. I just get frustrated when the public start to associate podcasting with radio, shutting out it’s other, potentially more creative, uses.
Where is the non radio, podcast only content? Why doesn’t the BBC create content purely for podcasts? Audio books, additional commentaries, exclusive interviews, etc. Maybe you do create this kind of material, but it is very well hidden.
Mainstream media is limiting the publics perception of podcasting. You haven’t opened up the audience, you’ve just fed them content they already have access to.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the BBC. I applaud the way you are funded and feel that your material is of a much higher quality than the commercial channels. The commercial channels have to dance to the tune of the advertisers and, as a direct result, turn out celebrity soaked junk of no substance. Conversely, BBC4 turns out some amazing stuff that wouldn’t be created if you were funded by advertising.
Wouldn’t it be better for the BBC to generate original, non radio content? That would better educate the audience and show them that podcasting is, as I think we all agree, a lot more than just time shifted radio.
yeah, i hate it when msnbc prints the stuff it couldn’t broadcast ‘officially’ and then calls it a blog. as a sports blogger, i’m under attack by ex-athletes who are making money printing articles tht would never make the front page of ESPN. Fox sports has a blogging competition and consistently picks the writers who have the least interesting angles and the least amount of creativity.
podcasting could’ve been huge. i really thought there would be a Digital Underground. Maybe I’ve watched the matrix too many times. but i’m not sure what someone writes should be called a blog if they’re underwritten by NBC. it just seems wrong.
Interesting article, and it’s obviously sparked some good conversation here in the comments!
I will agree that mainstream media has saturated the once purely independent podcasting arena, and by default has diluted the genre and made it much more difficult for people to find truly independent podcasts, whether they are audio or video.
However, I think this can be viewed as a positive. Let’s face it folks, we know all too well that the large media companies are scrambling to stay relevant within new media, and why? Because they want to hang on to their piece of the pie that they’ve been used to since the dawn of television and radio. Can you blame them? It’s a fact of life that this happens and will continue to happen. It’s survival of the fittest, and fittest doesn’t necessarily mean biggest.
I say we give our listeners, readers, and viewers the benefit of the doubt and be as transparent as possible with our intentions. Here’s a story…
When I was a young punk back in the eighties, and I wanted the latest “Dead Kennedys” or “Minor Threat” record, I had to order these through the back of a black and white independent magazine put out by some punk music fans in L.A. Then, an underground record store opened two towns away from me, and word spread that they carried the records I liked, so I stopped ordering from that magazine. Several years after that, my local superstore started a “punk music” section, and I started to see ads in more popular magazines for the music I liked. At the same time, I noticed a lot of bands being lumped into this genre that didn’t fit into my idea of “punk” or the style of music it represented to me. You might say this is when the mainstream media (or music) companies got hip to the fact that there was an exploitable market, so they jumped on the bandwagon and saturated it with record company-created bands to milk it for all it was worth. It’s the very nature of the human experience. They’re doing that and it seems to be working, I want to do it too!
The point is that despite the “fleecing” of independent music, it’s still alive and well today, and much of it in the form of podcasting. In my opinion, it will ultimately be in the hands of the individual whether they choose to eat whatever is “fed” to them, or if they will seek out new and independent resources of news, music, and video.
My faith lies in people;)