When iTunes 4.9 launched , it did for podcast what Ed Sullivan did for The Beatles , pluck a popular , but still - emerging technology from the wings and thrust it into the public eye . Yet as it grows in popularity , and gains mainstream acceptance , independent content producer risk being drowned out by a sea of new professional voice .
Podcasting was pioneered largely by independent content producer , who often create eclectic and outright weird shows that would n’t find a place on program wireless . Prior , even , to the launch of iTunes 4.9,Playlisteditor Christopher Breen enquire if it would not lead to an end of the era of “ wild and wooly ” podcasts , as slickly produced shows with high end production value become the average . And indeed , mainstream broadcasters have look sharp into podcasting .
March of the Pro Podcasters
When iTunes 4.9 establish , most of the podcasts it name in the top ten were produce by professional spreader . Four were from KCRW , three were from ABC / Disney / ESPN , leaving three independent podcasts , from Engadget , Catholic Insider , and “ Inside Mac Radio , ” two of which have other media association . Not much has changed . Today the top ten podcasts still comprise of three independents ( Batpig Studio ’s Skepticality , Violet Blue ’s “ Open author Sex ” and Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht ’s “ Diggnation ” ) , the other seven are all produced by mainstream broadcaster or Apple .
Yet as you dig deeper into the top - rated podcasts , the independents begin to knock off off . Only Scott Sheppard ’s “ Inside Mac Radio ” and Alpha Pup Record ’s “ Alternative Hip - Hop Lounge ” make it into the second half of the top - twenty . Thirteen more circular out the top - fifty , as of press - clock time . While those stats do n’t voice half - bad for the indies as of now , with more and more professionals get into the field , autonomous mental object manufacturer will witness it hard to get notice .
independent seem to have a much great presence onOdeo , anotherpodcasting management tool created by Evan Williams , where fourteen of the top twenty most popular podcasts are indies . Williams attributes this for the most part to the nature of independent podcasts .
“ We are in spades about rent one million blossom flower and giving people the best mechanisms to find the thing that invoke to them , personally . And as citizenry get more photograph to podcasts in general , as long as they have the tools to easily explore a wide variety of them , which is what Odeo ’s trying to ply , I conceive you ’re going to see more so - called indie product even among the top 100 , because , frankly , that ’s where the interesting and forward-looking stuff is going on , ” Williams tellsPlaylist .
Likewise , “ Cinecast ” producer Adam Kempenaar , host of one of the more pop show on the iTunes Music Store , thinks that despite professionals occupy up most of the spot , the iTMS will still promote more amateurs to get into the number .
“ I do n’t recollect there will be a chilling burden , ” Kempenaar tellsPlaylist . “ The ease and ubiquitousness of iTunes should only promote more podcasters . It just might be hard for them to give away through the mare’s nest now and develop an audience . The iTunes Top 20 the right way now is almost entirely professional shows or demonstrate with incarnate ties . My guess is that passably soon it will be alone professional show . But it ’s not keeping me up at night at this point . What keep on me up at dark is try on to fit in 2 - 3 movies each weekend and then hoping I do n’t sound like an idiot for an hour every week . ”
Content: The Secret to Success
Indeed , among podcasters , subject matter is still B. B. King . If you require to get noticed , you first have to have quality programming . Yet it is n’t the only divisor . For another top - fifty podcast , “ Dailysonic , ” succeeder equalise both tough work and publicity .
“ I remember there ’s two things affect in getting list , ” Dailysonic ’s Adam Varga tellsPlaylist . “ The first is having really good content . We spend most of our prison term think up idea and writing pieces for Dailysonic . We ’re filling a void in the current media landscape , and giving people sometime really singular . Our show has been called an NPR for hipsters . Nothing like it exists anywhere else . The second thing you ’ve got to have is portion . I do n’t fuck how we were choose to be on the front page . We seem the day after being featured on Adam Curry ’s podfinder show . We must have caught someone ’s pinna . There ’s such a mass of podcasts out there , that its really hard to get noticed . ”
develop a shout - out from Curry is the podcasting eq of being connect from Slashdot . Some of Cinecast ’s success , according to Kempenaar , is also due to its furtherance by Adam Curry and a subsequent listing on Apple ’s Indie Podcast varlet .
“ I think a big intellect for our relative success so far is that Adam Curry and the people at PodShow were sports fan of our show and have have us in both variation of their Podfinder podcast , ” says Kempenaar .
Yet as Williams aim out , raw ratifier number may not be the in effect metric , as total podcast listenership can still skew to the indies , illustrating theLong Tailprinciple , even as professional shows take up the top spots .
“ Yes , collective internet site and podcasts may often be among the most popular , because there is a lot of well - produce commercial content and people are attracted to recognized brands . But just looking at what ’s most popular reflects an sometime - spiritualist mentality in which only “ hits ” are successful . With podcasts — and the WWW in worldwide — the aggregate time expend with grand of self-governing productions , which appeal to unique niches and personalities , will far surpass the top 100 . ”
Mathew Honanis a San Francisco - based author and lensman . His work has also appeared in Macworld , Wired , Time , and Salon .
For more on podcasting , please chitchat the podcasting subject varlet .
