MWGblog

There has been a lot of talk in recent months, among podcasters, about the terms of the PodShow contract being offered. Mostly the talk has been rumor and innuendo. No more. You can now hear all the details. For those that are curious, Keith and The Girl did a show where they read all 12 pages of the contract. The next day Adam Curry ran a “bit” on the Daily Source Code referencing the Keith and The Girl segment. Of note: Adam made no mention that there were any inaccuracies, so we can assume it is the actual current contract. I’ll leave listeners to draw their own conclusions, but you can’t help but come away realizing that it is full of generalities. PodShow might be the perfect opportunity for a given podcaster, but contracts by nature should be explicit, not implicit.

In the vain of full disclosure, I was offered a “Founding Member” contract with BoKu Communications/PodShow in March of last year. This was the offer that was made to the original podcasters in the network, Dawn and Drew, Michael Butler etc. I have always respected the wish for confidentiality regarding this agreement, but I will note, as might be expected, it was considerably different than the current contract. I decided against it for my own reasons. (If you are curious, we discussed it on Rock and Roll Geek Show around minute 18:25.)

People seem to either be for or against PodShow. I have never understood this stance. This is akin to being for or against IBM or your local dry cleaner. It is just a business. PodShow is trying to make a go of it in the podcast arena. So far, they have the most momentum, which is important in an emerging medium. I have met Adam and Ron a number of times, and must say I happen to like them both. They are smart guys and will probably make a success of the venture. That being said, I would hope that if you sign a deal, things are explicitly spelled out. Nothing against PodShow, that is just business.

I was back at Disneyland today working on the new March edition of the Official Disneyland Podcast. I am usually tight lipped about upcoming episodes, but let’s just say I spent the day with some “explosive” Disneyland Cast Members. It was another once in a lifetime experience. My audio assistant was my friend Randy, pictured with me above. This picture is from a roof-top on Main Street. (Listen to the forthcoming podcast and you’ll hear why we were up there.) Today was one of those days with stories we will be telling for years to come. Wow!

Colin Dixon, Senior Analyst, IP Media and Michael Greeson, Founder & CEO of The Diffusion Group have posted an essay entitled “Recasting the Concept of Podcasting: Part I.” The essay points out what many of us suspected, the vast majority of people consume podcasts on their computer (or not at all) as opposed to on a portable device. The authors cite a study by Bridge Data indicating 80% of podcasts never make it to a portable device. The essay focuses on the existing definition used by the New Oxford American Dictionary which includes “downloading to a personal audio player” and then goes on to suggest creating a new “understanding” of podcasting starting from scratch. As someone who was around when the term first was used (Dave Slusher’s September 18th, 2004 post regarding Dannie Gregoire’s “podcaster” user agent hitting his URL – now there is some podcasting history for you) I never presupposed it required a portable device; just that podcast files could make that migration. This was an added benefit hopefully leading to increased consumption. The authors correctly point this out in their article and make a distinction of what “podcasting” means now that Apple’s marketing team is involved.

The information is interesting. What is troubling is, in an article focused on the technical meaning of podcasting, the authors misuse the term “podcaster” and seem to have no idea what it means:

You mean to say that four out of five “podcasters” don’t consume podcasts on a portable device? You mean these are “poser podcasters”? ….(b) 80% of those who we call “podcasters” are nothing of the sort.

They have confused podcast listeners with podcasters, i.e., those who create and disseminate podcasts. This is akin to confusing a radio listener and a broadcaster. Why am I writing about this? Because The Diffusion Group has a number of studies focused on podcasting that are often referenced in the media. Since they hold themselves out as an authority, it is important that they are correct on such basic issues. This is the kind of stuff I usually just ignore, but anyone who sells their research reports on podcasting for $1495.00 a piece ([link] and [link]) has a duty to be right on these issues. I guess I just worry when the “experts” get the basics wrong. I’d be curious to see if their podcast research reports contain similar mistakes, but I just can’t justify spending three grand for the pleasure of proofreading them.

I am honored to have just been featured in an Artist Profile regarding my use of BIAS software for podcasting. Frankly, I am humbled just looking at the names of the “true” artists they have taken the time to profile. I have used BIAS Peak since November of 2004 for all my podcast editing. PEAK PRO 5, SoundSoap and SoundSoap Pro have become indispensable tools for me. If you are looking for top quality audio editing software for the Mac (SoundSoap works on Windows), take a look at BIAS software.

Congratulations to John Furrier and PodTech who just closed a Series A funding for $5.5 million. You can read the details over on PodTech. I’ve run into John at a number of conferences, but finally got the chance to really spend some time talking with him at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo last November. It was clear that he had a plan and I am glad to see that it is taking shape. I look forward to seeing what PodTech will do now that it has this infusion of capital.

This is just one more sign that there is a lot of exciting movement in podcasting. All boats rise as they say.

P.S. John Furrier is also one of the instructors at the upcoming Podcast Academy.

I have no good reason, but I decided I needed to build an SATA RAID 0 array for audio/video editing.

Read more…

People ask where I do my audio editing. Here it is. Self serving as it may be , if you would like the Willnick Productions, Inc. wallpaper - here you go.

For the last few months I have told my “podcasting pals” that I thought Podtrac’s survey idea was pure genius. It is about time I posted my thoughts here on the site. Podcasters who want to monetize need to gather demographic information about their listeners. When asking for money, it is critical to know who is listening to your show, how often and how they are “consuming” it. For months, independent podcasters were using survey systems such as SurveyMonkey and others to gather this information. Last fall, Mark McCrery and the team at Podtrac put together an easy to integrate survey system for podcasters to use to learn about their audience and potentially set them up for advertising and sponsorship. Why was this smart? Because it was easy to use, non-exclusive (as far as I know you aren’t beholden to Podtrac for using the service) and provided useful information to podcasters. That is great.

Here is why it is pure genius: Podtrac now has the most complete demographic information about podcasts, podcast listenership and podcast consumption in existence. Across all the podcasters who implemented their survey, they gathered data from close to 40,0000 respondents in total. In an emerging medium, that is incredibly valuable information. [Video of his powerpoint slides and results.] There are plenty of $695 white papers available on podcasting, however no one has a data set like Podtrac. If I were Podtrac’s competition, I’d be kicking myself for having not thought of this first. A lot of companies missed this opportunity. Kuddos to Podtrac, in the podcast ad aggregation and sales arena – this is the smartest move yet.

I had the good fortune to participate in a number of podcasts as a guest last week. I appeared on the Podcast Brothers, discussing my views on podcasting, CPM and the Podcast Wikipedia page along with hosts Tim and Emile Bourquin. I also was invited to be on the Cullinane & Green Report where we had an interesting discussion about podcasting and its business applications. Roger Green and Joe Cullinane do an interesting show on how new technologies impact business development and ultimately, your bottom line.

I knew there was a reason I liked Metropolitan. I grabbed this picture with Brian Clark from Grape Radio last night at a surprise black tie birthday bash for our buddy Chris.