The Electronic Frontier Foundation has added the VoloMedia podcast patent to it’s “Most Wanted” style list for its Patent-Busting Project.

I wrote about this patent back when it was first announced. As expected, there is now some movement in challenging it. Specifically, the EFF is looking for examples of prior art: “evidence that the podcasting methods described in the patent were already in use before November 19, 2003.” You can read the whole story over at the EFF.

(I was only half joking when I said I was “adding podcasting/episodic media expert witness to my resume.”) We’ll see what happens.

Via the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) website, VoloMedia (formerly PodBridge) explained the patent just issued to them for “podcasting.” I use quotes because they say it is for “podcasting.” Patent #7,568,213 actually covers a “Method for Providing Episodic Media.” You know, like TV and soap operas. My guess is they posted it to the ADM website because no one noticed it on the VoloMedia website. Reading about this recent success just takes me down memory lane.

Remember when…

Adam Curry, Dave Winer and VoloMedia came up with that crazy idea about enclosures in RSS?

Or the time Winer, Christopher Lydon and VoloMedia really put it into practice?

Or when Doug Kaye and VoloMedia chatted and IT Conversations was born?

Or how about when Dave Slusher and VoloMedia spotted Dannie Gregoires’s RSS aggregation software using the agent name ‘podcaster’ and chimed “Podcasting! right on!” and podcasting got its name?

Wow! The memories…

I know when early on Todd Cochrane, Dawn & Drew, Dan Klass, myself and many others were trying to sort out how to podcast it was always the folks at VoloMedia who came to our aid to explain episodic media done right. Heck – they invented it!

All that initial media attention: NY Times, Wired Magazine, USA Today, CNN etc., etc. It was always our basic crew – plus the great guys & gals from VoloMedia.

You couldn’t help but bump into the VoloMedia team in the green rooms at conferences. In fact, I can’t think of a podcast conference I went to where I didn’t see their banners or leave without them forcing a VoloMedia branded shirt and pen on us.

Those VoloMedia folks are awesome! They always covered the bar bill. The stories I could tell.

Those were the days…

How about the time an overly VC funded company tried to carve out an island of potential IP defensibility and future for litigation based revenue via a broad patent?

Good times, good times….

VoloMedia can claim whatever they like, good for them. IP claims like this can be used in many ways. Nuisance litigation, acquisition value etc. etc. Prior art from many listed above will be an issue but it comes down to dollars and sense.

The big loser in my opinion is the ADM. Who in the world agreed to post this to their site? Recent “notes”, “updates” and “clarifications” aside they gave it credibility under their name as an organization, an organization supported by the very people who will likely take issue with it and litigate it. No one paid this any notice until it was on the ADM site. Well played VoloMedia. The ADM folks are all smart people, how they allowed this to happen baffles me.

What am I doing about it? I’m adding podcasting/episodic media “expert witness” to my resume. When in Rome…

Here is today’s winner:

CADCYG@Gmail.com
BILL wrote:
F**K OFF YOU BASTARD, YOU TRY TO SUE ME THROUGH YOUR ASSH*LE COMPANY OF HBSC AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY HUNT YOU DOWN AND MAKE DAMN SURE YOU CAN’T RIDE ANY OF YOUR SH*T AGAIN. F**K OFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE. YOU HAVE THE WORST HISTORY OF ANY CREDIT CARD THAT HAS EVER BEEN PRODUCED AND I KNOW HOW TO FIND YOU IF I HAVE TOO
Website: tanni.com
IP: 72.172.21.234

Bill is obviously an intelligent guy as he is being sued over credit card debt, I’m sure because he has paid his bills in full. He also got the company name wrong: it is HSBC. He is so smart, he has found the wrong guy. Nice going Bill!

Even with all I’ve seen as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff, I’m still shocked at how seemingly normal people react when they are under pressure. I wonder if Bill realizes he has threatened the life of a Law Enforcement Officer? We also know how to find people Bill. I’ve emailed him and am curious as to his response.

I wonder if HSBC collects these?

UPDATE: Bill sent along a response which I have added to the comments here.

Thank you to my wife and children.

Without coming out and saying it in plain English, Podango has basically said get your stuff off our servers ’cause we are going under… When the President of an Internet startup says “we are encouraging you to begin taking all necessary steps to secure your data or begin moving to another hosting provider” you can read the writing on the wall. Looks like bankruptcy. Two years ago, people railed against me for my “Podcasting Is Dead” presentation. I’m not sure how many more examples I need to point to until folks realize – I was dead on. You are in the media business, forget “podcasting” – that is so 2005.

I think this also says something about the “network of shows” model Podango and several other startups were counting on. Grouping together unrelated shows in order to sell advertising across all of them simply doesn’t work. Aside from the fact that none of these companies has a dedicated sales team (something every successful content company has from day one), advertisers simply don’t see value in using a shotgun method to reach their target market. Besides, wasn’t reaching a super-targeted audience exactly what new media promised in the first place? Slapping an old business model on new media was destined to fail.

Podango was started by some great folks, primarily Lee and Doug, both stand up guys. In fact I sold technology to them a few years back. No one takes joy in situations like this, it is a tough spot. They are smart guys and will weather the storm. Look for them on the backside. I expect they’ll be back.

So who’s next? Anyone heard from Mevio (Podshow) lately?

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Nothing legitimizes New Media like a good old-fashioned court battle. Unfortunately, it would seem that this one is more about sour grapes (and previous competitive issues) than anything else. Regardless, it’s official; two Essex County, New Jersey Videographers are now in a legal battle over their respective Wedding focused podcast efforts.

I’ll let you decide for yourself what is really going on after reading the original Star-Ledger story. Full disclosure: I have been involved in plenty of media stories that prove the rule that the media are generally only half right/accurate.

One thing all court cases need is expert witnesses. It is clear from this “spat” that both parties are in need. Feel free to contact me. As one of the true podcast pioneers involved from the very beginning I have the expertise they require. Though, I can also name 10 different ideas I developed that they have both infringed upon. Heck, maybe I should sue them both! Did they list “Podcast” as the genre in iTunes – I won’t bore you with the details but that was my hard fought public battle back in the very early podcast days. Many of us worked countless hours to develop this medium. We were working to build a platform for all to share, not something to parse into ownership segments. Unless I am missing something, it is sad that two wedding videographers will possibly set a precedent. Perhaps an Amicus Brief is appropriate? One thing that amazes me – a podcast effort that is not yet making money, is suing other financially unstable podcast entity. That tells me it is personal. Am I missing something?

The James Beard Foundation Awards are the nation’s preeminent honors for culinary professionals. Often referred to as the “Oscars of Food and Wine” more than 60 awards are given out each year in the categories of cookbooks, restaurants and chefs, design and graphics, broadcast media, journalism, and achievement. Award winners are selected by their industry peers, with more than 600 culinary professionals involved in the voting process. This year’s award ceremony in New York was hosted by Kim Cattrall and Bobby Flay and other winners include such name as Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Top Chef.

Thank you to all of our fans who have given us such great support over the years.

Click the image below to see our video that won the award: Stewards of the Land

The credit for recognition such as this belongs to my partners in the enterprise: Brian, Jay and Eric who do the day to day heavy lifting that makes GrapeRadio what it is.

Before I start, so as to avoid any confusion or misrepresentation, I feel it incumbent upon myself to once again clarify: I am bullish on podcasting. I’ve published two books on the subject [1,2], run paid live training events, presented as a speaker countless times, become a “go-to” podcasting pundit for major media, built and sold podcasting technology, run the oldest podcasting network in existence and made my entire living from podcasting since early 2005. I am among podcasting’s biggest proponents. The opportunities in podcasting are alive and well. That said, I also don’t wear rose colored glasses. I call things as I see them.

Podcasters, it is time you face the facts. If you are waiting for a podcast advertising service to ride in on a white horse and rescue you from your monetary woes, let me help you: start looking elsewhere.

This all started because of a conversation I had a few weeks back where I had the unique opportunity to have podcasting explained to me. The fellow who was running through the monetization options made advertising through ad sales networks sound like a guaranteed no brainer – an easy way to monetize. The whole time I sat there, knowing what I know, thinking this is like telling people to cash in now on garage sales while the gold rush is on.

Over the last 3 years many companies have launched whose goal was to help monetize your podcast. None have performed as promised.

When these podcast advertising companies first launched they did not promote themselves as focused on supporting only a few high profile podcasts supported by 1. millions in VC backing, 2. a successful radio and/or TV career or 3. a meteoric rise associated with a connected web property. Instead, they promoted themselves as being the solution for you, the avid, and dare I say average, podcaster. It is clear, they have not delivered. It’s time to stop buying the sales pitch and waiting for that gold mine of advertising revenue that is “just” around the corner and start to figure out a real plan for your podcast.

Here we are almost 4 years after the birth of podcasting, 3 years after most of the advertising placement companies first launched, and many popular (people we have all heard of) podcasters are still struggling to figure out how to consistently monetize. “Consistently” is the key word there and by monetize I don’t mean a few extra bucks here and there to cover hosting costs etc. I’m talking about knowing that you are getting paid every-time you sit down in-front of the mic/camera. If taken seriously with real effort, the ability to pay your mortgage, put your kids through school and buy groceries, just like the opportunity any other real business offers.

Don’t get me wrong, I know most of the key players behind these companies. I’ve got many of their cell phone numbers in my cell phone – always a true measure of relationships. I have a ton of respect for them all. They are fun to hang out with and are all very smart. As an entrepreneur I appreciate that they all have tried to conquer this market. That takes guts. However, for the average podcaster, even the 10,000+ subscriber podcaster, it is just not working on a consistent basis. I felt someone needed to address this.

Now not everyone wants to make money with podcasting. I agree, podcast your passion and good things follow. That said, we all know monetization is an extremely popular topic, one I have presented on numerous times, and it is for those serious about wanting to monetize via advertising/sponsorships to whom this post is addressed.

Here’s the truth:

1. There is an over-abundance of inventory, (i.e. podcasts that desire advertising.) So as a starting point we have a market condition that drives down prices. Too much inventory is not a good thing if you are selling advertising.

2. Lack of a real market. All the ad dollars that were supposed to flow into podcast advertising never happened. All of those Madison Avenue meetings that you constantly heard about have still only resulted in what can best be described as “experimental” or “add-on” spends.

3. Change of focus by podcast advertising companies. Many companies in this space have faced the fact that it is too hard and cumbersome to sell advertising across large swaths of independent podcasts. The effort to reward ratio is too far out of whack to make any business sense. Look at all the failed companies. No need to name names.

4. Those with real technology have switched their focus to major media. Companies with the technology to perform the automation and ad insertion functions have largely turned away from ad sales for podcasts and instead are now focused on customers that can actually pay – think CNN, Fox News, Forbes, VC backed media startups, etc. Need an example? Look at Kiptronic. While I have no inside information, it is clear to me they have now steered away from their original promise of ad sales/fulfillment and instead are focused on a strategy of licensing their technology to medium or large size media outlets. (That’s what I’d do if I were them.) Need another? Look at VoloMedia, formerly PodBridge. You might not have ever even heard of them but they’ve raised roughly $22M over the last few years and my guess is it was not based on the promise of ad delivery for the independent podcaster

5. Podcasters are tough to deal with. Don’t think you get off scott free here. The truth is that most shows are very personal, you have a lot of yourself invested in the program. As such, you want control over who advertises, where they advertise etc. This all makes sense on an individual level, but mucks things up terribly when it comes to advertising sales and trying to put together any sizable ad buy. Jerry Seinfeld didn’t get this level of control for his show’s advertisers, why should you?

6. Editorial standards ARE important – at least to advertisers. Major brands, i.e. the kind of advertisers you really want – the big spenders, need “brand safe” outlets for their advertising. Coke, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, AT&T, Ford etc. don’t want to advertise on a web property that may go off in some weird direction that undermines their brand.

7. Major Media will absorb most of the real ad dollars. There is a reason major media is able to launch audio/video on the web and quickly monetize it. They have editorial control, brand recognition and an established sales force with the ability to make incremental up-sells to existing deals to fulfill on-line inventory.

8. Video will garner most of the real ad spend in this class of advertising. Do I really need to explain this one? (There is a reason Google has launched an ad solution for video yet with all their resources none has come for independent on-line audio.)

9. Real industries have businesses with real revenue. One, if not the largest, proponent of independent podcast advertising sales is RawVoice. Todd Cochrane, the RawVoice CEO is a frequent speaker on podcast advertising and the success they have achieved for their affiliated podcasts. I think what they are doing is great, but this little tid-bit caught my attention in the just released “white paper” on their stats package, “….three years and has stood the test of time and 100’s of thousands of dollars in advertising delivered and billed fairly.” 3 years and hundreds of thousands? Even if we assume the absolute best case scenario that is only $333,333.00 a year (if the cumulative billing exceeded a million there is no way they would have missed putting that in their report.) That number is gross sales before producer splits, administrative costs, overhead, taxes etc. If that is a market leader, the writing is on the wall.

10. Industries don’t have to constantly have panels discussing the basic means by which their medium can actually make money. Everyone already knows how – think radio, TV, etc. How many conference panels have you heard where the podcast ad placement companies talk about all that they are doing. Talk is great. How many checks have you cashed? And if you have, amortized across your entire podcasting career what does it work out to per month?

11. One or two large ad buys does not an industry make. Before anyone chimes in with ‘yeah but so-and-so just sold a big advertising deal to xyz,” let me be clear: real industries/businesses have a constant, sustainable and generally predictable deal flow. Podcasting has none of these.

12. Industries don’t depend on one or two advertisers to support a significant portion of the total market. I have no idea what the actual numbers are, but let’s face it, GoDaddy is the number one podcast advertiser. Entire companies are mainly supported by their continued ad buys. This spells trouble in my book. If GoDaddy were to decide they have achieved market or brand saturation or even if the current economic condition were to get them spooked and they decided to pull back, that sucking sound you’d here is the collapse of many podcast advertising companies. Yes we’d all loose those beloved promo codes but that just points to the fact that these are in large part CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) deals, the gold standard in economically advantageous brand advertising. If you are that dependent on only one or two advertisers it is time to branch out.

I have a few more reasons, but I think you get my point.

So what is a podcaster to do? Here’s what you should be focused on. First, have a real sit down with yourself and anyone else involved and figure out if monetization really makes sense. It is entirely possible that the extra headaches and work required outweigh any real benefit you may derive. If so, then relax and enjoy podcasting as a hobby. If you do decide to monetize via advertising/sponsorships then you need to face facts, you are choosing to go into business and that means work. Not late-night infomercial, “oh my god it was so easy to make thousands kind of work,” but the kind that takes time and effort. It can be rewarding, it has been for me, but you need to commit to it.

Next, nail down the niche you inhabit and start to map out how to best present the opportunities and value you can offer to potential advertisers/sponsors. Develop your media kit. Let me make a note here, unless you are a graphic artist/copywriter by trade my guess is you should spend $300 to $1000 on this. If those numbers scare you off – go back to step one and revisit the “sit down” with yourself. You are starting a business, there are upfront costs.

Come up with a list of prospective sponsors you believe are best suited to benefit from communicating with your audience and – get ready for it – call them. It is sales time. If you don’t like asking for money, either hire someone who does or once again revisit the “sit down” mentioned above. This is your place to shine. No ad sales network will ever be able to extract the value you can here, they need to sell in generic terms and can’t offer the unique value proposition you can when selling your particular podcast directly. You know your audience best, who better to communicate the value to a prospective advertiser?

People often ask how we consistently sell out our inventory on GrapeRadio. Easy, we have a kick-ass media kit, a proven track record, a book of business with many repeat advertisers and four entrepreneurs as owners – folks who aren’t scared to ask for the deal. While the amounts aren’t huge, $1,300 per weekly episode, we can command those prices because we have nailed our niche. A comparative CPM deal would have to be close to net $100 to make sense. No ad network has ever offered us anything close to that. We have also built a great business in white label production, i.e. non-GrapeRadio branded content specific to individual wineries for their sites. We decided from day one not to do wine reviews so as to avoid any editorial conflicts. Our figures are not awe inspiring but they buy nice equipment, pay for the trips to Napa and leave plenty leftover for shareholder distributions. Given that we all run other businesses full time, it has worked out quite nicely.

Will some of your prospective sponsors say no? Of course. That just means you get to try again and will feel that much better when they eventually say yes. Don’t ignore them, keep in contact, send updates of any press/media or other coverage you get. Let them know of interesting shows or interviews you do. Continue to build value for the next time you ask for the ad order.

I could do a whole series on how to sell podcast sponsorships but that is not my goal here. If you are looking for some more ideas check out my presentation from last year’s PNME, the infamous “podcasting is dead” presentation.

Some might say I am being too negative, that it is still too early and the boom is coming. Well I have been here since the beginning, and the “boom” in aggregated ad sales deals has been just around the corner for three years now. After a while that mantra starts to sound a bit tired. Meanwhile, those of us who took responsibility and control over our own ad sales have faired quite well the whole time. Even if some miraculous events were to take place and the flood gates on advertising were to open in this arena, no one can argue against the fact that my suggested steps above will prepare you to stand head and shoulders above the rest and best prepare you to benefit from any new opportunities. Take Wizzard Media’s recent deal with the Navy, assuming you are eligible to participate, wouldn’t it be nice if that was as add-on rather then something you depended on?

There are plenty of ad/sponsor dollars out there, however waiting for someone else to consistently deliver them to you has proven to be a loosing proposition. It is high time you realize you are the best sales representative you have. Take charge of your podcast’s future, develop a real monetization plan and free yourself from waiting for the ad sales guys to solve your monetization woes.