MWGblog

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?

I forgot to pass this along. Here is an interview from my friends at Relevantly Speaking.

I have just returned from my 4th Podcast/Portable & now New Media Expo. Once again, a first class event. As most of you know, I have been involved with podcasting since before it even had a name. Having participated in it all along the way, this year’s Expo solidified many of the thoughts I’ve held over the last year. The items in this list are not fully developed; I could easily do a 30-minute podcast on each. These are more a summary of my stream of consciousness top ten take aways:

1. The Expo continues to enable us to re-connect with old friends. There is a real sense of camaraderie among the original podcasters. That was no different this year. Good times with lots of great podcasters.

2. The New Media Expo was once again a great opportunity to meet new people who are excited about podcasting. A lot of fresh faces this year.

3. Tim Bourquin (the show’s organizer) got some flack this year about the exhibit floor being smaller – not true. The show had the exact same exhibit space as in years past: 12,000 square feet. It was a much bigger venue, which affects the perceived size. Kudos to Tim for stepping up and making the financial commitment to lock in the Las Vegas Convention Center. That said, the exhibit space did not grow. In a “growth” industry that spells trouble. My take, one I shared with Tim at dinner this past week, was to lose the exhibitors and focus on the conference. (The conference sessions are where the real value lies in my opinion.) Tim is one of the most diligent and hard working people I know. If he can’t corral the exhibitors it is not for a lack of effort, it is a signal that they are not sold on the market potential. (Curious to see what he announces regarding next year.)

4. A schism is developing between “indie” podcasters and those they thought were focused on supporting them. I had conversations with CEO’s who are now clearly focused on large corporate clients; those with the resources they believe are capable of massive reach. They want to fulfill those companies’ production and ad sales needs. Think podcasts produced by TV networks, media companies and news organizations etc. This makes complete sense from a business plan and sales perspective, but is very different from what you heard from these same companies just a year ago. Some of the well-known employees of these companies have not yet come to terms with this shift. You hear one thing from them and something completely different from their “C” level management.

5. Many content producers have finally realized that if they want to monetize, they are on their own. You are your own best salesperson. Need proof? Look at who did not attend this year. If ad sales/aggregation groups were working as a market segment, they would have been the largest contingent of exhibitors. Most have vanished or “refocused” their business plans.

6. If you insist on trying to monetize your “indie” podcast (less than 50K downloads per episode) I stand by my previous advice: Sell your own ad/sponsor deals. If it is not in your blood – i.e. you don’t like selling/asking for money, my advice is to contact Todd Cochrane. Wow! Big surprise there. Many know that I have, at times, been critical of Todd’s collection of companies. But I also give credit where credit is due. With the shift of everyone else heading to the higher ground of corporate size distribution and budgets, Todd & Co. are the only folks left who passionately believe in the “indie” podcaster. I still think you can and should get more, but if you don’t like the work involved, Todd will give you a fair shake.

7. Passion is critical. Find something you love and podcast about that. Things seem to work out for those who are truly passionate about their content.

8. Corporate podcasting is alive and well. Just as with my presentations at this year’s CES and NAB conferences, companies and the folks they have charged with their podcast initiatives continue to come to sessions to learn how to produce compelling and interesting content. As I’ve said before, the real money is in consulting to these organizations, they have budgets: money to spend. If you carefully look to see who continues to come to NME events you’ll notice many of the monetization experts are in the podcast consulting business.

9. A common thread I heard during conversations with some well-known podcast figures was “I’m figuring out what I am going to do next” and “it was good while it lasted.” See #10 below.

10. I can’t help but end with this: My presentation last year was dead on – I gave everyone a full year’s notice. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

UPDATE: 11. (How could I have forgotten 11? Everyone knows all good things go to 11.) Brian Ibbott did an amazing job with the Coverville 500. That took real planning, work and investment. I can’t tell you how impressed everyone was with the event. Brian put on a great show and was ably assisted by Dan Klass as the evening’s MC. Great job guys!

I am off the New Media Expo this week. I have been asked to present: “Corporate Podcasting the Disneyland Way: Case Study from the Place Where Dreams Come True.” (Thursday 8/14/08 2:00 - 3:00PM) I am preparing a presentation that will blow the doors off how we have produced the Official Disneyland Resort Podcast over the last 3+ years. I’ll cover how it started, how it has evolved and where we are today. For Disney fans, podcast producers, consultants and people charged with corporate podcast initiatives I’ll present the information you need to know and the tips, tricks and techniques to ensure a successful podcast production. This is an opportunity to get a behind the scenes peak at how the longest running Fortune 100 company produced podcast is done.

As past attendees know, I have a habit of giving the audience the straight scoop. (This year will be no different.) Last year, I created a bit of controversy with my infamous “Podcasting is Dead” presentation. Given the events of the past year - big surprise: I was proven right! While it frustrates me that many people read that title and did not bother to listen to the substance of my argument regarding the business New Media producers are really in, I understand how things work and have accepted the predictable flack. As for my statements last year, I now have another year’s worth of “proof” points and some new predictions for the year to come but it has been suggested I hold them for a few days until the Expo starts - the reasons given make sense, so I will.

One thing to clear up is that I am bullish on podcasting - always have been. Heck, I authored two books on the subject. My critical statements often get misconstrued and misquoted by well meaning commentators but that is the bane of the eternal optomist. (If you don’t want to get continuously misquoted, don’t become a podcasting pundit.) I had hoped that podcasting would open up opportunities for everyone, that it would develop into a true industry. That never happened. That is not to say that there is no money in podcasting, there is, but it is not something the average person can count on. I have made a nice living as a Podcast Consultant over the last few years, but it is not a business the average person can enter and survive in like real estate or insurance etc. Podcasting is not an Industry, it is a niche and recognized expertise is required.

Meanwhile, I am contemplating a Smith & Wollensky’s or Nobu dinner in Vegas for Thursday evening. Interested? Shoot me an email or Twitter.

Libsyn sold to Wizzard for $15 Million? Well at least $15 Million in stock according to a new article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Libsyn sale last March made headlines in the podcasting world, but I never saw any indication of the size/scope of the deal. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Wizzard Software, Inc., a technology company based in Bloomfield, snapped up Libsyn last year for $15 million in stock.

Interesting number given that Wizzard’s total market cap is roughly $109 Million. Wizzard (WZE) started trading on the American Stock Exchange last week and toyed with $3.00 a share but has since settled down roughly 17% to the $2.50 range. I never would have thought to dig, but the $15 Million number caught my attention. SEC filings reveal that there are a number of milestones and it would appear that the $15M number is a best case scenario. But if you are curious about the sale, stock, milestones, cash payments and some employment contract info etc., here are the relevant SEC filings. [PLAN OF MERGER & FORM 8-K] (The joys of selling to a publicly traded company.) The Libsyn team are great guys, I hope that everything works out as best as possible for them.

The question is what will Wizzard do with Libsyn over the long haul? Last week some controversy erupted around the 1 Billion download claim that Wizzard/Libsyn made. Scott Bourne pointed out that a press release from Wizzard last month stating that 1 Billion podcasts downloads had been achieved in 2007 was followed up just last week by a statement that Libsyn was “fixing” issues with its stats engine. Frankly the total number is irrelevant, whatever it is, it’s big, but once again the stats issue raises its ugly head. For true advertiser support/adoption of podcasting, stats need to be quantified and agreed upon.

The bigger issue as I see it for Wizzard is their podcast publisher base. The article details, “Wizzard’s growing roster of 8,500 shows…” While we know that these shows are not Wizzard’s, Wizzard certainly has an opportunity to assist in the monetization of these productions due to their position in the distribution chain. However, of those 1 Billion downloads / 8,500 shows how many really matter to advertisers? (As a side note, the 1 Billion / 8,500 number is suspect. It would mean that the average publisher has 117,647 downloads a year or 9,803 downloads a month. This contradicts their own VP of Podcaster Relations, Rob Walsh, who arrived at the optimistic number of “73.5 subscribers per podcast feed.” But I digress…)

Libsyn is a great service that enables any podcaster to handle their media distribution for $5 dollars a month as a base package. That also means that they often attract those willing to pay the least amount. Those of us who have been around from the start have witnessed publishers using the Libsyn system having to endure numerous outages and slow delivery at times from a system clearly experiencing growing pains. Libsyn’s users have been amazingly supportive and understanding during these service issues - true fans of the service. For hobbyists this makes sense. But for mission critical delivery: businesses, large scale podcasts etc., Libsyn Basic has not been the choice of professional podcasters, they have tended to go with larger CDN delivery networks.

As a result, Wizzard ends up with amazing volume but is it really the kind of content advertisers are looking to associate their brands with? Further, with such a disparate pool of producers what is the internal cost to deal with all of them on a single ad campaign? Except for their large publishers, Wizzard does not get to enjoy the benefit of economies of scale, it might actually work against them. Contrast that with a company like Federated Media: few publishers, but they all have incredible reach/size. FM’s publisher count is finite enough that advertisers know what they are buying and who they are associating with, plus internally dealing with 20 large publishers on a campaign is much easier than trying to coral hundreds of smaller ones. This is probably why you have seen the WIzzard/Libsyn team putting so much time and attention into the Libsyn Pro product, a media publishing platform built and priced much closer to a traditional CDN.

All this said, I am curious to see how the team and product(s) evolve. They have some smart folks working with them and I hope that Libsyn/Wizzard can pull it off.

Professional Podcasting #2: Mic Flags. Before we move on from microphones I want to cover an easy way to distinguish yourself from the pack: mic flags. I have often described the “magical” power of mic flags in presentations I have given. It constantly amazes me the power these small plastic cubes have. Once you properly outfit your microphone with a professionally produced mic flag, doors open. The reasons for investing in mic flags are overwhelming:

Branding: This is a great opportunity to get your branding image and logo out there. Think back to photos of just a microphone versus those with large easy to recognize logos or wording on their mic flags. Each photo is one more brand impression for you. This is especially important for video podcasts. This is an easy way to get your branding in every frame!

Recognition: If you do large roundtable, red carpet or media events, interview subjects want to know who they are talking to. Your mic flag identifies your affiliation and makes it easy for the interview subject(s) to remember. I’ve found that interview subjects seem more at ease when I approach them with the sort of clear identification that a mic flag provides.

Professionalism: Mic flags are used by all “professional” media. Again we can take a lesson from their decades of experience - trust them on this one. Once you have a mic flag, people assume that you are a member of that same “professional” media. After all, who has a mic flag that is not serious about what they are doing? If you do in-studio interviews, mic flags offer that extra touch that sends the message: this is serious. At GrapeRadio.com we have outfitted all four shock mounts for our RE-20 mics with mic flags similar to the style I have in the picture above. We have successfully placed our MD-46’s with mic flags on the dais at a number of large wine events. They look great in the press coverage of these events.

X Factor: I’m not quite sure how to explain this, but mic flags seem to hypnotize people. It is as if folks assume you need a license to get one. I can’t tell you how many times I have talked my way into interviewing someone based in large part on the fact that I have that big plastic cube on my mic. You can see them looking down at the flag and asking, “you’re with the media?” Of course…

I always recommend Impact PBS for mic flags. They have no minimum order size or set up fees. In fact, you can order flags one at a time if need be. They have a wide assortment of styles to choose from and will certainly have one that fits your needs. The graphics are sharp and clearly visible. All sides of the flags are finished and use a nice foam center to accommodate most any microphone. (I have no affiliation with Impact PBS other than I like and use their products.) Last year I asked Glenn Love, who runs Impact PBS, to be on Behind The Mic. You can listen to the interview here.

Podcast Consultant “Trick of the Trade”: Impress you next client by having custom mic flags made. Don’t tell them ahead of time or include it as a line item in your bid, just do it. It costs next to nothing and they’ll be impressed and appreciative. Sometimes it is the little things.

Bottom line, a professional mic flag will set you back about $60 - that is nothing. Brand yourself appropriately. This is an action step for today. Order one now!

Additional resources: Podcast Solutions and Podcast Academy: The Business Podcasting Book

Professional Podcasting #1: The Microphone Matters. This should come as no surprise, but your mic(s) are not a place to skimp. When recording audio or video everything starts with the mic. Microphones sound different and you certainly “get what you pay for” in the quality department. However, that doesn’t mean you need to spend an arm and a leg on microphones. The key is to ensure that you purchase microphones appropriate for their intended task. Obviously, the MP3 compression process will degrade your audio, this is why you want the best source file possible. Compression will only exacerbate issues if the source is poorly recorded. With an audio podcast, the quality of your audio is the main determinant of the listener’s first impression. Here is what we use:

Studio Mic: Electro-Voice RE20. This mic is standard equipment in almost every broadcast studio you might visit. It is a dynamic cardioid microphone with an internal pop filter and is a consistent performer. It works well off-axis and is an all around champ. We use these both in my home studio and at our GrapeRadio.com studios. I also have a number of clients who have installed these in their offices. Engineers who spend all day focusing on their station’s broadcast audio keep installing RE20s. There is a reason, trust them. You might also consider the RE-27N/D. If the cost of the Electro-Voice mics is a bit high, take a look at the Shure SM7B. [Podcast Academy article on the SM7B]

Stick Mic: Sennheiser MD-46. For man-on-the-street style interviews, the MD-46 is my go-to microphone. Originally designed for NBC reporters at the Olympics, this unidirectional dynamic microphone breaks all the rules and ends up being an extremely effective mic for avoiding “plosives” and “handling noise.” I like that it is longer than many other mics making it easy to accommodate a mic flag with plenty of room to spare. These are the mics we have used for the last 3 years to produce the official Disneyland Resort Podcast. At Disneyland there is a lot of background noise from the park’s attractions and guests, the MD-46 lets just the right amount of ambient atmosphere sound in while maintaing solid recording of the interview subject(s). We have also used these mics successfully table mounted for roundtable interviews. Another mic we occasionally use is the Electro-Voice RE-50N/D-B (a favorite of Paul Figgiani). When budget is a concern, these mics can serve double duty in your home studio.

Lavaliere Mic: Audio Technica AT-898. If you are going to do sit-down style long format interviews, covering live stage events or doing video, add some lavaliere mics to your kit. There are a lot of choices for lavaliere mics, but I’m pleased with my pair of Audio Technica AT-898s. I have connectors for my various digital recorders and wireless transmitter packs. Another mic to consider is the Countryman E6i (an over-the-ear headset model.) Leo Laporte often endorses these. While I do not own one, they always sound good and I’ve thought of picking one up to take with me to events where I am speaking. Always nice to ensure that at least you sound good.

An investment in quality mics will pay dividends. Good sound is always a plus and the mics I have suggested will deliver. Bottom line, podcasting professionals need a kit of microphones to ensure they have the proper “tool” for the project. Hiring a Podcasting Consultant? Easy test: ask them for a list of their microphones and recording equipment. [Digital recorders will be covered in a future post.]

Additional resources: Transom.org - great info on Mics. Books: Podcast Solutions and Podcast Academy: The Business Podcasting Book

Many people hold themselves out as podcasting consultants or have decided to spend the extra time and effort to produce a “professional” level podcast. What should one look for in a consultant and what skills and knowledge are required for a “professional” level podcast? Answering these questions are the goal of this series.

Podcasting is an amazing medium that allows anyone to communicate their passions, thoughts and expertise to the world. The fact that the barrier to entry is almost non-existent is a big part of the allure and its power. I think everyone should give podcasting a try. If it is an enthusiast podcast, when starting out focus on the content. However, when you are selling your services as a podcast consultant, or are in pursuit of the best audio/video available for your production there are some tried and true lessons you need to know.

After publishing two books [1 & 2], producing the live Podcast Academy events, 3 years of consulting, creating the 2006 Podcast of The Year winner and giving a good number of presentations on the subject, I get emails all the time asking about the equipment we use, work flow, techniques, contracts etc. I’ve decided to post some of the “Professional Podcast” lessons I’ve gathered over the last few years. I’ll post the answers to the most common questions I receive. Whether you are a podcast consultant, obsessed about quality or are just looking to hire someone to produce your organization’s podcast, I hope you’ll find these posts helpful. My goal is simple: make these short and to the point. These posts will be easy to understand and provide a good starting point for your further investigation.

First post will go up Monday and I’ll link back to this as an overview of the series.