I talked about Podshow and money in podcasting in the last 2 podcasts, but forgot to mention 2 things you’ll probably be aware about (although I hinted at in my ‘Revolution will not be monetized’ speech) – podcasting being broadcast on old-style media platforms.
What’s that you say?
That’s not podcasting that’s broadcasting leeching off free content from podcasters who want to be as big as Stern, or Dawn and Drew, or Christian Connell?
Have you been reading my mind again?
Well what’s going on if you missed all the hype is that Sirius is running a daily 4-hour podcast show with Adam Curry and PW Fenton (how was the bunker? Can I stay there for a bit? A bit of sensory deprivation sounds cool at the moment…) and the other bit of news is that Viacom (Infinity radio) is going to broadcast free podcasts via it’s KYOU AM station in the west coast.
Why is this a bad thing? Why are you against a mad media gold-nay-Podrush as people scramble onto the bandwagon like lemmings over a candy-coated cliff.
Well as Dave Slusher points out, advertising revenues will not e passed down to the podcasters involved – they are probably thinking: “haha! free content! suckers!”
But also could affect other non-broadcast podcasts (yes that’s as odd writing that as it sounds…here comes the science, oxymorons) as why would advertisiers chose to take a risk advertising on some strange and unknowable person’s podcast when they can deal with the same Clear Channel and Viacoms they’ve always dealt with and met at the right sort of parties and went to school with…yeah the right sort of *class*.
As we know with AC, media only really likes talking to media, they like the same things, don’t ask nasty questions and know which bottle of Krug to take to those sort of parties. And I suspect Dave’s right – this will affect other podcasters’ ability to ‘monetize’.
Now I think that’s a bad idea anyway (listening to Yeast radio recently after I unsubbed, I still love the show, but the Paris Hilton mentions are a little annoying, but at least Madge is engaging it in some way I suppose, still feels a bit clunky tho. Although is there ever a good way to be lied to?) as this is what we are reacting against – advertisers controlling and blanding radio.
On the other hand, I’d rather Coverville or Yeast at least got the revenue rather than some media whore executive who’ve never had to work for anything in their lives. Still think chasing after validation through money and advertisers is a bad thing and it will all end in tears…but as a socialist I do want the workers to actually get the money for what they produce, rather than being exploited, as they are here.
The other problem with the Infinity deal is that is could get you sued according the INA (Internet Nanocasters Association – nope not heard of them either, and yipee, we need another term for WebPodFlyMediaNetShowcasting we need a whole in the head!!!!) but it raises a good point – I doubt broadcasters can use the common carrier defence and deny responsibility for content like ISPs can (and even then they still have liabilities) but do you want to be sued by the FCC for your podcast?
Is this the revolution everyone wanted – broadcasting via old media platforms with advertising, getting nothing for it and possibly getting sued? Sheesh.
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