Music Podcasts

[indiekid]

How does everyone feel about music podcasts? Are you starting to get some of your daily music fill from casts from things like AMP (Association of Music Podcasting)? Is it influencing the way you listen to your music?

These are all things i'd like to know as I host my own Independent Music Podcast...I'm trying to get some more listeners and trying to think of ways to improve my show to get more people to like it. The few subscribers that I have are apparently swearing by my show, including the host of insomnia radio, and man I took that as a compliment.

So I guess if you're into independent music you should check out my show, but in the meantime, please answer my questions above, it'll help quite a few of us in here i think!

MY SHOW "The Spotlight" - http://spotlight.indiekidonline.com

[cc_chapman]

Well since I'm one of the founding members of AMP I love music podcasts! *grin*

I still like main stream music too, but I've found that I've been spending a lot less money on it and buying indies more often then not.

I've been exposed to so many new bands. Sure, some are no good, but some are amazing.

Cool to hvae you on board with AMP.

[radioclash]

Haven't listened to many AMP shows recently, but I am actually buying music I've heard recently on Tracks Up The Tree and Yeast Radio in the past....you see it does work!

Certainly Coverville and also Mashup have influenced the music I listen to also. I mostly listen to music podcasts anyway...

[jeffoest]

The internet has allowed me pretty much to stop buying music. I either listen to streaming internet radio or independent podcasts. I do subscribe to CMJ and Salon music so I get some 'indie' stuff per month.. But that said, I have no real motivation to purchase music because I'm at a point in life when I actually enjoy the variety more. Ironically I'm spending more time enjoying hearing new music and spending less money on music than I ever had. Isn't the internet grand? lol I guess that I'm one of those guys who are probably a better candidate for the monthly all-you-can-listen-to business model vs. the pay-per-download one.

I get about an hour of podcast listen time per day (my commute mostly - though sometimes when I run I'll grab some podcast listen time as well). Currently I'm listening to all talk podcasts, but I suspect I'll vary it up quite a bit - so many podcasts to listen to - I think my strategy will be to choose 3 or 4 new ones per week and just keep changing every week.. keeps me fresh - lol

[indiekid]

well it's cool to see everyone responding well to this...i also would like to say thanks to AMP for getting us in the group!

[Inferno]

I'm gonna say that the short time i've been listening i have heard a few great things from a couple of podcast....mostly hoboken rock city.

i have bought anything yet...but i dont really buy music anyway...unless its vinyl.

[camilian]

I am finding that most of the music I am listening to right now are from indie bands that I have played on my show or have listened to on a podcast. Right now my play list includes: King of France, The Muffs, Moxie, Taxi Doll, The Sweet Life, Neon Thrills, Andrew Vladek, Stuckey and Murray and many more.

I have always liked "non-radio" music, and podcasting has really reinforced that.

[pzarquon]

You know, if it wasn't for trying my hand at podcasting, I wouldn't have found labels like Magnatune. There are a handful of artists there that I'm quite fond of.

I wanted to feature something more distinctly local in my show, so a couple of weeks ago I started pounding the pavement and looking up independent artists and smaller labels. I already enlisted a few, and just queing their stuff up in iTunes is enough music to fill my ears for a while. I probably wouldn't have discovered them via the usual channels... everything from a high school junior doing solo acoustic guitars to a punk band to folks doing "traditional" Hawaiian with a twist... I won't be doing an an all-music show, but there's easily enough stuff out there if I did.

I listen to mostly topical, talk podcasts, but I like those that spice it up with an opening or closing track. The range of stuff out there is what I like best. One geek will have a techno thing, another geek will be into jazz... viva la difference!

--
Ryan
HawaiiUP - Podcasting in paradise.
http://www.hawaiiup.com

[podcastnyc]

100% Podsafe music from NYC by awesome artists that are glad to provide it to the podcasting community

http://www.podcastnyc.net/psm/podcast.html

--
Rob
http://www.podcastnyc.net

[robulon]

this was something ive been thinking about, how it is quite easy to find a niche with a talk based podcast, and how say, if i wanted to attract people who were interested in yachting or something, then i could start a yachtcast and get attention. but as primarily a music podcast i always feel there is a struggle to try and be noticed over other music podcasts. i mean, you could be doing something different vaguely, but unless youre specializing in taiwanese gamelan music or something then basically youre heaped into a pile with 'alternative' music podcasts, lets face it, adam curry or madge isnt going to name us (music casts) unless we are including live on-air gay sex exploits or interviews with heads of state. anyway, there is no real point to this rant i guess, just something that was on my mind.

actually, think about how good a music radio station would be if it had the DJs from the music podcast section? there would be enough content to make it nearly 24/7, and the variety and quality would probably make it one of the most beautiful audio cultural artifacts ever. ok. ill stop avoiding my coursework now and stop bombarding you with my verbal diahorreha.

rob

[jeffoest]

You raise interesting points.

The tough side of a music podcast is that there will be a lot of competition and it's not technically difficult to offer one.

On the other hand, I've always felt that cheaper and better production technologies have 'opened up the floodgates' for a LOT more independent artists - some of whom have no real business aspirations - to share their creativity with the world. This is just starting...

Towards this end, I believe that there is a LOT of value that a music podcast or DJ or whatever to go through this 'musical soup' and make and play recommendations. Add to that the fact that each podcast DJ is going to have different sensibilities and biases - meaning that there is potential audience for all (well.. assume some talent and edge in music judging lol).

I think the question to ask is how do you connect with audiences that share your sensibilities? I would love to go to a site and plug in a few keywords (example "alt-pop, "zydeco", "eclecitic", "singer/songwriter", "opera") to arrive me to several podcast DJs that are recommended. There is value in the matching of customers to DJ/Podcast sensibility and frankly, value that I would pay for.

I believe that there will be very few "killer" music services/stations - and many that will offer their personalized feeds to people that share similar attributes. Not sure how much of a business model is offered, but then again, I believe that the future of music artists making good money on a profession that most people consider as 'fun' or 'hobby' oriented is in danger as supply grows....

I still think that music is the real 'killer' app for podcasting, but I think the music podcaster's goal should be to transparently offer a 'personal' experience to his somewhat specialized audience.

I also think that micro-payments could help everyone get paid a bit (the artists, the DJs, the producers, whoever...) - maybe not leave-the-day-job money but maybe buy-some-more-cool-music-toys money which isn't too bad ;-)

Anyways - something to think about...

[Cookiepuss]

I am an admitted musicholic. I don't watch television so music is always on. I spend the $10 a month on Rhapsody and listen to whatever mainstream'ish music I want. They even have a ton of old ska and such from Trojan Records etc. so it is perfect for me. Since I have my home network connected to my stereo it is perfect for me.

My podcast is a bit different since I pull from only noncommercial recordings of live shows. So for people to get them they have to be into music trading. I have a catalog of hundreds of shows to draw from which is growing whenever I check the mail. :D

I use to own part of an indie label and love good independent music. I am looking to expand Live and Direct to showcase some local bands by recording some of their live shows as well. Most local bands are flattered you want to tape their shows. ;) I'd like to hook up with some other people in different cities to get a network of live recordings of local bands going down the road.

So I would say I loooove music podcasts of all sorts. ;)

My current favortie is http://digitalflotsam.org not pure music but a good "variety show".

[dlayphoto]

I highly recommend The Metal Show...

http://www.themetalshow.com/

[Stunner]

Our podcast started out as a way to just promote our band's music, but since we started spotlighting other indie artists on our show it's helped us in ways I didn't expect. The big thing is it's a great hook to network with other artists, people are quite complimented when we ask if we can play their song on the show. We're seeing that when we feature other bands on the show, they tell their friends and fans. This not only helps us growing our own audience, but by featuring bands that we dig ourselves, the unintentional consequence is we're discovering where the niche is for our style of music. A couple hours of poking around on sites like music.myspace.com and garageband.com has given us no end of cool folks to hook up with for the show.

[Brian]

Radio Clash, Bigee's Fireside Chats, Tracks Up The Tree, Not Your Usual Bollocks, and Dan Klass' Old Wave Radio are my favorites. Since the "talkie" shows are a little too distracting at work, these are the podcasts that I listen to in my office.

I've turned off my radio, and closed my XM Subscription (anyone want an XM recevier and base station? :) ), and now at work, I jus tlisten to music podcasts.

Oh yeah, and covers.

[notyourusualbollocks]

I too worried about getting an audience when I kicked off my show in early January but after fine tuning the music format a bit, I've become very happy with it and I think I've found my niche.

My key ingredients:

70% independent labels (not including one cover I play every week)
of which 70% is UK and 30% Foreign
30% unsigned bands
1 band interview every fortnight

I also aim for a 50/50 electronic and rock genre split which seems to differentiate me from the other alternative podcasts out there.

I think it's very easy to expect your show to grow quickly and naturally everybody aims to have listeners numbering in the thousands but this medium is all about word of mouth and the niche you create for yourself. Recently a few key music blogs picked up on my podcast and i've seen subscriber numbers really take off.

All I can recommend is a bit of patience. Find your niche, stick with it, don't waiver and don't be afraid of some shameless self-promotion. Jason's podcast (Insomnia Radio) is a great example of word of mouth marketing. He showcases unsigned bands at a tremendous rate and they in turn owe him a big favour and return it by spreading news about the show via their own fan mailing lists. It's simple viral marketing. When I played a ten story relapse (unsigned band from Atlana) song on my show a month ago, the group put a plug for NYUB on their mailing list which went out to 1500 people. You can't ask for more than that!

Stick with it...and remember, we're all in it for **FUN**. If your main worry becomes the rating game and the number of subscribers then it's time to call it quits. So what if you have only 50 downloads a show? That's still a BUS full of people who listen to you, a radio show you can call your own. A year ago, none of us were able to do this.

MK
Not Your Usual Bollocks (NYUB)
www.notyourusualbollocks.squarespace.com

[alissa]

it's cool that there's a lot of interest in this area.
8)

i'm a huge audio geek. i have a home studio and like to record music. i just started an indie podcast with some of my audiogeek friends. so i'm really interested in finding out more about this apparent community of indie podcasters.

nice to meet you!

[cc_chapman]

Welcome Alissa. What's your URL?

[alissa]

hi!

thanks!

it's http://creotradio.ivorylodge.net

[mental-escher]

Coverville is one of the few I've found that has consistant quality music- I prefer the "spoken" podcasts more though (as I do my own cover music, so I like it a bit more raw/punk music anyhow)... starting to replace NPR and KPFA (radio free Berkley) for my commute and at home listening!

defwheezer

[indiekid]

i pretty much do a 50/50 thing with music and spoken word, mainly just to keep it pretty interesting. we have a good time doing shows :) and i've just now found that you can register as a broadcast station on Garageband.com and have unlimited access to their library so that's awesome to make it podsafe music!

[stagalicious]

Nice to stumble upon this... I just started an indie/rap/rock/jazz podcast (smasing genres!) this week. I was/am very green in this field so I'm still fine tuning my playlists. I play a little of everything, new and old. I'd love some feedback from you guys if it's not too much trouble.

stagalicious.libsyn.com

I'm overjoyed to find some great looking podcasts in this thread.