View Full Version : BusinessWeek Highlights the Indie vs. Big Media Battle
dcolanduno
Aug 6th, 2005, 10:39 PM
The weekly news and business magazine "BusinessWeek" has an article coming out in this weeks, (Aug. 15th), edition that highlights Skepticality, Coverville, AMP, and other indipendant podcasts and podcast networks. The article explains how a small number of indie podcasts, such as TWiT, Skepticality, and Diggnation, are holding their own against the corporate, and big-radio shows in the iTunes top 20 rankings.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_33/b3947062_mz011.htm
Derek, is the print version a for sure thing? I know they mentioned the Podcast Outlaws as well. I had thought of purchasing a copy of it but wanted to know if it was going to be in there.
Paranormal Podcast
Aug 6th, 2005, 11:18 PM
Kudos to Derek on his point that "indie" podcasters have to actively market both internally to fellow podcasters and EXTERNALLY to non-podcasters who are interested in the topic matter of the respective podcast.
dcolanduno
Aug 7th, 2005, 12:11 AM
Derek, is the print version a for sure thing? I know they mentioned the Podcast Outlaws as well. I had thought of purchasing a copy of it but wanted to know if it was going to be in there.
Heather said that it is going to be in print. That link was a short clip of the article from the links they have for the table of contents for the upcoming issue. I'm not sure when it hits the shelves.
dcolanduno
Aug 7th, 2005, 12:16 AM
I put it on Digg.Com...
We might be able to bump it up a little:
http://digg.com/technology/David_vs._Goliath:_The_Story_of_Indy_Podcasting_in _iTunes
jeffoest
Aug 7th, 2005, 12:53 AM
As they join iTunes, they're squeezing out many of the do-it-yourselfers who evangelized podcasting. Once a podcast drops off the top 100 list, it's almost impossible for a casual visitor to find it.
This makes for a good eye-opener but it's probably not the most responsible journalism. Digging a bit deeper would find that independent podcasts like ours have seen great growth directly due to iTunes. And we haven't been featured in the top 100.
This is exactly as we all predicted (well documented in these forums). Branded names have an advertising advantage and will help draw listeners into the new paradigm. Indies will grow from trickle.
And another thing that's often not noted. Many indies don't NEED to grow. They are usually produced by amateurs that do other things professionally. There are no growth or revenue pressures while branded productions often have ROI's and corporate politics to deal with.
Paranormal Podcast
Aug 7th, 2005, 01:12 AM
I think that the media types have gone through their "indie podcasters are great" phase and now they are taking the other side of the issue (as they often do) and they are now in the "indie podcasters are finished" stage.
As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I'm guessing some indies won't last (because they get tired or bored), a few will "crossover" and have huge mainstream success and others will continue with modest but nice audience levels and personal satisfaction.
Frankly, most of the populace hasn't even heard of a podcast yet. The biggest reaction I get among friends and family about my show is -- "a podwhat". There is a lot of untapped potential for everyone -- big & small.