Lawyers and podcasting

I saw an interesting little tidbit within last Thursday afternoon's ABA TECHSHOW's "60 Marketing Tips In 60 Minutes" session. At number 45:

If You Don't Have Time To Blog, Make Time To Podcast

I couldn't agree more. It seems to me that the best bloggers post every day (note to self... follow your own advice!). To podcast well, depending on the niche, one could produce a show once per week or even once per month. Lawyers considering a new marketing strategy could actually spend less time producing a podcast, yet still stand out in the crowd.

the charts were indeed bumrushed

While Bumrush the Charts did not manage to push unsigned artist Black Lab to #1, it certainly pushed a bunch of sales. Number 11 in the US, number 10 in Canada, and number 2 in The Netherlands. Details are here.

Interesting experiment... it certainly gained some mainstream attention, but I think it's an open question whether it will be viewed as a gimmick or an actual representation of the potential of podcasting marketing power. To be continued...

Podcast stats revisted

A few days ago I posted about Paul Colligan's report on podcast statistics... he's come back today linking to the final report by Edison Media Research. Check out the report here. More knowledge, but flattening consumption... for now. That "feels" like the right answer based on my anecdotal experiences. There is still a gap between ease of use and the mainstream audience, but I am positive that will change...

Podcasting moving music sales

Today's Washington Post features the grassroots Bum Rush the Charts movement in the podcasting community that just might carry some independent artists into the mainstream, thanks to the marketing muscle of podcasters.

We all know that podcasting can light a fire one listener at a time... but can it move enough people to buy a single track in the iTunes Music Store to unseat the likes of Beyonce, Avril Levine and other artists sitting at the top of the sales pack? For the sake of innovation, and for the sake of proving podcasting marketing muscle, I'm all for it.

I've never heard the track they chose, but it's Mine Again by Black Lab. I'll certainly be plunking my 99 cents down to bum rush the charts... by the way, the a lot of the funds earned on this track will be going towards a scholarship fund... check out Bum Rush the Charts for more info.

HGTV and testing the Podcast Factory

One of my clients, Kimberly Wilson of Hip Tranquil Chick podcast, is going to be featured on HGTV's I Want That!: Tech Toys. She'll be taking a look at the M-Audio Podcast Factory, a software-hardware package that includes a simple mixer with a USB connection and a dynamic microphone... all in one. My initial reaction is that a dynamic mic isn't as warm sounding as a cardioid, but I'll hold off judgment until I hear the sound quality. I definitely like that the included software is both Mac and Windows compatible. Should be an interesting test drive... we tape next week!

Promising new Mac software

Check out Übercaster... this looks like a major improvement for Mac podcast producers. I've never been terribly impressed with Garageband as a production tool, and have pretty much stuck with Audacity since I can keep my brain on one track, whether working in Windows or Mac. Übercaster might get me to shift as soon as I upgrade my Powerbook G4 to OS X Tiger. (yeah, I know... it's been out forever and is about to be supplanted. Yadda yadda yadda...).

Prices go up in a couple of weeks... I'll see what I can do about reviewing it sometime before that happens.

iTunes for Windows

Looks like Apple has been fixing some bugs in iTunes for Windows... this is a good thing. Although I've not had too many problems when I've used it on a Windows box, I've heard a lot of horror stories. Since so many podcasts are consumed via Windows computers, and most of them are through iTunes, this is good newss for podcasters.

Podcast stats

Paul Colligan posted some interesting podcasting stats reported at the Corporate Podcasting Summit in London that he's mentioned he's attending about 1000 times the past two weeks (I kid because I care Paul). Interesting stuff:

• In 2006, 22% of their sample had heard of podcasting, and that rose to 37% in 2007
• Listenership rose only slightly between 2006 and 2007. As Paul noted, "just because they’re heard of Podcasting, doesn’t mean they’re doing anything about it." Good point.
  
• Listener demographics are much more balanced in terms of age and gender than the conventional wisdom suggests. That's very good news, and the word needs to get out on that.
  

Check out Paul's blog for more.

Blogsplit

As promised... the blogs have been split! Now, if you're interested in just podcasting and tech talk, make sure you come here to the podcast & tech blog at tim-mooney.com. Thanks for joining!

The big announcement

Beginning today, I am embarking on a new path...

Tim-Mooney.com is now the hub for two ventures... the first is a solo law practice focusing on nonprofit organizations, and the other is an expansion of my podcast and technical consulting services. I am incredibly excited that I am now able to devote equal time to my two passions, and I am doubly excited that I will be tapping into the same entrprenurial spirit that began my career.

Look for changes to the site in the very near future... new content... new focus... it's exciting and invigorating. If you are interested in chatting with me about either of these ventures, feel free to email me at tim(at)tim-mooney(dot)com.

podshow responds

Adam Curry responded to the missive launched by Keith and the Girl... check it out here.

One thing that amused me is the continuing name calling and dissing that is going on here... Keith and the Girl see Podshow as the big brother with evil plans to steal podcasters' intellectual property (um, a little overblown) and Adam Curry's tsk-tsking that speaking negatively about Podshow will somehow ruin podcasting (um, a bit arrogant)... it's all amusing to me. Truth be told, a little controversy seems to rally up some numbers , so maybe it's not all bad.

WARNING... sports analogy dead ahead... the NBA was at its zenith when the Lakers and the Celtics were going at each other... the NHL enjoyed some better ratings when the Red Wings and the Avalanche had some epic battles... baseball currently has the Yankees and the Red Sox. A rivalry might not be so bad for the industry. I'll note that my hit totals have shot up since I blogged about this!

UPDATE... I just listened to the latest KATG and I have to say some of their criticisms do have some traction. It's hard to evaluate Podshow's latest download claims, but their "download requests" numbers are probably the least effective way (I think) to measure success. How many times does your podcatcher request any given feed per day? Per hour? Others disagree. Unfortunately, we also have no idea if the Podshow numbers include downloads of non-Podshow feeds. That being said, I really think that Keith and Chemda are stuck in a pseudo-radio advertising paradigm... perhaps because that's the only metric that advertisers are interested in using for podcasts right now.

podshow

The rivalry continues... Keith and the Girl vs. Podshow.
I won't bother going into the history of it... there are other places to check that out. Apparently Keith is now suggesting that all of Podshow's programming tracks in a total of 12,000 downloads per day. (That would be not a lot... in fact it would be shockingly small considering the major dineros podshow has raised from venture capitalists). Is Keith's claim a joke? An educated guess based on Alexa rankings? Who knows... this is an ongoing beef that may or may not be good for podcasting.

Sometimes a good rivalry can make for higher ratings and better entertainment... sometimes it's pro wrestling. To be continued...

libsyn

I am a big fan of Liberated Syndication (AKA libsyn)... while far from perfect, the guys that run this company provide a great set of services for podcasters. They're now finally going to be able to devote full time energy to the company... I think that will be great for everyone involved. Check out their announcement:

Dear libsyn users,

It's been a while since we've written, hope you all have been well. Last October we announced that we were becoming a public company. That move is now complete as we have merged Webmayhem Inc (the parent corporation of Liberated Syndication) with Wizzard Software Inc (OTCBB:WIZD) and formed Wizzard Media in the process. We wanted to explain what this all means to you.

The great news is, libsyn is here to stay and is only going to get better. We have now an even stronger foundation, and in addition to providing funding and corporate infrastructure, Wizzard Software brings some pretty exciting things to Podcasting, and in turn, to you the libsyn user. Wizzard is bringing a decade of industry leading experience in voice technology- that's voice to text and text to voice. There are lots of cool things we can do with this technology. A press release was issued this morning announcing the deal- (http://www.wizzard.tv/press_mar_01_2007.php).

The best news for everyone is that the days of 4 guys with day jobs trying to run a podcasting company on the side are over- we are 120% committed to nothing but libsyn now, and our team continues to grow. Yesterday, we (re)launched the Libsyn Soundoff- (http://soundoff.libsyn.com) our blog/podcast which will be updated daily to provide everyone an inside look on the goings on at libsyn HQ. Part of the show will be technical, part will be feedback and ideation on the upcoming libsyn developments. Our launch episode was yesterday-- we wanted to talk about this deal, but without doing the public press release we had to hold our tongues. This will all take some getting used to, but it will be worth it. We'll talk a bit about it today.

All in all, we'd like to thank you for your continued support and for being part of the history of libsyn. You have helped us build this network. We look forward to the exciting years ahead.

love-
the libsyn squad.