And yes, as you probably heard on our recent show (here and here), we're pretty much done with the nonsense that is Podshow, a big media-like podcasting startup.
Don't get me wrong, I'm *all* about the populist, pop cult approach via hands-on indie work, but for some reason, I'm getting that not-so-fresh feeling right about now.
Maybe it's because in an era of transparency, there is a perception of secrecy. WHERE IS THE NON-PRESS RELEASE BLOG?
Maybe it's because it seems most patently offensive controversies in the space, lead back to Podshow (warranted or not).
Maybe it's because it appears that they're evolving into the old way, with some new wave kinda stylings (I'm sorry, but ENOUGH people scratched their heads at how completely retarded and bewildering it was that two major venture capital firms' 8.8 million dollars into something that didn't seem to even exist)
Maybe it's because there are SO many people doing the same thing, doing it better--- heck, DOING IT.
And maybe it's because you KNOW that everything you say will be hit back with a prepared statement, PR, communications-oriented messaging crafted to handle controversial issues (ok well that makes sense but because I'm a comm guy, I know when I'm being fed lines and position statements. Please. Be a man. Suck it in. 'Opportunity. Challenges. Blah blah blah. We know the game. Have some Powerpoint.'
So, yeah, let me be clear:
Podshow is not a business I trust.
I am concerned for friends and other very talented folks who are part of the organization.
I've never been approached by Podshow (and ha ha probably never will--that's ok boys, you can't afford me)
The more we as a podcast community and society can observe about Podshow, the more we have ammunition to build the opposite of Podshow.
As an entertainer, I can say, hey Podshow, fuck off.
As a professional, I can say, I do not have confidence in this company and would advise that extreme caution be exercised in any business dealings.
As a member of the community, I can say, we can do better than this
As a human, I can say, Dear god, please don't let really good people get hurt..
Everyone can change, so let's check back in later and see. Was the joke about Old Media 2.0 only that? In Hollywood, it could be called foreshadowing.
I'm just sayin'.
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Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Comments
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
doesn't Adam still use the tag line "there are no secrets, only information you don't yet have"?
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
I listened to that podcast that you linked to - they one where they read the Podshow contract. It's totall bullshit. I don't understand how people would sign that thing. It like an old school record contract - you give up everything (content, website, etc) and maybe well send you a few bucks. I guess the thing that's not really a suprise here is that Curry is in the "entertainment" industry and he's just doing his same old thing in the podcast space. It's kind of like when people thought that the people on reality TV shows weren't acting.
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
What a bummer of a post dude. I don't know where your perception of secrecy comes from. Take a listen to the Daily Source Code if you haven't lately, Adam's pretty up front about what we're up to and where we're headed. It's not a written blog, but we're a podcasting company. How many other company leaders can you point to that communicate daily with the world about their business?
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Perception = word on the street.
If there wasn't a vibe of "hey, they can't talk about stuff" that was SO thick, then things like a simple contract being exposed would NOT be so interesting. I can't even recall all the simple aside conversations of 'yeah he really can't talk about it' etc. It's cute really. I don't know if I'm hearing honesty or spin when company leaders talk about the future. Makes me wanna buy everyone a copy of books on business blogging. One more thing, wanna see how perception works? Ask any Mac person when the last time someone came to them and whipped out with a perception of Macintosh = 1984. Perceptions don't go away, not with a LOT of work and time. Are the people who influencing podcasting convinced otherwise? That's the question. Doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it's the way it is. It's a human thing, is all. Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Hey Eric, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop the "now I am going to school you" tone. It makes it hard to have a dialogue. Thanks.
You talk about a thick vibe of secrecy. Where did the vibe come from? Is it real, based on actual events, or people projecting their own baggage onto PodShow, or both? Even if it's people projecting their own baggage, hey, it's real for them, and maybe that's something to work on (perception matters, as you say). You write about not knowing whether what you hear is honesty or spin. Hey, no problem, why not just say that? And as far influencing podcasting goes, don't forget that the stuff going on right here will influence podcasting too. Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Absolutely I'd expect Podshow to influence podcasting, as it has in the past and will in the future. How will it influence it? I don't know the answer to that.
Where does the vibe of secrecy come from? All of the stuff you mentioned above. Christ, TODAY it came up in a conference call from people not even involved in podcasting... '..those guys can't talk about their contracts...' WTF? Don't take my word for it, ask around, read newsgroups, scour the blogosphere. And keep in mind that some folks might be afraid to talk in public for fear of the mighty Corporate. It's perception on all levels. Perception does not mean truth, it means belief. "There's no software for Macs" = Perception. Doesn't matter if it's wrong or right, the perception is out there. And sorry if my tone bugs, but I'm finally pissed off enough to stand up and be a dick about this. It's a byproduct of passion. Lots of people are passionate. I'm just a bystander in all this. My world will continue to move along as it has before, during, and after. Ask other people what they think. By no means does the buck stop with me. Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
by
Rob Greenlee
on Sat 01 Apr 2006 08:44 PM PST | Profile | Permanent Link
None of us should be surprised with all the PodShow developments. We have seen a steady decline of open community involvement on the part of Adam and PodShow. We have seen the great OPML podcast directory project at iPodder.org fall into decline as PodShow moved into commercial dress. PodShow is now responsible for driving economic valuation to VC investors. They needed to secure tight contracts that would be solid in any M & A opportunity. PodShow is clearly built to be an acquisition target. The $8 million invested is small money and should yield a good return.
PodShow should be concerned as their value could start to be affected by all this negative talk and perceptions. Adam built his PodShow brand on all the goodwill he built by being perceived as the good guy to the little guy content creator. Giving a voice to long-tail podcasters. I believe that Adam/PodShow is rapidly eroding its perceived value as many podcaster insiders do not trust Adam and Podshow. I do think that PodShow and Adam can bring a lot of value to the podcast community, but they just need to be more friendly again with all podcasters and not just the most popular podcasters. Rob Greenlee WebTalk Radio http://www.webtalkradio.com Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Didn't podcasting come about because of the walled gardens the likes of Audible, mainstream media etc built?
web2.0 = open, transparent, bla bla bla I agree with Rob, Podshow could bring value to a community, if done properly, no secrets, no bullshit, just open... If they fucked up, for christs sakes admit it. This is the only way you'll earn the respect back that was lost Anyway.... I am off to create and add value elsewhere ;-) Lee Wilkins http://podcast.com lee@podcast.com :-) Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Podwhat? ;-)
Podshow and AC have become less and less relevant to me as time has gone along; last year I used to care enough to clash with Adam but now I realise you're just giving him publicity to a bad 'cool' corporate pretending to be trendy and Web2.0 and 'down wiv da kidz' which is total crap. Eric, you're right about him being old media, as soon as he signed up with Apple iTunes and Sirius a year ago then he put his balls in their court (or clamp!) and I got less and less interested in promoting his shows. But Yeast Radio and a few others don't deserve to be shafted like that for the promise of 'fame' which I doubt he'll deliver, there are good people on the shows allied to Podshow, despite their bedfellows being sharks. But it shows you the power of getting legal advice before you sign anything, even if the KATG contract is a sham, I'd be wary of signing anything from comanies like Podshow. So the rich and wavy haired get richer, the podcasters get poorer or lose their shows. That's so old media, but what did you expect from someone who came from MTV - a company that sucks big record corporate balls if I saw one? Tim @ Radio Clash Re: Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
One thing I wanna make clear is that I'm not necessarily opposed to those bigger channels... I'd jump at the chance to do an XM gig (but not Sirius)... The process is what matters. Contributions, too. :-)
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Righteous. I've seen the contract with my own eyes and Keith and the Girl read it as it's written. I advised a friend not to enter into it back in January for many of the reasons that you and Keith and the Girl are talking about. And I've asked many of the same questions that you have.
It's important to note that I'm not a fan of KatG and never listen. But I have to admit when someone says something that I agree with. HipCast, LibSyn and Odeo have done something. You are all truly enabling the medium. I believe that Adam and Co. have been lead astray by the fast money. And when the VC money comes in so do a lot of rules that degrade the open source nature of something like this. I also don't think that there is any intentional malice here, but this contract (like traditional record company contracts) exploits the artist. I'm a dyed in the wool capitalist but I'm also an artist and I believe that it's an insult to offer an artist a deal that involves taking away ownership of content unless you pay for the content in advance. Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
“Podshow = Old Media”
I don’t buy it. Old media had sharecropper contracts where the artist needs to pay back the label for marketing, production, distribution. Podshow gives the artist most of these as a function of the contract under discussion. Eric, aren’t you appealing to the same podcaster that Podshow is targeting to build a network? Will you disclose the terms and conditions of your contracts with your affliated podcasters? KatG give the impression that the contract requires the podcaster to give all rights to their work to podshow. I didn’t hear it that way… Podshow is asking for explicit permission to distribute the content and a few other protections for their interests. So, I’ll go on record. I don’t trust Eric Rice anymore. I never trusted Keith… he’s a pure Howard Stern wannabee and would do any number of unspeakable acts to grow his base. I’d like to see Podshow clear up the misconceptions related to the contract but they don’t have to… they just have to keep selling the benefits of their business to people seeking to build an audience. May the best company win… and may the audience win better content. Finally, thanks for the opportunity to drop some opinion on this issue using your nickle (NOTE: I need to register to be able to post this). Stay open BUT play fair with your competitors, dude. Let the marketplace do the hard work of evaluating Podshow’s value to it’s affliates and talk a lot less smack. Re: Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
Heh, you don't have to trust me, after all, I'm just a guy who's sorta kept reasonably quiet about Podshow until I got pissed enough. I really didn't get too uppity about wikipedia like some folks did. There's not a lot of place to either distrust or trust when someone stands up and cries bullshit. We don't have *enough* smack talkers. At least you'd know there's conviction about.
My contracts are simple. Do whatcha like. Build your brand, be a part of ours. Not exclusive. We share money based on who brings it in. Heavy dollar goes to the artist, lesser dollars go to infrastructure and vice versa. Certain explicity must die. Who's the marketplace, btw? The listener or the podcaster? I don't actually know the answer to that question, I'm just curious. When I got the TowerPod contract, there was stuff in there I didn't like, and I sent it back, and got what I want. Done. I'm only going to play this card once: I've been doing this shit before podcasting, and I'll continue to do it afterwards. (I've made numerous points to tell people in the same position to get off their kick if they have done this before podcasting and to help those that are new). I'm a little nervous about your comment about them not having to clear up misconceptions. Isn't podcasting a conceptual cousin to blogging? That type of activity didn't exactly work for Kryptonite locks. ;-) Note to self: do NOT buy Cluetrain Manifesto as a gift for anyone over there. Just sayin'. There are far more important people than me waxing about this, so it can't entirely be in my imagination. Re: Re: Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
by
Bogdan
on Wed 12 Mar 2008 07:37 AM PDT | Profile | Permanent Link
A program may not be sufficiently complete for execution by a computer. In particular, it may require additional software from a software library in order to be complete. Such a library may include software components used by stand-alone programs, but which cannot work on their own. outsource
Re: Let me break it down for you. Podshow = Old Media.
by
zero4
on Mon 17 Apr 2006 04:20 AM PDT | Profile | Permanent Link
Adam built his PodShow brand on all the goodwill he built by being perceived as the good guy to the little guy content creator. I also don't think that there is any intentional malice here, but this contract (like traditional record company contracts) exploits the artist.
Tomas Hellix mp3 blog Tomashellix@yahoo.com |
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