Month: July 2017

Podquest Seeks the Next Podcast Superstar

~ jen ~ 2 Comments

Podquest is looking for the next podcast superstar. They have announced the winner of their previous contest. Podcasters can now enter this year’s contest. According to Podquest: “If you’ve got an idea, a story, or you’re a brilliant story teller – then Podquest is for you.”

The Season 1 Winner of Podquest’s contest is Phoebe Parsons. She is the host of a brand new podcast called Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck. The description of the podcast is “Phoebe has a fancy degree and her dream job. But her personal life? It’s a train wreck. These are her confessions as she turns her mess into her message.” The trailer has been released and is available on the Podquest website.

Those who want to become the next podcast superstar can enter the Podquest contest now. The deadline for entering is August 4, 2017. The contest is open to all Australian residents from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia. Entrants must be at least 16 years of age or older. People who enter, and are under 18 years of age, must have express permission of a parent/guardian.

A panel of internal and external experts will be looking for:

  • Originality – has anyone else done a similar podcast?
  • Narrative – what are you like at telling a story?
  • Hosting – are you any good at this “podcast thang”?
  • Commercial Viability – let’s face it, in the long run, it would be nice to quit your job and become a full time podcaster
  • Audience – who could the possible audience be?

Podquest says that your entry should demonstrate how the story will live as a series, and not be a sample of your best work. Ideally, it would run for up to 20 minutes.

There is one prize to be won. It consists of AU$5,000 to be transferred to the winner’s Australian bank account (or the winner’s parent or legal guardian’s bank account if the winner is under 18 years old.)

The prize also consists of one final produced podcast (Podcast Series) that includes:

  • Up to 25 hours production time – Up to 5 hours per episode up to a maximum of 5 episodes at the winner’s nearest Nova Entertainment studio
  • Up to 5 hours studio time at the winner’s nearest Nova Entertainment Studio
  • Up to 5 hours content direction with industry experts at the winner’s nearest Nova Entertainment Studio
  • Creative design and production of 1 podcast including 2 rounds of changes

Scottish Audio Cooperative Offers Workshops

~ jen

The Scottish Audio Cooperative is an audio production and training organization based in Ayr, Scotland. They run weekly workshops in audio production, ranging from podcasts to field recording for screen. The cooperative was formed in early 2007.

The summer workshops begin on Wednesday, July 5, 2017. Every workshop will be repeated on the following Monday. The Scottish Audio Cooperative offers additional skills workshops on a Sunday afternoon for a more advanced look into your area of interest.

Your first workshop is free to attend (and you can pay if you like it). Every following workshop is charged at their standard membership rate of £4 waged, £2 unwaged.

The upcoming summer Wednesday workshops include a total of 8 workshops, done in 8 weeks. The Sunday workshops also are offered once a week for 8 weeks. Those who want more information can contact the Scottish Audio Cooperative on Facebook or Twitter. Visit their website to find out about future workshops.

The Scottish Audio Cooperative includes independent producers who look for a way to collaborate on work and engage with the local community. They are:

Kathleen Kidd, who has a BA in Broadcast Production. Her podcast, A Night of Horrors, won second place in the 2016 Amateur Podcast Championships.

Robert Ruthven, who has a BA in Broadcast Production. He started audio production with Sticklebacks Radio, an internet radio program he still occasionally produces with his brother Angus.

Sadie Woods, who has a BA in Broadcast Production. She was an assistant producer on series 2 of the award winning podcast A Night of Horrors.

Michelle Dowd, who has worked at BBC Radio Ulster as an Apprentice Content Assistant.

Clair Love, who found the Scottish Audio Cooperative to be a fantastic place to build herself up again after having to leave her job. She has learned how to produce and edit her own content on a range of editing suites, and is learning script writing.

Lauren Fraser, who has a BA(Hons) in Broadcast Production specializing in radio. Since then, she has been working on various audio pieces.

Andrew Jones, who is a freelance Actor & Technician who is looking to branch out into Voice Acting. He has developed skills in broadcasting and post production.

Anchor Offers the Easiest Way to Make a Podcast

~ jen

Anchor is offering the “easiest way to make a podcast, ever” in its newest release. You can now record and post and publish your podcast on major podcast outlets right through Anchor.

In the newest release, Anchor becomes the only platform where you can publish to major podcast outlets like Apple Podcasts and Google Play Music with a single tap of a button on your phone. Available today for iOS and Android, – it’s 100% free, entirely mobile, and so easy to use that literally anyone can make a podcast now.

In the blog post, Anchor explains their motivation. “One of the most common things we hear from people is that they want their Anchor station to be discoverable as an actual podcast.” This new release makes that possible. To quote Anchor’s blog post: “Unfamiliar with RSS? Cool, let’s keep it that way.”

It seems to me that Anchor is aiming at people who are brand new to podcasting and who do not yet have the technical knowledge to record, edit, post, and submit their episodes themselves. Or, it might be for super busy people who want to make a quick podcast and not have to spend time with the technical aspects of podcasting.

Anchor says that it makes recording and sharing audio as simple as talking on the telephone. It suggests you can use their platform to capture your own voice, take call-ins from listeners, conduct remote interviews with anyone, or broadcast full length songs from Apple Music or Spotify.

When your episode is done, and you are happy with it – you can post your podcast in one tap to your Anchor station. Anchor will take care of submission and distribution to Apple Podcasts and Google Play for you.

To me, it seems that Anchor just made podcasting super easy for new people to try. It lets people focus on creating without having to take the time to learn how the technology aspects work, to learn how to edit, or to figure out what an RSS feed is.

On the other hand… some of this makes me cringe. As a person who has done music podcasting in the past, I worry about the legality of broadcasting full length songs from Apple Music or Spotify. It is unclear to me how someone who podcasts on Anchor would know if a song was released under creative commons, released under public domain, or if it was owned by a record label. Hopefully, Anchor has worked out the details and permissions for that behind the scenes.

I’m also cringing about what the quality of the audio might be like. I’ve listened to podcasts on Blog Talk Radio, and while the content may be interesting, I found the audio lacking. Anchor is designed to be recorded on your phone.

And, as always, there is a risk to having all of your creative content located entirely on a platform that you do not own. There have been situations in the past where podcasters woke up one day to learn that their hosting service shut down and disappeared without warning – along with all the content they posted on it.

Spreaker Introduces Follower Tracking

~ jen

Spreaker has launched follower tracking. It is a new data point that is intended to give you another statistic to help you attract and keep followers. The blog post about follower tracking says: “If you podcast, they will follow.”

One thing that Spreaker’s new follower tracking feature can do is enable you to trace spikes in followers back to actual episodes and marketing decisions. If you see a spike in followers, you can backtrack to potentially determine what caused it. It might be related to your killer social media campaign, or an episode where you interviewed someone famous.

Another thing that Spreaker’s new follower tracking can do is give you more information about your follower count. A random person might play one episode and never return. Your followers, on the other hand, are committed and want to return to hear more. Spreaker’s follower tracking can show you if you’ve kept up with the high-quality content, consistent schedule, and engaging materials your listeners want.

Spreaker’s new follower tracking can also help you get to know your audience really well.

A Spreaker follower is an actual person with a profile you can look at. So, whenever you see a sudden upshot in numbers, find out who else that follower follows and who follows them back, and discover a whole network of communities to tap into.

If your podcast is on Spreaker, and you have a Broadcaster plan or higher, then you can make use of Spreaker’s new follower tracking and the information it provides. The Broadcaster Plan cost $19.99 a month (or $199 billed annually).