Amazon is ALL IN on Podcasting

In my 2020 recap, I mentioned that we need to keep an eye on the big podcasting behemoths - Apple, Spotify, Google, and now Amazon. In the time between when I recorded the show and when it was published, Amazon announced they are buying Podcast studio Wondery for $300 million. According to James Cridland of PodNews, Wondery has had international success where many other studios haven't. And they also have 11 of 2020's Top 25 podcast. And could Amazon Prime's need for content be a good fit for Wondery? Here's a link to Cridland's analysis: https://podnews.net/update/amazon-buys-wondery

Also getting into the podcast/audio world - Twitter. Podcast app Breaker is folding after 3 years, and joining Twitter. Now Breaker had positioned itself as social media for podcasts, but by joining Twitter, that's going to expand Twitter's audio only tweet capabilities. If you use Breaker as your podcast listening app or host, they've posted instructions on how to move elsewhere: https://blog.breaker.audio/the-breaker-team-is-joining-twitter-f8c1721d66c6

What do all of these big moves by big players in podcasting mean? Well, former Jag Show podcast guest and OG podcaster Evo Terra thinks it means a dethroning of Apple as king of podcasting, but the flip side is that podcasters are going to have to make sure their shows are available on many, many different platforms as they get market share. https://podcastpontifications.substack.com/p/the-death-of-podcasting-dominance

Of course, Apple falling from the dominant spot might not be a bad thing - back to James Cridland of PodNews - who understands the tech side of podcasting far better than I do. He highlights that Apple Podcasts may be sharing more of your data than anyone else. See, other podcast apps check the RSS feeds of shows you subscribe to, then give you new content when available. Apple Podcasts, however, check in a way that reveals your IP address and other info - and does it frequently. Cridland explains: https://medium.com/curious/apple-podcasts-poor-for-privacy-db7a826a6123

While Spotify has made strides toward getting copyrighted music into podcasts, there is a downside. It's now becoming, like Soundcloud, a place for bootleg - and questionably legal - songs. Variety has an article about the loophole that people are exploiting: https://variety.com/2020/music/news/spotify-podcast-remixes-bootleg-songs-1234853328/

Finally, the first time you hear your voice "on tape" - or recorded in some way, you'll almost always be surprised - it often sounds nothing like you'd expect. Why? Physics. The way you hear your OWN voice is how it rattles around in the bones between your jaw and your ear canal. That's not how it comes out to the rest of the world. I always tell clients that, but there's a nice deep dive on medium from Ryan Fan. https://medium.com/publishous/i-still-hate-how-my-voice-sounds-in-recordings-464d6e56cfb9

If you enjoyed today's show, feel free to share it with your network, and For help with your podcast, or with creating a new podcast, feel free to reach out.

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