Twelve months ago, who had heard of podcasting? A week ago, the events in London thrust citizen journalism into the spotlight after images showing the extent of the damage, taken on mobile phone cameras, were broadcast globally in mainstream media.
Podcasting is the latest techno innovation to go mainstream and, just as camera-enabled mobile phones have allowed anyone and everyone to become a photo-journalist, this new technology now provides ordinary people with the means to become citizen broadcasters.
In the wake of the bombings, Knowledge Management consultant Lloyd Davis showed Brit grit by getting back into his usual routine and recording a podcast the day after the attacks as he journeyed around central London. Davis is one of countless thousands who use podcasting as a means to communicate their views for little more than the cost of a computer and a microphone.
At present the majority of podcasting content is amateurish, much of it probably only of interest to an audience of one – the person who made it. But recent developments point to a rapidly growing appetite for information and entertainment that can be downloaded to a portable device such as an MP3 player. The key factor here is that listeners are able to choose what they want, when they want. Given that the medium is sound, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that it is predicted that podcasting will have an enormous impact on broadcast radio. Already scores of community/public radio stations, such as New York’s WNYC, are producing podcast programmes for listeners. CBC Radio (Canada) producer, Tod Maffin, speculates that, once a raft of restrictive Copyright issues have been resolved, commercial radio broadcasters would be well-minded to adopt the podcasting model of ‘download and listen whenever you want.’ Maffin also predicts that ‘podcastings’ that can attract a significant number of “high-value demographic” listeners will in turn attract the attention of advertisers and commercial radio stations.
There are literally thousands of podcasts available for download from the internet at sites such as PodcastingNews.com and the money-making potential is already starting to be realised by a small number of podcasting aficionados. Most notably by one of the two acknowledged founders of podcasting Adam Curry. In May he signed a deal with a broadcasting network to produce a new show that listeners can download as part of a $12.95 monthly subscription. Curry spotted the commercial potential of podcasting right at the start, in contrast with the view held by David Winer, the ‘other’ founding father responsible for the RSS code that enables podcasts to be downloaded onto MP3 players. Winer argues that ‘podcasting is about art and free speech’ and should not be exploited through commercial practices such as advertising.
However, as the podcasting phenomenon continues to grow it seems that its development will encompass commercial practices, just as e-everything has that came before. With the launch of Apple’s new podcast-enabled website, podcasting’s introduction to the mainstream is significantly underway. This has led many, especially new and up and coming, bands and record companies to take a serious look at ways they might take advantage of this new way of sharing information.
But there are other, less predictable, repercussions for the arts community. In particular, galleries and museums may find that they are affected, possibly by an increase in attendance by enthusiastic patrons, and/or by a decrease in the sales of audio-tours. Dr. David Gilbert of Marymount Manhattan College has helped launch Art Mobs, a student designed project that has produced unofficial audio guides for the Museum of Modern Art which were then made available over the Internet as podcasts. Gilbert explains: ‘In a sentence, we are democratizing the experience of touring an art museum; we are offering a way for anyone to ‘curate’ their own little corner of MoMA.’
Sound artists, dramatists, and writers have also begun to explore the ease with which podcasting allows them to put their material ‘out there.’ This represents an important development in the way information is disseminated on a global scale. Podcasting enables audio e-communication to become portable – the audience no longer has to be at the computer terminal to be a consumer. Not only that but listeners can decide what they download and when they hear it. This is the kind of choice consumers have dreamed of and that technology is now finally able to deliver.
The immediate challenge for artists will be to produce quality content that will attract regular listeners. Whether they do so for art’s sake or in order to seek remuneration will not prevent the mounting interest from commercially savvy operators around them.
And now that podcasting has hit the mainstream, what’s around the corner? Looks like vlogging is the next big thing. If the arts can harness such technologies and lift them above the self-absorption that most blogs and podcasts currently wallow in, we can expect art on demand and some interesting times.
