Are Podcasts Taking a Bite Out of Music Streaming?

Merry Christmas from your friendly neighborhood Jew.  While I don't celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday, I do enjoy the holiday spirit.  And in 2020, whatever brings you joy - do it.

My tip of the week - using your smartphone as a webcam.  Now again, I'm more focused on the audio side of things, but there will always be some folks who want a video component.  So I've been working with Abel Grunfeld and the folks at Riverside FM to begin offering this to my clients.   When I started, I wasn't wild about my new HP laptop's built in webcam, nor the USB one that I got on Amazon.  Well, turns out, the best camera I own is my iPhone Xs.  And there are apps that will allow you to sync your smartphone to your laptop and use that as a camera.  I've done some testing, and now my video quality can match the audio quality in my studio.   Abel recommended Camo for Mac users.  For Windows, I like an app called iVCam.  There's a free version, but the high end version was a one time cost of only about 25 bucks.

Next week, I'll do a look back at 2020 and a look ahead to 2021 in terms of podcasting, but for now, some quick news tidbits if you're looking to plug in your headphones and get some "me time" over the holiday.  Incidentally, that's what tell new clients.  Everyone's burnt out on Zoom, so give them a podcast and a chance to walk away from their screen.

Speaking of families, nice primer by Lindsay Harris Friel from The Podcast Host for how to deal with different family members as it relates to your podcasting career.  Those relatives include the "I Don't Get It," the "Reckless Cheerleader," the "Unintentional Underminer," the "Intentional Underminer," and of course "The Partner."  Lindsay breaks down each of these types, and how to deal with them. https://www.thepodcasthost.com/mindset/what-my-family-thinks-of-podcasting/

Is spoken word audio cutting into music streaming?  An article in no less than Billboard suspects that may be the case.  While music streaming subscribers are up, time spent listening is flat.  Also, the article cites research from Edison that spoken word streaming was up 20% from 2014 to 2019 - with music down 5%, and that's before the pandemic and 2020 Election Cycle. https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9500546/streaming-music-growth-stalled-factors-attention-economy

I opened this show talking about audio producers wanting to include video, but turns out, the opposite is also true.  There's a big video producer...wanting to do audio. Netflix, after months of rumors, has debuted an audio-only mode on their Android app.   The idea is you can "watch" a show by just listening to dialogue and narration.  Not sure if this will take off, but if Netflix is taking notice of audio consumption, that's worth noting.

If you like this show, please feel free to share it with a fellow podcast enthusiast - that will help it grow.  As always, if you need help with your podcast, you can reach me at jagindetroit.com. I leave you with my Uncle Jeff's two rules for life - today seems a good time to mention them.

1. Know Your Audience.
2. Be Kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle 

Depending on when you listen to this, I hope you have a Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy new year.