Does the classical radio station you work at or listen to offer podcasts? I ask after reading a short item in the Radio and Internet Newsletter that highlighted a recent Edison Media Research study on podcasting. Edison found that the number of Americans listening to podcasts has increased from 13 percent to 18 percent over the past year. This might not sound huge, but it is a bigger jump than from 2006 to 2007, when that figure rose only 2 percent.
Based on this, an Edison veep said “radio stations would be smart to create as much podcast-able content as they can.” The newsletter continues: “Webster and other media insiders feel that the reported growing interest, combined with coming developments that will bring podcasts to mobile devices, will make the programming ‘extremely attractive’ to advertisers.”
Is your classical station in a position to take advantage of this? If not, what could it offer? I don’t know right off of any classical podcasts originating from stations. But classical stations could take a cue from such noncommercial music stations as KCRW, WFMU and KEXP. These aren’t classical stations, but they have all found ways to work within copyright limitations and offer podcasts with some musical content.
Could classical podcasts promote local performances — a weekly arts calendar, for example, with music clips? Or spotlight new recordings, local ensembles or unsigned artists? Are out-of-print LPs podcast-friendly? WFMU’s Downtown Soulville, an excellent show of soul music, is offered as a podcast — I’m guessing that all the recordings must be out of print. Otherwise I’m not sure how WFMU could get away with it, though I know the station has also been going directly to many small labels and asking them for greater leeway with their recordings on digital platforms.
If you need some help figuring out what uses of music are legal on podcasts, you could start with the Creative Commons Podcasting Legal Guide. A PDF of the full Edison presentation based on the podcasting study is here. If you listen to classical podcasts produced by stations or networks, leave a comment or write and let us know. In a future post I’ll compile a list of what’s out there.
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Part of the problem with podcasting is the tangle of rights issues that only increase when you’re talking about union-heavy symphony orchestras. That said, I’m planning on buying my 74 year-old mother an iPod for her birthday specifically so that she can download podcasts.
For several years WGBH has produced a “Classical Performance” podcast featuring live performances from its studios. In many ways it parallels what KEXP is doing with its alternative/indie-rock live-performance podcasts, although as far as I know no classical commercial station is offering podcasts including commercial recordings (as KEXP does).
@Ann V.: Which podcasts do you expect your mother to download — classical? Other kinds? Does she know what they are?
Like I said, 18 percent doesn’t sound like a lot. But it is, to me, a surprisingly large number considering that a few years ago it seemed like most people had no idea what podcasts were. I’ve taught workshops on podcasting to high-school students and have been surprised to find that many of them didn’t listen to podcasts. One high-school teacher told me that, with many of his kids, if something isn’t on Facebook or Myspace they just don’t know about it.
Kate Remington and Lauren Rico are doing podcasts at WSHU:
http://wshu.org/music/music_interview_main.php