Today's Podcasting Innovations Will Impact Your Show Tomorrow

Nothing spurs growth and innovation quite like a ruptured economy. New podcasting-specific or podcast-adjacent services are coming at us fast. Are they right for your show?

April 29, 2020

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It's very easy to be dismissive of new podcasting products and services as they hit the market. It's just human nature and even I’m not immune. Part of my job is to try out podcast-specific tools and technologies so I can evaluate their implications and applications for the future of podcasting.

Yet I still have to tamp down my skeptical side when I see something new.

I’m grateful to everyone who sends me messages when they find something new and interesting that they want my opinion on. (More about that at the bottom of this article.) I don’t have copious amounts of time to scan the interwebs for new things, so I rely on people just like you to surface new things for me. So thanks for that!

Podcast Tech Is Just Getting Started

The recent entrants into the pod-tech space are just a harbinger of what’s to come. The world is on lockdown. The economy is in the toilet. Lots of things suck. But things sucked when the housing market collapse of 2008 led to a recession. Yet all sorts of new ideas, products, and services came out of the other end. It’s starting to look at lot like that world all over again. I’m not going out on a limb when I predict a huge wave of new pod-tech soon to be coming at us fast and furious.

I in no way wish to minimize the unfathomable pain and suffering our current crisis is forcing far too many people on the planet to endure. But I also cannot ignore the reality that some smart, creative people don't have a house full of children to entertain, are not caring for elderly parents without the help of home health services, and are not worrying about where their family’s next meal is coming from. People unencumbered by those harsh realities are tinkering with new concepts and putting together new technologies specifically the podcasting space.

That's why I say the wave we’re seeing now is just the start.

Less Scorn, More Acceptance Of New Podcasting Goodies

As podcasters reliant on technology to ply our craft, our first reaction should be one of curiosity, not scorn, when we are introduced to new tech. All of us -- me included -- need to tamp down our natural reactions as we evaluate new tech. And when we do, we must do it not only on its current merits or what the tech will do for our podcasts right now. Rather, we need to consider what future revisions of this tech might do for all of the podcasting in the future.

This is hard. We’re creatures of habit, and as such are beholden to our current processes and techniques. New tech threatens to upset the status quo or the equilibrium we’ve made between getting our next episode out on time and the utter chaos of our lives.

That’s why I don't want to dismiss or even laud any one particular new tool or service just yet. It’s just too early for me to make a call on whether some new tool from some new company is going to gather enough customers to become a going concern. That’s me trying to pick winners, and I have a mixed track record on predicting the survivability of any given company.

Podcasting Tech And The Promise of Better Podcasting

What I’m better at is identifying pockets of promise and opportunity, especially during times of disruption. I’m decent at triage-level sorting of the features and benefits offered by emerging tech. I’m less interested in judging if one offering really does make things better and more interested in judging if the problem area the service is aimed at is ripe for disruption or in need of innovation.

A lot of this new podcasting tech is exciting. New tech can make things better in podcasting. Some tech will make us more efficient podcasters. Some new podcast tech will make obsolete some of the old ways we used to rely on. And that’s a good lens for you to use when you look at these new services. Does this new service have a place in your existing chain? Does it replace something in your chain? Does it completely eliminate the need for something else in your chain? Those are good questions to start with.

But as you do this, try to look beyond the current version of the service and the technology. This version may not be for you and your show right now, but does it hold promise? If you dismiss something new, you might miss out on the second iteration that better fits your needs. So if some new podcast tech looks interesting -- even if it’s not a perfect fit -- it's probably worth your time to sign up for their newsletter and maybe even keep the software updated.

Yes, I know that most of these new products and services aren't going to last. Most of them are going to fizzle out and die. Many of these new services are half-baked at best, because they’re just MVPs -- minimum viable products -- thrown together to see if there's a market fit.

That’s Startup 101 stuff. And so is the reality that most will fail.

But your job as a podcaster isn't to pick winners out of these technologies in their current versions. It’s to look for promise.

Do you see promise in the idea of turning video conference calls into podcasts? It doesn’t matter that the current implementation doesn’t appeal to you (like the current implementation doesn’t appeal to me). But I see the promise in the concept of content repurposing.

No, you might not see the need for a subscription-model transcription service that charges twice what you pay for currently. But you probably do recognize that the AI required to make transcripts better is advancing at a rapid clip, so you can’t dismiss the concept just because you don’t like the revenue model.

Make Smart Bets And Invest Your Time Wisely

Again, your job is not to pick winners and losers. Your job is to find the promises offered by interesting innovations of today that might impact your podcast tomorrow. Stay connected with them. Keep tinkering. Keep playing. And keep your eyes out for new stories that come out about the companies beyond those innovations.

It takes only a little bit of effort to stay engaged with the people behind these innovations. That’s your bet. Venture capitalists make lots of bets with real money on companies that never pan out. Because all they need is one big win and it covers their losses. The same works for you, only your investing a little time to sign up for a newsletter, follow a social channel, or keep some software updated. No money required.

If You’re Tinkering With Pod-Tech, I Want To Hear About It

Some of you are actually playing around with a few of these early-release new tools and services. I would like to hear what you think about them. Love them, hate them… Tell me what you’ve picked up recently that you see promise in. Record a quick minute or two of audio, put the .wav file on Dropbox, and then send the link to evo@podcastlaunch.pro.

If you’d like to show some support for this show, there two ways. The best way is to tell one other podcast or about this program. Pick up the phone or end then an email asking them if they listen to Podcast Pontifications.

The second best way is to go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra and... buy me a coffee. And please consider set up for a monthly contribution. Your support really means a lot.

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Transcript

PP303 - Today's Podcasting Innovations Will Impact Your Show Tomorrow

Evo Terra: [00:00:00] Nothing's burbs growth and innovation, quite like a ruptured economy, new podcasting specific or podcast. Adjacent services are coming at us fast. Are they right for your show?

[00:00:19] Hello, and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me, Evo. Tara. It's very easy to be dismissive of new products and services as they hit the market. And it's just human nature, I suppose even happens to me. My job is to try and evaluate some of these tools and technologies and think of whether or not they're going to be helped for podcasters in the future.

[00:00:44] But still something new comes across my desk and my immediate reaction is. Well, let's see. I suppose, again, that's just second nature. I try to resist it, but it hits me as well, compounded with the fact that people are sending me on a pretty regular basis once or twice a week. Hey, Evo, have you heard about this new thing?

[00:01:09] What do you think? Sometimes I've heard about it. Sometimes I haven't heard about it. And again, quite often I have to tamp down my natural reaction and evaluate it on its merits, not for what it will do right now for me, but about what it might do for all of podcasting in the future. Now, there have been recently we're stuck at home, right?

[00:01:37] We're in the middle of this. Well, global lockdown, which is again, countries are thinking about lifting it, and we'll talk about that in just a moment, but still, we're on lockdown, economy's in the toilet, and it's 2008 all over again. 2009 all over again. Where the technologies are going to be coming at us fast and furious because smart creative people who have, who don't have a house full of children are caring for elderly parents or are worrying about where they're going to make their nest less where their next meal is coming from.

[00:02:08] I don't mean to be little everybody's problems out there, but some people are going to be figuring out ways around this kind of stuff and they're coming out with these new technologies specifically for us here in the podcasting space. So rather than me tell you what I think about each one of those technologies, and I'm happy to do that on an individual basis.

[00:02:28] Don't get me wrong, but I don't want to come here on the program and start dismissing or even lauding some of these new tools and services because I'm not sure exactly what they're going to make it or not. But that's because I don't think it's all that important. What I do think is important is that we relish in this time of coming innovation, this disruptive time we're all about to live through.

[00:02:56] That's just getting started. We need to be able to react quickly when we see new and cool things more than act quickly. We need to not be beholden to our old processes and techniques, especially as these new things come forward. Very likely. If you're anything at all like me, you've got to set a processes and procedures that you follow.

[00:03:27] That help you get the things done you need to get done so you're not spending all the time working on your show. Right? Well, a lot of these new technologies, these new services coming out are designed to make some of those things better. Some of those things faster, some of those things obsolete, perhaps.

[00:03:50] So when I look at these and when I think you should look at these new services. Do they, the thing you want to ask yourself is do they fit in your existing chain? Do they replace something in your chain? Do they completely eliminate the need for something in your chain? You don't know. You got to try him.

[00:04:12] You got to evaluate them, but here comes a second problem as you evaluate them. When you say, no, it's not, yeah, well, maybe it's not for you in this current. In addition, the current version of the service and the technology that's out there. So even if it's not for you, your job is to look for a promise, look for something interesting within that service that didn't really work for you, that if they made a few tweaks, might because you want to be on the early side of catching that, if in fact you can, not that you have to, but ideally you want to grab it as early as you possibly can.

[00:04:50] So if you just dismiss it as, that's dumb, I'll never need it. You might miss out on the second iteration of that. So if something looks interesting, it's worth you continuing to look at it, to sign up for their newsletter, to download the software so you get updates and here's the reality. A lot of them aren't going to continue.

[00:05:16] A lot of them are going to fizzle out and die. Many of these services are half baked at best, but if you've missed out over the last 20 years, there's a lot faster to bring a product or service to market, especially if it's software based. You can do that in weeks. What used to take years, so you're going to see a lot of these half baked efforts come out, or as they might call them in VPs, minimum viable products and a lot of them aren't going to.

[00:05:46] Work for you and a lot of them aren't going to continue. That's the nature of this type of development. Innovation. Throw something together, see if there's a fit. Make it better on the other side. Startup one Oh one stuff. So a lot of these are going to fail. Here's the trick though. Your job as the podcast or as the customer on the end isn't to pick winners out of these technologies.

[00:06:16] So if the ability to take your video conference software to take the content on your video conferences and turn those into a podcast doesn't sound compelling to you, like it doesn't sound compelling to me. We don't have to say winner or loser on that. There might be some interesting bits that come out of that that are worthwhile.

[00:06:40] Maybe not to replace what you're doing for your podcast right now, but to make certain elements work better. So if you don't see the need for a transcription service that is charging twice as much as your current transcription service, however, views as much more advanced AI to get things done. If you don't see promise in that, don't necessarily dismiss it.

[00:07:05] It might actually be something you'll switch to eventually once the kinks are worked out. So again, your job is not to pick winners and losers. Your job is to find interesting bits, interesting innovations that you see today that might impact your podcast tomorrow and stay connected with them. Keep tinkering, keep playing, keep your eyes out for new stories that come out about these companies.

[00:07:34] It's a little bit of effort to stay engaged, but I promise you at least some of those might be successful and just like investors are expecting this giant return, so they make lots of bets on lots of things. I know we're going to fail, but one big return, one big win makes it all worthwhile. Same for you.

[00:07:55] Invest a little bit of your intellectual capacity to following up. And staying on top of what these little innovations look like today, because if just one really pops and changes how you do your podcast, it's totally worth your individual investment in time, energy, and intellectual capacity. That's what I think.

[00:08:18] Now, I know some of you are actually playing around with some of these new tools right now and these new services. I would like to hear what you think about them, whether you'd love them, whether you hate them, does it really matter? How are you using them? I'd like to hear about it and I think I want to share those stories here on the podcast with some of the other folks who might listen to it as well.

[00:08:36] So as before, if you're playing with a new tool, sit down behind the microphone, record me a minute or two of audio, push that way, file to Dropbox and then email me evo@podcastlaunch.pro. Some other people have emailed me asking how they can support the show. There's really two ways. The best thing you can do to support this program is tell one other podcast or about this program.

[00:09:02] Pick up the phone. Send him an email. Hey, are you listening to podcast? Pontifications if not, you should. Here's the link. That's the best way. Second best way, go to buy me a coffee.com/evo Terra and buy me a coffee. Set it up for a monthly contribution. It's like a couple of bucks. That's easy. Your support goes a long way.

[00:09:21] Thank you very much for watching. I shall be back tomorrow with yet another podcast. Pontifications cheers.

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