The podcast waters have been especially choppy in the past couple of months. A few of the bigger ships have cut their crews in half, others appear to be sinking. But, I think bigger waves are on their way. As a freelancer, my only option is to innovate, upskill, and try to catch a tube ride. To that end, this Revelation is a reflection on all of the columns I’ve written this year and how they might help us stay afloat.

In my very first column, I advocated for a one-year moratorium on the production of true crime podcasts. I felt the genre had morphed into something slightly grotesque – trauma porn. But the genre is lucrative and companies are never going to stop making true crime shows, so for the industry to survive ethically it felt like time for a pause. A chance for storytellers to find fresh angles and narratives. I see hope in shows like Short Cuts ‘Small Victories: The Gouging’ in which a thoroughly hilarious investigation is conducted into an unforgivable crime, Please Protect Abraham which explores the flaws in Britain’s witness protection system, and I Am Not Nicholas which investigates whether a convicted sex offender had faked his own death and moved to Glasgow. Could these true crime shows attract the same budget as the more violent stories, and save podcasting? Not on their own, but it might be a step towards repairing the industry.

My second column highlighted the growing number of celebrity-fronted podcasts. Whilst some talent choices make sense, spending half the budget on a celeb host purely in the hopes that their existing following will flock to the podcast does not. Often this celeb-first-approach results in a show where the host is going to ‘talk about anything and everything with my celeb friends’ – a format that is not only lazy but also boring. The budget might be better spent on funding more development time or paying the production team better wages, resulting in more nuanced narratives and innovative formats that elevate the medium…and in turn attract more advertisers. Love + Radio and Have You George’s Podcast being perfect examples of genre-bending, innovative podcasts that are pushing and evolving the medium.

We’ve lamented this creative stagnation, but alas we were recently hit with some bad news that I fear will only send us further down this path. A few of the creative avant-garde podcasts, such as Invisibilia, have recently been axed despite their acclaim and dedicated fan base. Production company Somethin’ Else recently handed back a few BBC contracts ‘amid concerns of diminishing commercial returns’ and quietly cancelled the podcast High Low with EmRata as Sony laid off podcast staff for a third time in two years. Following the news of cuts and layoffs at WNYC, the CEO of New York Radio pointed to Edison Research’s statistics showing that AM/FM radio’s reach is three times greater than that of podcasts, and so they will be focusing less on podcasts.

That doesn’t mean that podcasts are dead. They can still be wildly successful, but I wonder if these future successes will come from independent creators. Creators who are unencumbered by bureaucracy and company politics, who have full control over creative decisions, ownership over their IP, and a genuine connection with their audience. (Just typing that sentence brought me a flutter of excitement.)

To reiterate, podcasts are here to stay. Many times they were just used incorrectly, rinsed for profit (we’ve seen it happen in many industries), and often the people in charge of making the big decisions have never made a podcast or built an audience. So, I am trying to view this period of time as a difficult rebirth of the medium. An opportunity to make something different.

This creator autonomy and financial independence might be achieved through subscription platforms like Substack and Patreon – a concept I examined in my most recent column. The essence of podcasting lies in the connection between creators and listeners. When creators are empowered, it leads to more authentic and engaging content. Which is why I’m particularly interested in Patreon’s app overhaul. Patreon provides creators with tools to build a dedicated following and cultivate stronger bonds with their audience with features like direct messaging, exclusive content, and live chats. And of course there’s the added benefit of not having to worry about your show being axed out of the blue. In combination with other sources of financial support, a show could be more stable independently. A great example is Drunk Women Solving Crime, which is now being adapted for television!

I’ve been using this column to try and reveal the shows worth listening to and if you (like most listeners) engage in podcasts mostly through listening platforms, you might think that the shows that are featured in your favourite app are the best shows. Some of them are, some of them just had a good PR strategy and a big marketing budget. But hopefully I’ve shown that the best podcasts aren’t necessarily at the top of the charts, they aren’t always fronted by a celeb, and they may not have been produced by a podcast company. Sometimes, the best podcasts are the ones that are a little bit wild and a little bit accidental.

Of course, as creators, there are many benefits to building your show with a company – their network and existing relationships, a team of talented creatives to create with, access to a knowledge/skill pool far greater than your own, a legal team etc. But the truth is, there’s a lot of guesswork and experimentation behind company doors too. I’ve seen companies publicly dissect what an independent creator is doing well and retrospectively apply a strategy, but in reality there wasn’t a 45-point plan behind that creator’s success. They were small and independent and they tried something and it resonated with other people who came back for more, take Madeline Argy for example.

So, paddling out into the podcasting waters alone might seem terrifying and it might be harder and take longer to get out there but you might end up being more successful than you ever expected.

Useful Links:

In my second column, I called for the new age of audio to begin. Something that inspires me is looking outside of the podcasting industry. Recently, I was blown away by Los Santos +3°C – an experience that turned a server of GTA Online into a climate change simulator. I’ve also referenced VICE’s The Unfiltered History Tour in a previous column but it’s too good not to mention again.

I also wrote a column about audio and incorporating video into projects. I personally can feel a little bombarded with everyone using video in a similar way but projects like this one about the true story of Pocahontas inspire me to think outside the box.  [Ed. for more on that project, check out this episode of Stuff The British Stole]

Meera’s Recommendations:

Short Cuts – Series 33 – Small Victories

The Gouging sees a true crime being investigated – an academic conducts a study into missing forks and three friends search for the right note. The Gouging is Produced by Steven Jackson, Original music by Steven Jackson and Cue Shop, a music library and scoring co-op.

Please Protect Abraham

In Hackney, 2007, 15-year-old Abraham saves a stranger from a brutal attack. That split-second decision and act of astonishing bravery changes his life forever. Journalist Sam Holder has been following Abraham’s story for years. Together with Abraham’s friends and family, they retrace how this young boy finds himself in fear of his own life. Listen here >>

Invisibila

Invisibilia—Latin for invisible things—fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently. In their final episode, Invisibilia searches for the right way to say goodbye. Listen here >>

Love + Radio

Nick van der Kolk’s Love and Radio features in-depth, otherworldly-produced interviews with an eclectic range of subjects, from the seedy to the sublime. Get inside the mind of a rogue taxidermist. Listen here >>

Have You Heard George’s Podcast

In Have You Heard George’s Podcast?, spoken word artist George The Poet joins producer and composer Benbrick to create this narrative-style podcast where the narrator, George, delves into different themes and topics. Find out the best way to start listening here >>

The post Will podcasting survive? appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Sure, you might have to sit through a couple of ads halfway through a podcast episode but generally you don’t have to pay a penny to listen (paywalled platforms like Luminary excluded, of course). So, you might be wondering why I think you should pay for your favourite podcast (if you can afford it).

I’m not referring to the main feed – keep that free – I’m talking about tantalising bonus content that’s one paywall away.

I (John) have a subscription to @empiremagazine, @PilotTVPod, @WeeklyPlanetPod, @cine_verse & Probably True. In my opinion, for bigger shows the appeal has to be the extra audio I'm getting for my money, for smaller shows it's more about supporting creators I like.

— The Dream Factory (@DreamFactoryPod) July 14, 2023

Bonus content builds on the free episodes that you love, so you get to immerse yourself further into that world. Plus, you get access to a community of people with similar interests giving you the chance to make IRL friends. So, it’s great for you but it’s also important for the creator.

That being said, I see a lot of meagre subscription offerings that I personally wouldn’t pay for – ad-free early access and a t-shirt that’s clearly going to shrink the first time that you wash it. Great subscriptions require effort, let me walk you through some of the things on the market.

The Basement Yard has a pretty basic Patreon offering and it’s hugely successful. They make at least £104 526 a month on Patreon (assuming all 23,749 subscribers are paying for the cheapest subscription). Across all three Patreon tiers, they offer early ad-free episodes, merch discounts, and a weekly bonus episode. But that doesn’t seem like very much considering a standard Netflix subscription is £10.99 a month whilst The Basement Yard’s most popular tier costs £8.50.

I am very faithful to my subscriptions as it stands. I would say additional audio and supporting smaller creators are the only two factors for me personally. I'm not fussed about video versions or any community benefits like early tickets to live shows or merch etc.

— The Dream Factory (@DreamFactoryPod) July 17, 2023

A lot of podcasts offer the same benefits as The Basement Yard and whilst some subscribers are just paying to support their favourite creators and aren’t fussed about the extras, let’s explore some of the more generous Patreon subscriptions out there.

The podcast industry is a turbulent place, in part because a handful of companies control most of the wealth. Extremely popular podcasts have been axed by big companies with little notice, such as NPR’s Invisibilia, leaving listeners shocked. Subscriptions allow your favourite podcasters to maintain control of their show and provide an income for themselves independently (instead of selling their soul and their IP to a company who can cut the cash flow whenever they want to). Case in point: RedHanded has 9,779 paying members, makes $47,810 a month, and they’re upfront about how this money helps fund their lives and creation. Their cheapest subscription offers the bog standard early ad-free episodes plus weekly bonus ‘after party’ episodes. Their more expensive subscriptions include a full-length monthly bonus episode, monthly video content, access to presale tickets for live events, merch discounts, free digital products and shoutouts on the podcast.

I’m a believer that bonus material should be of the same quality, if not better, than the main podcast but obviously that requires a lot of work for creators. That’s why I like RedHanded’s free digital products, e.g. themed lockscreen backgrounds. They are an easier lift for the creators but it’s great value for their community who want to rep the show in real life. Realistically, there are only so many bonus episodes that someone can watch (and that creators have time to edit) so I appreciate the creative alternatives that some podcasts have come up with. RadioLab, for example, ships you a magnet collection and offers annual trivia nights.

All of these offerings worldbuild and deepen the show’s sense of community. This Tweet highlights how fun that can be:

Timesuck does this really well, in my opinion. Weekly bonus episodes that are extremely interactive with fans and discounts for merch. There's even a secret handshake!

— JOSH (@joshtayloraudio) July 14, 2023

This is especially crucial for creators from underrepresented backgrounds, who are often neglected by podcast charts, which tend to be dominated by similar shows created by people from similar backgrounds. These shows rely on their communities heavily. Subscriptions keep their diverse storytelling alive and prevent shows/creators that don’t look like those ‘top shows’ from being wiped out because they don’t get the same algorithm boost or have access to the same funding. As one of very few British Indian women in the podcasting industry, I know that it’s harder for certain groups of people and certain types of shows to get sponsorship. If your favourite podcast is lucky enough to secure ad revenue, it’s often not sufficient to cover all production costs and ensure the creator’s livelihood. If those advertisers don’t have the budget next year, then that might be the tipping point for the show.

These creators often take the time to interact with their communities through bonus content – whether that’s through a Discord server, allowing listeners to vote for what the next episode will cover, or a monthly livestream where you can ask questions and paint figurines along with a NADDPOD host.

A huge chunk of each bonus episode consists of the host reacting to & and answering listener voice messages and emails.

— JOSH (@joshtayloraudio) July 17, 2023

By busting through that one paywall, you’re not only supporting your favourite creators and getting some great exclusive benefits, but you’re also helping shape the future of storytelling by ensuring that the loudest voices on the podcasting battlefield don’t all sound the same.

Meera’s Podcast Subscription Recommendations:

The Amelia Project is a comedy fiction podcast about an agency that help people fake their deaths.  Check out their Patreon >>

Radiolab’s membership programme offers exclusive access to behind the scenes perks and more. Read more >>

Not Another D&D Podcast is an actual-play D&D podcast. They offer bonus content, livestreams and other free stuff. Check out their Patreon >>

Redhanded podcast started as a passion project between friends. Their Patreon has nearly 10,000 supporters >>

And this article from the New Statesman argues that it’s the corporate age of storytelling and many stories aren’t being funded.

And if you want to support the only independent podcast magazine in the UK, Pod Bible has a Patreon too! >>

The post We SHOULD pay for podcasts… Unless we want all podcasts to sound the same appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Podcasts are traditionally audio only, but I’m not a purist and I don’t think we need to limit ourselves by defining exactly at which point a podcast ceases to be a podcast. Sure, labels help us categorise the things around us – food, human, lightbulb – so we can understand the world more easily. But they aren’t strictly necessary, they can be subjective, and they can sometimes draw focus away from appreciating something as it is.

I think we can probably all agree that a podcast is a podcast if 1) the content makes sense when you listen to it without seeing any visuals 2) there are audio-only episodes to listen to.

There are a number of reasons to create a video podcast – you may reach new fans on YouTube because a lot of fans of your podcast genre live on YT, you can cut the video down and repurpose clips for different platforms which in turn may help you reach more people, you might get access to more monetisation opportunities, or you might offer video as a subscriber perk to paying community members to strengthen your relationship with them. Regardless of the benefits, it’s worth understanding what’s involved before you dive in.

If you’re considering creating a video podcast, consider first whether your podcast lends itself to the visual medium easily. Chat shows, like The Colin and Samir Show, have been some of the first podcasts to make the switch to video but many genres are more complicated. Such as narrative documentary podcasts which have so many different audio elements that creating visuals would be complex. Take just the contributor element for example – contributors may not want to be filmed, you might have recorded pickups with them that blend in seamlessly audio-wise but don’t work as a visual edit, and the hundreds and hundreds of fine edits in a contributor’s tape just wouldn’t work if we could see the person talking on the screen. You could film them doing something in their daily lives whilst their tape plays over the top, you could film abstract scenes that make sense emotionally with the tone of the overlaid audio, you could just film their hands, you could cut to a static image with text, or you could create animations like The Midnight Gospel, My Favourite Murder, this short clip of a Love + Radio episode, this QCODE teaser, and StoryCorps. There are many excellent creative visual workarounds but they take time, skill and money to execute – which is kind of at odds with the low barrier to entry of podcasting. That being said, if you need to cut costs, consider only producing videos for special episodes or looping the same animation as in this QCODE video.

If you’re forging ahead, remember quality is the priority. Do justice to the story you’re telling and don’t give people the opportunity to ‘skip’ the story just because the visuals are poor.

Here are my tips for those stepping into video podcasting:

1. Cameras. Ensure you’re filming on a good camera, but be aware that a fancy expensive camera doesn’t automatically create great visuals, you need to understand how to use it and you need to understand lighting. This video from Peter McKinnon is a great place to start.
2. Remote recording. An alternative to getting everyone in the same room with cameras set up is a dedicated remote recording programme. I’ve been using Riverside.fm, for years. It’s simple to use, records the video and audio locally so it’s high quality, and is ideal if you and your guests aren’t in the same location. I suggest linking your laptop to an external camera. The audio is also recorded as a .wav so you’re not compromising on the quality of sound either. Bonus: you can invite listeners to watch your recording live so you can build community relations at the same time!
3. Background. Set up your camera and figure out what is in the shot, then tidy and dress the set.
4. Microphones. If you need to mic up a few people and don’t want to deal with the faff of hiding cables, setting levels and recorders, there are plenty of new solutions to this – for example the Nomono Sound Capsule has four wireless mics that you can clip on and auto uploads all of the recordings to the cloud.

Post-Production:

1. I mainly use Reaper to produce podcasts but that doesn’t work for video so software for video is essential. For those already working in Adobe Audition there is that option, and I’m teaching myself how to use Davinci Resolve to edit and colour grade videos. I highly recommend it and there are some great tutorials online.
2. If you have the resources then be playful with your edit to make the visuals more engaging – multiple camera angles, B-roll, cutaways, animation, creative subtitles, and so on. Don’t overwhelm the viewer, but don’t be afraid to try something different.
3. Subtitles. The other aspects you can experiment with what works for you, but if you’re going to create visuals to accompany your audio, then subtitles are non-negotiable.

Sharing stories orally is an ancient practice and there’s only one way I can think to describe how I feel about audio storytelling – bare-bare, a Japanese phrase that (according to the book I was reading) translates as ‘the sound of being so invested in something that it leaks into everything you do’.

I’m up for embracing video and experimenting if it elevates a story/show, but there’s something special about audio that other mediums can’t capture. As Pod Bible’s Digital Editor says: “it is – and always will be – okay to make an audio-only podcast”.

Want to try video podcasting – as a podcaster OR a die-hard listener? Check out Meera’s recommendations for video podcast about video podcasting:

1. The recent Cumulus Media and Signal Hill report about consumer preferences and video podcasting has been put out as a video podcast.
2. The Colin and Samir Show has diversified into video with its popular YouTube channel – this episode features Tim Ferriss talking about the evolution of long form video podcasts.
3. The Midnight Gospel – this animated video podcast is about a video podcaster in space
4. If you’re after some tips for setting up your video podcast, YouTuber and Photographer Peter McKinnon explains background and lighting here >>

The post Video podcasting: Is it right for your show? appeared first on POD BIBLE.

I did ask Chat GPT to write this column for me, but it turns out that it can’t quite capture the pzazz and zest that I exude when writing about audio. So, to my dismay, I have had to write this entire thing myself.

New technology can threaten jobs, traditional methods of storytelling, and our sense of comfort in the way we have learned to engage with podcasting. Job automation is an incredibly important subject to consider, however I will not be addressing it in this particular issue of Revelations. Instead I want to focus on the applications of AI and how it might benefit the evolution of our artform.

There are parts of the podcast production process that may be expedited by AI. Take the development stage for example. You could use Chat GPT to generate your content calendar or a script around particular phrases or topics. However, I do not suggest using the ideas that Chat GPT produces as your sole form of idea development as there are four main pitfalls to doing so.

Firstly, the human brain is brilliant and may be inspired to connect different concepts in a unique and creative way that Chat GPT may not. Instead of creating exactly what Chat GPT suggests, use it as a starting point and ask yourself: “What else? So what? What am I missing here?”. AI may make this initial brainstorm easier, but there is currently no comparison to the unusual and complex connections that our brains can make.

Secondly, Chat GPT can produce repetitive results. I spent two hours using the software this morning and whilst I was impressed at the breadth of information I was able to learn (which would have taken much longer to obtain using Google), oftentimes it was saying the same thing in different ways, oftentimes it gave similar results, and oftentimes it just reworded the same answer. You get the picture.

Thirdly, other podcasters may be using Chat GPT to plan their content, and they may input many of the same prompts as you, and therefore may receive similar answers to you. In this way, the use of AI could lead to the homogenisation of the podcast landscape, which would kill the medium (and also your show) because everyone is making content based on the same information.

Fourthly, AI can reinforce existing biases due to the data it’s trained on; if an AI algorithm is trained on data that contains racial or gender biases, or information from one particular country, then it’s likely to produce biased information. A lot of data in the world is biased in these ways, so I’d be curious to speak to someone who works in the field who is able to explain how they are mitigating that.

The recording and editing process is another part of production AI can aid. For example, AI can be used to repair audio, remove filler words, and denoise your recording. Adobe recently released Adobe Podcast, which does pretty much everything. Most impressive is its ability to make the recording sound like it was conducted in a studio, which it achieves by altering the frequencies of your voice and reducing the background noise. You can use it to deep fake your host’s voice to generate an entire episode, or correct a single sentence that you don’t have time to re-record with the host.

Adobe Podcasts and AI tools like it could even be used to create a whole series without a host having to record a single line! The Times recently produced an episode of Stories of our Times about deep fake audio, with an accompanying video showing the host, David Aaronovitch, reacting to his AI voice clone. Aaronovitch identified a common issue experienced when using AI this way – mispronunciation. Some words were pronounced inconsistently throughout the podcast, and in a way that the host himself would never pronounce said word. But the world moves very fast, and creating a daily show takes work. We often want to cover more, but it’s impossible. German publishing house, Heise Gruppe, have solved this by using AI to clone their host’s voice and then used text to speech to create a second daily episode for their show. It increased their plays by 37%. But whilst the episodes increased engagement, feedback from listeners identified similar pronunciation issues in English and German, as well as an unnatural lack of breathing sounds.

There is a wealth of AI applications in post-production – we’re all used to using automatic transcripts already – but now that you can create automatic captions on promo videos you can use AI that utilises natural language processing to convert your podcast audio to text. This type of AI can be used to write an accompanying blog or the shownotes for an episode, it could write an entire Twitter thread for you, or you could use AI to create a filter for your TikTok fans. I think the priority here shouldn’t be to churn out as much content as possible, but instead AI should be used to increase our efficiency so we have more time to increase the value of each piece of content – something that is especially useful for smaller teams who may not have the beefy budgets.

I’ve recently downloaded Fathom, a more social podcast player that makes use of AI to allow you to save moments in a podcast and share them with your friends. The player also uses AI to recommend other shows, a general function that Chat GPT itself has told me could be a concern: it may be prone to the same racial or gender biases mentioned, and at the very least “As AI algorithms become more sophisticated, they It may favour popular shows and topics over less well-known ones, making it harder for new and diverse voices to be heard.”

However impressed we are at its current capabilities, AI’s computational power is doubling every six to 10 months, well ahead of Moore’s Law. The implication is that, what we’re seeing now is AI in its infancy. It’s scary but it might just be the most exciting stage of the internet – so far!

Still can’t get your head around what AI actually is? Listen to Meera’s AI podcast recommendations:

Hard Fork – ‘GPT-4 Is Here + The Group Chat Bank Run’

The New York Times weighs in on the latest developments in ChatGPT last week.  Listen on your favourite app >>

Short Wave – ‘Can you teach a computer common sense?’

NPR’s podcast Short Wave discussed the idea of computer thinking back in January, before the release of the latest ChatGPT. Listen on your favourite app >>

Between Two Mics – ‘This Episode Was Written Using ChatGPT’

The remote recording podcast has a play around with AI creativity, with an episode written by ChatGPT. Listen on your favourite app >>

Imaginary Worlds – ‘The Human Touch’

A show that focuses on fantasy and sci-fi worlds, this episodes looks at the way AI has been encroaching on visual art, the legalities of copyright (or lack of them) and what can be gained and lost through AI art. Listen on your favourite app >>

Talks at Google  – ‘Ep210 – Mo Gawdat | Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World’

A conversation from Talks at Google about the bigger picture and concerns with AI. Listen on your favourite app >>

Synthetic Stories – ‘Episode 1 – Amelia’

This Is Distorted has made an entire podcast using AI, from the artwork, to the script, title – and even the Press Release we were sent. Synthetic Stories is a podcast, about a podcast, made by… the podcast? This recommendation was written by a human, however. Listen on your favourite app >>

Stories of Our Time – ‘Artificial intelligence: Bright new future or the end of humanity?’

Stories of Our Time with David Aaronovitch (possibly) asks if machines could be our surgeons, our judges and our artists, what would it then mean to be human? Listen on your favourite app >>

The post Outsourcing to robots: Is Generative AI the death of creativity in podcasting? appeared first on POD BIBLE.

I am very proud to have been named Best Entertainment Producer in last year’s APAs, but that moniker feels inaccurate considering my body of work consists almost entirely of factual narrative storytelling. So, I started to scrutinise the hypothesis that my work is prioritising entertainment. Is it journalism with flair or just a potboiler? Are we telling stories ethically and with purpose or are we just doing it to sell the intellectual property rights to the book/TV/streaming spin-off?

The stories our ancestors told, whether through song or creepy fairy tales, had purpose. They entertained us but they also taught us life lessons like ‘don’t share your home address with strangers when visiting grandma’. Oral storytelling transmitted knowledge that saved our lives and preserved history. Studies have even shown that stories help us process concepts differently compared to when the same concepts are presented to us as facts.

Now podcasts are the oral stories we use to elevate truths that are in the public interest, but we tell them with high production value compared to traditional journalism. This and the explosive growth of our medium is why I question how we tell stories now and whether we’ve strayed too much towards entertainment, prioritising big stories that make big money.

Many podcasts balance entertainment and purpose, with success. A handful of chart-topping true crime podcasts have even uncovered flaws in original police investigations and led to 40 year old murders being solved (The Teacher’s Pet) or freed a wrongly-convicted person from jail (Serial). Furthermore, both the teams behind Serial and Sweet Bobby received evidence and information from listeners during their investigations, which contributed to the resolution of the stories. These live investigations drummed up a lot of excitement, audience participation and attention. They were entertaining but they also did some good in the world.

That being said, these few successes may not justify the trending unwieldy ‘investigations’ and witch hunts. Often we’re ruthless in our pursuit of the best tape and the best access, with some podcast hosts recording phone calls (we don’t hear whether the person knows they’re being recorded for a podcast before the conversation, which is illegal in the UK if you intend to share them with a third party) and knocking on people’s doors out of the blue – completely disregarding a person’s right to privacy. But the more dramatic the tape, the higher the chance that the podcast will be featured on Best Of lists and the TV people will come knocking and ask to buy the IP. After all, every production company wants to follow the podcast to TV examples of Missing Richard Simmons, The Shrink Next Door, Song Exploder, and Limetown. That’s where the money is, I’m told (but not for the real people we’re actually telling a story about who never see a penny). The possible IP sale at the end of the rainbow is a massive driving force behind which stories get greenlit by companies and which gather dust in the Notes app on my phone. It’s a worrying sign that money is increasingly driving our editorial decisions, instead of whether the public needs to hear a story because of its potential real life impact. The ethics of buying and selling true stories was recently challenged on an episode of Lights Out, highlighting that contributors aren’t always aware of how a show is made or how their involvement may affect them, which is something that Ofcom is trying to address. There have been cases like S Town, in which the producers were sued for invasion of privacy, revealing personal information (including about a contributor’s sexuality, suicidal tendencies and financial affairs), and for not getting adequate consent from the contributor. The case was settled but the podcast is still widely debated for being more voyeuristic than journalistic. And yes, it is in development to be turned into a movie.

There are also worries that podcast productions are skewing actual justice, as in the case of The Teacher’s Pet trial where it was recorded that “the unrestrained and uncensored public commentary about the applicant’s guilt, is the most egregious example of media interference with a criminal trial process”. Mere months after the podcast was released the suspect was finally charged, but it very nearly jeopardised the case. It meant that there could be no jury in the trial (for fears that they may have been biased by the podcast), the trial was delayed in order to let speculation die down, and the suspect’s lawyers could use it to request that the judge permanently halt the prosecution. The judge claimed that the podcast was unbalanced and pushed a particular narrative using evidence that couldn’t be used in court. More worryingly, the judge said that the show “may in whole or in part have completely deprived some evidence of its usefulness”.

Podcasts may have the power to aid justice but they rarely start from a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and much of what is shared in a podcast would never hold up in court and would be discarded as hearsay. Whilst these deep dives into what a neighbour may have heard are captivating, it can be a dangerous and unethical presentation of a story – both for the people involved in the story, and for the producers who may be held liable in court. This is an even bigger risk for indy podcasters who may not check their scripts with lawyers prior to publishing, and may not have access to insurance. Take Only Murders in the Building for example – it’s a great streaming show but in reality their podcast could get them convicted of criminal contempt.

The concerns discussed above aren’t isolated to a single genre. Regardless, we want the most exciting tape and the as-yet-untold reveal but we have to be aware of the power of our shows over listeners and how every word we write could damn or distress a person, and – in some cases – subvert the course of justice. Indy producers in particular need to be cautious about how much personal information they reveal about contributors, be clear about getting consent, and be aware of the journalistic and legal principles that will keep their story from overstepping the line.

The line between ethical storytelling and entertainment is a line we draw ourselves as Producers. Yes, it would be great to sell the IP and then be able to tell more stories, but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor in which stories we tell or how we tell them. Yes, a show needs to be dramatic and entertaining in order to retain listeners but that needs to be balanced with journalistic integrity. And yes, it feels great when you get emotional tape and spicy rumours, but not at the risk of abandoning our duty of care.

Listen to Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

Check out these episodes for more insight to ethical considerations in podcasting…

Ep 3 | Podcasts —> TV = Big Money? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This episode of Shameless Acquisition Target explores the podcast to TV phenomenon if you want to delve into it a bit more. Laura Meyer’s show has received lots of praise for its look at the podcast industry. Listen on your podcast app >>

Lights Out – ‘Accounts and Accountability’

Lights Out is a new show on BBC Radio 4 that explores a different topic each episode and encourages people to take a close listen. In this episode,  a documentary-maker hosts an open-call audition for subjects to star in her next project. Accounts and Accountability offers a dive into the ethics of buying and selling true stories. Listen on your podcast app >>

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Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Ethics and Entertainment: What should be driving editorial choices? appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Much like a cockerel can tell when the morning is near without even seeing the sky, I can tell when the end of the year is nigh without a calendar due to the slew of Best Of 2022 lists that eat up my hotmail storage.

So the Year of Celebrity Podcasts, formerly known as The Year of the Ox, draws to a close. Talent agents are no doubt keen to put their OOO on, but not before they politely reject the 14th request of the day for Tom Hanks to guest on a chat show. Freelancers chase their final invoice. And production companies send that invoice to their junk folders with a contented sigh.

It’s been a year full of excitement and commissions, but I’ve noticed that a lot of the shows produced and currently in development look similar in content and format. I’ve only been in the industry for 18 months but as the APA Gold winner of the Best Entertainment Producer award (humble brag), I feel justified in saying that not every idea needs a chat show. I too indulge on occasion, but there must be balance in the world. I have however developed a good coping mechanism – every time a potential client mentions recreating Diary of a CEO, I dry my tears whilst listening to The Real Tom Banks or Ghetto Life 101. And then I cry again in the knowledge that I haven’t made anything as good as that yet, but hopefully there’s still time for me to channel my inner Ira Glass ‘before the podcast bubble bursts’ – a prediction that was shared with me over Zoom earlier this year. Many of the prophecies that I’ve heard in 2022, such as ‘video podcasts are going to kill traditional podcasts’, are yet to come true but just in case 2023 is our last year of producing content then let’s make something remarkable.

I believe that interactive and personalised audio is the next frontier. Having been inspired by ingenious projects like VICE’s The Unfiltered History Tour, I’ve been keeping my eye out for other signs of innovation in the industry. Perhaps Spotify’s latest acquisition will lead to something exciting. Last month, Spotify confirmed the acquisition of voice AI company, Sonantic. Their AI turns text into a realistic-sounding voice, and was used to generate Val Kilmer’s voice in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. There’s a lot of interest in this space at the moment – Bruce Willis sold the rights to his likeness to a deepfake company and James Earl Jones sold his voice to Respeecher. Maybe Spotify intends to commission a series bringing back voices from the past like JFK Unsilenced, or to preserve voices that may not last much longer. During last week’s Radio Tech Con, Respeecher’s co-founder Alex Serdiuk demonstrated how the AI could clone Churchill’s voice and make him sing the Britney Spears hit Toxic. I found it incredibly exciting and I think Respeecher will have remarkable applications in podcasting. If you’re new to deepfake audio and all of this is going right over your head, then check out ‘Deepfake Dallas’ and ‘Sleight of Ear’ from 20 Thousand Hertz. Who knows what Spotify has planned for their deepfake AI, maybe they intend to use the technology so that celebrities can voice audiobooks without ever reading a line of script out loud, but if that’s the biggest that we can dream then please tell me where to hand in my resignation.

Also at Radio Tech Con, I watched Rebecca Saw and Ian Forester demonstrate their work in Adaptive Podcasting for the BBC – which I mentioned in my last column. In short, it makes use of a smartphone’s sensors (the pedometer, the accelerometer, the ambient light sensor and so on) and alters the script and SFX of a show to make it personal to your environment. Adaptive Podcasting could take a true crime show to an eerily personal level, slow down podcasts if you slow your running speed, or even alter the content of political shows depending on the country you’re listening in to make it more relevant. I’m not sure whether headphone gestures are already integrated into the programme but I’d love to make shows that listeners can personalise with a simple nod or shake of the head, eliminating the need to even get your phone out of your pocket. Currently Adaptive Podcasting is only supported on BBC Sounds’ own Android player but I’d love to see it incorporated onto all major platforms. Although let’s be real, if we don’t even have automatic transcriptions yet then this isn’t going to happen for a while.

I can’t tell you to stop listening to/making celeb podcasts; in the words of the Grinch: “one man’s toxic sludge is another man’s potpourri”. I’m just saying, let’s mix it up a little next year.

Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

The Unfiltered History Tour

The podcast from VICE that made Meera cry, VICE World News brings you the stories of ten stolen goods on display at the British Museum. Listen now on your podcast app >>

(If you enjoy this, you can also try ABC Podcasts Stuff The British Stole).

‘Deepfake Dallas’

Twenty Thousand Hertz is a lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. This episode from September 2020 looks at and gives examples of deepfake audio. Listen on your podcast app >>

‘Slight of Ear’

This episode talks about the secret of sound design, including a look at audio deepfakes, sonic branding and analogue versus digital.

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Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Goodbye ‘celeb’ podcasts: It’s time for the next frontier of audio appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Kim Kardashian apparently did not see my proposed moratorium on true crime shows and has since launched her own Spotify-exclusive series.

Whilst this 8-part series echoes the honourable mission of Serial (Kim’s favourite podcast), it feels less novel; which is perhaps compounded by the fact that it’s fronted by one of the figures most ubiquitous in contemporary pop culture. This reinforces the thesis of my last column – we’re too busy trying to emulate the last big blockbuster that we’re not innovating.

So, the ban stands.

Readers of my last column contacted me with their counterpoints to my proposed ban, and they sent me their recommendations in an attempt to sway me:

Unless you do something quite different within the true crime genre. Have a listen @meeerakumar to our newly released Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer and see if you change your mind. https://t.co/iepg45NEid https://t.co/BEFDWSBWan

— Audrey Gillan (@audreygillan) October 5, 2022

Interesante propuesta de @meeerakumar: "dejar de hacer true crimes por un año". Si bien se entienden, leyendo, los porqués de la propuesta, quizás estaría bueno pensar otras narrativas sobre otros casos policiales, no necesariamente sobre asesinatos, serial killers, etc. https://t.co/nBVvsQadYn

— Pablo (@EscuchaPodcast) October 6, 2022

I’ve yet to hear a series that sheds the predictable format of the true crime genre and surprises me with its ingenuity, but I’m still making my way through these recommendations and will tweet any changes of heart.

I think I’m craving something more meta, a show that breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges the absurdities of the genre whilst simultaneously steering me through a remarkable story in a clever format. Perhaps one solution is in Adaptive Podcasting. Imagine a show with episodes that adapt depending on your location, the time of day, or even your predictions about what happens next in the story. That may not be possible just yet, [ed. Neutrinowatch came fairly close for fiction!] but there are advances being made in this area that would take the listening experience to the next level.

Speaking of, Kim Kardashian’s new podcast sparked my interest due to its extra sources, which (whilst basic in this instance) represent an interesting concept. Producing valuable supplementary resources is time intensive but it could be the layer that sets a show apart and builds an active and engaged audience. Especially when used in conjunction with existing interactive features, like polls, which I expect to see more podcasts utilising considering the growing popularity of smart speakers and voice assistants. More on that in an upcoming column.

Finally, I’m curious about what Kim’s podcast deal looks like and if any of the advertising profits are being put aside for Kevin’s release/rehabilitation or to cover his legal fees… but maybe Kim’s planning to pay off her $1.26m SEC charges first.

Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Mini Revelations: The true crime ban stands! appeared first on POD BIBLE.

For the sake of my humanity and the industry’s creativity, there needs to be a one-year blanket ban on the production of true crime podcasts.

This may seem counter-intuitive. Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was just watched for 196.2 million hours in its first week. And Serial’s update on Adnan Syed’s release recently made its way to the top of the Apple Podcasts and Spotify charts – almost eight years since they last reported on the subject. With those commercial successes in mind, it’s going to be nigh impossible to convince the streaming giants and producers eyeing up those ~24.5 million Dahmer viewers (of which I am one) that my proposed ban is a good idea.

But, hear me out.

Every production company has a hand on the teat of this cash cow, trying to milk the true crime genre for everything it’s worth. There’s a steady flow of new podcasts – as well as TV shows and YouTube channels – dedicated to feeding our fascination with the macabre and the taboo in a socially acceptable form. I am not immune to the morbid curiosity – I too rubberneck on the M25 when I spot a crumpled bumper. These shows allow us a peek into an experience that we hope we’ll never have ourselves. From a safe virtual distance, we are free to indulge in and analyse the darker sides of humanity. So, when we get home, we put on our headphones, hit play, and choose to feel fear, adrenaline, and sadness in a controlled environment.

It’s an obsession that is honoured quite accurately in the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building. The first time I listened to Serial or Dirty John, I would try to analyse the psychology of the suspect, think about how I would protect myself in real life, and feel sickened at the events that ensued.

Whilst watching Dahmer last week, however, I realised that the genre has lost its impact. I was watching another human being trapped by a killer, and I felt almost numb to it, as though my tolerance for the graphic detail of a serial killer’s routine had increased. I felt more uncomfortable with my own lack of fear than I did with the storyline itself. (That’s not to say that I think Dahmer’s actions aren’t horrific and unforgivable, and the dramatisation of his crimes and his victims isn’t ethically questionable.) But my thoughts were limited to, “serial killers do slightly different versions of the same thing” and “I feel awful for the people who experienced this then and have to relive it now.”

Could my desensitisation be down to the nights of insomnia that I’d spent consuming video after recommended video of YouTubers applying make up whilst recounting the sickening details of a murder in their latest vodcast? Maybe it’s easier to digest the details of one person eating another when you’re watching the narrator apply Fenty foundation with their new beauty blender.

This vodcast format is creative in its juxtaposition though, I’ll give it that. (And wildly successful – true crime podcasters like John Allen have racked up millions of subscribers on YouTube and then seen that success spill over into the downloads of their podcasts.) Despite the fact that we’ve built successful shows using beautiful sound design, Emmy-award worthy cinematography and hot actors, this creativity is increasingly what’s missing. Something far more important that is often also missing is care when retelling these traumatic events. (Side note: Serial itself is receiving more and more criticism for inaccuracy.Undisclosed explores the story in more depth).

These days, both the audio and visual industries are so keen to push out money-making series as fast as they can that they’re starting to feel repetitive and detached from the reality on which they’re based. Honestly, it’s no surprise to me that the podcast industry hasn’t produced another hit like Serial – a dilemma that Nick Quah ponders in his recent Vulture article. But maybe that’s partly because people are so oversaturated with true crime across mediums.

So perhaps a ban on true crime production will give the podcast industry a good 12 months of planning for the next great true crime show – and then maybe they’ll come out with something worth trading eight hours of my life for and potentially more popular and innovative than the repetitive film/TV offering. By that time, maybe I’ll feel something too.

Listen to Meera’s Podcast Recommendations:

I’ve swapped out true crime for some true-crime-adjacent content:

Alice Isn’t Dead

For those needing a break from the stabbing and gutting,  the ever-popular Alice Isn’t Dead is creatively made up of fictional audio diaries.

Sweet Bobby

Sweet Bobby is a live investigation into catfishing and a less gory places to find drama.

Meera is an award-winning Producer and Content Development Exec. She was selected as one of the Rising Stars of 2022 in the British Podcast Awards, was named Best Entertainment Producer in the 2022 Audio Production Awards, and has won two Lovie Awards. Meera has produced stories for the BBC, Sony Music, Universal, UK Parliament, Waitrose, and other well-known brands. Meera is Ambie nominated, and has had her work featured in The Guardian and The Times and selected as one of Spotify’s Best Episodes Of 2021.

The post Producers should be issued with a ban: No True Crime podcasts for one year appeared first on POD BIBLE.