What a week (and a half)
The past week and a half at work has been a mix of rapid response, new horizons, and reflection.
Rapid Response
It was DMA (Digital Music Awards) week here in the UK, and as last year, PodShow had a presence there to make whatever noise we could - and a whole bunch of content.
Most of my involvement was wrapped up in pre-event creation of branding, graphics, web pages, etc., whatever was called for that I was capable of putting together.
This year, at the event itself, I was promoted from a button pusher to proper talent person, but had little to do on the night other than sniff out any particular new contacts, talk, meet, shake hands, and generally be available. With a fully formed production department in the UK, the organisation of the event, the co-ordinating of the five cameras, three editors, the essential techie handling the incoming and outgoing data streams, and even humpers paid to, well, hump (equipment that is), it was a wholly stressless evening, at least for me.
Quite an organisational feat to make it all happen, involving co-ordination of virtually every department in the company, here and in the US, all came together quite superbly on the night. The number of total and simultaneous viewers on a live video stream we broadcast over the event period was way above expectation and made management extremely happy. If they’re happy, we’re happy.
Videos from the event can be seen at backstagepass.btpodshow.com
New horizons
The nature of the advertising opportunities available for independent producers (such as podcasters) is very different to what was anticipated within the space a couple of years ago. What I like about the way PodShow works in this space is its ability to reengineer its sales strategies and targets based on the way the space is evolving. Reactions to new opportunities and the changing landscape is almost immediate. The way things are done now is very different to the way they were done a year ago - something you simply do not see in the much slower podcasting space which, in my opinion, is in danger of stagnation.
I am currently working with some of the US team on a new way to help the smaller shows on the network - those with smaller audiences and media request numbers which potential advertisers find inevitably less attractive - put bluntly, to earn more money out of their shows. We are currently in the pre-test stage, building the tools we need to run a full proof of concept, so I am not able to say more right now. This is nothing wholly revolutionary, but it is taking some traditional ideas and using them in this modern space. A challenge, but with happy producers seeing much more money flowing into their pockets, potentially an extremely satisfying one.
Reflection
How things have developed in the past twelve months. Last year’s DMA event came on us far too early considering how small and young the UK office team were. Then, we were untested and merely rode the wave of the US team’s requirements. Back then, we used an external agency to handle the production, and as a team we all felt as through we were merely drifting through the near chaos rather than being integrated in the production.
This year felt so very different. We have a dedicated UK production team, everyone has more defined roles within the company, we have a support structure, even an office, real telephones and an internet connection. Sounds perfectly normal, but this time last year we had none of it.
The UK team is still in a state of growth. New UK productions are about to come online, requiring new people to produce, edit, and manage them, new UK independent shows are joining the network, and there’s more bandwidth available to handle the growing need from sales leads and campaigns, plus the jolly old relationship with BT.
Onward and Upward
My primary frustration about working with PodShow - no different to any other company - is keeping quiet about the many exciting and often groundbreaking initiatives which are developing right now. Some will eventually make their way out into the world, while others will inevitably not pass testing and development for any number of reasons. The latest to be sent out into the big bad world is PodShow Press (books.podshow.com), and I am hoping that the first of my Table Rappers series might be accepted as one of the initial books.
Then there is the plain old fun stuff. Last evening we needed a theme tune for a new production, so I found myself with Ron Bloom and Adam Curry, a keyboard and a copy of Reason, laying down some tracks. Great fun and finally a proper reason to use Reason!
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Sounds like a lot of fun! I assume those “tracks” are gonna see light of day Neil? I so want to hear Adam sing… heheheh…
I’m around all next week - fancy a beer in the City? Lob me a mail or Tweet to confirm?
You’ll get to hear it when it appears on a future production, though not Adam singing (sorry to disappoint there), he was just filling in a voice-over for timing, and generally interfering with sound effects
Nov 4th, 2007 at 10:38 am
[...] a recent confidence boost regarding music production (see last paragraph of that post), I decided that I would compose the music myself. So yesterday [...]