WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Adam Curry’s Podshow Inc. is Webcasting. Curry and Podshow staffers, while in London for the Digital Music Awards, decided to do a streaming Webcast of singers, actors, and musicians auditioning to be included in the company’s roster of artists. (Podshow calls them “Unditions,” in its effort to position itself as un-like old music companies and broadcasters.)

The Webcast is an unexpected experiment by Podshow, but not out of character for Curry. There’s nothing to lose, and publicity to be won. On his blog at Curry.com, Curry says all is going well: “This is amazing, never expected it to work so well, especially the number of U.K. viewers.”
Curry also talks about it in his podcast. Podshow’s CEO, Ron Bloom, said the excitement over podcasting, audio and video, has made it easy to overlook what he calls “live media.” Bloom says digital recording technology, slick production tools and sophisticated editing skills have made live programming “for the most part pre-programmed, pre-recorded content that has been sanitized.” Podshow’s Webcast, by comparison, has “no editing, no filtering, just live.” Think of it this Webcast as taking you behind the scenes of American Idol.

Bloom’s right. “Live” has lost its meaning in media. You know you’re hearing or seeing the best takes. The only problem is that “live” can also be tedious. If you’ve got a lot of time, more noise than signal’s OK.

>> Read the whole Marketwatch Story Here

by Annelise Berendt

BT has announced a partnership with the creators of the US PodShow Network to launch BT PodShow, a British version of the broadband Internet site that enables creative individuals, media production companies and record labels to distribute their content direct to consumers.

Comment: This is an interesting and strong move for BT. By partnering with the creators of a successful venture in the US, BT is getting know-how and expertise in the user-generated content (UGC) arena, and most importantly expertise that knows how to monetise UGC through solid advertising relationships. PodShow in the US is funded by big-brand advertisers more akin to the TV broadcast network model, rather than the click-through approach of the Internet. This model will be replicated in the UK, although BT says that subscription may become a possibility further down the line.

For PodShow’s founders looking to enter the UK market, BT provides a readymade broadband customer base, a reliable network and over the longer term potentially a way into the networked home. PodShow will become part of BT Vision’s IPTV offering, due to launch later this year, and will be offered to BT Broadband users, as well as being available to all UK Internet users via a URL. It will also be available on mobile. BT also represents a trusted name with which to draw in the big-brand advertising community.

But whether using the BT brand is such a good idea in terms of drawing in the punters remains to be seen. Tagging a corporate giant’s name onto a UGC service may reduce its appeal to the generation of consumers-turned-content-producers that has built the social networking giants including MySpace, YouTube and Bebo. BT will never be a “cool” brand, and BT PodShow is right not to attempt to replicate these sites.

BT says that the venture is a hybrid between social networking and a media network; essentially it is using the social networking element to support the aggregation of quality content. But getting the message across to consumers as to exactly what this service offers them may prove more difficult than expected.

>> Read the Original Article at OVUM now

By Saeed Shah
Published: 14 September 2006

BT is launching a podcasting service to give the nation a platform to show off its talents (or lack of) by making videos and audio clips available on a new internet service.

The telecoms giant has teamed up with US PodShow Network to provide the service, to be available to all UK internet users. In the US, some of the shows on the website – produced by a mixture of amateurs and professionals – have a loyal following and get 10 million downloads a month.

BT PodShow is making a nationwide call for aspiring film producers, musicians, presenters and DJs from across the UK to submit audio and video content. The best material will feature on “The Show” section of the website.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Rory Cellan-Jones
BBC industry correspondent

BT has unveiled plans to launch a major podcasting site, the latest move aimed at turning the phone and internet firm into a complete multi-media provider.

The UK’s BT has teamed up with two US entrepreneurs whose Podshow Network has won an audience of millions.

Together, they will launch a UK version called BT PodShow.

Podshow boss Ron Bloom said the site took off because there is a huge demand from users who are “sick of TV, sick of radio and want their own programming.”

It now has 60,000 podcasts featuring video and music – some made by amateurs, other by established media companies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Sweney
Wednesday September 13, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk

BT is launching an online “social media network” that will combine elements of the video site YouTube with clips and shows from the entertainment and music industry.

The site, called BT PodShow, is being launched as a partnership with the 18-month-old US-based PodShow.

The website is being positioned as a hybrid between the likes of MySpace and YouTube and fulfilling the online aims of traditional companies such as MTV and ITV.

The idea is that the site will grow to become an entertainment hub featuring established artists, mainstream media outlets as well as individuals and independent producers.

It will provide a mixture of audio and video shows in “channels” for users to sign up for via their own “online media centre”.

One aim is to eventually provide the service to mobiles and possibly a “best of” show on its soon-to-launch BT Vision broadband TV service.

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Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV fame was recently interviewed on the MSNBC program The Most. The topic of the interview was “Do-it-yourself podcasting: Web star explains how to put your own show together”. For those of you who missed it, we are happy to bring it to you now.

>> Visit and Subscribe to GeekBrief.tv
>> Visit MSNBC: The Most Program

The BBC Program Five Live with Chris and Rod recently interviewed Dr. Dave from the Shrink Rap Radio Podcast. In this short interview, they discuss what makes this psychology podcast so interesting and what the real world impact of shows like this are. Specifically in this interview is a story and interview of a man living in Baghdad and the impact of the war on him and those around him.

>> Check out the Interview Here
>> Visit and Subscribe to Shrink Rap Radio
>> Visit the BBC Five Live Website

Michael Butler of the Rock and Roll Geek Show spoke with the Inside Mac team about his podcast recently. In it they also discuss Michaels background, his band American Heartbreak, and how and why his podcast started.

More importantly, however, is that part of the interview include details about the PodSafe Music Network and some of the new bands that signed up for the network including James Brown and Death Cab for Cutie! Click on the links below to check out the interview and the Inside Mac Radio prgram as well.

>> Check out the Interview Here
>> Visit Inside Mac Radio
>> Visit Rock and Roll Geek

The PodShow Podcast Network was formed in 2005 by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. It hosts many popular personalities and shows and also offers professional production and directory services to major media companies and to traditional businesses. In his presentation, Burcell asserts that podcasts are becoming intimate collaborations between content producers and their audience, creating new and ever-improving forms of user-generated media.

One of Burcell’s major points is how it is necessary to remove some of the technical hurdles that make podcast production difficult, and to create helpful tools for both podcasters and for podcast consumers. He also discusses the increase in advertising and how Podshow is helping to channel that revenue to the content producer. One of the first fruits of this effort is the Podsafe Music Network, which is allows musicians to offer music to podcasters to play in their shows as well as to the consumers through pay-per downloads.

The presentation also features a question and answer session, discussing such issues as intellectual property rights, the rise of the social networks which revolve around particular podcasts, and more details about possible business collaborations.

>> Listen to the Presentation Here
>> See Original Story at IT Converastions

In a last minute opportunity that came up yesterday afternoon, Dawn & Drew (from the Dawn and Drew Show Podcast) were featured in a new segment called “MTV Live” on MTV Canada. Their interview is short and sweet focusing on how they have managed to quit their day jobs and podcast full time with PodShow. Watch the Video now as the MTV Live hosts interview Dawn and Drew over the phone.

>> See the Video Interview Here