We have received two request from podcasters that are contracted aka “Owned” by Podshow to have their listing removed off Blubrry.com. Podshow has told them that they cannot be listed on our site as they have classified us as a competitor. This is a pretty amazing admission by Podshow podcasters.
RawVoice the owners of Blubrry.com have always prided ourselves in the fact that we do not lock people into contracts, and that we do not interfere with a podcasters right to list his or her show where they see fit. This action by Podshow management is a very obvious move to limit shows they control exposure and earnings capability.
We have also offered shows that were listed on Blubrry.com that were also a part of Podshow, advertising deals that they never responded to. I have been told that they are not allowed to respond. I have also been told that they have to forward any ad deals straight to the Podshow sales department. It’s to bad in some of these cases that Podshow has apparently refused to allow these podcasters to earn income with other companies that are capable of putting cash in their pockets.
We have given podcasters an opportunity to make money and the Podshow management has apparently told them that not only can they not participate in any ad deals we bring to the table but they also cannot be listed at Blubrry.com
I am not surprised really as I have talked to other vendors that have offered advertising deals to Podshow listed podcasters in which those podcasters were not able to participate because Podshow has them locked into a contract. I just hope that these podcasters are actually making some money with Podshow and not just getting screwed out of the rights to manage their show.
This morning when I woke up I saw that one of our editors here at Geek News Central had done a great iLife 06 review, and when I went to look at her photocasting page via my Windows machine it said I could not view them as the browser wasn’t supported both Forefox and IE would not load the page.
So I switched over to my Mac Mini, I loaded Firefox and tried to load the page and to my suprise I could not view the page. Finally I had to resort to using Safari and the page loaded and what they have created looks pretty cool. But I kinda of did a are they kidding me routine when it took 4 browsers to get the page to load. What the heck is wrong with Apple? They should have a big ass disclaimer that say Photocasting is limited to Safari browsers on Mac operating system only all others go away!
Then I read Dave’s post on his six month mostly positive experience with a Mac, but what shocked me is how much he paid for it, The system cost him $5500.00 and he is complaing on how slow it is (Dave did that include the monitor cost),
he like many others are no longer willing to be locked into a platform and I think that is a good stance to have.
I will be the first to admit I really like what they have done in Garageband though, for Podcasting that was a definite step in the right direction.
On a side note though it was a interesting revelation that Adam Curry the so called PodFather has switched back to an inexpensive PC to do Podcast recording because of the trouble he has had in production recently [Dave Winer]
It is pretty obvious to me listening to the last weeks worth of Daily Source Code that Adam has let the cat out of the bag on what they are going to be doing in part. First he has a immediate hire of a server guy who can setup a lot of servers and can manage multiple blogs, Second he tells people to start getting their show auditions ready. That to me spells Podcaster Network. Pretty ironic actually.
I have heard through the grapevine that he is cherry picking podcasts and have been presenting contracts that are shall we say restrictive, and locks one into the podshow network. I have not seen one of these contracts but I have heard enough to hope that those that sign it protect their interest and make sure they get paid. Today he asked people to start preparing demo’s that they will go through and decide which shows will make the cut to join their network.
Podcasters need to realize that it is possible to replace your current income with your shows if your are serious enough about it. Don’t sell yourself short, and make sure that any deal you agree to has your best interest in mind. Remember this is not the record industry were you get pennies on the dollar demand your fair share.
My motto remains Podcasters do the work Podcasters get paid, and we are living that motto at Podcast Connect don’t sell yourselves short!
