Near the end of 2020, I heard rumblings of potential changes to the podcast namespace. Typically I would shrug off this sort of initiative, but the fact that Adam Curry‘s name was attached to the project caused me to take note.
Adam is well-known in the podcast space and is dubbed “The Pod Father”, a moniker bestowed on him because he literally helped create podcasting, along with Dave Winer. Adam has forgotten more ideas than most people will ever come up with during their lifetime.
Much like Adam, I’m an idea guy. I’m always thinking of new ways to transform old ideas, although I have plenty of original ideas, too. I mention that because I’m a fan of Adam’s work. Even though we couldn’t be more different, we share plenty of creative similarities. In order to write my honest thoughts on the Podcast Index, I had to detach myself from Adam’s likeability, creativity and overall contributions to the space.
When the Podcast Index was first announced, I thought to myself, if Apple Podcasts isn’t onboard from the start, this will be another attempt to steer the ship from the cabin instead of the bridge. Apple essentially dictates what changes will be made to the podcasting space, not the other way around.
Here we are months later, and the Podcast Index is in full swing. When some podcast app developers started implementing the new namespace tags, I thought to myself, this idea may serve to further fragment an already fragmented space. On the contrary, podcasting 2.0 has served as a rally of sorts for smaller podcast app developers who don’t have to wait months or years to alter code. It appears the captain of the ship can steer from the cabin (maybe he’s on some new app Adam developed).
With all the positives that can be listed about this endeavor, this topic is not without some concerns. For an independent podcaster like me who is already stretched as thin as possible, how can I find the time to implement even more post-production work to accommodate these new tags? While the tags: locked, funding, person, season, episode and transcripts won’t require much effort, I am concerned about having to follow the herd when it comes to chapters, soundbites and other tags requiring extra effort in post-production. I don’t want to be forced into a situation where I either follow the herd or get left behind. Let’s say my award-winning Agents of SHIELD Fan Podcast is the only fan podcast that doesn’t have chapters. Does that omission start to erode our audience? If I’m not creating episode specific or even chapter specific artwork, is that looked down upon by potential new listeners?
I think it’s safe to say the Podcast Index might fundamentally change the podcasting space in a way no one thought possible. Much like app developers and RSS feed hosting companies who are going to have to devote resources to keep up with these changes, many time-strapped podcasters might get caught in the crossfire. I hope this doesn’t turn into a never-ending stream of new tags I’ll feel like I have to adopt, or I’ll get left behind. Too many changes too quickly are sure to rock the boat and ruffle some feathers. The reason podcasting has been so accessible is because up until now, the changes have been extremely slow and well documented.
Keep in mind that when you overthrow the gate keepers and sack the city, there are other concerns lurking outside that are the reason the gates existed in the first place.
