PodMov Daily: Wednesday, October 23

Episode 71: Your Midweek Update

NPR's Student Podcast Challenge: Results and Submissions

With the winners of the 2019 Student Podcast Challenge soon to be announced, NPR reminds teachers: “It’s time once again to turn your classrooms into studios and your lessons into podcasts.”

Judges of the annual challenge select the best submissions based on criteria like structure, creativity, and production. A teacher submits a podcast created by a their class or extracurricular group.

“Beginning in January, teachers or qualified educators can submit student entries in two basic categories: grades 5-8 and grades 9-12. Entries can be as short as 3 minutes and as long as 12 minutes.”

The winning podcasts will be featured on Morning Edition or All Things Considered. In 2018, the contest “received nearly 6,000 entries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with more than 25,000 students participating.”

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Is That Fresh Deal Just Raw? Quah Follows Skewed Contracts in Podcasting

As podcasting’s scope and budgets continue to grow, production contracts have greater potential to short creators. Nicholas Quah has been researching the nature of freelance and independent production agreements.

Part of the problem is that podcasts are being funded by companies that fundamentally don’t understand the creation process. The industry’s “conduct standards” are being “derived from other media contexts that aren’t always suitable for podcasting.”

Quah has been drilling into the issue of deals described firsthand as “inappropriate at best or excessively aggressive at worst.” Interviews with industry operators reveal “ways that producers should see, understand, and operate within this new context.”

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SiriusXM and Marvel Announce Deal to Produce Podcast Superslate

SiriusXM and has announced a multi-year podcast deal with Marvel based on its universe of superheroes. Starting next year, SiriusXM and Pandora will also exclusively debut many of Marvel’s current podcasts.

“Live events are also part of the deal, though, at this early stage, it’s unclear how that will take shape,” writes Paul Resnikoff for Digital Music News.

Scripted series about characters like Wolverine and Black Widow are on deck, in addition to unscripted podcasts. Interview shows including “celebrity guests” will explore “Marvel’s history through a modern-day lens of pop culture.”

Happy Wednesday, readers, especially to freelance and independent creators. Air Media’s new rate guide helps professionals earn and advocate for valuable creative work.

Cheers,
Team PM

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Here's what else is going on:

• Major points: Isabeth Mendoza of The Emory Wheel strongly encourages students to consider a career in podcasting. Addressing “a huge need to fill in various gaps in the audio world,” the editorial calls for “youth and people with intersectional identities” to drive industry creativity.

• Crypt keepers: Bitcoin News points out that the “elimination of intermediaries” in podcast creation “aligns well with bitcoiners, which goes some way towards explaining the proliferation of crypto podcasts.” Kai Sedgwick warns that even sub-niche competition is strong.

• Taking names: Picking a podcast name is frankly “the worst,” writes Matthew McLean of The Podcast Host. Should you go descriptive? Clever? SEO-focused? It’s about “balance of clarity, gravity, humour” — but what’s in a name? This “one-stop-shop guide” will light the way.

• Stream engine: Resonate Recordings has posted a product release explaining the purpose behind “numerous improvements and changes” to its native web app. In a video, operations Manager Jon Street interviews CTO Troy Harvey about new functions with Libsyn, Podbean, and Buzzsprout.