PodMov Daily: Wednesday, September 4

Episode 36: Your Wednesday Happenings

Podcast Audio Transcriptions: Questions of Ownership Rights

What does Audible’s controversial “Captions” feature have to do with the future of podcasting? Hot Pod’s Caroline Crampton traces recent and decade-old court cases involving publishers’ rights to a likely issue on the horizon.

In a nutshell, ebook publishers have strongly opposed audiobook services that offer read-along text. “A decade on, it’ll be fascinating to see if the courts come to a similar conclusion for the opposite situation: audio-becoming-text instead of text-becoming-audio,” writes Crampton.

Transcription has become more common to aid in podcast discoverability. What happens if, or when, those auto-generated files become public? A key consideration: “In that instance, who owns the text version of a podcast’s audio?” Song lyrics have raised “another of those brave new digital world problems.”

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In the Dark: Cementing the Power of Investigative Podcasts

As the popularity of podcasting has soared, so has its recognition as a legitimate changemaking force. Frederick Melo for The Bemidji Pioneer writes about a show that embodies a powerful example: American Public Media’s In the Dark.

The show’s five-person team “spent a year in the deep south, unraveling the case of a black man who had been convicted six times by mostly white juries for the same triple murder.” A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision reversed the conviction of Curtis Flowers, capturing the rapt attention of a growing audience.

The initial story “seemed like it would inevitably point to some larger issues and truths about the criminal justice system, and prosecutorial accountability, and power,” says senior producer Samara Freemark. According to producers, In the Dark has been “taking the medium in a new direction,” toward new audiences, subject matter, and investigative weight.

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Measuring ROI with Social Podcast Success Metrics

Determining the success of your podcast can be a tricky, multi-variable process. To quantify ROI (return on investment), podcast success metrics aren’t the only tools at your disposal. Limited data can reveal more than face-value insights.

Jonathan Crowl at ContentStandard identifies alternative benchmarks for a clearer picture of audience reception. “Consider promo codes or special access codes to distribute solely through your podcast content,” Crowl suggests. “This way, you can pinpoint which leads came from listeners and which came from somewhere else entirely.”

Social mentions provide a “channel for gathering evidence of audience relationships,” and not just for marketing or branded shows. Whether you’re interested in your own podcast’s ROI or that of your company, knowledge is power.

The Latest Data & Industry Insights, Expertly Explained

Happy Wednesday, readers. Thoughts from the PM community lift us all up — we love hearing from you. One of our partners has a quick survey they’ve asked us to help distribute, and they’re giving away a Visa gift card to one participant.

Thanks for your help, and best of luck scoring that cash!

Love,

Team PM

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Here's what else is going on:

• Spot the details: Podnews points out that “Spotify [for Podcasters] appears to be generating automatic episode images from episode descriptions.” A screenshot of the “interesting new look” displays auto-artwork from both the Podnews and RadioToday podcasts.
• Sound Education: The annual conference will be held at Harvard University, WBUR CitySpace, and Boston University, October 9-12. Audio creator offerings include keynotes, workshops, panels, live podcast tapings, and a “festival of ideas” for educational podcasting.
• All clear: The IAB Tech Lab has officially certified Libsyn’s podcast statistic metrics and Podtrac’s podcast measurement system as compliant with the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines Version 2.0 “for reporting podcast downloads, impressions, and listeners.”
• Pandora roadmap: Buzzsprout has released a thorough guide to submitting your podcast to Pandora. Issues covered include RSS troubleshooting, term definitions related to playback order and freshness, and explanations of the platform’s review process.