Google has hired someone to lead its podcasting efforts, reports Ashley Carman of Hot Pod. Kai Chuk, a YouTube employee of nearly 10 years, will “manage the large volume of existing podcasts and relationships across the YouTube platform.” It’s likely this is the role Bloomberg brought up three weeks back.
It’s unclear what Chuk will actually do in this new role, Carman points out. “Podcasters already upload and host videos on Google’s servers, and Google monetizes those videos for them based on user data.” We’re curious about what it will mean to manage “relationships,” a term that wasn’t in the description reported by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Amazon is working on a live audio app. Carman and The Verge viewed a presentation on ‘Project Mic,’ which “takes bits from Anchor and bits from Clubhouse.” The idea is to “democratize and reinvent” radio by letting users (initially influencers) host DJ sets that mix talk with music from Amazon’s catalog.
“I can’t tell you how many times people have told me with disdain ‘I’m sick of how formulaic podcasts have become,’” writes Rob Rosenthal of Transom. Over the past two or three years, these complaints have focused on the same kinds of melodramatic stories with “cheesy and predictable” sound design and scoring.
Rosenthal may have a solution (“or, at least, a way to help a little bit”) around that last element: Listening to sound art. There’s a “whole constellation” of approaches that podcasts often overlook, he says. “Even if it’s not your cup of tea, just dropping into that world for a few hours from time to time will open your ears.”
Sound walks are another form of sonic creativity that inspires the unexpected. To start, Rosenthal recommends listening to the work of Hildegard Westerkamp: “I’ve always found her inspiring and ear-catching.” Once podcasters focus on a variety of real sounds, the limitations of imitation become clear.
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