Production and Distribution Don’t Mix

One of the earliest entries in this blog considered the pros and cons of different podcast distribution methods but just touched on the issue of paid versus free distribution. Since April 2016, Spotify and Pandora, discussed in depth in that entry, have remained distributors, but haven’t developed their own programming. Similarly, the Google Play service has remained a distribution utility rather than a producer – a me-too version of iTunes.

The point of this entry, however, is to examine streaming audio companies that are both producers and distributors, and to compare their approaches. There are not as many of these as you might think. Howl has merged into Stitcher, whose premium service is now $5 a month or $40 a year. That price point is either a little lower or a lot lower than SiriusXM satellite radio (depending what deal you can get out of SiriusXM for a subscription – the service can be receptive if you express interest but don’t want to pay their inflated “list price.”).

To illustrate, think of SiriusXM, especially at “list price,” as cable television. The news, talk and comedy programming offer a lot of variety, but it’s far more subjects and genres than most listeners want. Individually, however, the channels or individual shows on those channels would have a harder time sustaining themselves as standalone streaming offerings. Similarly, cable channels such as Spike, CNBC, Discovery and others provide value within a package but would have a harder time commanding a monthly subscription price streaming independently of a package distribution.

Stitcher delivers mostly comedy and informational talk programming – but most of it appeals to fans of extra dry and witty material, not even middle-of-the-road broad comedy like you might find on SiriusXM’s “LaughUSA” channel. Particularly from Stitcher’s Howl acquisition, Stitcher Premium offers podcasts that are deep dives into movies, TV shows and subcultures such as Juggalos and pro wrestling. Comedy personalities like Lauren Lapkus and Julian McCullough have their own shows.

So, thinking of SiriusXM as cable TV, think of Stitcher as an independent streaming service that you might subscribe to separately, like Filmstruck for classic, arthouse and independent cinema or the now-defunct Seeso venture from NBC for comedy nerds.

Since I’m discussing Stitcher as a key example, but not other podcasting companies such as Gimlet, Panoply and Radiotopia, which are ad-supported and go out over the aforementioned utilities, that illustrates how tough it is to be both a distributor and producer of streaming audio content. A strong value proposition is necessary to be behind a paywall or go behind a paywall for part of the offering. That means having an audience so motivated that they will pay for your content or providing information so valuable (as the Wall Street Journal does covering the financial markets) that the audience will pay for the service.

The paid and free models each have their pros and cons. To track where the podcasting field is going, it will be key to watch if new paid services emerge and if they last.

Podcast (and documentary) of the moment:

UCB Long-Form Conversations, “Palate Cleanser: #ByeChelsea Audio Tour,” November 25, 2017. In my other blog, I reminisced about the closing of the Upright Citizens Brigade theater’s longtime home for a move to a more professional, ADA-compliant location. This special episode of the UCB’s own podcast that normally features talk about the art of improvisation is an audio tour covering seemingly every inch of the old theater before it closed. The episode gives one an appreciation of a uniquely New York place – where great performances unfolded in a grimy and gritty venue in the same way they did at CBGB’s.

“C Rock” short film in “True New York” documentary anthology (released in 2016): This one isn’t a podcast, but I’m including it here because it captures a unique phenomenon in the way some of the best non-fiction podcasts do. It’s about cliffs along the Harlem River in the Bronx, where neighborhood boys jump and dive from great heights, as a summertime rite of passage. I found this on Kanopy, the library card-based streaming service, which I also highly recommend.