RawVoice is the parent company that represents about 10,000 online digital media shows on communities such as Blubrry, TechPodcasts Network, TravelCast Network and more. That’s a lotta fast access to a lotta kick-as media.

The big thing is, the infrastructure has changed dramatically and it will allow us to add new features throughout the coming months. What kind of features, you ask? Here are just a few:

1. Teleportation: C’mon, admit it, you’ve always wanted to say “Beam me up Scotty!”
2. Hair growth: Judging by the mug shots in Twitter, about one quarter of you all will benefit from this feature!
3. Brain chipping: Why wait for the latest shows to download on your mobile devices? Have them implanted directly into your brain to enjoy quietly and discreetly during staff meetings and funerals!

OK, that might be a ways down the road, but what we do have coming up will rock your socks off, so stay tuned! We’ll have more feature updates comin’ at ya soon! In the meantime, celebrate your need, your need for speed bein’ fulfilled, but fast!

We’ve got a lot in common with ADT: security, reliability and our clients’ best interests in mind.  And now ADT is offering a full ADT system installation, valued at $850, to all viewers and listeners for only $99. That’s a lot of security for very little bucks so we simply had to let you know!

Founded more than 100 years ago, ADT Security Services Inc. is trusted with helping protect millions of families, homes and businesses. When you sign up for ADT monitoring, trained professionals with the most advanced security technology will be monitoring your home 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Always leading the pack, ADT invests in state-of-the-art security technology, ensuring our digital media family has the opportunity to benefit from advances such mobile control and remote video monitoring unlike anything available from other security companies.

Sound familiar? At RawVoice, we consistently evolve and develop new technologies. Like ADT, we understand the importance of offering the very latest features that will advance your personal, digital media and technology needs.

We hope you can take advantage of this excellent offer! Check it out here or call 1-866-778-3127.

Mindy Willard

Willard is based at RawVoice’s Columbus, Ohio, office working alongside Angelo Mandato, CIO, and Cameron Williams, web programmer. Six other RawVoice team members span the states between Michigan and Hawaii.

“I am looking forward to working with companies who understand the power that this marketing and advertising strategy has,” Willard stresses. “The loyalty that this audience brings is incredible. I am really excited to have my brain cells working overdrive and being successful in this new media world.”

In addition to being a very patient person — having put up with Mandato and Williams for weeks now — Willard brings national marketing experience to the team. Previously, she worked as a national advertising account executive at The Columbus Dispatch (nearly 4 years) and in consulting operations at Sterling Commerce Inc. (5+ years). She graduated from Columbus State University.

Willard has two children, ages 15 and 12, who are involved in a bunch of activities. She will be celebrating her 17th wedding anniversary this year and is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. “I definitely have a balanced life,” she says. “You can’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

As part of our digital media family, please feel free to welcome Willard at Mindy@rawvoice.com.

Here are some basics on what we’re looking for:

• Self-starter with a consultative sales approach who is proactive in driving revenue and increasing client base.
• Strong analytical skills and a commitment to creating new business opportunities.
• The ability to understand and articulate the business objectives of the RawVoice sales organization and the RawVoice value proposition to the advertising community.

We’ve got a lot more details on our RawVoice Job Site, so if this sounds like you or someone you know, we hope you’ll check it out.

In the meantime, or maybe in addition to that, let us give you this breakdown:

• RawVoice represents more than 7,500 Internet media creators. This allows us to negotiate and sign advertising deals for shows in our communities on their behalf. Those shows reach millions of listeners several times a month . . . and you’d be an integral part of that.
• We’re not a small business; we’re an elite team based across the country. Each member brings years of professional experience, skill and talent to what we do at RawVoice, whether it’s programming, graphics, content or marketing.
• Best yet, we’re a fun, forward thinking group that applauds and delights in new ideas and innovation and that has the means and the wherewithal to take brilliant thoughts and make them a reality!

Check us out at RawVoice.com; check out the Media Sales Professional career at RawVoice.com/jobs! RawVoice is absolutely a committed equal-opportunity employer.

A Harris Poll published Oct. 28, 2010, found that traditional print and broadcast media are waning in popularity, with more than half adults online predicting its demise within 10 years. While viewers and listeners might not have abandoned print media or network television completely, Americans are turning to the Internet and other media to get their news.

The poll found that of Americans who use the Internet to look for news:

• 46 percent say they go to local television news all the time.
• 35 percent say they go to local newspapers.
• 31 percent turn to network television news.
• 42 percent of online adults say they never go to national newspapers such as the New York Times or weekly news magazines when they are looking for news.

Although cable television currently stands as the desired means of receiving entertainment, it too stands to lose viewers with the introduction of digital media to over-the-top (OTT) television boxes such as Roku. These OTTs allow audiences to hear and view media by thousands of content creators such as those in the RawVoice communities.

The audience response to these new media platforms has been remarkable. “I would have been happy with 25,000 additional views among the community in the first month after introducing our networks shows on the Roku box,” RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane says. “It was more like 250,000.”

With the introduction of Vudu apps and others, the reach of digital media will continue to expand. Because consumers are creating these new consumption trends, advertisers should follow suit. “It only stands to reason that if the audience is turning to digital media to receive its news and entertainment, that’s where the advertisers should be as well,” Todd explains.

Unlike typical news outlets, the majority of media creators consistently focus on specific topics, such as emergency medicine, GLBT issues, politics, etc. This draws audiences uniquely interested in these areas. “Because of this, advertisers can be assured they are reaching their target audience,” Cochrane stresses.

To find out more about digital media, check out Blubrry, Pro Med Network, Tech Podcasts Network or any of the other communities at RawVoice.com.

Cochrane: Get visual

Bloggers and podcasters, restart your engines! Keep moving ahead or get left behind was the message Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice, shared with about 70 blogging and podcasting enthusiasts Oct. 16 at BlogWorld and New Media Expo. Survival of the fittest, he said, dictates that content creators continue to evolve their media using the The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution.

In the natural course of things, a content creator might start out simply with a blog . . . and that’s great, Cochrane explained. But the audience growth and monetary potential extends far beyond. Next up? Podcasting. And then? Well, he noted, many podcasters hit a mid-life crisis — sluggish audience growth, if any at all, and audience numbers even dropping off. The cure? Let us see . . .

The past 12 months have seen an evolution in media distribution and growth. By providing video or by streaming shows on television set top boxes such as Roku, Vudu (soon to be found on every television sold by Wal-Mart), Boxee and the soon-to-be-released Google TV, audience numbers have already rocketed.

Um, don't do this! Keep your sites simple.

“Streaming your shows is the gateway to over-the-top TV,” explained Cochrane, host of Geek News Central. Cochrane grew an already large audience by 150 percent in nine months with the “Triple Play.” Cochrane’s growth is common among media producers whose shows are accessible on over-the-top (OTT) boxes. That is, if your show is visual. Among 200 shows seen on Roku during a 90-day period, visual media growth was 23 percent. Audio was only 3 percent. “You need to get intimately familiar with OTT,” he said. When the Blubrry podcasting community was introduced on Roku, Cochrane would have been happy with 25,000 additional views among the community . . . it was more like 250,000. “You’ve got to get busy,” he said. “You have to be on this device.”

A few years back, the notion of citizen media creators being viewed across the glob on television was unfathomable. Not with the big cable companies in control. Now, content accessible on OTT boxes bypasses the need to go through a cable company for distribution. “It’s leveling the playing field with the big boys,” Cochrane stressed. “This is the way we beat the Man. We go over the top.”

Start with blogging, evolve into podcasting, then segue into streaming, he said.

Mandato walks participants through the quick and easy steps.

That transition doesn’t need to be rough.

In fact, in the next BlogWorld and New Media Expo session, RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Director Brian Yuhnke walked bloggers through the process using the PowerPress plugin for WordPress. About 40 people took part, took notes and took home a simple yet spectacular suggestion for moving ahead their media.

In Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast, Mandato and Yuhnke demonstrated the PowerPress plugin for WordPress, a simple means to get audio and video media on your site. The plugin is simple to install, simple to access and makes it simple for your audience to get your cutting-edge shows. And it should be kept simple, they said, noting noisy and overly-busy sites will be a turn off for viewers . . . literally.

To find out more about or view the sessions, go to the BlogWorld website; they’ll be up soon. To find out more about the PowerPress plugin, go to Blubrry.com.

You embrace your love of podcasting and you’re whetting your lips at the thought of its marriage to blogging. The union has all the allure of a multimedia  fairy tale . . .(dramatic pause) but there’s trouble in paradise. Getting your podcast and your blog to kiss and play nicely can be a complicated affair. Until now! Coming soon, to a session near you, on Oct. 16, 2010, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (drum roll) is Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast!

With all the ID3 tags, iTunes formatting, RSS feeds and XML code involved to ensure a properly delivered podcast, setting up a website for distributing media can create issues and even seem (gasp) divisive. . .  Lo! This exciting, alluring RawVoice/Blubrry production, starring Angelo Mandato, chief information officer at RawVoice.com, a seasoned web developer, applications programmer and server administrator, and Brian Yuhnke, creative director at RawVoice.com and an instructional technology and web media coordinator in Denver, examines awesome plugins and some basic design knowledge that can eliminate those barriers! This is precisely the counseling and support you need to gain the skills to conjoin your WordPress blog and podcasting!

As for previews for coming attractions? Here’s what else we’ve got going on for you at BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Vegas!

• Take part Oct. 16 as CEO Todd Cochrane addresses the whole media package of today and years to come in his session The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution. Seriously, this is a MUST see!
• Visit the RawVoice team members in Booth 516 (we’re right outside the New Media Lounge, how excellent is that?). We’ll be sharing not only what we do but also the latest news about the new media distribution platforms. Come early! We’ll have  presents!

But, back to the future (of digital media, or more thereof!)! Coming 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010, to a session near you at BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast!! Be there!!!!

RawVoice: Are you in this picture?

The past 12 months have seen an evolution in the blogging, podcasting and streaming media space. In this session Cochrane will lay out a game plan to growing your audience and will talk about the new distribution platforms.

“I will share trade secrets and strategies of podcasting that only my six years of experience behind the mic can impart,” he announced. “I will tie this all together and you will walk away understanding the importance of streaming your shows and how that streaming is the gateway to over-the-top TV.” Cochrane, host of Geek News Central, grew an already large audience by 150 percent in nine months with the Triple Play. In this session, he will map out how content distribution channels such as the Roku, Boxee and the upcoming Google TV are changing new media and what you need to do to score.

“This will be the most important session you will want to attend at the show. I don’t say this lightly because some of the things I will reveal are going to make you re-think your media strategy for the next 36 months.”

The media space is changing at a rapid pace, and The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution will get you dialed in on where it is headed and show you how to stay on the playing field.

In addition to Cochrane’s session, check this out:

• The RawVoice team members will in Booth 516  sharing not only what they do but also the latest news about the new media distribution platforms.
• Join RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Manager Brian Yuhnke at their session Oct. 16 on Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast.

There’s still time to register for BlogWorld and New Media Expo. So step up to the plate and no more balking! This is the event to be at if you are podcaster, blogger and fall into any category of user-generated content. If you want to focus on new media you’ve gotta be here!

Millions of consumers have followed the Tech Podcasts Network coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show the past five years because we feature real tech personalities in the thick of the event – jostling among the crowds – seeking extraordinary, innovative and unusual products. New this year we will stream more than 35 hours of coverage of the show from a prime location overlooking the show! TPN is a centrally located media community that provides the latest technology information.

What this means for you: The past four years, TPN has produced more than 600 CES on-floor video interviews, reaching and average of 12 million unique viewers each year. If you’re a consumer, we’ll keep it live as we sort through all the rest to find you the very best. If you’re an advertiser, you can reach tech savvy consumers both throughout the course of the show and after the show through web / new media distribution of the content with your message . . .  even if your company is not exhibiting at CES 2011.

Look what we’ve done: In 2010 by invitation of NBC Universal we produced two live streaming events on their main stage. During those one-hour events we interviewed 10 separate companies and had a live active audience of more than 10,000 viewers. See the recorded coverage here http://bit.ly/nbcuni1 , http://bit.ly/nbcunib.

So get ready to be exposed! If you’re a consumer, hold tight. These next four months will fly by. If you’re an advertiser who wants to know more, give RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane a holler (or an email) at 808-741-4923 or ceo@rawvoice.com.

Our CEO Todd Cochrane sums it up like this: “Advertisers are confident in us delivering a healthy return on investment. Advertising with RawVoice enables them to expose their brand to audiences that are consuming media on a variety of devices in the home and on the go.” 

Audience growth has been and will continue to be fueled by the increased quality and quantity of podcasts available within the RawVoice community — Blubrry.com alone has more than 5,500 shows available for advertising. Also attributed to the growth is our expanded media accessibility on multiple platforms, such as Roku, Apple iOS and Google Android-based smart phones.

“Our strategy of multi-platform distribution is exposing new audiences to our content creators on venues that accommodate their lifestyle needs,” says Cochrane, host of Geek News Central. “We are the only advertising medium that can guarantee they are reaching their target audiences,” Cochrane says.

Viewers and listeners in turn gain exposure to great products and services matched to their needs. The end result is that hosts are able to sustain and grow their shows “ultimately resulting in more ad deals for our content creators,” he said.

As Quarter 3 gets under way, we’re confident the advertising and audience growth will continue to the benefit of media creators.

“We are continuing to focus on multi-platform distribution for the shows that are part of the network,” he said. “The show producers are reaching millions of people monthly we want to continue to take the lead in finding ways to help content creators maintain sustainable incomes for their shows.”

Look for Angelo Mandato and Michael Dell in our booth near the entrance at the Ohio State University Mendenhall Laboratory. We’ll have a few Blubrry T-shirts to give away along with our show notepads. And you know what else is great? It’s free! (Though parking at the OSU Union Garage is $3 per exit.)

In addition to the booth time, Angelo will be presenting a session on “Podcasting with WordPress.”

Connecting with and sharing ideas with new and old friends are some of our favorite things to do, so we hope to see you there! Haven’t registered yet? You can do it right now!

Read all about WordCamp / PodCamp Ohio here.

As you’re checking it out, keep in mind that we’re maximizing your podcast prominence by giving you the opportunity to be featured on the Blubrry home page. We’re placing our outstanding, polished podcasts front and center to be seen — and consumed — by the broader audience.

In addition, podcasts are available on set-top television units such as Roku and on mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, etc.

So what do you think? We’d love to know! And  Get Featured on Blubrry Now! 

Be conspicuous! We invite you to maximize your podcast prominence by being featured on the Blubrry home page. Blubrry, your predominant podcasting resource, will place its most outstanding, polished podcasts front and center to be seen — and consumed — by the broader audience. In addition — and this is way cool — your podcast will be available on set-top television units such as Boxee and Roku and on mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, etc. 

Be sure you closely read and agree to our terms and let us know you want your show featured. If any of this confuses you or you feel you need an exception give us a shout at Blubrry.com/contact.php. You get the picture? Cool. Now get in the picture and on the Blubrry home page!

Get Featured on Blubrry Now!

With Roku, TPN lets technology-based audiences broaden their viewing and/or listening options and helps content owners and publishers reach a large and fast-growing audience of digital media consumers. TPN, a user-driven podcasting community powered by the RawVoice Generator platform, is a centrally located source for the most up-to-date, comprehensive technology information on the Internet. The site currently features 133 shows, the best of which are being made available on Roku.

“TPN answers a critical need by bringing the very latest technological information to thousands of viewers and listeners,” says Todd Cochrane, creator of Geek News Central and CEO of RawVoice Inc. “The ability for featured TPN shows to be accessible through the television via Roku is an important step in the evolution of media consumption.”

The Tech Podcasts Network joins Blubrry, a powerful media community, in letting podcasters be seen and heard on television. 

In 2010, RawVoice is focused on content distribution via the growing number of alternative content delivery platforms, allowing online media consumers to receive its publishers’ content without having to go exclusively through cable operators, satellite networks or TV affiliates.

Get your kitsch on at Blubrry.com’s Vegas After Party! The RawVoice team invites you, yeah, you for a night of flamboyant festivities and delightful decadence 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at the Peppermill Lounge, 2985 Las Vegas Boulevard. We’re excited to bring our communities together to mingle and celebrate!

Visit us at the Blubrry booth — No. 316 in the exhibit hall — at BlogWorld/New Media Expo and we’ll get ya hooked up with the required ticket. Oh, and please RSVP to our facebook invite, too, so we know we can plan on seeing you! This is Sin City at it’s best and, hey, it’s Vegas! We promise not to kitsch and tell!

Few Podcasters understand the true cost of bandwidth, and those shows with large audiences need to thank the shows with the small audiences! Because without those smaller shows their is no way that the podcast with large audiences would be getting the unlimited bandwidth options being offered by several podcast hosting providers today.

While many would argue that a show with 100k listeners should be paying more than a show with 1000 listeners, in the current marketplace of podcast hosting both are often paying the same exact price for service. Thus Podcast Hosting providers are all hoping they have more smaller shows than big shows to stay profitable. It is a delicate balancing act.

Well hope may be in site to allow companies to get CDN download performance with competitive bandwidth pricing. Amazon has announced that they will be introducing a CDN (Content Delivery Network) before the end of the year, and it will be pay as you play.

The current CDN marketplace dictates multiple year contracts, and the per gig charge is dependent on how much media you can guarantee to move. If Amazon does as promised then the extortionist like Limelight and Akamai who penalize smaller companies that do not move as much data, may have to change the way they do business..

Our CDN management was smart, they worked with us and we were able to secure great pricing, they knew over time we would grow traffic and we have. While I am not about to move away from my current CDN as they have been a true partner.  If Amazon comes out with highly competitive pricing I may have to step back and take a look at what they offer and go back to them a see if we can get a better rate.

Kudos to Amazon for shaking up the CDN Market it’s about time!

Most have had been in exclusive network agreements for several years and are no longer will be earning the same amount of income that they had before.

Having discussed with those podcasters what they have been getting paid for on comparable advertising buys we feel we are in a position to offer better rates in some programs. When I quote our payment rates, which are been between 4 and 12 times higher than the base rate they have been getting on comparable programs, many feel like they have been sucker punched.

While RawVoice cannot guarantee advertising for all of the shows that are no longer under exclusive contracts, we will work real hard to help them in their transition.

RawVoice is very different in that we do not require any contracts or permanent commitments, and we give 100% of our effort to take care of them while they continue to build their shows on their own.

If you are podcaster looking for a staunch advocate in the space, feel free to join the Blubrry.com community / directory, then fill out the advertising survey in the member management system and we will work real hard in getting you some ad deals.

RawVoice believes in the Podcasting and New Media Space. Our reputation precedes us, and we look forward to working with shows needing some extra help during their transition.

RawVoice continues to sponsor Podcamps that we are in attendance at, these events remain a great way to learn about Podcasting and the New Media Space.

The Montreal event should be another great event. The organizers have worked hard to put together a memorable event.

While I want to save specific thoughts on the show for later. I do want to thank everyone that stopped by the booth and said hello and talked to us about our products and services.

Over the next week we will be following up with everyone and getting to work on the projects, new media portals an host of other cool things you talked to us about.

NME is like a family reunion and this year was no exception and it was great to see the entire family of podcasters and those business people who are exploring the world we have worked very hard to build over the past 4 years.

Good Luck everyone to a profitable and successful year and we look forward to being a partner in those endeavors

Todd..

Very sadly and disappointingly so, one company in the podcast space wants to distance themselves from the word podcast, and those that create user generated content.

Here at RawVoice we embrace podcasters, and the podcasting space. While we understand Audio and Video has been an integral part of the Internet for a long time, only in the past 4 years has it been possible to subscribe to highly focused content that you want to listen to with the added ability to listen or watch that content on your schedule and have that content automatically delivered to your portable media device.

The podcast medium is very strong and rapidly growing. RawVoice and our Podcast Communities and Podcast Networks continue to lead the way in the space by providing podcast creators the tools they say they need to grow their audiences, and measure who and where they are consuming that content.

RawVoice and our associated communities is the absolute best deal in the podcasting space, as we ensure podcast creators have the freedom to do what they do best and provide them opportunities without contracts and exclusivity.

Tenants of our Business

• All Podcasters we work with own their show’s content
• Podcaster are Never Exclusive with us!
• We never touch their programming
• We do not put our advertising around their content
• We never tell podcasters what to do with their shows
• We do provide monetization opportunities!
• Content producers have final say in all Advertising offers
• We give every show in our community site exposure equally
• All shows are represented equally no matter size
• We provide free tools to help build audiences
• We provide statistic services that are among the best in the space
• Every RawVoice team member was a Podcaster First
• We support the community by Sponsoring Podcamps
• We support the community by being at Industry Events
• We support the community by providing free educational resources (PodcastFAQ)

RawVoice is a company that cares about podcasters and values their valuable contributions. RawVoice is here for the long haul and we will never scorn those that have made this space great!

PodcastFAQ.com

OpenID is a distributed identity system that allows users to sign in to many websites with a single account. With OpenID, your login becomes a unique web address (URL). RawVoice did not want to add to ones list of user names and passwords. Instead, you can use an easy to obtain and remember OpenID that can be used at many other websites.

If you have a Yahoo, AOL/AIM, WordPress, LiveJournal or myOpenID account, you can sign into the PodcastFAQ.com forums today with as little as 1-click.

Microsoft, Google and other large companies have announced plans to support OpenID in the near future. RawVoice sees this as an opportunity to empower our users with the login method they feel most comfortable with, allowing RawVoice to step back from user account management to focus on its core products and services.

If you have not experienced logging into a web site using OpenID, we would like to invite you to the PodcastFAQ.com forums and give it a try.

This public bashing came after I had been in Vegas for a week with little sleep, and no other forewarning. It really caught me by surprise as the podcaster was still in a current ad buy and we were not aware that the show producer was unhappy.

I instructed Angelo to digg into the stats system and make sure we had not made a mistake. He over-viewed the data and backed up my conclusions.

The podcaster was not yet satisfied and frankly neither was I because we have worked hard to make sure our podcasters are treated with absolute fairness, and his demeanor was something that we never expected or had seen before.

With so many people using the stats system we knew the accuracy was very high. After all we built that Stats service to eliminate issues like this.

After getting back from Vegas, getting some sleep and digging into the issue some more we discovered were the issue was. When I went to review the podcasters follow on monthly data it simply was not in the database under the expected keyword. The subject show had no new downloads in the follow on month which was weird because they were still in an ad buy.

Turns out what happened was that both of us were right and both were wrong. Angelo figured out that the podcaster unknown to us started using a new keyword in his stats redirect, thus all downloads were being counted on the new keyword and because each keyword has its own dataset. I had no idea they had made the switch.

Originally I calculated his payment on the old keyword not knowing about them using the new keyword. This is why I had been so adamant that our numbers were right. Well it turns out our numbers where exactly right for the old keyword but the podcaster should have been paid on the new keyword.

Tonight I instructed Barry to cut the podcaster the difference we owe him, and we are putting in some measures in the stats system that will track when someone changes their keyword in the future.

We pride ourselves in taking care of the podcasters first and foremost, and while this is the first time something like this has ever happened it was not something we had ever anticipated. I am the CEO of this company and the buck stops here, and while we should have anticipated something like this happening we did not.

Some tips for Podcasters, if you think their is a issue in your payment, please contact us early and spell out in detail why you think the payment is off. We will go the extra mile to make sure that you are satisfied and get exactly what your show is supposed to get.

Todd Cochrane

I almost filled my notebook with ideas, suggestions and thoughts during the PodCamp. It is obvious to me that most of the focus of the sessions were geared to how to get started and how to monetize your podcast. RawVoice has been addressing these issues since the beginning and the entire PodCamp experience has reinforced my view that what we doing at RawVoice is what we should be doing.

The PodCamp provides a venue that is exclusively for podcasters. Even though RawVoice was a sponsor, we weren’t sitting there trying to spoon feed our message. Instead, knowledge was shared and friendships were made. The whole experience makes me think that Todd should move the Podcast Awards to one of the PodCamps scheduled for 2007. This type of atmosphere is definitely where the recognition of the great work everyone does should be recognized.

Below are some photos from PodCamp AZ.

The short beta period was made possible by the nearly two years of planning of the development of this new media statistics system.

The RawVoice Statistics service is the first white label new media statistics package that is available for commercial networks that can serve small producers of content or scale to provide enterprise level data tracking.

Today the RawVoice Statistics Service is tracking millions of listener impressions and is the primary statistics tool for many members of our three podcasting communities.

Since then a lot has happened. A wide variety of networks have formed. The commercial aspirations of these networks may vary but one common thread revolves around audiences. Networks want to maximize their interaction with audiences. This helps the shows in the network to grow. And as the shows grow audience they certainly grow in value. There are some pieces missing from many networks though.

Consistent Branding – Many new media networks fail to apply consistent branding that recognizes the network. Do you think of the peacock when you think of NBC? Part of the value of a network lies in the connection of the overall brand with the individual brands. In some cases the overall brand is applied everywhere but the individual shows are missing branding. New media networks should have an overall brand applied consistently across their shows. And then each show should have its own unique branding.

Audience Tools – Many new networks consist of a main site that links to a bunch of show. Maybe that main site shows a list of recent episodes. The individual show sites will have RSS feeds and commenting. Beyond that there are few tools available to help the audience connect and stay loyal to the shows in the network. Why can’t each new media network be its own social network?

Connecting The Shows - If audiences like one show in the network then maybe they will like others. Have shows run inter-network promotions for other shows. And always have them mention that they are a part of the network. If branding has been properly applied at the network and show level then there’s no chance that this will cause a show to lose their identity or confuse their audience. And having the right tools makes this process much simpler.

We’ve been following this approach with our Tech Podcast Network and we have seen good growth. We’re also seeing increased interest in shows wanting to be a part of the network.

The items mentioned above surely aren’t the only components to building a successful new media network. They are very important though.

We are lucky enough to have the power of the RawVoice Generator working for us to give us the tools, connections and branding necessary to allow our properties to grow. If you’ve got a new media network that needs help in these areas then our system could probably work for you.

We’re always eager to talk about it so drop us a line when you want to talk about how we can help you to build a killer new media or podcast network.

Those podcasters with their own domains and hosted websites will have no issue but if the podcaster is on a walled garden system that locks them into their service offerings then I suppose their is not a lot we can do except hope that the various podcast hosting companies will work with us.

We have these podcasters in ad buys and need to be able to better manage their statistics for reporting purposes. We have refined our podcast statistic measurements over the past two years and frankly cannot use most of the data that is being provided by some of the vendors.

Tags: Podcast+Statistics, Advertisers, Truth+in+Advertising

New media creators should not have be exclusive to any company. The second I hear that a podcaster has signed an exclusive deal with a company I ask myself what in the world were they thinking.

RawVoice never requires a podcaster to be exclusive, and this is one of the things we are very proud of. When a podcaster signs a contract with a podcast company to get all of their advertising for their shows exclusively from one company this is a recipe for disappointment.

RawVoice does not need to put out a press release stating we have signed a podcast because today RawVoice represents the 1500 plus podcasters in our communities equally. Every podcast that is part of our three companies have given us permission to negotiate on their behalf with no lock in plus they have the option to opt out if we do not deliver a deal that they don’t like.

We don’t make a dime until they do. RawVoice continues to be the best deal in town and 100’s of podcasters are getting paid monthly as part of that effort.

Their blog post states, “”It makes absolutely no sense for a single video to be published twice, let alone five or ten times! Treating the user as the point of aggregation pretty much solves this one…”

We see a web these days where a video producer is compelled to upload to half a dozen sites. The need to do this makes things harder on video producers as well as their audiences.

Walled in systems trap content. And they force producers and audiences to scurry around searching to meet their own needs.

If we all architect systems that make it easier for users to find the content they want without making producers do extra work then we’ve done something right.

Technology has the power to help solve a lot of problems. Or it can create more problems. Its all up to people like us who are rolling out news systems for distributing and consuming media. I vote for solving problems so that rich media based on the web can get from producers to their audiences as smoothly as possible.

Now its time to go out and walk that talk.

Our own CEO Todd Cochrane has (had?) over 1400 subscribers for his Geek News Central podcast on Yahoo. The last updated show was published on April 20th. No updates to his feed for over two months. What about all those listeners who subscribed using the Yahoo engine?

Its very possible that many podcasters have lost some or all of their audience members who subscribed via Yahoo. Thats a shame because audience members are the life blood of podcasting. As we’ve stated here before RawVoice is here to help build your audience, not drive them away. If you’ve been able to increase your audience by your presence in Yahoo Podcasts then we’re happy about that. And we don’t want to see you lose that audience.

So we’re reaching out on this blog to the folks that run Yahoo Podcasts. If you need help getting the system running again, please contact us. Its a cryin shame that a major player like Yahoo should be absent for the growing community of independent media producers and their audiences. Aggregating content from feeds is a core part of our business and there is a strong likelihood that our CIO Angelo can help bring the system back online.

Whatever the situation we want to see it solved so podcasters can continue to build their shows and audiences can continue to enjoy great independently produced content.

There is an opportunity for three shows to get some major exposure in a mini contest on the site. The top three sites that can drive the most traffic to PodcastAwards.com will get a free one year advertisement of a 120×120 banner on the site see this link for details.

Meanwhile get the word out and good luck to all shows. PodcastAwards.com

Todd Cochrane, Founder People’s Choice Podcast Awards

Web destinations like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have become primary and secondary points of presence for millions of content producers. The iTunes store has also evolved as a very powerful point of presence since they launched their podcast directory in 2005 and more recently with their introduction of Apple TV. The iPhone is coming soon too.

The fact is that it pays to be wherever the audiences are so that your content gets the maximum exposure possible. It is very important to note that it also pays to keep tab one the places where your content is represented. One day a particular point of presence might be attractive. But changes occur. And when they do that point of presence might not be so attractive anymore.

Here are some important things to monitor:

Comments: Many places where you will syndicate your content have a comment function. Some allow you to moderate those comments while others don’t. Make sure you know what people are saying about your content. Are the comments fair? Are they relevant? Be familiar with the features provided that allow you to control the conversation around your content on other sites.

Advertising: What sort of advertising is presented around your content? Many content destinations start out with no advertising then may inject random AdSense links or image banners into pages. Does the advertising around your content take away from your message? Find out if you have any control over what advertising is presented on your pages.

If you are hosting your media on a free site check to see if they are injecting ads in your media. Some free media hosting sites will inject pre-roll or post-roll advertisements into your content. If present, do these ads match the tone of your content? Do the messages in the ads compete with the messages you are trying to send? Find out if you have any control over ads that may be placed in your content.

Freshness: Most secondary points of presence for podcasts will use your RSS feed to keep your profile up to date. Do these sites continue to represent your most recent content? In recent months some major podcast destinations have stopped updating feeds on their system. The result is that people may show up there and think that you have stopped producing content. If you see this happening contact the maintainers of that particular site. Also make sure that there are no problems with your source RSS feed. If the problem is not on your end and can’t get resolved consider trying to have your feed removed from the offending directories.

Feed Ownership: When you add your feed to another system make sure you know what they do with it. Sometimes your feed address gets converted to an address that reflects the domain of the service rather than the domain that your original feed is hosted on. This means that people subscribing from the new feed are now driving traffic to the other site. Check your profile page to make sure that the RSS links point to your original feed.

Content Hijacking: Sometimes sites will begin importing your entire feed to their site in order to place ads around the content and make money from your hard work. Many of these sites are run by spammers. If you find entire posts from your original content or your entire feed on other sites take a few moments to see how they are using it. If you’re not happy with the way they are representing your content then contact them immediately.

These are just a few issues to consider when cultivating alternate points of presence for your media on the web. Being aware of these issues and addressing them will allow you to continue to make the most of the syndication options available on the net.

If you have more detailed questions or concerns then RawVoice can help. Feel free to contact us to start a discussion on these or any other issues related to distributing your content online.

Imagine if we forced our podcasters to pre-roll, some ridiculous help us we suck ads in front of their shows. As a content producer myself I shudder to think of allowing the company I host with force a suck less ad at the beginning of each show as Podshow is doing in front of every podcast on their network

Listeners don’t want to hear that crap they want to listen to the specific content producers content they don’t want to listen to some ad that begs people to help the service they are on suck less.

We do the best we can to listen to our communities all the time. We may not succeed 100% of the time but rest assured that we don’t need special campaigns to access the pulse of the podcast community. We’re podcasters ourselves so we look at everything we do from that perspective.

I encourage podcasters that are looking to build their audiences to consider Blubrry.com, PodcasterNews.com or TechPodcasts.com as a destination for your show because we are in the audience building business.

It just so happens this individual is part of an advertising deal with us and while we would never claim to have exclusive rights to a show we would never be so forward as to use their name in a press release to help create spin for a future service without their permission.

To go further the individual was pretty upset that this company was using their show name in e-mails to podcasters in claiming that they were part of their podcasting family. The forwarded e-mail made it sound like the show was owned by the company.

While it is up to the individual podcaster to protects their own brand. It is also about time that podcast companies start having full disclosure in their press releases especially when the quoted shows are simply listed on a site, or are just using a service they offer. It is one thing to be using a companies service but it is quite another to be used as part of a marketing campaign wrongfully.

Tags: Podcast, Hosting, Service, False+Claims

Our constant focus on what’s happening allows us to be in a position to provide quality products and services to all stakeholders in social media. We work with individual content producers (aka podcasters) and advertisers via our communities. We work with larger content producers and corporate clients with our RawVoice Generator offering. We serve the needs of audience members by doing our best to make our products visually appealing and easy to use.

One very important lesson that we have learned is to respect content producers and their audiences when rolling out new products and new features on existing products. If it weren’t for podcasters, their audiences and the advertisers who support them we wouldn’t be here. We’d be doing something else. We’re glad to be here though.

I consider our approach a best practice in the social media services industry. Attempting to take advantage of producers and audiences is a bad idea. The community at large can move quick in spite of its size and not being in touch can yield disastrous results. Sometimes businesses take advantage when they don’t necessarily mean to do so. Sometimes they make honest mistakes. In those cases, a quick apology and a change of direction is the best approach.

SplashCast was taken to task by Adam Curry recently for introducing a feature that created and promoted alternate feed addresses for podcasts. A number of podcast shows were added to this feature without the knowledge or consent of the show producers. Some call that RSS Hijacking. PodShow got hit by the community for the same offense last July. Did SplashCast really have their ears to the ground before introducing their MyPodcastNetwork feature? They do now.

We believe that respecting content producers means that we allow them to opt in to our services. And when we do that we leave their media on their host servers and we promote the source RSS feed.

We also need to be on the lookout for practices that can potentially take advantage of audiences. Audible.com is the undisputed leader in digital audio book distribution. When they introduced a podcasting service it was one that heavily leveraged Digital Rights Management (DRM) to help advertisers track content. In other words, your files phone home to a server to let the server know what you’re doing. And while the service was highly touted in the mainstream media it failed to catch on. Podcasters made the decision that they wanted their content to be available to their audience without an invisible tether. We took note of that preference.

Now a company called PodBridge is getting some buzz because they have introduced technology that will allow advertisers to insert dynamic ads into podcasts. How do they do it? According to the PodBridge website, “When consumers visit a Podbridge-enabled site to download a file for the first time, they also download an iTunes plug-in that resides on their PC and communicates with their mobile playback device.”

Consumers have incredible disgust for these types of technologies. In 2005 Sony was taken to task by a broad array of stakeholders for introducing technology that tracked consumption of Sony media on a users’ PC. Why go down this road given the history of these types of technologies?

By keeping our ears to the ground and adhering to what we feel are best practices, RawVoice protects all those who do business with us. Podcasters want exposure and monetization opportunities. But they also want to own their content and decide how it is served. Advertisers want to effectively reach audiences. But they don’t want to be caught up in scandal over their practices. And audiences want convenient, untethered access to content.

We strive to assist all parties very competently in these endeavors.

We’ve heard some silly arguments about many issues surrounding podcasting, but this one takes the cake. Saying that podcasters are the real enemy of the growth of the medium is like saying that trees are killing the forest. So if that really needed to be said then we really need to say that we love podcasters. Podcasters are the reason why this medium has grown so robustly over the last two and a half years.

Podcasters are the reason why the Portable Media & Podcast Expo became the Podcast & Portable Media Expo. The organizers didn’t throw the work podcast in the front for nothing. Podcasting is leading the new media revolution into uncharted territory. Podcasters are also the reason that the expo (now dubbed the Podcast & New Media Expo) will be three days long instead of two.

Podcasters are also the reason that the PodCamp phenomenon has exploded. Some people think that podcasters are cheap. We don’t. The personal effort, spending of personal funds along with the travel expenses on these events tells me that podcasters are exceedingly generous with their time and their money. After all, most podcasters are average people with families and/or mortgages plus health and education expenses. We’re greatful for whatever they can spend to make these events worthwhile for the community.

We recently put the call out to help fight Cystic Fibrosis and have raised over $1000 online from podcasters generous donations. Thank you podcasters.

The message of RawVoice is simple. We’re behind podcasters. We are podcasters after all. We’re here to help. And although our resources have been stretched as we bootstrap this company we hope to have more bandwidth to work directly with podcasters soon. When that time comes we won’t charge you to learn the ‘secrets’ of podcast success. We’ll share with you what we know in an open and honest manner.

We believe that educated and informed podcast producers will grow our communities (and our revenues) a lot faster than if we acted as a gatekeeper extracting a toll for the knowledge that will help this industry to continue to thrive.

While I have about a 50 more to remove I have been removing shows slowly as I have been collecting data while I removed them. One of the things I have found out is that the average podfaded podcast does not make it past show 7. If they make it past show 7 they typically have a much higher survival rate.

No one wants to listen to old content and while I would like to tighten up those participating in the community to 60 days we are going to see how 90 days works. In reality for a show to be successful the host needs to be podcasting weekly or at the very least a minimum of every 10–14 days.

The culprit as Jason sees it is older content sitting on the site without much real value. The bad SEO crowd uses sites that don’t audit user generated content to create what Jason calls “an SEO trap.” I guess this trap can occur on any site that ‘gets big’. But the real issue comes to light as a larger percentage of a site gets taken over by low value content.

The dilemma for smaller web services comes from the fact that removing content from the site means that page views and aggregate totals for content and users can decrease. This may appear to be a bad thing from the traditional ‘page views and users counts rule’ perspective. In the end auditing content is a really good thing for users of a site. So while we could have a lot more podcasts in our Blubrry community, we choose to have fewer for the sake of our users.

As organizations build community sites they need to ask themselves a simple question. Will the real users of our community find fresh, relevant content? Or are they more likely to find something that tastes like spam?

We’ve done what we can on our Blubrry site to keep the content fresh. We’re constantly searching for spam feeds or non-producing shows. We ping producers of fading shows to check if they’ll continue to produce content.

Of course, it helps to have a tool that can allow you easily identify and remove low value content from your community.

The shift that is driving the necessity for XM and Sirius to merge isn’t just about a particular device. It isn’t just about the programming either, because satellite radio offers a much wider variety of programming than traditional radio. And the battle that the satellite radio players is not against iTunes or other music services even though these are the reasons stated and widely reported.

The two major issues in this situation are cost and lifestyle. XM and Sirius have spent huge amounts of money to get their businesses rolling. Satellites cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And they’ve each paid hundreds of millions of dollars to retain top programming. So in order to make a profit these companies need to reach a critical mass of media consumers. And in order to do that they need to cater to people who increasing lead a portable digital lifestyle.

The rise of the portable digital lifestyle has occurred in parallel with the rise of podcasting. This new lifestyle is driven by technologies that enable high speed internet, incredibly small data storage devices and agile media players including portable media players and cell phones. As a result people are getting use to consuming media when they want, where they want and how they want. People like it this way. That’s why they buy iPods or Samsung Blackjacks or an Archos video player.

The combination of high connectivity, abundant storage, portability and alternative content (due to podcasts and independent music) has made the vision of untethered media consumption a reality. People get to build their own channels for information, education and entertainment. They get to capture their media and then throw away the cord until they want to get some more. Fighting this trend is like fighting sunset or the tide.

Smart companies are helping people to untether. Within two years 40% of vehicles in the U.S. will have a line in jack for connecting portable audio players. In 2007 major U.S. airlines will provide in seat charging and viewing for iPods. The iPhone is coming. More innovations will follow. Are media companies ready to meet the challenge?

Here’s the bottom line. Tethered media (like TV, Radio, Satellite Radio, Web Streaming, etc.) will always have a place in people’s lives. But that place is diminishing as people all over the world experience the freedom of untethered consumption. Companies who fight this trend will suffer the consequences. Companies who embrace the trend and enable consumers have a chance to control their own destiny.

RawVoice is here to help companies that want to learn about the trends and take control of their own destiny. As in any nascent movement affected companies needn’t abandon their current models at the drop of a hat. But those who start planning now can be ready to take advantage of the shifts occurring in the media consumption habits of individuals.

As we mapped out out personnel requirements we will be looking to add 3-4 programmers to the team. Positions are immediately available for qualified PHP developers. Check out the BrryCast at BrryCast.com that we published today with segments from many of our team members.

Help Blubrry get into the mix by nominating us over on the Mashable site in the “Niche and Miscellaneous Networks” category. Which is category #12

The winners will be announced on Thursday, December 21st so get your nominations in today!

iBloks teams up with leading podcast community Blubrry.com to provide podcasters with ways to create video podcasts and entertain fans

SAN FRANCISCO, California – December 12, 2006 – iBloks, Inc. today announced the first Video Podcast Starter Kit to empower podcasters to easily create world class quality video podcasts. The Starter Kit includes the iBloks Video Podcaster software, a headset with noise canceling mic, a virtual 3D stage and a comprehensive training video all for only $49.99. The iBloks unified service gives podcasters the opportunity to take control of their artistic creations and intellectual property and then post them on iBloks, BluBrry, and other podcasting sites.

The iBloks Video Podcast Starter Kit gives the beginning video podcaster a complete video and audio solution to create and offer content to an audience. “iBloks empowers artists to create high quality in 3D with no programming or video post-production required,” said Nile Rodgers, Grammy winning artist and producer. The iBloks drag and drop interface supports photo, graphic and video file formats and it can automatically sequence and pace the clips. The Mixmaster audio module supports can enhance live recording and theme music, with effects usually found in high-end mixing software. iBloks creates the finished file in any format, including mp4 for video podcasts.

Once they have their first show, customers can make a home for their new video podcast on Blubrry. By entering their rss feed address and profile information, podcasters have free access to the web’s fastest growing podcaster community. “Blubrry.com offers everything podcasters need to promote their shows and grow their audience,” said Todd Cochrane, host of the Geek News Central podcast and president of RawVoice, Inc., the company behind Blubrry. Thousands of people find new podcasts on Blubrry every day, and the site is already home to over 300 successful video podcasts.

The iBloks Unified Service Platform
iBloks platform is powered by next-generation Vista graphic technology making it easy for designers to create directly in iBloks. iBloks is one of the first commercial applications to integrate the Windows Presentation Foundation into a consumer software product, which operates on Windows XP and lights up on Vista.

The iBloks Video Podcast Starter Kit is a turnkey method for podcasters easily mix multiple media types together using “drag and drop” functionality to instantly create and experience unlimited sharing of their personal iBloks via email, IM, social networks, web pages or blogs. As a result, iBloks accelerates the imagination of artists and their fan communities to create and share stunning digital works of art on their own virtual stage and concert like setting.

“The iBloks Video Podcast Starter kit provides an incredibly powerful and easy way for podcasters to unleash their creativity on a 3D virtual stage to people everywhere,” said Julia Miller, president and CEO of iBloks. “We’re freeing podcasters to create and share rich, high-quality visual experiences by showcasing the exciting podcasts to people around the world.”

More information about the iBloks Video Podcast Starter Kit can be found at www.ibloks.com/video podcast.

About iBloks
Founded in 2005, iBloks’ mission is to revolutionize personalized entertainment™ and self-expression by providing a creative, fun and easy-to-use digital media platform that is designed to push the creative boundaries of consumers and communities. For additional information, please visit iBloks at: www.ibloks.com.

About Blubrry and RawVoice, Inc.
A community created by and for podcasters, Blubrry gives audio and video podcast producers the tools to grow an audience. Members have access to podcasting and audience building tips, and may choose to carry advertising and share in revenue. The site also features a built-in player and innovative tools to help visitors find new podcasts. The Blubrry community is part of RawVoice’s family of media solutions and can be found at www.blubrry.com.

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iBloks, the iBloks logo, and personalized entertainment are trademarks, and Mix.Share.Play. is a registered trademark of iBloks, Inc. All other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

What’s special about that content is each producer has opted be part of our family and we work hard to gain them Exposure, allow them to earn money and most important be part of a community.

Thus our commercially available RawVoice Generator is capable of assuming all roles for promotion and distribution of Video and Audio. The best part is that you too can have your own Instant Media Network, powered by the RVG. Today we are rolling out white label sites for companies nationwide. So check out the content on out flagship sites with thisGoogle custom search to examine the breadth of the content we currently manage.

All we can say is thank you to the podcasters, subscribers and advertisers who’ve helped to make blubrry a player in the podcasting space. This surge in activity is good news for everyone involved.

And it’s only going to get better. The team is working hard on a number of enhancements and bug fixes that will make the experience even better.

It’s important to note that blubrry is a product of Raw Voice and the community is powered by our own Raw Voice Generator (RVG). Raw Voice is a pre-funding boot strapped startup that is accomplishing amazing things with a small team and minimal financial resources. We’re building something meaningful here. If you’re interested in working with the team or would like to get in on the ground floor by providing funding then drop a line to marketing[at]rawvoice[dot]com to let us know how you’d like to get involved.

Thanks again for helping to make blubrry the podcast community of choice.

Note If you produce a review of the site please e-mail blubrry (AT) blubrry (dot) com

It was a joy to share the philosophy of RawVoice, and demonstrate the power of Blubrry.com , PodcasterNews.com and PodcastPromos.com.

We also realized that a great deal of podcasters do not understand our site model, with all of the various offerings out their it is not surprising. The model is pretty simple, not evil, along with being a absolute win win for any podcaster.

The concept is simple list your site on Blubrry and we go to work for you! Which entails getting your show exposure, being part of a community, and helping you monetize your podcast with no lock in’s and no commitments!

I had this said to me over and over again.

“You mean we list our show Blubrry.com and you guys go to work for us?”

The answer was a simple Yes

Everyone was blown away that we allowed them to opt out of any deals we put together, and where very pleased that we do not wrap advertising around their content!

The parties at the suite each of the three nights was a huge success with over 1000 people stopping by sampling fine micro brews and getting a quick bite to eat. We cannot wait till next year and thanks to everyone for making the event such a great memory.