In podcasting, music makes a crescendo
By Brian Danzis, Managing Director, Americas
On-demand music streaming allows us to hear bands play, artists perform, and singers sing. Now, podcasting allows us to hear them all speak.
Music content in podcasting is having its moment. Shows exploring the songwriting process, music production, and the perspectives of creators are proliferating. That’s especially true in the US, where the number of Acast podcasts in the music category have more than doubled in 2020.
When it comes to music in podcasting, all sorts of audiences are tuning in — from K-pop stans to Phish heads. Music lovers across genres are finding podcast content that speaks to them, and are driving millions of listens per month.
Even amid the media disruption of coronavirus, music podcasting hasn’t missed a beat.
Just take the example of And The Writer Is…, a show featuring interviews with acclaimed songwriters that Variety called one of the best music podcasts of 2019. The show has returned during isolation with a special series called “And The Writer…Stays At Home!”, with new episodes featuring updates from previous guests.
The excitement around music in podcasting set the stage for Acast’s inaugural Feed Drop, a series of virtual events exploring the biggest topics in podcasting. During the event’s panel session, we were joined by Osiris Media, a network of music and culture podcasts spanning jam bands and more, and DIVE Studios, the first and only podcast network featuring shows by K-pop artists.
Here’s what they had to say.
On content creation
“Lots of our storytelling comes from our daily lives,” said Eric Nam, a global K-pop artist and the host of three DIVE Studios podcasts. He added: “There’s no better time than being stuck in isolation to have a lot of thoughts to yourself.”
DIVE Studios says its content allows fans to better understand their favorite artists, what they think and the opinions they hold — something people can’t get through existing content on other mediums which can often feel overproduced and highly polished.
RJ Bee, CEO and co-founder of Osiris Media, said its network often approaches the creation of content from a fan perspective.
“The reason we started Osiris was to try to give people a deeper connection to the music and artists they love,” he explained. “I came at this from the fan perspective. Within the jam scene, there’s so much to discuss and explore. We ask, ‘what do fans want to know?’”
On reaching new audiences
With a slate of 38 shows and growing, Osiris Media provides content to engage jam band lovers and music fans with a variety of interests. Understanding their audience and their interests is important for the network, as it helps them steer their strategy and deliver programming that’s relevant to current and prospective listeners.
Tom Marshall, its co-founder and creative director — and the primary lyricist and songwriter for the band Phish — said: “One of the best ways to expand out of your circle is to leverage your interviewees and guests’ audience as well. But it’s tricky — if I interviewed Miley Cyrus, I don’t know if a lot of her audience would find me interesting or vice versa.”
Tom, who hosts the podcast Under the Scales, added: “You need to find where the circles overlap.”
And when they do — like when Ezra Koenig of indie-rock band Vampire Weekend was a guest on the show — a big boost in listenership often follows.
DIVE Studios noted that it’s continuing to diversify its content and create shows that are relatable for a wide audience. The network reaches listeners around the world, with 38% in North America, 36% in Asia, and 17% in Europe.
On the huge opportunity in music podcasting
DIVE Studios and Osiris Media agreed that podcasting is a crucial medium to reach music fans in the modern era.
Eddie Nam, co-founder of DIVE Studios and co-host of Commit or Quit, said: “When it comes to staying digitally relevant, that’s where podcasts come in.”
Echoing that podcasting engages fans in news ways, Tom said that while the recognition from being a songwriter in a band is one thing, the response he got from becoming a podcaster was unexpected.
“It feels like my recognition rate has gone up 100 times more from podcasting than from being a songwriter,” he added.
Eric added that more and more major artists are entering the podcasting space because of its huge potential.
“It’s interesting because K-Pop Daebak, a show I host, was the first podcast hosted by a K-pop artist,” he said. “And, as soon as we launched it, a lot of other players in the K-pop scene became interested in doing their own. Other artists are seeing the great response, and they want in.”
If you missed this edition of Feed Drop, you can listen to the audio recording of the event on the Acast Events podcast.
