INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Like any burgeoning art form, podcasts have a complicated relationship with corporate America
The form appeal has long been its accessibility; for years, it been open to anyone with an idea, a little free time and a computer
The results haven&t always been stellar, but the medium potential is seemingly limitless
The exact beginnings of podcasting are difficult to pinpoint — that, naturally, has been the nature of plenty of IP lawsuits, as those
involved early on lay claim to the rapidly expanding industry
For the sake of brevity, let call 2004 the birth of podcasting, as that when the term was coined, at the pre-iPhone apex of iPod popularity
Conveniently, that arbitrarily chosen date puts pegs the medium at about 15 years old
It also affords us the opportunity to borrow a tongue-in-cheek title from &1991: The Year Punk Broke,& a documentary that arrived roughly
15 years after the broadly acknowledged birth of a once-subversive music genre which found then-Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore sneering
about &modern punk — as seen in Elle magazine.& While it true corporate America has long toyed with and circled podcasting, it seems
likely that 2019 will be regarded as the year that podcasting had its &modern punk& moment, per Mr
In other words, podcasting is an overnight success 15+ years in the making
The numbers certainly bear it out
Spotify spending is probably the most commonly-cited flashpoint — and understandably so
While the music streaming service hasn&t given exact numbers, it announced plans to spend between $400 million and $500 million on the genre
in hopes of catching up with Apple decade-and-a-half long head start.
