What’s podcasting about? Sure, it's today's buzz, but it's also a boon for indie bands BY SAM PFEIFLE

Anybody who’s down with the iPod probably spent some time over the last week downloading iTunes version 4.9, the newest launched by Apple (for free, per usual), which, for the first time, really embraces podcasting. Now, through Apple’s software, you can subscribe to any number of podcasts and have them automatically download to your computer as soon as they become available, and then you can slap them on the old iPod. It’s pretty dang easy to get in on the action now if you weren’t a podcasting fan before.

(Quick catch-up: If you don’t have a good feel for what the hell podcasting is, get your primer at www.portlandphoenix.com with "Talk Hard," Feb. 20, 2004, by Jess Kilby, back when it was still called "audioblogging"; or with "Feed Your Head," Dec. 31, 2004, by Dan Kennedy. Don’t feel like reading something else? Basically, podcasting is putting together a radio show, packaging it as a single mp3, and letting anybody who’s interested download it for free from your Web site, at which time that person can listen to it either on their computer or on whatever mp3 player they have. The "for free" part could theoretically be temporary. For some reason, the iPod has simply crushed all other mp3 players, and thus "pod" is now attached to any mp3-related thingee. The common misunderstanding is that podcasting is streaming-audio type of thing. It’s not, really.)

Other than the little thrill elementary schoolers get by broadcasting their voices to the handful of people around the world who would choose to download such an offering, there’s not much incentive to undertake this endeavor of podcasting, other than the possibility of gaining some kind of online following. But former MTVJ Adam Curry has still managed to carve out a little continuing notoriety, and probably a buck or two, as podcasting’s guru with his Daily Source Code podcast and his collection of other people’s podcasts at podshow.com and ipodder.com.

So much notoriety, in fact, that when 4.9 launched, there was Curry’s podcast — among podcasts from ESPN, ABC News, and big-city radio stations — right in the top 10 available for download. The sudden rush crashed his server.

Same thing happened to a guy named CC Chapman, a podcaster who operates out of his home in Milford, Massachusetts. Chapman, with about 1500 regular listeners to each of his three weekly podcasts (pre-iTunes), is one of the more popular podcasters on Curry’s ippoder/podshow. In a June 29 Wall Street Journal article on the phenomenon, Chapman was interviewed as a typical independent user of this technology (which also must have contributed to his listenership).

Well, Chapman’s "Accident Hash," like all responsible podcasts, doesn’t play music by major-label bands. Anyone involved with the Recording Industry Association of America would present copywrite difficulties (there are also BMI and ASCAP considerations) and, thus, most podcasters with any following stay away from those sorts of bands. That leaves the independent artist, much like Portland popsters Now Is Now, whose songs are played frequently on "Accident Hash."

Frontman Mitch Alden says the podcasts have been a real boon for the band. "I’m selling four or five CDs a week just from his mention of it," he says. "And even if I’m not selling a ton of discs, I’m still getting twice as many comments on our Web site, stuff like, ‘Love your music, when are you coming here?’ So I can really see the impact."

Alden and Chapman go a ways back. Chapman directed Now Is Now’s first music video, and has long been a supporter of the band, so it only made sense for him to promote the band through what amounts to his online radio show. One of the best things about podcasting is that if you can find a "DJ" you like, you’ll be exposed to any number of other independent, and thus hard to find, bands that you can go check out later.

"Even though there’s a lot of great music out there," says Alden, "there’s a lot of wannabe bands, too. So the podcasters are acting as a filter. These listeners are finding podcasters with a similar listening style, and they know they’re not corporate influenced, not tarnished by the corporate world, and they can trust them to turn them on to great music."

Alden thinks it all leads to a deeper connection between band and listener, too. "I don’t have a credit card thing [for people to buy albums through his site, www.nowisnow.com] . . . I wanted to get a little more personal," he says. If people click the link to buy an album, they get a pop-up window to fill out, then "They get a self-addressed stamped envelope, along with the disc, and they mail me a check back. People have actually overpaid me a lot."

Obviously, with popularity will come people looking to make more than a few bucks off this new technology. Already there are software companies looking to offer podcasters ways to insert advertising into their podcasts, and it can only be a matter of time before larger companies like ABC no longer offer their content for free (advertisers on their radio and television programs will eventually rebel if podcasting becomes too popular and strips away traditional listeners and viewers).

But Apple’s iTunes podcasting directory is theoretically all-inclusive and an even playing field. Podcasters just send a link in for approval (Apple will deny unlicensed material and porn) and become searchable fairly quickly. I found Chapman’s segment in about five seconds and was quickly listening to an 8:52-long show he had just posted using some new audio equipment. The first thing I heard: A story about Chapman being introduced to local singer/songwriter Tom Acousti by Now-Is-Now’s Alden and then Acousti’s song "Crossing Wires."

Think this is all small potatoes? Well, Chapman has already been signed up by Sirius Radio to do a satellite show (much like DJ Jon, by the way), and Alden notes there are even creative economy implications. "One couple, they scheduled a vacation around when they knew I was playing at RiRa," he says. "They probably would have just flown into Portland and driven straight up the coast, but instead they stayed a night in Portland and caught my show."

That’s right, maybe this podcasting thing is just way to export and promote our kicking local music scene to the rest of the country and world, without having to worry about which major label most recently screwed over one of our local bands.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam@phx.com