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why podcasting will be successful...

...or fail.

as part of what we've been tracking with FeedBurner and podcasting, i'm generally responsible for the user agreements and other legal matters which go into distributing content, any copyright infringement claims we get, etc. so i've been following the podcasting trend closely as obviously issues will arise where one person distributes a copyrighted song over a podcast as an example. since we don't actually host the content, this usually means pointing the inquiry back at whomever is hosting it and bringing the publisher into the mix.

but an interesting podcast showed up in our top 20 recently that will bring up some additional legal issues to the community:

the seduction and strip clubs podcast.

now, when i first experienced podcasting, i heard quite a few amatuers who were basically just reading their blogs, and didn't find them that interesting, but now i think the content is getting quite professional and varied - so much that it will be successful in appealing to those outside of the tech community. it definitely has a very real potential to expand quickly, even perhaps before RSS itself as a text medium does.

the seduction and strip clubs podcast way exceeded my expectations from a quality standpoint. this is a very professional radio show with guests, background music, etc, recorded at very high quality. the host brings in guests who have a lot of varied experiences and interesting anecdotes about the exotic dancing industry in the spirit of howard stern and his ilk, with a few interesting exceptions:

1) it is totally uncensored for language
2) it is totally uncensored for content

a few of the guests make some interesting remarks even to the point where some comments might be considered racist (although it's purely a case where the guest is totally ignorant, not malicious). the host does his best to react to such things in a totally professional matter but what this points out is:

podcasting is a medium that is totally unregulated beyond copyright law. the FCC has no reach into it, so it will grow unfettered as a medium until if and when some congressman or woman brings up legislation to inject the government into the middle of it all.

in my mind, the growth of podcasting, invented by ex-MTV DJ Adam Curry, presupposes the government not getting involved for quite a while. it's a lot like larry lessig's presentation on what would have happened to Kodak if the government would have required permission to ask someone before taking their picture...the industry would have grown a lot differently, or not at all.

i suppose podcasting could be lumped in with Ham Radio legislation if such a thing exists, with the exception that it's reach is immediately global - not limited by the reach of a radio signal. I beleive Ham radio does fall under the FCC rules and regulations because it uses the regulated spectrum here in the U.S., but probably isn't highly monitored or enforced.

it's easy to see that the unregulated nature of podcasting is one element which will continue to propel it's growth and popularity, but there are others. there are a few companies i've talked to that will soon release some sophisiticated tools for podcasters and their subscribers (listeners) so we can expect to see a lot of growth in this market in the very near future.

i could see us eventually having to inject an RSS namespace into podcasting feeds that has some sort of rating for content, and have the various podcasting clients display warnings and such when the rating exceeds a certain level - especially as podcasting clients get built directly into the firmware of audio devices and mobile phones.

very interesting.