Listen to what Robin Williams has to say...
Dear Creators,
There’s a quote in Dead Poets Society where Robin Williams says, “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.” If you’ve seen the movie then you must know that it’s not just all great dialogues. It’s so much more than that because it’s all true.
How many times has it happened that you had an idea that you thought was amazing but you backed out at the last moment because people told you it’s not original or creative enough and self-doubt clouded your senses. And how many times did you think back to that idea that could’ve possibly made all the difference.
Ideas. Yours might not sound like much right now but remember that the world we live in is, in fact, built on those very ideas. But that’s not it. We’ll let you in on the secret. The ideas that changed the world are the ideas that were actually manifested.
Isn’t that what creativity is all about? Manifesting your ideas - putting in your mental muscle so that you stick to it and make it happen. It’s easy to be obsessed with the idea of having great ideas but that just makes you a junkie - an idea junkie, unless you let those ideas see the light of the day.
With that thought, let’s dive into what all happened in the past weeks.
What’s New!
Clubhouse, the invite-only viral social audio app, crossed one lakh downloads in India within a few days after being launched. The new platform has particularly taken Kerala by storm.
However, keeping aside the acceptance from users that Clubhouse has seen so far - is the platform good or bad for podcasting is still debatable.
What do you think about this hot Clubhouse debate? Share your take in the comments section!
The Podcast Academy hosted its first Awards for Excellence in Audio - aka The Ambies. The award program featured in 23 categories with Wondery’s “Dying for Sex” bagging the award for the podcast of the year.
Spotify has added new features that will roll out for both android and iOS users in the coming weeks. These include podcast transcripts, text resizing, and more. Spotify will also allow its users to download playlists and podcasts on Google Wear Devices.
Google Podcasts’ upcoming revamp includes no major changes but long-time users can look forward to a number of great usability upgrades.
In an email to podcasters, Apple Podcasts announced that Apple Podcast Subscriptions and channel updates, that were originally supposed to come out in May, will now launch in June.
Spotify has partnered with Storytel, the world’s leading audiobook streaming services, to reach its goal to be the singular platform for all audio: music, podcasts, audiobooks, live conversations, and more. Later in the year, Storytel subscribers will be able to enjoy Storytel’s library of audiobooks on Spotify by linking the two accounts.
The Garden’s Fiona Sturges wonders if the inrush of celebrities in podcasting is a turn-off.
Company News
Hubhopper has integrated with Amazon Music to bring localized podcast listening experiences to the users. Through this integration, Amazon Music’s users will be able to access Hubhopper's repository of millions of hours of audio content across 12 languages. Users can now seamlessly tune into content across various genres such as Pop Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Storytelling, Poetry, Horror, and more.
With this integration, Hubhopper Studio also becomes the first and only Indian podcast hosting platform that offers distribution into Amazon Music (among a slew of other distribution platforms and integrations). This also means that anyone now hosting and launching their podcast on Hubhopper Studio can have their podcast stream on Amazon Music through the Hubhopper integration.
Interesting Reads!
What are the four stages of the creator content funnel and how it helps you to grow your audience from zero?
A thread of people to follow on Twitter - from creativity/productivity to entrepreneurship experts.
Upcoming Events
The Podcast Workshop by Vishal Modi is a 3 days event (June 11 - June 13) to help budding podcasters kickstart their podcasting journey. Through live sessions and interactions, creators will have an insight into different podcast creation stages, basic recording and editing techniques, publishing & distribution, promotion, and more that will make your podcasting a lot smoother, insightful and more fun. Book your tickets now and join the LIVE online sessions from Friday - Sunday, 4 PM to 5:30 PM.
That’s it for this week guys! We’ll see you next week with some more interesting reads! Until then we hope you stay safe, stay indoors, stay strong!
Happy Podcasting!
PS: We’d love to hear from you so drop by the comments section or write back to us!