MacDonald and Furrier Weigh In - Nominees for Chairman of the ADM Answer Questions
There are two excellent candidates for the Chairman of the ADM, Chris MacDonald, founder of IndieFeed and EVP of LibsynPRO and John Furrier, founder of the PodTech Network.
It’s a tough choice so I asked them both to answer 5 questions for us and they are posted to my blog. (we did it before this excellent blog was built by our amazing member Jason Van Orden)
An open comment concerning new media, expo, downloadable media, podcasting etc
As a now “downloadable media” producer based in the old world I have been following with great interest the developments in the “industry” enamating from the new world.
What amazes me is just how old media everything is - conferences in Las Vegas, votes for Chairman (surely in the 21st century that term should be more politically correct), membership fees to join the club, and the controlled dissemination of information to (paying) special interest groups.
I think your organisation is fine but that it should be called the American or the North American ADM. I think it probably is representative of where you are at - but as you can see it was created in old school style by interested parties in meetings in San Francisco and New York and a breakfast at the Expo. How then, does it represent anything or anybody else? Like other so-called new media events it is firmly rooted in the old school in that those who have the money and the geographical proximity can attend and the rest of the world is hanging on the tailcoats.
The big news from your epicentre has been that podcast no longer exists and to grow the medium it is important to move a conference to the conference capital of the world. Why not be really radical and have your meetings and expos etc online, as webinars, or in Second life etc.? Isn’t that where we all hang out? Or is just that the rich and the powerful are controlling the new media with old media tactics?
Like many people in the world, I did not have the time or the money to go the then Podcast Expo. That’s OK because now I can BUY the information I didn’t have access to. So yes there’s a great market of speakers making their living in the new media in just the same way as the old media. And it isn’t that I object to people making money - far from it. What I object to is the procrastination of the self appointed leaders meeting to discuss things which have a geographic importance to them. Isn’t the new media supposed to be about anyone with a connection to internet ANYWHERE in the world, whatever their local conditions might be??
A fine example of this happened recently when the webpages and blogs coming out of the US were all about the decision by Apple to reduce the price of the iPhone or allow 3rd party apps etc. People were crying and launching law suits while on the streets of Burma, anti- governmnt protesters were being shot at by troops for using their cell phones to take photos and disseminate information via internet.
So downloadable media is many things to many people and reflects the cultures and needs of wherever they may be. If you listen to Australians their problem is broadband - I’m sure to many downloadable media producers in the world the problem is getting food on the table. All that seems to be coming out of the US are strategies to control the growing “industry” and impose on it the model of the old media. That’s fine. Just don’t claim to represent us all.