Podcasts Are Dead and the New Media is in Trouble
Celebrities are trying to ruin podcasts
Say what you want about Joe Rogan but the man is a media visionary.
He saw the potential of podcasts when they were nothing more than kids messing around with Garageband and now he’s the most popular podcaster in the world. That said, today, podcasts are something new entirely.
They’re becoming something corporate.
Something safe.
They’re becoming Gweneth Paltrow talking about the benefits of avocado toast, Obama and Bruce Springsteen throwing down life lessons for us peasants, and Jenny Slate, a multi-millionaire actress, complaining about the “patriarchy.”
Hollywood is trying to kill podcasts, and they’re doing a pretty good job.
Here’s what I mean by all this and what will happen.
Hollywood is Nearly Dead
After Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood” — a film starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie — made its box office debut second behind the newly animated “Lion King,” a film everyone’s pretty much seen before, I knew right then and there.
Hollywood was dying.
There is no modern James Dean or Meryl Streep or even a Jack Nicholson.
The new stars aren’t in the movies, they are Charli D’Amelio, Mr. Beast, Joe Rogan, and Twitch streamer “Ninja.” This is a new media empire, and the best part is it’s unfiltered, raw, and for the most part, real.
Podcasters and YouTubers show us their lives warts and all. It’s like an episode of “ MTV Cribs” but without the celebrity ego and with a lot more heart. Podcasters don’t have a publicist or an agent telling them what to say or not to say. They are their own bosses and they can speak their minds without worrying about offending anyone.
Meanwhile, podcasting is estimated to be a $4 billion industry by 2024 — and this is exactly why Hollywood wants a piece of this pie. If they don’t get it they’ll try to burn the whole thing to the ground purely because they can’t control the system.
Stand-up comedian Tim Dillon made this point recently:
“The plan to kill podcasting is to let vapid celebrities do it, and they are going to market it and advertise it the same way they kill everything else. You’ll get so sick of it.”
— Tim Dillon
The Golden Age of Podcasting is Over
Has podcasting returned us to an oral tradition? Is the written word dying?
No to both. Interesting, multi-person podcasts have become popular for good reasons that don’t in any way replace good writing. Podcasts let us hear how a person speaks and thus, in many ways, how the person thinks.
When you hear someone reply to unanticipated questions and comments, you develop a clearer picture of their personality and an informed estimate of their intelligence.
This is another reason why celebrities can’t do it. They’re hollow like the characters they play and they’ve been coached their whole lives to say the “right” thing.
“None of these celebrities can ever share their real thoughts with you, because that’s the deal. It’s a good deal,” Tim Dillon said in a recent episode of his podcast. “The deal they made is to shut their mouth and every time they open it someone shoves money down it. People don’t care about what celebrities think, they care about Rachel and Ross, Ozark and Arrested Development — so shut up and leave our thing alone.”
What podcasting is becoming is the new radio.
Joe Rogan is Howard Stern and Andrew Schultz and Akaash Singh are Opie and Anthony. Everything is still the Wild West: it’s untamed, dangerous, and bolstered by independent thought. But in that same right, these podcasters will become the new gatekeepers and structure this space in the same way that someone had to lay railroad tracks over the West.
What seems new and fresh now will eventually become the dogma. New media such as podcasting will have its orthodoxy regardless of whether Hollywood interferes or not.
Clearly, there won’t be a new Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro or Alexandra Cooper, anytime soon. These are the new gatekeepers. The Golden Age of podcasting is finished. You missed it. Sorry. So it’ll be interesting to see how podcasts, and new media in general, will develop over the next few years.
At Least Podcasting will Kill Celebrities
You know what? I’m not sure what the future of podcasting entails.
I only know that we’re at a crossroads and the next few years will determine whether podcasting becomes a vapid, corporate-driven takeover or something more.
But there’s one thing I am sure of, podcasting will kill modern celebrities.
It’s already happening. The Barack and Bruce podcast was a failure. Bill Clinton’s recent foray was met with a collective yawn. And Paris Hilton, Jeremy Paxman, Chelsea Peretti, and Louis Theroux have all had high-profile podcasting misfires.
Celebrities doing their own podcasts and saturating the world with their hot takes is the best way to destroy their image. Previously we used to be drawn to movie stars because of their mystique, but now that the illusion is gone we see them for what they really are: self-centered idiots, albeit talented, but with nothing interesting to say about life or the real world.
All of this has made me appreciate how hard it is to make a good podcast. Comedians make it look easy, but it’s not. It requires critical thought, spontaneity, and a willingness to be vulnerable and open yourself up — something that celebrities and politicians are incapable of doing.
And sure, I know many Joe Rogan podcasts devolve into this…
*brings the mic closer*
every 10 years the cells in your body actually completely change.
i was reading this article about how DMT can actually advance this process into only taking 6 years because your pineal gland… Jaimie could you get that article up? yeah but its because your pineal glands can actually make your cells rejuvenate faster … here we go
*looks over at the screen*
look at that …
yeah that chimp must be what? 400 pounds? jesus those things will tear you to shreds
…But you can’t say he’s not entertaining.
That’s who Rogan is, an erudite stoner with interesting guests. He’s not trying to be something he’s not. Hopefully, podcasts stay this way.
And if they don’t there are always books and reading. Hahaha, just kidding. Who has time for that?
There’s one thing I am sure of, podcasting will kill modern celebrities. The Barack and Bruce podcast was a failure. Bill Clinton’s recent foray was met with a collective yawn. And Paris Hilton, Jeremy Paxman, Chelsea Peretti, and Louis Theroux have all had high-profile podcasting misfires
