The Waveform Issue 22—Stay in Control
The Waveform is a newsletter from Red Cup Agency about the next edge in podcasting. In each issue, I’ll stay on top of things for you. When we launch a new show or post an episode that stands out, I’ll drop that into the newsletter.
I’m Lee Schneider, founder and lead producer at Red Cup Agency. Did someone forward this to you, or are you reading it on the web? You can subscribe for free.
Erik Milosevich
Control can be a big part of a police officer’s life on the job.
Law enforcement is supposed to go out there and control situations. First of all, we've got to be controlled ourselves. And I've seen officers show up, they're not in control of themselves, and now they're trying to control the situation. That's, that's a recipe for bad, bad, bad, bad stuffs to happen, unfortunately.
Erik is a retired police officer in California. He trained as a sniper in the military. He is a warrior archetype. He’s also come to recognize the value of breath work and yoga. He follows the Wim Hof method, subjecting himself to ice baths and other extreme forms of mindfulness practices.
This might not sound like the usual path for a police officer, but Erik is trying to get more officers to experience what he’s learned from yoga and breath work. He’s been invited to teach his methods to groups of officers and is writing a book he calls Peace Officers.
When you check the laws regulating the police in California, the text refers to the police as peace officers. Their mission is to keep the peace as well as enforce the law. Erik’s mission is to bring more peace, love, and compassion to the art of being a warrior.
Listen to our interview with Erik on Glo.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.
Quick Tip
The category you choose for your podcast really matters for rankings. You can imagine categories like health are competitive because many podcasts say they address health issues. But if you get more specific about your subject, you can push to the top of a category. When I was consulting onDefenders of the Earth, a podcast on for Global Witness, we picked the news commentary and government categories. They accurately reflected the content of Defenders of the Earth, and there wasn’t as much competition as in other categories. We were number one in government in the UK, where the podcast originated.
Have a close look at your content categories and see how precisely you can match them to the existing categories on Apple and Spotify. If you’ve already decided, and your rankings aren’t what you’d like to see, you can change categories.
Pacific Content has posted a detailed and analytical view if this in a post called The Case of the Apple Podcasts Categories.
Building to a Rant
I haven’t finished writing it yet, but I’m building toward a rant (for an upcoming newsletter) about the differences between an artist and a content creator. I’ve become suspicious of platforms (and their community managers) who call the people who put their heart and soul into making art “content creators.” The definition of a maker of things emanating from your heart and soul, I would say, is an artist. I would say the definition of a content creator is somebody who wants to get content out there no matter what. They are concerned with ratings and likes above quality. They want to stay visible above all. If the audio is crappy, who cares? As long as people consume the content, it’s good. It’s a snack-centric approach to making art.
But maybe I’m just being a snob.
There are artists who only care about sales, ratings, and likes. And there are content creators who are deeply committed to their work. I’ll sort this all out soon for you, and post the results in an upcoming newsletter.
Until next time,
Lee
Red Cup Agency. Podcast Production and Marketing.
Working with teams large and small, I take podcasts from the glimmer of an idea into production and distribution. We make trailers, ad spots and promos for your podcast, and we find new audiences for you work with cross promotion.
Read Freely.
You can read freely at The Waveform. I’m not tracking opens, clicks, or forwards. I’m not analyzing your IP address location. It’s just you and me, writing and reading. This is a small part of the vast Web focused on people and dialog, not marketing data collection.