Unsigned Rock Podcast

Well, that was fun! The current webhost the Unsigned Rock Podcast sits on is due to expire at the end of October. It’s actually piggy-backed off fouldsy.com as when I first started, I didn’t want to fork out extra money for webhosting, but have been meaning to move it for a while now. With grumbles about pretty much every webhosting company depending on who you talk to, I went with GoDaddy as their packages looked good, and I have a number of domains through them already. A nice little touch though was that once the webhosting was added to my account, they updated the records for all my domains to point to the new server, causing havoc on a few sites I run! Nice, eh?

Have got things up + running now after uploading all the data to the new server and creating the database, and all the RSS feeds and iTunes links haven’t changed, nor has my e-mail - I made sure they were host-independant from the start, so there’s nothing you nice people need to do, except maybe change any bookmarks you had It’s all now directly running from www.unsignedrockpodcast.com - I’ll look at setting up redirection from the old links to direct posts in a bit to help those MySpace-rs out there!

All being well, I’ve got a cracking podcast lined up for tomorrow, so get yer finger ready on the ‘Play’ button and have the volume control ready to be cranked up!

If you’ve checked out the latest show, Unsigned Rock Podcast #27, you’ll already have got the teasers about this coming week. Check out the show if not! But, running alongside the normal shows (yes, they’ll stay exactly as they are and aren’t going anywhere!), I’ll be running a short daily show which builds a bit of fun + interaction into the podcast

I often get e-mails from you guys letting me know you’ve really liked a certain band / artist and want to hear more. So, here’s your chance! Listen in to the first show tomorrow where it will all be explained! Spies everywhere, see? Don’t want to say too much now!

Easiest way to keep track of everything is to stick the podcast into iTunes by clicking the nice iTunes button here! All the shows will get automatically downloaded and you don’t have to keep checking back here to download them manually. Of course, for those nice people not running iTunes, or simply a better OS like Linux, and so are using Juice/iPodder/etc. (yup, I know you’re out there!), simply use this feed instead!

A big hello to all those folks coming in from Feedburner! Hope you checkout the podcast and get your ears full of the best in new + unsigned podsafe rock music!

I initially sent in a bit of feedback to the guys + gals at Feedburner a couple of months ago and they’ve just stuck it on the Feedburner Buzz blog which hopefully will give a couple of days or so of the Unsigned Rock Podcast appearing on the front page of Feedburner

And for those living under a rock, Feedburner are the guys who provide the podcast RSS feed which allows you to automatically download the latest shows through something like iTunes and makes my life about 10 times easier for handling the feeds to anyone that wants it + letting me see exactly who + what is checking things out!

Those around with the Unsigned Rock Podcast for a while will know the very first 3 shows haven’t been available on LibSyn due to diskspace limitations, and if you try to get them via my webhost Lycos, it’s pretty hit + miss! But, since I’ve had to get extra space with LibSyn to handle to time-delayed podcasts and let me release shows whenever I want rather than waiting for space to be available, the first 3 shows are now on LibSyn. If you really want to hear where it all started and just how much better things have got, feel free to grab these shows - there is some excellent music so it’s worth doing, just don’t expect me to be much good!

Anyone subscribing to the Unsigned Rock Podast should be able to download them with whatever podcatcher you’re using, such as iTunes or Juice, or you can download them all directly here:

• Unsigned Rock Podcast #1
• Unsigned Rock Podcast #2
• Unsigned Rock Podcast #3

Well, that’s now hit 500 downloads in what, 3 1/2 weeks on LibSyn? Although stats aren’t my motivation and I’m perfectly happy plodding along recording the podcasts and hoping a few people listen in, there’s a comfortable average of 70 downloads per podcast, with listeners creeping up each show and the previous podcast (#10) running at about 87 downloads!

Thanks to everyone that’s been checking out show, leaving your comments on here, and sending me an e-mail. Really appreciate all the support, and I’ve got some pretty cool ideas lined up for the future, so grab the RSS feed and stick it into your podcatcher or subscribe using the iTunes button on the left to keep track of the latest shows.

Don’t forget to tell all your friends about the podcast too and help spread the word about podsafe audio and some of the great bands already featured on the Unsigned Rock Podcast!

Well, since moving to Libsyn less than 3 days ago, I’ve just broken 100 downloads of podcasts #4 + #5, almost in perfect split - 51 downloads of show #4 and 49 downloads of show #5. Not bad considering I’ve only been running the Unsigned Rock Podcast for less than 3 weeks! This shows good growth from the rough stats of the first three shows, giving 40+ average listeners overall. Good job I did move to Libsyn, otherwise that would be the bandwidth gone for this month! Let’s see if we can make it 100 in a couple of weeks by spreading the word and telling all your friends!

Big thanks to all those that have listened to the podcast and dropped me an e-mail to let me know what you think - keep them coming! Response to the Rohan interview has been positive, and the Chasing Red segment seems to have got people’s attention. Remember, the Ampsex competition will run for another week or two, so enter now for a chance to win their album ‘Original Sound Recordings’!

Thanks again for all those that have listened in! Hope you keep enjoying the show, and remember to vote for the podcast on Podcast Alley, send me an audio comment and keep track of the latest shows via the RSS feed!

After upgrading PodPress and moving to libsyn last night, it knocked the RSS feed on the head, meaning show #4 wasn’t being registered for those using podcatchers such as iTunes, Juice, iPodder, etc. to automatically download the podcasts. Direct downloads from the site here kept working.

Everything should be back up now and I think we’ll put that one down to teething problems! Thanks for those that let me know of the problem.

This was probably something I should have done from the start, but I wasn’t sure what kind of response I was going to get. When I’ve done the math, I’d hit my 10Gb bandwidth limit in under a week Whilst impressive, not very helpful, and there still seems a few niggly problems with the downloads from my webhost (Lycos).

I follow a number of podcasts powered by libsyn and it seems rock solid. The first 3 episodes I’m not moving across, as although you get unlimited bandwidth, you’re limited by disk space each month. They might move across in the future, but for now I’ve included a separate link for them - if you’re trying to get the first 3 episodes using the Feedburner feed it ain’t gonna work! Today’s podcast, show #4, and all future shows will work fine - there’s nothing you need to do!

Let me know if there’s any problems - it should “Just Work ™”!

I’ve just had a stack of audio files through from Chasing Red, Carl quite rightly acknowledging Murhpy’s Law by e-mailing it through once the podcast was uploaded. There’s a couple of excellent extracts straight from the studio of tracks they were recording, including one song even their die-hard fans won’t have heard yet! Some nice audio commentary throughout from the guys too giving us a bit more of an insight.

I’ve also got an excellent artist called Rohan setup for an interview over Skype hopefully some tomorrow to coincide with his new album coming out on Friday. He’s got some awesome tunes, and a list of big-name artists he’s been around, so will get him to talk us through everything and play a couple of his tracks.

The Ampsex competition is pretty much sorted, with the prize being their latest album - ‘Original Sound Recordings’. The guys should have their audio recorded to announce how you can enter, and guess I’ll run this for a couple of weeks or so to give people plenty of time.

Oh, and I’ve got an excellent band from right up here in Newcastle to play!

Expect the next podcast out sometime on Friday evening - think the theme for the show will be “see how much fouldsy can cram in to one podcast!”, but it’ll all be worth the wait

Thanks for the e-mails letting me know what you thought of the first podcast, and it’s only been out a day! Keep them coming, and don’t forget you can also leave an audio message

But, iTunes support was sorted pretty quickly after I added it this afternoon! Click the button on the left to add the feed to iTunes, or use the button from the sidebar. Doesn’t seem to use any cover art at the moment, but will look into that.

Also, if you’re wanting to recommend the show (and please do!), I registered unsignedrockpodcast.com this afternoon as well, which hopefully will start point through to here within the next 24-48 hours so let people know the address - a bit easier to remember!

After quite a while of listening to other podcasts out there and checking out a ton of bands + artists, I figured it’s about time to start up my own show!

Loosely aimed at rock (and boy what a wide variety of music that can cover!), I’ll be looking at bringing a weekly podcast featuring 3 or 4 bands, but going the extra mile by trying to include interviews, gig news and reviews wherever possible. I’ve already got some wicked bits lined up, but it would spoil the fun to detail all that now!

Hopefully, the first show will go out with the next week or two depending on how much I can get crammed in, so grab the podcast feed ready for when the show’s are released! If you have any suggestions, music I should be listening to, or even want to get yourself included, get in touch!