While the industry debates definitions, creators are struggling to survive. It’s time to stop arguing over what counts as a podcast and start building the support systems independent creators actually need to pay the bills.
Yes, I said it, and I mean everyone from the “I used to hand-code my RSS feed” folks to the “watch my podcast on YouTube” crowd.
Stop with the podcast vs. YouTube vs Netflix debate think pieces!!! Good lord...smh.
So much energy is being spent on defining the word podcast.
Long essays. Hot takes. Pontification. Lines drawn in the sand about video podcast definitions, what counts, and what doesn't - largely in response to legacy media & mainstream platforms co-opting the term to suit their distribution models.
I. GET. IT.
Trust me.
I also, very much understand the impulse toward podcast purism. Language matters. History matters. Origins matter.
And yet, here's my question to you:
What if all of that time, attention, anger, and frustration were redirected?
What if instead of endlessly litigating the word podcast, we poured that same intensity into education, support, amplification, and visibility for the people actually doing the work?
Because here's what gets lost in the noise:
There are creators who have been here for a long time.
Voice-led creators. Independent creators. People building powerful, intimate, thoughtfully made shows - often without institutional backing, marketing teams, or platform favoritism.
They don't need another essay about definitions.
They need pathways.
They need scaffolding.
They need systems of visibility that don't rely on legacy validation or algorithmic luck.
And beyond that ...we need the next generation of voice-led creators.
People who lead with lived experience, and not polish for polish sake.
People who understand audio as a relationship, not a product format.
That future doesn't get built by arguing over terminology.
It gets built by teaching.
By mentoring.
By amplifying the good stuff that already exists and making it easier to be found, sustained, and supported.
If we really care about podcasting - about its roots, its power, its humanity - then the work isn't defending a word.
The work is defending people.
So I'll ask this instead:
Who's willing to redirect that energy - together - away from defining the word podcast and toward building real support structures for the 80+% of creators who make this medium matter, regardless of what it's called?
Let the Netflix people do what they're going to do.
Most of us aren't in that playground.
And many of us don't want to be.
We're in the weeds - fighting for actual creator economy sustainability. We are building viable work that keeps ourselves and our families fed.
Actual food. Rent. Bills. Healthcare.
So how do we collaborate - across platforms, roles, and experiences - to amplify, educate, and materially support the majority of voice-led creators who are sustaining this medium in real life, not in theory?
Because survival isn't semantic.
And an essay about the term podcasting isn't going to do that.
(I get the irony of this post btw...)
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