The Podcast Standards Project is a grassroots coalition working to establish modern, open standards, to enable innovation in the podcast industry. We exist to advocate for and protect open podcasting.
Our aim is for hosting platforms and listening apps to adopt a standard set of new podcasting tags and features. Only when these features are widely supported can podcast creators and listeners truly take advantage of them. We believe that it's possible to innovate on top of RSS!
Podcasting is better when it’s open. RSS is an open protocol for distributing content on the internet and has been used to distribute audio since 2001. Because RSS is an open protocol, it’s not owned or controlled by a single entity. This openness allows podcasters to create, distribute, and monetize their content however they’d like. It also gives podcast listeners the freedom to choose how they listen.
However, with massive corporations entering the podcast ecosystem, there's a risk that large listening apps and hosting providers will introduce proprietary features. We've seen this effect before: in the 90s, Microsoft and Netscape kept adding proprietary features to their web browsers, creating compatibility issues for users.
The Podcast Standards Project has a mission similar to the Web Standards Project of 1998: to promote a minimum set of open podcast standards that all hosting providers and listening apps could implement. This will ensure that the creation and consumption of podcasts are consistent across all platforms.
Some argue that innovation in podcasting is only achievable through centralization. However, we believe that it's possible to innovate on top of the open RSS standard through advocacy and collaboration with all industry players (big and small).
Our first initiative centers on establishing a baseline standard for podcast RSS feeds. Our proposal, at its simplest, is to establish a basic set of ground rules for anyone building technology for the podcast space.
Services that build or ingest RSS feeds should support the same standard elements. This allows podcast hosting companies and listening applications to build in the same direction, knowing the standard element support will exist on both sides. To this end, we ask all podcast hosting companies and listening app makers to fully support the core standards before adding product-specific innovations.
The PSP is not defining any new namespace extensions. Instead, we are supporting open projects like the Podcast Namespace and joining their efforts in community-driven collaboration.
- Podcasters can monetize however they'd like. (They're not beholden to centralized platforms' ad networks, etc)
- Podcasters can decide which directories they submit their podcast to (Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, etc)
- Podcasters can remove themselves from a directory if they no longer agree with that platform.
- If one of the big platforms removes a show from its directory, listeners can still access the show via the RSS feed.
- Podcasters can host audio files, and RSS feeds wherever they want (they're not dependent on a single provider).
- Listeners can choose from various listening apps (both from big companies, like Apple, and independent developers).
- Listeners get new features accessible on multiple listening apps (comments, transcripts, private podcasts, video).
- Big platforms and advertisers can't track listeners as easily (if at all).
- What's better for podcast creators ends up being better for listeners: your favorite show doesn't need to get swallowed up by a large platform. It can remain independent.
Podcasting 2.0 is an open-source project developing all sorts of new technology for podcasting. Several of their projects, like the podcast namespace, Podcast Index, and Podping, have resonated with podcasters.
The role of the Podcast Standards Project is to identify projects like these and advocate for adopting a standard set of features across listening apps and hosting providers.
- Join us on GitHub
- Connect on Twitter: @PodStandards
- Podcasters: ask your podcast hosting platform to implement these podcast features.
- Podcast listeners: ask your listening app to support these podcast features.
If you're interested in being PSP Certified, you can apply here.