TowerPod producer Shane Tobin (left) looks on while Pyramind student Lucas Zavala records Mo Mellady of Planet Check.
Pyramind: The Institute for Advanced Digital Audio Training (San Francisco) is supporting Tower Records’ new podcasting service, TowerPod, by housing the company’s production studios on school premises and staffing the podcasting production team with Pyramind’s current students and alumni.
“The TowerPod project is a great example of Pyramind offering student support in the music industry,” says Greg Gordon, director and president of Pyramind. “Our goal of teaching music production technology to students and preparing them for the real world of the music industry is perfectly served by their involvement with this new podcasting service.”
The 90-store Tower Records chain announced the new online podcasting service powered by Outhink Inc. at the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin in March. TowerPod allows consumers to create their own podcasts—audio and video shows for a computer or portable media player—using a catalog of some 6,000 free songs that Outhink will offer from independent labels and artists.
Outhink is also creating a large volume of podcasts. Outhink’s new offices and production studios are housed in Pyramind’s facilities in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Pyramind students staff the production studio and help create the podcasts for TowerPod’s own releases.
Outhink is promising to pay both artists and consumers from any revenue the service generates from the sale of ads that will be included in the podcasts. Consumers will get “free” music within the podcast and indie artists receive free promotion. The artists available on the service are signed to smaller labels and have joined the Independent Online Distribution Alliance to facilitate the process.
Outhink states that any revenue generated from advertising will be divided between a large group that includes the producer who created the podcast, the artist, the label and the publishers who created or own the music.
For more information, visit www.pyramind.com and www.towerpod.com.
