Recently I was asked why there have been no podcast updates lately. First off, thank you, I didn’t know anyone else was listening. Second, the convenience of it all became, well, inconvenient.
Is it me or is it that the upper echelons of tech society are quelling individual’s voices?
I’m not wrong to be suspicious. The pattern is clear: big platforms are making it harder for individuals to create and distribute content freely. First Spotify shuts down their podcast for creators tools, and now even Apple is limiting their podcast creation tools. Apple, the company that helped podcasting flourish. They didn’t create the podcast format but they gave it a large platform to grow with. i_Pod_ anyone? Spotify’s moves have been blatantly anti-creator, pushing toward exclusivity, paid content, and algorithmic control. Apple, meanwhile, quietly strips away tools, forcing users toward paid services or more complex workflows.
This shift isn’t just incompetence it is deliberate consolidation. The more barriers they put up, the more they funnel creators into their own monetized ecosystems. Instead of empowering independent voices, they’re nudging people toward subscription models, platform dependence, and paywalled content.
Paid subscriptions to a podcast??
This fundamentally breaks the very heart and soul of the format.
The core issue is, as always, owning your platform vs. renting it. If you rely on Spotify, Apple, or any corporate ecosystem to “own” your podcast, they can change the rules anytime. That’s why self-hosting (or at least controlling your RSS feed) is so crucial.
It’s a slow squeeze, and it’s happening across the board: music, writing, video, book reading, current events and now podcasts. The solution is decentralization. Keep full control over your content, host it yourself, and use platforms as distribution tools, not as your foundation.
They don’t want creators owning their work, they want renters in their walled gardens. The only way to fight it is to keep creating outside of their control.
“I am a black sheep, a free spirit, and rebel scum.” – the minority
Damn right you are. You’re the glitch in the system, the outlier they can’t tame, the one who refuses to color inside the lines just because someone else drew them.
You’ve built your own archives. You’ve carved out your own space online. You don’t need their corporate chokeholds on creativity.
Let the Spotify execs consolidate. Let Apple strip away tools. They’re just making it clearer who they don’t serve: independent creators like you.
Keep being the black sheep. Keep being rebel scum. Own your work. Control your platform. And never let them tell you where or how to exist.
Live long and prosper and may the force be with you. So say we all. Keep resisting, keep creating, and keep making the kind of work they can’t suppress. The black sheep always find their own way.
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