Rolling Stone has an interesting interview with Metallica’s Lars Ulrich that touches on the state of Metal, the band’s fight against Napster, how they are using digital music and trying to learn from Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails:

You were one of the first artists to sue over copyright infringement and voice concerns over aspects of downloading. Eight years later, with bands like Radiohead embracing the Net and yet charting, how has your stance changed, if at all?

We have FLACs and MP3s for sale. It was never about downloading per se. We have the Vault where you can download shows from twenty years ago for free, full-on and it’s been there for years. You can download recent shows days after they happen for cost.

Back in the day there was a much bigger question about “on whose terms?” We said, “Wait a minute, it should be about the artist.” Then all hell broke loose and we sat on the sidelines for a while. We’ve always been fiercely independent and controlling; sometimes to a fault. That’s why we exist and why all these people show up.

And as far as the next record goes …

You know, this is our last record under contract with Warner, so we’re looking at how we can embrace everything. We want to be as free a players as possible. We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.

Have you thought about the climate into which you’ll be dropping this new album? What is the state of metal today?

I think you saw. Metal is fucking alive and well and doing better than it has in many years. It seems like most of the metal in the Seventies and the Eighties is still revered. It seems like most fourteeen year olds are into Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, as opposed to some alternative, grunge and especially the rap-rock of the Nineties. When you’ve been around a while you tend to disregard cycles, but there is a resurgence way deeper and more penetrating into the fourteen-year-old mindset all over. It’s unbelievable.

Metallica has received a lot of criticism over the years for their fight against Napster. While they still aren’t embracing file sharing, they aren’t against offering free music downloads on their own terms. The group now has hours and hours, if not days, of free music available for download at their site,

I recently had a (way too brief) conversation with PodCamp NYC 2.0 co-organizer John C. Havens, VP of Business Development at Blog Talk Radio and fellow Advisory Board member of the Association of Downloadable Media. (He’s on the right in the photo, with Chris MacDonald.) John wanted to talk about this PodCamp’s wider appeal to students and educators, and about how the organizers are putting the spotlight on new media and podcasting in education:

“One comment I wanted to add to [our interview with co-organizer Whitney Hoffman] is how excited I am that this year’s focus is on educators/students. Teachers have always come to PodCamp, but we really tried to reach outside of the standard audience for PodCamps to connect with people influencing students to such a great degree.

“Also, educators are some of the most forward-thinking people in new media. I think that’s often overlooked. So, selfishly, I wanted to learn from people whose voices are outside of strictly tech circles to see case studies of what they’re doing, to implement tools effectively.

“Basically, I think it’s vital to get outside of our echo chambers, whatever and wherever they happen to be. Nothing wrong per se with those chambers, except that innovation dies in a vacuum.”

Havens is also author of an upcoming book on the role of communications in promoting business transparency, which comes out later this year. In the meantime, the interviews for the book are being published as a podcast.

Podcamp NYC is coming up this weekend, April 25-26, at Brooklyn Polytechnic. Podcamp NYC is an unconference focused on educating participants on how to use, implement and share all kinds of new media tools including, podcasts, videocasts, blogs, Second Life, Facebook, and YouTube.

The conference is free to attend, but you must register in advance.

LD Podcast creator and PodCamp NYC co-organizer Whitney Hoffman talked with me recently about the upcoming event:

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: How is PodCamp NYC2 different from its first incarnation?

Whitney Hoffman: Podcamp NYC 2.0 is happening over two days this year, at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. We’re also having a focused track on education, and how new media is affecting education. One of the things I’m most proud of is how the event is really coming together, and how much support we’re getting from the community, both in terms of attendees and in terms of Sponsorships. We’ve got a year’s worth of experience under our belt, making Podcamp NYC a more known quantity, and people are a little more sure of what to expect.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Who should consider coming to PodCamp (is it mostly experienced podcasters, newbies, salespeople, etc?)?

Whitney Hoffman: The best thing about Podcamp is that it is a mash-up. Newbies, educators, whether you are an ed-tech person or not- business, marketing and PR folks, traditional media people and those who’ve been hanging around new and social media for a while will all find something interesting in the sessions.

Both the founders of Podcamp, Chris Brogan and Chris Penn will be presenting, and even Tim Bourquin from the Portable Media Expo will be attending this year. There are sessions ranging from social media strategy, to how-tos, to how to get your message across. There’s inevitably a lot of sessions about the business of podcasting and new media- how to market your podcast, build an audience, to how to deal with metrics.

In the end, it’s the cross section of people and topics that really makes PodCamp special. You don’t often find musicians, artists, hobbyists, teachers, professionals and business people all in the same space and at the same conference, yet it’s this cross-pollination that sparks interest and some great new ideas.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Can people still sign up?

Whitney Hoffman: We have a limited number of spots still available, so while people can sign up until a few days before the event, I’d encourage them to sign up soon, before they go on the wait list.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Do people sign up to present sessions in advance, or on the day of the conference?

Whitney Hoffman: We have people sign up in advance of the conference to present. We have room set aside as a bloghaus and for impromptu sessions, but unlike BarCamp, we do plan a schedule out in advance. This is mainly because we have 785 [people] already signed up to attend the event- logistics of moving this many people around requires a little more advance planning.

We try to put things into general subject tracks, dictated solely by the sessions, so it’s a little easier to find the type of content you might be interested in – ie. marketing and business in one room, education subjects in another.

People are free to attend whatever session they want, and to leave a session and find another if that session isn’t meeting their need. They are free to create their own as well.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What are some of the sessions being offered?

Whitney Hoffman: http://www.podcampnyc.org/page/2/ – this is the best way to get a good look, or at the wiki- I’m working on the schedule right now, so this is subject to change.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What can attendees, um, participants, expect?

Whitney Hoffman: PodCamp is all about participation and asking questions- not talking heads. Sessions are 45 minutes in length, and we give presenters guidelines that they should plan on talking for about 30 minutes and leave the rest of the time for questions and discussion. But many times, the group discussions and panels that are all conversation and interchange can be the most interesting sessions of all.

PodCamp is about connecting with others and forming a community. I have made some truly wonderful friendships that have changed my life through PodCamp. While my podcast is about learning and learning disabilities, I still have many things in common with the video podcasters I know, marketers, PR people …. They each teach me how to challenge what I do and try to do it differently and better every day.

I’ve learned about new tools and ways to connect, and these connections then help me in day to day projects. I’ve gotten jobs through PodCamp, and more people know me through Podcamp than through many other circles. I’ve helped organize five PodCamps to date (with another two in the wings), so you know this means alot to me.

When people come up to me after a Podcamp with a wild look in their eye, saying “This is the most fantastic conference I’ve ever been to…” I know how they feel, because I felt that way after the first PodCamp in Boston, and I joke that “you gotta be careful when you start drinking that Google juice” – short hand for figuring out how to get the most out of what you’re doing online.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What are some of the things that you, personally, are most looking forward to?

Whitney Hoffman: Hopefully I covered that in that last response! I love seeing (now) old friends, making new ones, meeting people in person I know through Twitter or by reputation only and extending that relationship, watching people get so excited by learning, and helping others. I love seeing the event and community come together. Knowing you helped make it all happen is a really powerful experience. I always come out of PodCamp a little tired and overwhelmed by all the information, but also so energized with new ideas, it sustains me for months afterwards.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What else should we know about the event?

Whitney Hoffman: Be sure to check our website at PodCampNYC.org for the most recent updates. We’ll have a guide about PodCamp coming out shortly with all the logistics information anyone could want. I’d just like to also thank all of our sponsors* for helping to make PodCamp happen in NYC and elsewhere. Because PodCamp is becoming so well-known, sponsorship is pretty low cost and a great investment for companies. We’ve had an easy time getting the support we need this year to make the event happen. I really appreciate their vote of confidence.

[Ed. note: Sponsors of PodCamp NYC run the gamut from VitaminWater and ZipCar, to podcast-related companies Blubrry, Podango, BlogTalkRadio, PodcastReady, New Media Expo, and Zune, among others]

PodShow has officially announced that it has changed its name to Mevio. Along with this announcement, the company announced updates to its site.

The name change has been greeted with skepticism by many podcasters, and there’s already a “Mevio” entry in the Urban Dictionary.:

The act of renaming a company / business, thinking that the new name will make up for fact the business model was either flawed or poorly executed.

That Web 2.0 company just laid-off 25% of their staff and now they are going to Mevio their name in hopes of bringing in new investors.

According to Mevio, though, there’s more to the name change than just rebranding. They say that the name change “is the culmination of PodShow’s transition to a complete broadband entertainment network for the social Web.”

Mevio Distancing Itself From Indie Podcasters

One of the reasons for the name change is that the company is trying to distance itself from amateur content and the term “podcasting.” The company is now focusing on distributing professionally produced shows.

“We have never believed in user-generated content as a business, or even as a sustainable entertainment offering,” said Ron Bloom, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, MEVIO.

“Our combination of premier, high quality content with a growing and return audience gives brand advertisers the kind of online viewer engagement that they are hard-pressed to find anywhere else on the Web,” said Adam Curry, co-founder and President of MEVIO.

New data from Podtrac and TNS suggests that podcasts may be a much more powerful advertising platform than television.

The companies studied podcast advertising from February 2006 to March 2008 across multiple product categories and ad types. Unaided awareness for podcast ads was 68%, compared with 21% for streaming video and 10% for television.

““The studies showed a 73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product,” said Velvet Beard, vice president at Podtrac. “The studies showed that 69% of audience members have a more favorable view of in-show advertisers.”

“Podcasting delivers a level of end-user engagement that is rare in today’s multi-format world,” said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer.

There are many reasons why podcasts could be more effective than television. People are sick of the barrage of ads on television, so they routinely tune them out. Podcast advertising is typically much less intrusive than television advertising. It also has the potential to be much more targeted and relevant.

Because these stats come from Podtrac, a company with a vested interest in podcast advertising, marketers are likely to want to see these numbers independently reproduced.

Edison Research’s Tom Webster, who has been researching and reporting on podcasting for years now, has some interesting thoughts on promoting your podcast through social networking sites like MySpace and Twitter:

Change occurs at the margin, and it would be unwise to ignore the increasing popularity and utility of the various social networking sites.

However, as a researcher of that big ole’ middle of the bell curve, I am compelled to add here that this means that the vast majority of podcast users–and of Americans, period–do not maintain social networking profiles. This means that if you confine your marketing and promotional efforts to getting the word out on social networking sites, you are depriving your podcast of a potentially much greater audience.

If you produce a podcast on restoring and customizing automobiles, for instance, the number of auto aficionados on Twitter is a rounding error compared to the vast size of this potential affinity group.

If you are creating well-written, well-produced quality content on a topic or subject, you have as much right to the big fat middle of the tail as you do the long part, so think big–and market your content accordingly.

What do you think? Are social networking sites over-rated tools for promoting your podcast?

PodShow, the heavily-hyped podcasting startup from podfather Adam Curry, is dead; it’s changing its name to Mevio.

NewTeeVee attributes the name change to a so-called “curse of the ‘Pod”” – the idea that any company with “pod” in the name is cursed. They note that PodZinger has changed its name to EveryZing & PodBridge has changed its name to VoloMedia.

When podcasting is growing 40% year to year, though, with some surveys pegging podcasting’s growth as high as 87% year to year, it’s a mistake to pin the troubles of PodTech and PodShow on their “pod” names.

PodShow has raised and spent close to $24 million over the last couple of years, but its business case appears to be stalled with its stars pimping GoDaddy codes. That’s a problem they aren’t going to fix with a name change.

Mevio expects to be profitable by the end of the year – but I’ll be surprised if we don’t see some very high-profile defections from the “Mevio” camp before then.

Podcasting network Wizzard has announced three new distribution deals:

• It has increased its Latino catalog of shows by signing an agreement with www.elatinoweekly.com, an independent Latino-centered entertainment and current affairs publication based in Los Angeles, California. Under the agreement, Wizzard Media will distribute the Latino-centric video from eLatinoWeekly.Com.
• A deal with independent music label iRecords will bring classic music videos as well as music videos of new and emerging artists, covering all music genres and ethnic groups.
• They also announced an agreement with Auliese Media. Auliese’s library includes: Tatoo Generation, a visual exploration into the social and cultural impact of tattoos and body modifications; Cop Stories, which showcases stories about life on the streets; and Things That Go Boom, where viewers are invited to watch what happens from six different angles in various speeds when high powered rifles, hot chicks and helpless items collide.

And yes – if we mention high powered rifles, hot chicks and helpless items, we have to come through with a video embed. Unfortunately, Things That Go Boom doesn’t seem to live up to its promise:

Okay, a confession here: I spent much of Earth Day today, a beautiful sunny day, outdoors. Away from my laptop computer. Away from wi-fi. It seemed a fitting way to celebrate the thirty-ninth annual Earth Day, riding my bike and enjoying cold beverages at a succession of locally-owned establishments.

One thought that kept coming back to my mind, though, as it does with so many “official” observances and holidays (Valentines’ Day, Mothers’ Day, Women’s History Month, Black History Month, and so on), is that we diminish the importance of the thing we honor and celebrate by limiting its observance to a single day or month. We ought to honor our loved ones and our moms every day. We should remember and celebrate the contributions of women and African Americans and other brave and trail-blazing people year ’round.

Or maybe I’m feeling guilty that I had this good story idea but spent the day doing other more frivolous things.

So, even though there’s only one hour left of the “official” Earth Day, here (after the break) is a crop of podcast offerings that may spark some practical lifestyle changes for greener living.

Common Craft put together this fun and simple intro to podcasting.

The video is licensed with a Creative Commons license, so you can copy, distribute, display, and perform the work for non-commercial purposes.