Pods Like Us

Find Your Own Style: Ignoring Podcasting's Common Wisdom with Matt Bliss - In this episode, Marv talks with podcast producer, mentor and self-described philosopher Matt Bliss about how podcasting has changed since the pandemic pivot, and why he thinks the best advice is often the advice you tailor to yourself. Matt argues that "common wisdom" from the internet is mostly noise, that editing should serve the person and the subject rather than a standard of perfection, and that a podcast doesn't need to be defined by its technology. They also dig into the "video-first" debate, accessibility (including sign language in podcasting), and why Matt thinks AI is still a dumb intern that needs a human supervisor. Along the way, Matt shares the podcasts he loves and what he's building next.Find MattWebsite: mbpod.comEmail: [email protected]: search "Matthew Bliss"Podcast: rethinkingpodcasting.comFind Pods Like UsAll links at themarvzone.org

The Heads, the Lawsuit, and the Long Road Back. How an Instagram Account Spooked a Band Reunion. This time on Pods Like Us, Marv sits down with Rod Gordon, the man behind the podcast This Must Be Talking Heads, to talk all things Talking Heads — and the story behind the show itself.Rod shares how an "unofficial" Instagram account he started in 2019 accidentally spooked the band into setting up their own page, the fallout from the divisive The Heads/No Talking, Just Head saga, and how the band's decades-long freeze finally began to thaw around the Stop Making Sense 40th anniversary reissue.They dig into the "Big Band" era and Remain in Light, why Jerry Harrison might be the most underrated member of the group, the shift from the punk scene into new wave, and what it's actually like landing interviews with band members like Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison. Rod also talks through the challenges of recording and editing a long-running podcast, designing the show's artwork, and the advice he'd give to anyone thinking about starting their own.Whether you're a lifelong Talking Heads fan or just curious where to start, this one's a fun, deep dive into the band, the fandom, and the podcast built around it.Find Rod and This Must Be Talking Heads at thismustbetalkingheads.com and on Instagram @thismustbetalkingheads.

Engaged Views and Disengaged Truths - Pods Like Us Chronicles — Episode Show NotesHost: Martin "Marv" QuibellEpisode SummaryMarv opens with a look at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing (kicking off Saturday 22 August 2026), including a robot smashing Usain Bolt's 100m record and a musing on what happens when you put an LLM inside a humanoid robot. Then it's on to the week's podcast industry news: audiobook/podcast crossover, YouTube's changing definition of a "view," Spotify's new ad and skip-ahead features, AI's growing role in podcast discovery (and its occasional gaslighting), a tribute to John C. Dvorak, and more.In This EpisodeIndustry ReadsFrank Racioppi's Forbes piece on the audiobook/podcast listener overlap, and Noiser's audio drama adaptations of Dickens, Conan Doyle, and AustenCody McLaughlin's Substack interview with Brad Pipkin (IAB Tech Lab) on whether podcasting is becoming "the evolution of television"Frank Racioppi's spotlight articles on This Podcast Will Kill You and Auntie PleaseJohn McDermott's Random Thoughts newsletter — praise for School of Podcasting's episode, Apple Podcast embedding woes, YouTube's payout threshold change, and the headaches of vertical video repurposingSam Illingworth's viral Substack post (40,534 views, 575 comments, 364 restacks) and his follow-up on LLMs "gaslighting" users — plus the finding that a Substack upload of Moby Dick was flagged 44% AI-writtenStephanie Fuccio's two Substack pieces on using Stephen King's On Writing as inspiration for better show notes and titlingPlatform & Business NewsSpotify's new "unskippable" ads on its own shows, with skippability elsewhere governed by contract clauses (via Podnews Daily)Inception Point AI has rebranded as Liquify AI (parent of Liquid Studios), covered by the New York TimesYouTube redefines "view" as an "engaged view," roughly aligned with the IAB/AMP consumption-length standard — and doubles the download threshold for ad payouts from 4,000 to 8,000Megaphone's advertising issues, and Flightpath's new "Automation Playbook" tool, via Podnews DailySounds Profitable's That Stupid Radio episode — Tom Webster's story of a nine-button Italian radio rendered useless when its app stopped workingPodcasting Craft & CommunityPodmastery: Neal Veglio on checking your show name isn't taken — and the underrated problem of how your title sounds when spoken aloud (Marv's own "misheard lyrics" comparison to Sister Sledge's We Are Family)School of Podcasting: Dave Jackson on YouTube/Spotify changes and a potted history of Spotify in podcastingIn and Around Podcasting: Rob and Elsie trace the history of skipping — from 1930s reel-to-reel to Spotify's new "Skip Ahead" button — plus Overcast updates, a tribute to John C. Dvorak, and Ana Xavier's sit-down with Barack ObamaInto the Podverse: Tony on AI-driven podcast discovery (asking ClaudeAI, ChatGPT, Gemini, Siri, and Alexa for show recommendations), video podcasting, hosting migration risks, and how to vet download-growth offers from unsolicited emailsDan Murphy (SiriusXM co-founder) on his new book, They Pay For WaterComicbook Nation CornerA nod to Connor Casey's "Christ on a crouton cracker" line from December 2023, and a bit of nostalgia for the old news-desk format

Liquid Content, Skip Buttons, and a Memory Walk - Episode SummaryThis week Marv shares a personal reflection on a memory walk marking one year since his mum's passing, then runs through a jam-packed week in podcasting news — TrueFans, Spotify's skip button backlash, YouTube's tougher monetisation rules, a new AI voice platform, African podcast monetisation struggles, Disney's deal with The Overlap, and more. Plus: Marv reveals he used Claude AI to help tighten this week's script.Timestamps[00:00:00] Intro — Marv's memory walk for his mum, and getting a shoutout from Sam Sethi on Podnews Weekly Review[00:01:00] Monday — TrueFans in Forbes, RSS.com's HLS video distribution, BBC's Acoustic Kitty episode, Stephanie Fuccio's discoverability experiment, the Spotify "skip forward" debate[00:03:00] Tuesday — YouTube's doubled monetisation requirements, Apple's fuzzy play-count data, BionicVO's AI voice cloning, the citation problem, Dave Campbell's "start where you are" message[00:05:00] Wednesday — John McDermott's radio stress dream and shrinking listening feed, a self-replicating LLM on AI Girls Club, Too Long Didn't Listen's season finale, a new Buzzsprout WordPress plugin, African podcast revenue ($3.1bn industry)[00:09:00] Thursday — Disney signs The Overlap for Disney+, a survey on "what is a podcast," Substack's Stripe/Africa payment problem[00:10:00] Friday — RSS.com's HLS video plans on Podnews Weekly Review, an Obama "podcast" from Audible, Sam Sethi's feedback on newsletter length[00:13:00] Sign-off — Format experiment notes, where to find the show[00:14:00] Trailer — Fallacious Trump(Timestamps are approximate, taken from the transcript's minute markers — worth a quick check against the actual audio before publishing.)Mentioned This WeekFrank Racioppi (Forbes) / Sam Sethi — TrueFansJames Cridland — Podnews Daily / Podnews Weekly ReviewRSS.com — HLS video distributionJohn Scott Dryden — Central Intelligence (BBC)Stephanie Fuccio — discoverability experiments, SubstackNeal Veglio — PodmasteryDan Price — BionicVODave Campbell — SubstackJohn McDermott — newsletter, "Cridlandism"/"McDermottism"Grace — AI Girls ClubDubble Audio & Josh Craggs — Too Long Didn't ListenGavin Gaddis & Jim Ballas — Sounds Profitable / PodbizTony Doe & Israel Usolor — Into The PodverseRob Greenlee — New Media ShowBen & Alberto — RSS.comCreditsDistributed and sponsored by RSS.com. Find "Pods Like Us" wherever you get your podcasts, and all links at themarvzone.org

Risk, Rears, and ReverbMarv reunites with two old friends from the Nottinghamshire music scene — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer Kurt Martinez and music educator/dementia-charity worker Rob Huskinson — for a wide-ranging chat about immersive audio, career risk-taking, and what it actually means to teach music in 2026.Kurt walks through how he backed into podcast/audio-drama mixing via Audible's early Atmos launch, why documentaries and scripted drama get treated completely differently in the mix (stage-setting vs. free-roaming immersion), and the gunshot-and-bullet-trajectory example that shows just how precisely spatial audio storytelling can get. He also talks through mixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in Atmos — commuting with it on AirPods Max, checking it on a Sonos speaker while doing housework, and revisiting it recently on 7.1.4 headphones to see how it's held up.Rob brings the conversation into music education, talking about designing a curriculum that starts from what's relevant to students now rather than working backwards from music history, and his work with Open Door, a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, where he helps organise carer support events (money management, physiotherapy, nutrition) alongside the day-to-day group sessions. There's also a candid stretch on ADHD, time management, and the different but complementary ways Kurt and Rob each work in a studio.The three of them close on the value of informal networking ("smooshy events"), the risks each of them took to build a freelance/portfolio career, and what's next for each — including Season 2 of I Am Not Nicholas, out now.In this episode:How Kurt got into Dolby Atmos, from a Guinness cinema ad to mixing I Am Not Nicholas for BBC/AudibleThe difference between mixing music, scripted audio drama, and documentary in AtmosMixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in immersive audioBuilding a curriculum around student relevance vs. music historyOpen Door — a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, and Rob's work with carersADHD, time management, and studio workflowCareer risk-taking, freelancing, and the value of informal networkingWhat's next: I Am Not Nicholas S2, new Alfie Duke and Meek singles, The Script's new albumGuests:Kurt Martinez — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer (Audible, BBC, I Am Not Nicholas, Kylie Minogue) — find him on LinkedIn and InstagramRob Huskinson — music lecturer and grants/events lead for Open Door dementia day service — find him on LinkedIn